education

• Ball (beachside comprehensive)

  • ball did three years of field work as a participant observer in a comprehensive school
  • explores the selection and sociolisation expirience two cohorts one banded by ability and the other taught in mixed ability
  • students mirror teacher expectation
• halsey et al

  • educational destination based on social class
  • face to face survey of a large sample of men
  • groups were divided based on the fathers occupations
  • service class , intermediate class and working class
  • a boy from the service class is 11 times more likely to go university than a working class and 4 times more likely to be at school at 16
• explanations for class-based differences in education:

  1. material deprivation

  - poor housing and overcrowding

  - student from affluent backrounds are more likely to

  have better facilities

  - afford tuition and property in the catchment area of

  good schools
• explanations for class-based differences in education:

  
  

  2. parental values

  • parents in professional occupations often value educational achievement
  • working class children may have less parental intrest , support and encouragement
• explanations for class-based differences in education:

  
  

  3. cultural deprivation

  • theories suggest that the sub-culture of some low income groups inhibits educational achievement
  • working class home environment may not provide cultural recources and educational expiriences such as trips to a museum or library
• explanations for class-based differences in education:

  
  

  4. cultural capital

  • middle class parents know how the education system works and how to work it to their advantage
• ball et al

  • interviewed staff in 15 secondary schools and drew on secondary sources
  • focus on effects of parental choice and competition between schools and whether it leads to greater inequalities
  • with publication of league tables, schools want to attract motivated parents and able children
  • middle class parents are more likely to know how to deal with secondary school choices
  • ball et al believes marketisation and educational reform reinforce the advantages of middle class parents
• (functionalist) FUNCTIONS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM:

  • serving the needs of the economy

  - teaches knowledge and skills for future workers

  • social mobility

  - gifted students from disadvantaged backrounds are given a chance to move up the social ladder

  • social cohesion

  - through subjects such as citizenship students identify themselves as british

  • role allocation

  - students are allocated jobs based on individual merit and abilities
• durkheim

  • functionalist perpective
  • main function is to transmit society's norms and values
  • through the use of punishment at school children learn to respect rules in general
  • equips children with the skills they need for their future work roles

  criticism:

  • marxist argue that the education system transmits values that benefits the ruling class
  • some femenist argue education transmits patriarchal culture
  • some student neither accept school rules or societys norms
• parsons

  • functionalist perspective
  • school is the main agency of sociolisation in modern society. it acts as a bridge between family and society
  • children hav ascribed status in families and are judged based on particularistic standards
  • in society, status is achieved according to universalistic standards
  • society needs a reward systems and people accept that after school
  • role allocation
  • education system is a meritocratic systems

  criticism:

  • marxist belive they transmit views that benefit the ruling class
  • femenist question whether it proved equal opportunities
• role of education from a marxist perspective:

  • serves the intrest of the ruling class

  - passing on rules that benefit the ruling class eg.

  capitalist society is fair

  • reproduces the class structure

  - favours pupils from more priveleged backrounds

  • breeds competition

  - through exams and sports students are encouraged to accept values. this maintains competition which capitalism is based on

  • secondary sociolisation

  - working class students learn the norms that prepares them for the lower positions in society and to accept the hierarchy
• bowles and gintis:

  • marxist perspective
  • the main role of the education system is to reproduce a workforce with the necessary qualities
  • school rewards children who are obediant, disciplined, hard-working, and reluctant to question authority with high grades
  • students with more creativity and independance are given lower grades
  • the hidden curriculum helps produce a work force
  • the term correspondance principle shows how school mirrors the workplace

  criticisms:

  • assume students passively accept rules whereas they actually reject them
  • exaggerate the power of the education system
• the independant sector:

  • refers to fee paying schools
  • it is made up of private schools and public schools
  • only 7% in england attend independant schools

  adantages:

  • low student to teacher ratio
  • recources and facilities are better than state schools
  • good exam results
• State schools:

  • not based on parents ability to take fees
  • more socially mixed
  • provides a route of upward social mobility
  • do not have to travel far
• advantages of the comprehensive system compared to the tripartite:

  • (cs) designed to cater to all children
  • no entrance exams so nobody is labelled as a failure
  • social mixture
  • usually large so more sujects and facilities available
• problems with comprehensive school:

  • limit parental choice
  • able students held back in mixed ability schools
  • academic working class students will achieve more in a grammer school
• home factors of ethnicity and achievment:

  • material deprivation
  • parental values
  • cultural capital
• school factors of ethnicity and achievement:

  • type of school
  • teacher expectation and labelling
  • ethnocentric curriculum
  • natioanl curriculum
  • institutional rasicm
• gender patterns and educational achievement:

  • traditionally boys got better a level results
  • by the early 2000s girls were doing better
  • difference in subject choice remain
  • some sociologists link this to the gendered curriculum
• explanations for improvements in girls achievement;

  • femenism
  • laws such as the sex discrimination act (1975) and the equality act (2010)
  • national curriculum provides equal opportunities
• reasons for boys underachivement:

  • feminisation of primrary schooling, majority of teachers are females
  • boys forced to learn in a way that does not suit them because schools are more girl friendly
  • experiencing a crisis of masculinity
  • peer pressure to conform to a laddish culture
  • some teachers have lower expectations of boys
• willis

  • from a marxist perspective willis sees the education system as serving capitalism
  • from an interactionalist perspective he explores the interactions between teachers and students
  • case study of 12 working class boys
  • uses several qualatative methods
  • explores the counter school subculture of the 'lads'
  • they saw manual work as real work for mean and white-collar work as effeminate
  • the counterschool subculture prepares them for working class jobs
• eduaction and capitalism

  • willis views are different from bowles and gintis, bowles and gintis discuss the correspondance principle and how students become obediant workers
  • but willis saw that the boys reject the rules and challenges authority
• criticisms of willis:

  • femenists argue willis ignores the experiences of girls
  • does not explore conformist boys experience
  • uses a small sample size
  • may not be relevant anymore because there are less manual jobs
• the tripartite system:

  • 1944 butler act set up the tripartite system
  • free state education based on their individual abilities
  • social allocation was based on the results of the 11-plus exams
  • children would then attend one of three, secondary modern , secondary technical or grammer
• alternative educational provision:

  • home school
  • students are taught at home
  • there are concerns about the standards of home tuition and impacts on childs social development