Education

• functions of education


  selective role

  political role

  social control

  economic role

  socialisation
• Selective role


  choosing the most able people for the most important jobs.he education acts like a sieve to sort students into the correct job roles. Society needs a diverse workforce with a variety of roles in order to function. All jobs are important for society to function
• Hidden curriculum


  informal learning of values, attitudes and principles transmitted to pupils but not as part of the formal curriculum of timetable subject which reflect society value preparing students for their place in society
• Specialist skills (Durkheim)


  Providing the range of skills needed for our economy
• Role allocation and meritocracy

  Education allocates people to the most appropriate job for their talents using examinations and qualifications. This ensures that the most talented are allocated to the occupations that are most important for society. This is seen to be fair because there is equality of opportunity - everyone has a chance of success and it is the most able who succeed through their own efforts - this is known as meritocracy
• hierarchy


  the hierarchy in school can be seen to reflect the structure of society and in the workplace .
• Competition


  School encourages competition between students e.g. sports, exam results
• Social control


  Rules, regulations, obedience and respect for authority
• Lack of satisfaction


  Preparing students for boring meaningless and repetitive jobs is a similar experience to employees at work.
• education facts


  13 percent of national spending goes to education that's around 87.2 billion in 2020
• Social Cohesion (Durkheim)


  a vital task for all societies to weld mass of individuals into a united front by being part of the education system created social cohesion - unites people glues the together and builds solidarity by giving them shared values or solidarity by making us feel part of something bigger by doing things such as pshe uniforms assembly
• a school is society in miniature (Durkheim functionalist)


  He argued 'school is a society in miniature' preparing children for wider world/life by providing an Environment where they can co-operate with people neither frienterm-45ds nor family exactly like the work place.
• bridge between the home and wider society by secondary socialisation (Parson functionalist)


  School is a bridge between the home and wider society by them playing a central role in secondary socialisation taking over from primary socialisation. He argued this is necessary as because the family and wider society work in different ways and children need to adapt to wide society.
• universal standards ( Parson Functionalist)


  in the family children are judged by their parent (what parson calls) particularistic standards - rules that only apply to that particular child as children are given different task based on their abilities and unique characteristics so parent often adapt rules to that child in particular. However in schools and wider society everyone is judged on the same universal standards so their applied equally irrespective of the individual.
• Meritocracy (Parsons - functionalist)


  In families status is fixed at birth however in society status is based on merit and achievement rather than ascribed . Parson believed education makes the transition from family to society however it ignores structural factors like material deprivation.
• social institutions Education (Marxist)


  Maintain the power of the ruling class by keeping everyone in 'their place
• Marxist view on education economical role

  Marxists say education reinforces the class system because children from the working classes learn the skills necessary for lower-status occupations, while children from middle and upper classes gain qualification needed for higher-status occupations.
• Marxist view on education socialisation role


  Marxists see education as socialising individuals into accepting the values of the bourgeoisie, e.g. valuing hard work in school is seen as preparing the future workforce of hard work
• Gender role allocation


  There is a link between expectations, subject choice and gender in school and gender role allocation in the wider society. In other words, job segregation begins at school.
• Inequalities in education


  We still have a relatively 'white' curriculum in our education system. A lot of topics for study, many of the authors and a lot of the illustrations still tend to focus on white history, for example. We learnthat the more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to gain the teachers praise, to win awards and to be seen as a 'good' student. Many argue this teaches us to accept that we will not be treated the same in society and that this is normal and acceptable.
• Criticisms of Durkheim:


  •Marxists: the culture being transmitted is one that benefits the ruling class, not society as a whole

  
  

  •Feminists: the culture being transmitted is one that benefits men and is patriarchal.

  
  

  •Not all students come to accept the values of society that are being are being taught, some rebel.

  
  

  Durkheim says education transmits a shared culture, but there may not be one single culture in a multi-cultural society. This links to the debate on what we mean by 'British values'.
• Criticism of Parsons


  •Marxists: the values being transmitted are ones that benefit the ruling class, not society as a whole

  
  

  •Feminists: the education system is not meritocratic; gender can have an influence on achievement and subject choice

  
  

  •Role allocation has been criticised because some of the highest earners in society have left school with no qualifications
• social mobility


  Movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society's stratification system to another
• Agent of social control


  The groups in society that control people's behaviour
• In a nutshell: The Marxist Perspective

  •Education prepares young people for capitalist society

  
  

  •Children are socialised into their class positions

  
  

  •Education is not meritocratic

  
  

  •The education system acts as a means of social control, encouraging conformity

  
  

  •The hidden curriculum prepares them for their place in society (hierarchy)-this is not
• Criticisms of Marxist perspective

  - Functionalists disagree and say education is meritocratic

  - Marxists assume that young people have no real ability to make choices or have control over what happens to them.

  - Marxists exaggerate the extent to which schools provide a willing and qualified workforce

  - Fails to consider other factors that may affect educational achievement e.g. ethnicity, gender.

  - Doesn't acknowledge any positives of the education system.
• Bowles and Gintis: schooling in capitalist America ( marxist)


  Bowles and Gintis see the role of the education as reproducing a workforce with the characteristics that help capitalism continue e.g. hard work, disciplined, obedient. In their study of 237 New York high school students they found that schools reward students who display these characteristics, while students who show greater independence and creative thinking are more likely to gain lower grades.
• correspondence principle - Bowles and Ginitis ( marxist)


  The idea that school mirrors the workplace. What is expected and valued in school is what is expected and valued in the workplace.Example: 1.Students obey rules -> Employees learn not to question the boss
• Myth of Meritocracy

  (Bowles and Gintis )

  Marxist

  Bowles and Gintis say 'myth of meritocracy', people are led to believe the rich deserve paying jobs because they have earnt them. Bowles and Gintis suggest say this is a lie. Class determines whether someone does well; the higher classes succeed and the lower classes fail.
• Criticisms of Bowles and Gintis' Marxist approach


  - Businesses these days do not want passive and unthinking workers, they want creative and independent workers capable of taking on responsibility and developing new ideas as part of a team.

  -Bowles and Gintis' view is too deterministic—it assumes all working class children will accept the values being taught by the hidden curriculum. But many students reject the values and rebel
• Academy school


  Academies are managed schools set up by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups. These schools have greater control over their finances, the curriculum and teacher's pay and conditions.
• academy school disadvantage


  Worries over staffing
• Faith schools


  Faith schools are mostly run in the same way as state schools. Their faith status is often reflected in their religious education curriculum, admissions criteria and staffing policies. RS a core subject in these types of schools with 10% of the timetable being given to RS,
• Faith schools disadvantage


  Admissions policies and staffing
• Free schools


  Schools that are set up and approved by the government e.g. set up because there are no schools around the area. Teachers MUST have qualifications to prove that they are able to teach.
• Free schools disadvantages


  Can be seen as selective and favoring m/class families
• grammer school


  Grammar schools select all or most of their pupils based on academic ability
• grammer school disadvantages


  Based on ability can reproduce class inequalities
• State-funded comprehensive schools


  Comprehensive schools aim to educate all pupils regardless of their ability or background. The aim is to ensure that all children have access to the same level and quality of education.
• State funded schools disadvantage

  However, because state schools must cater for a larger number of pupils, class sizes can be big, leaving some children feeling lost or unable to access the help they need. As these schools must also follow a stricter curriculum, there is less room for teachers to adapt their lessons or subjects to a particular class.