Familiarization -- taste of sociology -- Pupils as clients? -- Teachers as victims? -- Parents as educators? -- Mass media -- hidden curriculum -- hidden curriculum : an overview -- Space talks : the hidden curriculum of educational buildings -- Timetables -- official curriculum -- Organization -- Teacher expectations -- hidden curriculum of language -- Assessment -- Ideologies of educating -- concept of ideology -- Ideologies of education -- Authoritarian and non-authoritarian ideologies of education -- case study in an ideology of education : autonomous study -- Case studies : democratic education -- Sociological perspectives and the study of education -- Social systems, structures and functions -- action perspective -- conflict perspective : a Marxian approach -- Doing research in schools and classrooms -- Postmodernism -- Educational life chances or who gets what? -- Labelling theory and life chances -- Gender identity -- Social class -- 'Race' and ethnic identity -- Other minorities : those with 'special needs' -- Signposts to the next learning system -- Alternatives -- Anatomy of choice in education -- next learning system.