ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to understand the core logic of the education system in modern societies where education, with its main institution, school, has become a key part of individuals' biography.
Drawing on the concept of “schooled societies”, we recall the origins of mass education, which provides the foundation for the analytical framework presented in this chapter, highlighting three basic functions of schooling: selection and allocation, institutionalisation and socialisation, the pillars of modern societies. In effect, we demonstrate that despite different forms of school systems around the world, the institution of school operates in the same logic of modernity.
Furthermore, this chapter proposes the comprehensive model of schooling, derived from the synthesis of classical theoretical approaches in sociology of education, such as functionalist, structuralist and interactionist tradition. We attempt to capture the phenomenon of school, which, on the one hand, is subjected to the systemic logic and requirements on a macro level. On the other hand, it is a relatively autonomous “being” in a micro perspective, as one would not be able to find two exactly the same schools around the world. In addition, we also present the reader with an in-depth analysis and discussion of what we consider “a common denominator” for all schools worldwide – their immanent features as well as their impact on key spheres of social life: the state, the economy and the lives of individuals, making schooling incredibly resistant to any considerable change.
