Functionalists believe that every prosperous and advanced society is based on a value consensus - a shared set of norms and values everyone agrees on and is expected to commit to and enforce
A society whereby jobs and pay are allocated based on an individual's talent and achievements rather than social status
Individuals that work hard will be rewarded in society
Instead of people holding positions in society based on what their parents did and being born into a high or low status (ascribed status), people, through their efforts and their abilities, attain achieved status
Obedience to authority: taught to obey rules, accept the hierarchy, and not to question authority
Extrinsic rewards: taught that they should be motivated by external rewards in the form of exam results & good grades rather than enjoying subject matter and gaining satisfaction from learning
Competition: learn to compete in school through grades in the work play they're competitive with pay & promotion
Fragmented learning: school is covered in fragments, a few connections made between subjects - knowledge is broken down
Preventing creativity: rewards for students who display the characteristics of being hardworking, submissive and obedient
Ignore the fact that some women may actually enjoy subjects along the lines of nursing and childcare
Marxists believe that education benefits the rich and keeps capitalism running
Functionalists would believe that education is based on meritocracy - how hard you work, so it is up to the person to decide how much effort they are willing to put in, not their gender
Very few secondary technical schools were opened, due to the lack of money and a shortage of suitably qualified teachers. This failure to develop the technical part of the system undermined the whole structure. The tripartite system was, in effect, a two-tier system with grammar schools for the academically gifted and secondary modern schools for the other
Grammar schools received the lion's share of the money, reinforcing their image as the best part of the system, and places in grammar schools were highly sought after
Secondary modern schools were correspondingly neglected, giving them the appearance of being 'sink schools'. Although explicitly not presented as such, the secondary modern was widely perceived as the bottom tier of the tripartite system. They suffered from underinvestment
Many children developed their abilities much later, but secondary modern schools were unable to meet their educational needs and so never fulfilled their potential
Secondary modern schools were correspondingly neglected, giving them the appearance of being 'sink schools'. Although explicitly not presented as such, the secondary modern was widely perceived as the bottom tier of the tripartite system. They suffered from underinvestment and poor reputations, despite educating around 70% of the UK's school children
It was a generally held belief amongst the general public that the grammar schools were the best schools available, and entry into the other two types was considered a "failure". The 11-plus had also been accused of having a significant cultural bias
Once the Tripartite System had been implemented, the middle classes were found to be much more likely to win places at grammar schools. It was feared that society was being divided into a well-educated middle-class elite and a working class trapped in the secondary modern schools
Introduced in 1965 in response to the failings of the tripartite system which often simply reflected social class backgrounds, i.e., upper- and middle-class students attended grammar schools which were accessible due to academic privileges
Social barriers between students of different backgrounds are broken down as children of all abilities mix in these schools
There is no entrance exam, no child is labelled as a 'failure' as these schools cater for children of all abilities
Each school has a specific catchment area from which students are drawn, establishing the principle of local schools enrolling local children of all abilities and providing with the same opportunities
In mixed ability schooling, more academically able students are held back by the less able
Comprehensive schools limit parental choice as each student is expected to go to the nearest school in the area regardless of how good or bad that school's reputation is
Comprehensive schools are accepting of lower standards because they have a mixture of students from a range of social classes with different values and attitudes
Comprehensive schools are not really mixed social class as they are based on the local neighbourhood-inner city comprehensives are usually working-class students
They are not really comprehensive as they stream or set students within the school according to ability which often reflect social class difference