education sociology

• • The state-funded comprehensive schools are open to everyone regardless of their gender, class, ethnicity, disability, academic achievements.
  • Their aim is to provide the same education to everyone.
• • The independent/ private schools set their own curriculum and they are selective. In other words, the pupils that are admitted need to match specific criteria.
  • Parents are paying fees and the schools are funded by investors and parents sometimes.
• • Academies are usually failed schools taken over by businesses.
  • They work in collaboration with local authorities and the government.
  • They can use their own timetables, curriculum, teachers’ pay.
• • Special schools are schools set up to admit pupils who have been given a statement of special educational needs (SEN) after they have been assessed.
  • They can be funded by the local authorities and others can be independent.
  • These schools have pupils with both learning and physical disabilities.
• • Specialist schools existed until 2010.
  • They usually had an emphasis on specific subjects.
  • They received extra funding for these subjects but then they got replaced by academies and free schools.
• • Faith schools are like state schools with the difference that they focus on a specific religion.
  • They might have specific criteria to be admitted and they might have different policies for their members of staff.
• • Grammar schools select their pupils based on academic ability.
  • Before they get admitted pupils need to sit the 11 plus exam.
• • Free schools are set up by charities, teachers, and the community after parents have asked for it.
  • They are funded by the government.
  • Free schools have greater control over teachers’ pay, curriculum and generally the school’s finances.
• • A selective school is a school where students are admitted on the basis of selection criteria, these are usually academic.
• • Education teaches us how we should behave, the values and culture of the society.
  • This is taught to pupils via:
  • The official/formal/national curriculum (timetabled lessons).
  • The hidden curriculum (values, attitudes, and how to behave).
  • This brings people together by building social cohesion or social solidarity; people feel they are part of something bigger
• • Emile Durkheim's expounds on his views of education in his work 'Moral Education (1925).
  • Durkheim believed that education transmits the norms and values of society.
  • He believed that it is necessary that individuals are united for society to function properly.
• • Durkheim argues that education provides the link between the individual and society so that pupils will have a sense of belonging (social cohesion).
  • He believed that the school is a ‘society in miniature’ where children learn to cooperate with those who are neither their kin (family) nor their friends and thus they learn self-discipline.
• • In society, different skills are needed for different jobs.
  • All people might start their education with the same subjects but then each one follows a different path.
• • Schools are responsible for secondary socialisation of children by teaching them the norms and values of society.
  • Parsons (1961) is a functionalist.
  • He believed that the school acts as a bridge between the family and society.
• • Parsons argued that schools are meritocratic (the harder a student works, the more they will succeed).
  • Individuals are judged on universalistic standards (standards that are the same for everyone).
  • This is in contrast to particularistic standards that are applicable in the family.
• • The most able person is allocated to the most important job based on their qualifications and talents.
  • This is seen as meritocratic by functionalists as this shows that society provides equal chances for everyone to succeed depending on their merits.
  • This can result in social mobility (where someone can move up and down the hierarchy depending on their abilities).
• • Parsons argued that schools promote value consensus (values that are shared broadly by everyone).
  • He believed that schools were important in selecting the right individuals for the right place once they become adults.
• • The values of the education system may simply be those of the bourgeoisie.
  • Meritocracy is a myth in an unequal society where wealth and status are more important than individual merit.
• • Functionalists tend to ignore that education may not always have positive functions as individuals may differ so education might not fulfil its role.
• • Functionalists argue that the education system is meritocratic.
  • They ignore the inequalities that exist generally and how these impact on the educational attainment of different groups.
  • For example, how class, ethnicity, and gender affect the attainment of pupils.
• • Functionalists tend to focus on the positives of education and ignore the fact that there are groups who might suffer in school.
  • Functionalists mention that school promotes shared values but does everyone have the same values, or is the British education system ethnocentric (the belief that your values are better than the values of other cultures)?
• • Marxists ignore other inequalities within the education system such as gender and ethnicity.
  • Marxists claim that the only thing the education system does is produce a docile, obedient workforce to serve the needs of the bourgeoisie. This is an exaggeration.
• • Marxists are criticised for focusing on the negatives of education and they state that meritocracy is a myth.
  • Marxists assume that working-class pupils have no free will and that they are doomed to fail. This isn’t the case as there are many successful examples of working-class pupils.
• • Mainstream feminist thought can focus too much on patriarchy as the sole cause of inequalities in the education system.
  • Other inequalities might exist in education due to class or ethnicity.
• • This is the belief that schools should be abolished because they don’t allow all pupils to progress the same because they don’t take into account individual differences.
  • Schools as they are today only focus on ticking the boxes that are provided to them rather than focusing on the pupils, i.e. helping them explore, experiment and have flexibility.
  • The mainstream schools are seen as restrictive.
• • Homeschooling is when education takes place at home.
  • Parents are responsible for teaching their children.
  • There aren’t specific rules of what needs to be taught.
  • Parents don’t need to be teachers.
  • Sometimes help from tutors is offered.
• Why parents choose homeschooling

  • Personal reasons:
  • e.g. prefer homeschooling as they believe that mainstream schools aren’t good enough.
  • Religious reasons:
  • e.g. they might not be able to get a place in a religious school of their choice.
  • Disabilities:
  • e.g. the child might have special educational needs and parents feel these can’t be accommodated in a school environment.
• • The alternative provision to mainstream schools are ‘democratic schools’.
  • They are called ‘democratic’ because their idea is that everyone should be equal, including teachers and pupils.
  • They can be found in Thailand, the States, England (Summerhill) and other places.
• Democratic schools cont.

  • Democratic schools are also called ‘free schools’ because their philosophy is for individuals to feel free to do what they want, e.g. play, have free access to art and computers, all lessons are optional.
• School ethos

  • This refers to the atmosphere of the school.
  • A school might focus on academic attainment, morals and policies dealing with bullying or racism, or any other type of discrimination
• Hidden curriculum

  • This refers to the norms and values that teachers teach the pupils.
  • For example, respecting each other, being polite, queuing, having correct uniform standards.
  • It teaches pupils the importance of competition which is a trait necessary for their adult life.
• • Setting is putting pupils into groups based on their ability in particular subjects.
  • This is seen as positive as it challenges the most able and lets the least able to work at their own pace
  • However, this method can lead to labelling.
• • Mixed ability is when pupils are put into groups invariably of their achievement.
  • This can push some pupils to try harder but at the same time can drag brighter pupils down as the teacher might adapt their lesson according to the least academically capable.
• • Streaming is putting pupils into groups based on their ability on general assessments.
  • It’s easier to have pupils divided based on their performance, but it can lead to low self-esteem.
• • Pupils tend to be labelled based on their academic abilities.
  • For example, once a student is labelled as ‘not very bright’ everyone responds to this label and perceives them as ‘not very bright’.
  • The labelled pupil then starts to live up to this label and behaves in this way. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy.
• • According to Becker, labelling takes place into schools.
  • In other words, teachers tend to make judgements based on pupils' appearance and behaviour.
  • Usually, middle-class pupils tend to be perceived as successful and this is why they are put in the higher streams and sets
• • These are groups of pupils who share the same norms and values.
  • They tend to have the support of their peers and that gives them a sense of fulfilment.
  • They can be separated into pro- and anti-school subcultures depending on whether they agree or disagree with the dominant norms and values.
• • The working-class parents that don’t value education tend to pass on their children the same mentality.
  • So when the latter go to school they form anti-school subcultures, i.e. groups who go against the norms and values of the school as Willis suggested in his study ‘Learning to Labour’.
• • These are groups of pupils who share the same norms and values.
  • They tend to have the support of their peers and that gives them a sense of fulfilment.
  • They can be separated into pro- and anti-school subcultures depending on whether they agree or disagree with the dominant norms and values.
• • Ball researched schooling in a south coast comprehensive school.
  • It was based on three years' fieldwork as a participant observer.
  • This is a participant observation study in the tradition of Colin Lacey’s Hightown Grammar and David Hargreaves Social Relations in a Secondary School.