Michael-Sebastian Honig graduated in Educational Sciences and Sociology (M.A.) from Göttingen University in 1974 and obtained his Dr. rer. soc. from the University of Tübingen in 1986. His doctoral thesis, which won the faculty award, was a study on family violence (Verhäuslichte Gewalt. Frankfurt am Main 1986). He obtained his professional qualification (Habilitation) in Educational Sciences from the University of Tübingen in 1996 with a study on theories of childhood (Entwurf einer Theorie der Kindheit. Frankfurt am Main 1999).
From 1976 to 1997 Michael-Sebastian Honig worked at the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut, DJI) in Munich. He held several posts at the DJI, including head of policy unit and head of the “Children and Childcare” department. In 1997 he left for a post as Professor of Education at Trier University. There he was Dean and Vice Dean of the department of Philosophy, Psychology and Education from 2003 to 2007. In 2006 he stayed for half a year as a guest researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norwegian Centre for Child Research (NOSEB). He joined the University of Luxembourg as Full Professor of Social Work in October 2008 and was head of the “” research group within the Institute for Research on Generations and Family.Early Childhood: Education and Care
His main areas of research are childhood studies, early childhood education and care, educational ethnography, and history and theory of social work. He is a member of the editorial boards of , , which he edited with Jens Qvortrup and William A. Corsaro, was selected as Outstanding Academic Title by. in 2010. Michael-Sebastian Honig is a consultant to the Ministry of National Education (Ministère de l’Education nationale, de l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg) with a focus on quality in the field of early childhood education and care. Childhood. A journal of global child research Zeitschrift für Soziologie der Erziehung und Sozialisation (ZSE), and Sozialwissenschaftliche Literatur Rundschau (SLR).The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies CHOICE Current Reviews for Academic Libraries (USA)
Michael-Sebastian Honig retired as Professor of Social Work at the end of September 2015. From then until the end of September 2016 he was employed as Senior Professor, once again at the University of Luxembourg. He is now Professeur Émérite at the University of Luxembourg.
