In the EPI•STEM PODCAST Episode 7, co-hosts Geraldine Simmie PhD and Michelle Starr PhD present an introduction to research studies in the Critical Sociology of Education, and in the Critical Sociology of STEM Education and STEAM Education.

Research studies in the sociology of education seek to make meaning of the present in relation to human development, both from the individual and the societal perspective. Critical sociology of education studies, at masters and PhD level seek to interpret the present in order to change it in the direction of the greater good of society, care, social and planetary justice.

Critical sociology studies in education therefore assume both a research and advocacy stance revealing a problem-posing view, for human emancipation and connectivity to the common good of a democratic society and sustainability of the planet. There is a need for the researcher to interrogate and to share their positioning and to have an identifiable theoretical framework for the study. Geraldine and Michelle share some theorists they like to think with, including Pierre Bourdieu, Paulo Freire, Kathleen Lynch, Stephen Ball and Maxine Greene.

The musical selection is from Liam Broderick. Liam is a singer and guitarist from Abbeyfeale in Co. Limerick. Liam is a fourth year student in the BA in Irish Music in The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in UL. Here Liam performs a beautiful rendition of the traditional song Siúil a Rún, which means ‘Walk my love’ or ‘Come with me my darling’ with origins in the late 17th century.