Standard Classification of Educational Fields

Here is a possible list of standard tags describing a course:

• General Programmes
  • Basic programmes
    • pre-primary
    • elementary
    • primary
    • secondary
    • university
  • Literacy and numeracy
  • Personal development
    • behavioural capacities
    • mental skills
    • personal organizational capacities
    • life orientation programmes.
• Teacher training and education science
  • Teacher training
    • pre-school
    • kindergarten
    • elementary school
    • vocational
    • practical
    • non-vocational subject
    • adult education
    • teacher trainers
    • for handicapped children
    • General and specialized teacher training programmes.
  • Education science
    • curriculum development in non-vocational and vocational subjects
    • Educational assessment
    • testing and measurement
    • educational research
    • other education science.
• Humanities and Arts
  • Arts
    • Fine arts
      • drawing
      • painting
      • sculpture
    • Performing arts
      • music
      • drama
      • dance
      • circus
    • Graphic and audio-visual arts
      • photography]
      • cinematography
      • music production
      • radio and TV production
      • printing and publishing;
    • Design
    • Craft skills.
  • Humanities
    • Religion and theology
    • Foreign languages and cultures
      • living or ‘dead’ languages and their literature
      • area studies;
    • Native languages
    • interpretation and translation
    • linguistics
    • comparative literature
    • history
    • archaeology
    • philosophy
    • ethics.
• Social sciences, business and law
  • Social and behavioural science
    • Economics
    • economic history
    • political science
    • sociology
    • demography
    • anthropology (except physical anthropology)
    • ethnology
    • futurology
    • psychology
    • geography (except physical geography)
    • peace and conflict studies
    • human rights
  • Journalism and information
    • Journalism
    • library technician and science
    • technicians in museums and similar repositories
    • Documentation techniques
    • Archival sciences
  • Business and administration
    • Retailing
    • marketing
    • sales
    • public relations
    • real estate
    • Finance
    • banking
    • insurance
    • investment analysis
    • Accounting
    • auditing
    • bookkeeping
    • Management
    • public administration
    • institutional administration
    • personnel administration
    • Secretarial and office work
  • Law
    • Local magistrates
    • ‘notaires’
    • law (general, international, labour, maritime, etc.)
    • jurisprudence
    • history of law.
• Science
  • Life sciences
    • Biology
    • botany
    • bacteriology
    • toxicology
    • microbiology
    • zoology
    • entomology
    • ornithology
    • genetics
    • biochemistry
    • biophysics
    • other allied sciences excluding clinical and veterinary sciences.
  • Physical sciences
    • Astronomy and space sciences
    • physics and other allied subjects
    • chemistry and other allied subjects
    • geology***geophysics, mineralogy
    • physical anthropology
    • physical geography and other geosciences
    • meteorology and other atmospheric sciences including climatic research
    • marine science
    • vulcanology
    • palaeoecology
  • Mathematics and statistics
    • Mathematics
    • operations research
    • numerical analysis
    • actuarial science
    • statistics and other allied fields.
  • Computing - software development only (hardware development should be classified with the engineering fields)
    • system design
    • computer programming
    • data processing
    • networks
    • operating systems
• Engineering, manufacturing and construction
  • Engineering and engineering trades
    • Engineering drawing
    • mechanics
    • metal work
    • electricity
    • electronics
    • telecommunications
    • energy and chemical engineering
    • vehicle maintenance
    • surveying
  • Manufacturing and processing
    • Food and drink processing
    • textiles
    • clothes
    • footwear
    • leather
    • materials (wood, paper, plastic, glass, etc.)
    • mining and extraction.
  • Architecture and building
    • structural architecture
    • landscape architecture
    • community planning
    • cartography
    • Building
    • construction
    • Civil engineering
• Agriculture
  • Agriculture, forestry and fishery
    • Agriculture
    • crop and livestock production
    • agronomy
    • animal husbandry
    • horticulture and gardening
    • forestry and forest product techniques
    • natural parks
    • wildlife
    • fisheries
    • fishery science and technology.
  • Veterinary
    • Veterinary medicine
    • veterinary assisting
• Health and welfare
  • Health
    • Medicine
      • anatomy
      • epidemiology
      • cytology
      • physiology
      • immunology and immunoaematology
      • pathology
      • anaesthesiology
      • paediatrics
      • obstetrics and gynaecology
      • internal medicine
      • surgery
      • neurology
      • psychiatry
      • radiology
      • ophthalmology
    • Medical services
      • public health services
      • hygiene
      • pharmacy
      • pharmacology
      • therapeutics
      • rehabilitation
      • prosthetics
      • optometry
      • nutrition
    • Nursing
      • basic nursing
      • midwifery
    • Dental services
      • dental assisting
      • dental hygienist
      • dental laboratory technician
      • odontology
  • Social services
• Services
  • Personal services
  • Transport services
  • Environmental protection
  • Security services
• Not known or unspecified

Total: 34 tags
If we integrate the sub-sub categories, it would go to about 300 tags. In practice it still should be easy to navigate during a search if we integrate them.

(The tags could be drawn from this UNESCO ISCED 1997 list.)