Education as a social institution can be regarded as an organized system of relations and social norms. It combines important social procedures and norms necessary to meet the basic needs of society.
Any functional institution arises and works, realizing a certain need of society.
Certain signs
Consider the main features that characterize education as a social institution:
- attitudes and examples of behavior: the pursuit of knowledge, attendance at classes;
- cultural symbolic signs: songs, emblem, motto;
- utilitarian features: libraries, stadiums, classes;
- written and oral code - rules of conduct for students;
- ideological features: progressive education, academic freedom, equality in the learning process.
The main elements are:
- educational institutions in the form of organizations;
- social communities: students and teachers;
- studying proccess.
The development of education as a social institution involves the improvement of all elements of this structure. Only with the timely introduction of changes can we talk about its full development and functioning.
Main types
The sphere of education as a social institution is built on slightly different principles. It has several rows of links:
- system of preschool education;
- schooling;
- vocational link;
- special secondary education;
- higher education institutions;
- postgraduate education;
- advanced training and retraining of personnel.
Consider the education function of each link. Preschool education involves the formation in the younger generation of industriousness, the foundations of good manners, moral qualities. It is pre-school education that is of particular importance for the development of citizenship.
The structure of education as a social institution involves laying the foundation of personal human qualities in preschool age. Kindergartens have ceased to be banal "places of supervision" for children, they contribute to the mental, moral, physical development of students.
At that time, when education was tested in domestic education from the age of six, kindergartens were engaged in adapting children to a complex school rhythm, and contributed to the formation of self-care skills in children.
Education as a social institution involves the support of pre-school education by the state, the willingness of parents to actively participate in the rational organization of extracurricular activities.
At the end of the last century, only half of the children fell into kindergartens, which negatively affected the development of communicative qualities in future first-graders.
Currently, the education system as a social institution is aimed at the full preparation of all kids for life in society.
The introduction of second generation standards in pre-school Russian educational institutions contributed to the improvement of the content of the educational and educational program.
In kindergartens, teachers began to focus on citizenship, the comprehensive upbringing of preschoolers.
The educational functions of education were transferred to schools.
Currently, teachers focus on the study of basic social values, on the guidelines of children and parents, their reaction to the use of innovative educational methods.
School stage
This education as a social institution is aimed not only at introducing students to the theoretical foundations of various academic disciplines, but also at helping to choose a profession. By the time school is completed, a teenager should stop at one of the options for his life path, occupation, and profession.
Education as a social institution is the basis for fulfilling the order of society. To this end, significant changes have been made in secondary schools.
Career guidance
Ninth graders are given the right to choose several elective courses in the framework of preprofile training. This allows them to get acquainted with the specific features of scientific fields, their applied value, as well as get acquainted with the world of professions, analyze their relevance in the labor market.
Vocational level
The concept of education as a social institution is difficult to grasp without this level. It is secondary specialized training that has a direct connection with social needs, is considered an operational and quick form of implementation in the life of young people.
It is carried out on the basis of large industrial organizations or within the framework of the state education system. Despite attempts to translate the entire Russian system into a combination of special and complete training, even in our time, vocational training is considered the most important option for obtaining a future profession.
Are science and education connected as social institutions? To identify the connection, sociologists must know the motives of students, the effectiveness of the learning process, the role of certain scientific fields in solving social and economic problems of society.
Currently, the question of the professionalism of specialists is especially acute, which is why large-scale reform has affected not only kindergartens, schools, but also vocational schools.
Education Functions
It is closely connected with various spheres of public life. The implementation of such a relationship is carried out through a person involved in political, economic, social, and spiritual ties. Education is the only specialized subsystem of society, the main function of which fully coincides with its needs.
There are various branches and spheres of the economy that produce spiritual and material products, services, and the educational system “releases” a person, influencing his aesthetic, moral, physical, intellectual development.
This is evidence of the presence of the leading social function of education - its humanization.
It is an objective need for the development of society, aimed at people.
As a method of thinking and a principle of activity, global technocratism and the principle of activity of industrial society moved into social relations, changed means and goals in places.
The specifics of ideology
The man in our society, who is proclaimed as the highest goal, has in reality turned into a typical “labor resource”. This was reflected in the education system, in which the main function of the school was to “prepare for the subsequent life,” which was understood as direct labor activity.
The individuality of each individual was pushed into the background, only the employee was valuable. Since it could always be replaced, the antihuman thesis that "there are no irreplaceable people" appeared.
According to this ideology, it turned out that the life of a teenager and a child was not considered a full-fledged life, but was considered as a kind of preparation for future work.
It was this attitude that led to the negative attitude of society towards the disabled, the elderly. They were considered "waste material", did not deserve due attention and respect.
The humanistic function of education
Currently, significant changes in the attitude of people towards senior citizens practically have not changed. But the humanistic function of education began to be filled with updated content.
A person began to be considered as a full-fledged participant in the educational and educational process. That is why in the educational standards of the second generation, the emphasis is on self-development and self-education.
Of particular importance is the laying of the foundations of the physical, moral, and intellectual potential of a person in pre-school and primary school age.
The results of psychological studies indicate that by the age of nine, human intelligence is formed by almost 90 percent.
Modern Institute of Education
The formation of educational communities, which are connected by involvement in educational processes and a value attitude to education, as well as their reproduction, is aimed at the socialization of each child.
Education is systematically turning into the main channel of social movements, which has a positive effect on kindergartens and schools.
Social breeding
In domestic education, individuals are bred by stream. This is pronounced at the senior level of training. Children can choose for themselves a basic (standard) or specialized school in those scientific disciplines that they will need in subsequent socialization.
To help adolescents, special tests are offered, conversations with children's psychologists are conducted. The proposed test items contain a certain cultural context, the understanding of which is characterized by the needs of society.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that education acts as a social institution, in recent years, the connection between the social status of parents and the educational career of the child is more and more visible. The school offers individuals unequal education, unequal formation of skills and abilities, as evidenced by the certificates of certain samples. This leads to the fact that already on the school bench there is a social stratification of the younger generation.
It is education that is currently forming the vocational qualifications of the population. On the quantitative side, the educational system is responsible for the training of highly qualified personnel.
If people who do not have a certain qualification get into the profession, this negatively affects the professional structure and leads to a decrease in labor productivity.
The destruction of professional culture is taking place, ambiguity of relations appears within groups, the role of statuses for the social advancement of individuals is strengthened.
In order to avoid such "excesses", serious reform is being carried out in domestic education. It is aimed at transferring from the traditional system, which involves the assimilation of only theoretical information by schoolchildren, to the option of upbringing and training aimed at maximally involving the individual in independent activity.
New standards implemented in the system of Russian preschool and school education meet the needs of society. Special requirements have been developed for the personality of a graduate of a kindergarten, primary and secondary level, vocational school, and higher educational institution. This contributes to the optimal socialization of the young generation, helps them choose the direction of professional activity.