Education

    Cards (194)

    • Types of schools
      • Academy schools
      • Grammar schools
      • Special schools
      • Comprehensive schools
      • Independent schools
      • Faith schools
      • Free schools
    • Academy schools

      Independent, state-funded schools which receive funding directly from the government
    • National curriculum
      • The subjects that must be taught in all local-authority-maintained schools
    • Catchment area
      The allocated area surrounding school accepts applicants from. The closer a student lives, the more likely they are to get in
    • Grammar schools

      State secondary schools that select their pupils by means of an examination taken by children at age 11, known as the "11-plus"
    • Special schools

      Schools catering to the needs of students with disabilities
    • Old Boys Network
      The informal system in which men who went to the same school or university help each other to find good jobs or get other social advantages
    • Comprehensive schools

      A state secondary school that does not select pupils on the basis of their ability
    • Independent schools
      Private schools that charge fees to attend instead of being funded by the government
    • Faith schools
      A school intended for a particular religion
    • Free schools
      Set up by an organisation or group of individuals, funded by the government but not controlled by the local authority
    • Functionalist view on education
      • The national curriculum refers to the subjects that must be taught in all local-authority-maintained schools
      • Catchment area: the allocated area surrounding school accepts applicants from. The closer a student lives, the more likely they are to get in
    • 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
    • Against Functionalists
      • Marxists
      • Bowles and Gintis
      • Meritocracy is a myth
    • Parsons' role allocation
      • Schools and other educational institutions are responsible for preparing people and sorting them for their future roles in society
      • They allocate people to appropriate jobs based on how well they do academically and their talents
      • They are responsible for identifying the most qualified people for the top positions in society
    • Meritocracy
      • 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
    • Durkheim's view on education
      • Ensures that everyone is brought together through a shared set of norms and values, creating a sense of belonging
      • Prepares us for the wider community so we know how to cooperate with people who aren't family and friends
      • Teaches knowledge necessary for work in modern, technical and industrial society through vocational courses
      • Must regulate people's behaviour as schools are agents of social control
    • Marxist view on education
      • Education aims to legitimise and reproduce class inequalities by forming a subservient class and workforce
      • Education also prepares children of the capitalist ruling class (the bourgeoisie) for positions of power
      • The education system is based on exploitation and oppression
      • Schools are gatekeepers of knowledge and decide what constitutes knowledge
    • Against Marxists
      • Postmodernists
      • New Right
      • Functionalists
    • Correspondence Principle (Bowles and Gintis)
      • 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
    • Feminist view on education
      • Society operates based on patriarchal ideology, maintaining men's dominance over women
      • Education socialises young people into a set of norms and values that teach gender inequalities and patriarchal values through the hidden curriculum
    • Against Feminists
      • 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
    • Evidence for Feminist view
      • Gendered subjects
      • Textbooks
      • Absence of female role models
      • Domination of space
      • Social control
    • 1944 Butler Education Act

      • Introduced the tripartite system to give all students an equal chance to develop their talents and abilities in a system of free, state-run education
      • Children's ability was tested at the age of 11 years by the 11-plus exam, and they went to one of three types of schools based on the results
    • Types of schools in the tripartite system
      • Secondary Modern
      • Secondary Technical
      • Grammar
    • Strengths of the tripartite system
      • The most able 15%-20% went to grammar schools, creating a stimulating and academic environment
      • The vast majority of 11+ failures went to secondary modern schools, engineered to teach lower-ability students
      • The 11+ tested effort and wasn't affected by social background, giving children from a lower class a chance at social mobility
    • Weaknesses of the tripartite system
      • The meritocracy is a myth - students with material and cultural advantages are more likely to pass the 11+ exam
      • Those who failed the 11+ exam were inadvertently labelled as failures, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy
      • Working class and ethnic minority students made the majority in secondary modern schools, where they were offered a second-rate education
      • Many children developed their abilities much later, but secondary modern schools were unable to meet their educational needs
    • 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
    • Instead of being a chance at social mobility, the tripartite system further entrenched social inequalities
    • Comprehensive Schooling
      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
    • Focus of Comprehensive Schooling
      Equality of opportunity — providing people the opportunity to compete on equal terms — on a level playing field
    • This means that everyone has the same chance of developing and earning the best qualifications by giving everyone the same access to education
    • Strengths of Comprehensive Schooling
      • 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
    • Weaknesses of Comprehensive Schooling
      • 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
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