Effectiveness and Usefulness of education as sociological categories

In the article, an attempt has been made to conceptualize the problems of effectiveness and usefulness of education by examining the quality of teaching from an operational perspective. The effectiveness is understood as a level of attainment of educational objectives being related to the social functions of education; the usefulness is defined as the benefits of realization of these functions to individuals and groups. Effectiveness and usefulness, when treated as aspects of the quality of education, are placed in an evaluative context consisting of: the education objectives, social actors interested in training and their expectations, the normative sphere (with respect to education problems) as well as areas, directions and methods of assessment.