Definitions

• Educational attainment - the qualifications achieved by students and the grades they receive in them
• Anti-school subculture - a group of students who reject the norms and values of school. members gain status from peers by disobeying rules
• Marketisation of schools - Policy introduced in 1988 which encouraged competition and choice of education. Schools publish league tables and exam results to allow parents to compare schools' performance
• Feminisation of schools - The idea that schools have become more favourable to girls. Nearly 75% of teachers are female. It has been suggested that this may socialise boys into believing that learning is 'for girls' due to the lack of male role models in schools
• Cultural capital - the knowledge, attitudes and values that middle - class parents provide for their children that gives them advantages in the educational system and helps them to succeed. Idea put forward by Marxist sociologist Pierre Bourdieu
• Patterns of attainment by gender - Since 1988, girls have outperformed boys in GCSEs but recently the gap has narrowed
• Patterns of attainment by social class - Government data shows that disadvantaged pupils are less likely to achieve well in GCSEs and make less progress in secondary school than they are expected to
• Cultural deprivation - Idea that some working class and ethnic minority students underachieve at school because they lack the 'correct' values, behaviours, attitudes and language skills from socialisation to succeed in education
• Hidden Curriculum - The messages and ideas that pupils learn indirectly at school that are not formally taught, such as valuing punctuality or being obedient to authority. Functionalists view this as a positive form of socialisation whereas Marxists and feminists would be critical of it's role in maintaining inequality.
• Material Deprivation - The lack of basic needs such as adequate housing, food and clothing caused by lack of money.
• Selective schools - A school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria e.g

  Grammar schools: students must pass the 11+ exam to attend

  Private/Independent schools: students families must be able to afford the fees to attend, as well as passing an entrance exam
• Self-fulfilling prophecy - Idea that when people are labelled in a certain way, they may live up to that label
• Setting - When pupils are placed in ability groups for each subject, different sets for each subject
• Patterns of attainment by ethnicity:

  The attainment of Chinese pupils is substantially higher than other ethnicities, they are more likely to make better progress than expected. Pupils from black ethnicities have the lowest attainment and are least likely to achieve grade 5 or above in English and Maths. When ethnicity, social class and gender are considered together then white working class boys are the lowest achieving social group.
• School's catchment area - the area from which a state school draws its pupils from
• Educational labelling - The process of a teacher attaching a characteristic to particular individuals or groups. This can be positive and negative. Students often live up to these labels creating a self fulfilling prophecy
• Streaming/banding - System where schools pupils in a year are divided into ability groups and taught in these classes. Students are in same group regardless of subject being taught
• Independent/private schools - Schools which are independent from government control. Pupils usually pay to attend
• State schools - Schools that are government funded and provide their educational services for free to children in the local area. E.g

  Academies: government funded schools that are not non-selective

  Grammar schools: also government funded but entrance is selective and based on a test of student's ability
• Ethnocentric curriculum - A curriculum that judges one culture as superior to others. The content taught gives priority to the culture and viewpoint of one particular ethnic group while disregarding others. Critics argue that the National curriculum values white western literature,art and history
• Peer pressure and subcultures explaining differences in attainment by gender - Sociologists have noted that boys are more likely than girls to experience negative peer pressure that holds back their learning at school.
• Education fostering social cohesion - When schools teach a shared set of norms and values. This encourages the strengthening of bonds and level of agreement between members of a society
• Education serving the needs of the economy - Belief that the educational system prepares students for work, ensuring a supply of skilled workers to benefit society
• Meritocracy - a fair society that rewards the most able and hard-working with high income, wealth and status. Everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed
• Education transmitting norms and values:

  When education acts as an agent of secondary socialisation by teaching students the expected behaviours of British culture
• Education facilitating social mobility:

  Idea that schools provide students with opportunities to move up or down the social class system
• How does crisis of masculinity explain the difference in attainment by gender:

  Idea that men are losing their traditional roles and are unsure of their identity. Since the 1970s there has been a rise in male unemployment because men are no longer the sole breadwinner in the family

  Sociologists suggests that this has lowered boy's motivation at school leading to lack of effort and underachievement.