The Mediterranean: a Challenge for the Sociology of Education

Abstract

This special issue of the Italian Journal of Sociology of Education is based on a conference on “Challenges of Education in the Mediterranean area: Policies, Systems, Actors” held in Bari in October 2011, and organised by the Educational Section of the Italian Sociological Association (AIS-EDU) and the Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Bari “A. Moro”. The aim of the conference was twofold. On the one hand, it was the occasion for discussing the challenges faced by education and the sociology of education when assuming a “Mediterranean” perspective. On the other hand, it aimed at considering the challenges for the sociological concept of Mediterranean in itself when paying attention to educational realities. The structure of this special issue is as follows: the first two papers develop a theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective on the concept of the Mediterranean as well as on the challenges it faces and its usefulness for the study of educational processes. Then the issue moves to the discussion