Education

• Functionalism

  A consensus theory
• Education system


  An agent of secondary socialisation, carrying on from the family in terms of teaching children important norms and values of behaviour
• Functions of education (Durkheim)


  • Teaching of specialists
  • Maintaining order
  • Budgeting, everyday life
  • Teaching English, reading, writing and speaking
  • Promoting social solidarity through assemblies, transmitting norms and values, all following the same rules
• Functions of education (Parsons)


  • Helped to prepare young people for wider society
  • Acted as a microcosm of wider society, gradually introducing children to its demands and expectations
  • Bridged the gap between home and wider society
• Marxist View on Education

  • Marxist don't see education as benefitting pupils individually
  • See education as being under the control of the upper classes and used for their benefit
  • Argue that schools produce obedient, passive pupils who don't think for themselves.
  • The claim this is deliberate since it prepares them to be obedient workers in later life - helpful to capitalism and the economy.
• Marxists don't see education as meritocratic.

  They argues that the education system is rigged in favour of the ruling class and that this has to be hidden from parents and pupils otherwise they might become resentful and rebellious.
• Bowles & Gintis

  1. The hidden curriculum
  2. The correspondence principle
• The Hidden Curriculum (Bowles & Gintis)

  • The formal curriculum consists of the regular, day-to-day timetabled lessons you have in school. These are the lessons that you actively know about and are aware you are learning things from
  • The hidden curriculum consists of subliminal messages, morals and values you learn from everyday experiences at school. Pupils aren't often aware they are learning it.
• The Correspondence Principle (Bowles & Gintis)

  • Marxists argue that schools are organised to achieve exactly what the ruling class wants. In order for capitalism to continue, the upper class need to create an obedient, passive workforce who do as they are instructed! According to Bowles & Gintis, schools play a key role in this.
  • The correspondence principle is the idea that everything in school ‘corresponds’ to what we would expect in the workplace.
• Marxist Evaluation


  Schools are not totally successful in producing obedient pupils.

  For example, the existence of anti-school subcultures.
• Marxist Evaluation


  Some subjects such as sociology encourage children to question things.

  So not all of the curriculum can possibly be about creating passive students.
• Men in top positions

  • Men are more likely to get the top positions in teaching
  • Although more female head teachers have been appointed over the years, men still dominate this position at secondary schools
  • In 2015, 62% of secondary school teachers were female, but only 36% were head teachers
• Gendering of subjects

  • This means that some subjects are portrayed or presented as more suitable to one gender than another
  • A lot of this is with the fact that these subject may lead to very gendered careers.
• Feminism Evaluation

  Recent efforts to improve the representation of girls and women in subjects such as science and engineering.

  • GIST - Girls Into Science and Technology
  • WISE - Women In Science and Engineering
• Francis : Boys' domination of space

  • She argues that boys tend to dominate the classroom and generally attract more attention positive and negative, from teachers
  • They tend to be more noisy which leads to a lack of teacher interaction and attention for girls
  • Also found that boys dominate the playing ares, occupying most of the space with fast-paced physical games
• Sociologists point to racial discrimination in the workplace as a leading reason as to why these ethnic minority groups may face financial difficulty. (Material Deprivation)
• Evaluation (Material Deprivation)

  African-Caribbean children in receipt of free school meals (FSM) tend to do better than white children on FSM

  Suggesting material factors may not have much of an influence
• Evaluation (Material Deprivation)

  It’s not always our race that has the biggest impact, it could be gender or class.
• Key Information (Cultural Deprivation)

  • A government report in 2014 revealed that social class was the biggest factor affecting how well children do in school
  • It stated that white British children receiving free school meals (FSM) were the lowest achieving group
• Bridge between home and Wider society (Func)

  • In education you're exposed to different values and different cultures
  • You're taught universalistic values
  • You have to accept rules and authority
  • Allows us to understand different approaches to life
• Underachievement of Girls (Fem)

  • Boys typically did subjects such as woodwork whilst girls did subjects such as home economics
  • Reading book have come under criticism - female characters within them were mainly shown in domestic rules
• Patriarchy & The Hidden Curriculum (Fem)

  • Girls now outperform boys in all levels of education
  • The hidden curriculum passes on gendered expectations about what is appropriate for their gendered
• Achievement Patterns (Cultural Deprivation)

  In 2012/13, 32.3% of white children eligible for FSM in England achieved at least 5 GCSEs at grade A*- C (or equivalent) including English and Maths - compared to 64.5% of all other children
• Cultural Deprivation


  Most of us aquire the basic skills, values and attitudes needed to succeed in education via primary socialisation.

  However, many working class families fail to socialise their children adequately.
• Berstein : Language Skills


  Elaborated Code - used by the middle class, longer sentences, complex vocabulary

  Restricted Code - Used by the working class, limited vocabulary, simple
• Attitudes and Values (Cultural Deprivation)

  • Parents values have an effect on educational achievement
  • Working class place less value on education, lack of ambition and encouragement
  • Less likely to discuss their child's progress with teachers
• Sugarman : 4 barriers to educational achievement for the working class

  • Fatalism
  • Collectivism
  • Immediate Gratification
  • Present Time Orientation
• Fatalism (Sugarman)


  Belief in fate, you cannot change your status as it's meant to be
• Collectivism (Sugarman)


  Valuing being part of a group and not succeeding as an individual, wanting to do the same as others
• Immediate Gratification (Sugarman)


  Seeking pleasure now, rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards later
• Present Time Orientation (Sugarman)


  Seeing the present as more important than the future, not having long term plans or goals
• Cultural Deprivation


  The lack of norms, values, skills and knowledge needed to succeed
• Material Deprivation

  Refers to poverty and a lack of material necessities which are linked closely to educational achievement
• Housing (Material Deprivation)


  Overcrowding : Harder to study and less room for educational activities.

  • Families living in temporary accomodation may find themselves having to more frequently
  • Housing in catchmen of high rated schools are higher in prices vice versa for low rated schools
• Some cultural deprivation theorists claim that middle-class parents put more value on education than working-class parents and are more ambitious for their children to do well.
• Bourdieu (Cultural Capital)

  • Focuses on economic & cultural factors such as language skill and interests can impact educational achievement
  • Middle-class parents parents are more likely to take their children on trips
  • Middle-class culture is what is taught in schools so when the middle-class have already been exposed to this culture they have an advantage in education
• Bourdieu (Cultural Capital) Evaluation

  Ignores the idea of social mobility and how some working-class students work harder to have success, even though they do not have cultural capital
• Reay (Social Capital)

  • Studied mothers involvement in their children's schooling
  • found that middle-class mothers were more likely to understand how the school system worked & how to help their children succeed
  • E.g. have their own experience, can help prepare & revise
• Reay (Social Capital) Evaluation

  Middle-class more likely to employ tutors rather than personally do it
• Francis (Social Capital)

  • Working-class parents do have high aspirations for their children but don't have the social capital to understand the 'rules of the game'
  • So they lack the knowledge and skills to enable them to make sense of the system
  • E.g. don't understand how applications and the system work