key terms & factors

• meritocracy

  • students achievements are based on their abilities and efforts - not their social class, gender or ethnicity
• ethnicity

  • teachers may have higher or lower expectations for certain ethnic groups
  • some books may present stereotypical images of some minority groups
  • statistics show that some ethnic groups underachieve while other overachieve
• social control

  • formal - discipline, punishment, school rules
  • informal- peer pressure, learning to live and work with others
• self fulfilling prophecy

  • when the label a student receives becomes a reality
  • example - if a student is labelled as bright, they may feel encouraged to improve their work
  • Stephen Ball found that sets equate to behaviour. top sets behaved well and low sets behaved badly
• Formal curriculum

  • The timetabled subjects taught in schools, such as English, Maths, Religious Studies and Spanish. This is called direct learning and refers to the formal things that you learn (for example in a GCSE course). 
• Hidden curriculum

  • Things learned indirectly in school that are not formally taught, such as valuing punctuality, or conformity and obedience. Occurs through things like assemblies, tutor periods, the attitudes and behaviours of staff in school. 
• Labelling 

  • The process of attaching a label (a sticky tag), characteristic or definition to individuals or groups. For example, labelling a middle class student as someone who is clever/bright. 
• Meritocracy

  • A system in which individuals’ achievements are based on their own talents and efforts rather than their social origins and backgrounds. Functionalists would agree with this. 
• Material deprivation

  • Refers to the inability of individuals or households to afford the goods and activities that are typical in a society at a given point in time. 
• Teacher expectations

  • Assumptions that teachers make about students’ future academic achievements based on their knowledge of students’ current performance.
• Streaming 

  • Dividing students into different groups or bands based on a general assessment of their ability rather than their performance in a particular subject. 
• League tables

  • League tables measure school performance data. This is statistical information showing how well pupils in England have done in public examinations taken at key points during their school careers. They are available for all members of the public to see. 
• Home schooling / tuition 

  • Teaching children at home rather than at school, usually by parents or private tutors. 
• De-schooling

  • The idea that the education system as it is currently organised should be abolished (stopped/eliminated). 
• Gendered curriculum 

  • A curriculum in which some subjects (including high status subjects such as maths and science) are associated with masculinity) and others (such as languages and humanities) are associated with femininity.
• Ethnocentric curriculum

  • The curriculum is seen as judging things in a biased way from the point of view of one culture. For example, the National Curriculum may value white, Western literature, art, history etc. 
• Anti-school subculture

  • A school-based group of students who resist the school, its teachers and their authority and openly challenge the school rules. 
• Counter-school culture

  • A group within a school that rejects the values and norms of the school and replaces them with anti-school values and norms. Willis demonstrated this in his study of working-class lads in his study called ‘Learning to Labour’ (1977).
• Correspondence Principle

  • Bowles and Gintis’ (Marixsts) term used to describe the way that education and work connect or fit together (correspond) in capitalist society. 
• Competition

  • A struggle or contest between individuals or groups to obtain (gain) something desirable (such as qualifications, school places, status, power or wealth) that is in limited supply. 
• Cultural capital

  • Bourdieu’s idea that the knowledge, attitudes and values that the middle class provide for their children gives them an advantage in the education system. ~
• Cultural deprivation

  • A theory which suggests that some working class and minority ethnic students lack the ‘correct’ values, behaviours and attitudes from socialisation to succeed in education.