Sociology

• Durkheim's views of education

  Durkheim suggested that education performed a range of positive functions for society
• Two functions of education according to Durkheim


  • Promotion of social solidarity
  • Teaching of specialist skills
• Social solidarity


  The social ties that bind us together
• How education promotes social solidarity

  1. Teaching students about their shared heritage

  2. Communal gatherings

  3. Creating social cohesion
• Durkheim was writing at a time of dramatic social change following the impact of the industrial revolution and the birth of the modern era
• Mechanical solidarity


  The more traditional form of social solidarity typical of the pre-industrial era
• Organic solidarity


  The new bonds formed as a result of industrialization, urbanization and secularization
• Durkheim proposed that the emerging state education systems promoted a sense of social solidarity in order to promote moral education
• Educational policies often look to promote social solidarity in schools and colleges
• Changes to the curriculum introduced by Michael Gove in 2013


  • Removing European and American history
  • Removing texts by non-British authors from the literature curriculum
• The coalition government's introduction of compulsory teaching of British values into schools


  • Democracy
  • The rule of law
  • Individual liberty
  • Mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith
• Marxist perspective on functionalist ideas

  Functionalism promotes the benefits for society, while Marxism suggests the benefits do not serve the masses but rather the ruling classes
• Stephen Ball suggested that the British curriculum is centered on empire and conquest, and that education is guilty of 'little englandism'
• The teaching of British values could further marginalize minority ethnic groups in society
• Specialist skills


  The diverse and complex set of skills required in the modern era
• How education teaches specialist skills

  1. Setting up the knowledge and skills required through the national curriculum

  2. Offering subject choices that prepare students for specific professions

  3. Providing vocational qualifications
• The creation of red brick universities in the UK around the turn of the 20th century focused on the new technical and scientific skills
• Government initiatives to give additional funding to schools if students are completing level 3 maths qualifications


  • Level 3 maths qualifications
  • Initiatives for the training and recruitment of teachers in shortage subjects like chemistry, physics, and modern foreign languages
• Standardized tests like A-levels, GCSEs, and SATs are designed to test students' specific skills
• There is an increasing focus on the impact of globalization in subjects like sociology, to prepare students for the global marketplace
• Marxist perspective on the teaching of specialist skills

  Students are taught fragmented knowledge that enables them to perform specific roles, rather than seeing the connections between subjects. This creates a reserve army of labour and excessive competition in job markets, driving down wages and forcing workers to be more obedient, submissive, and compliant.
• High numbers of young people who are unemployed or underemployed despite having qualifications (NEET figures) demonstrate that having skills doesn't always guarantee employment
• Shortages in the UK in nursing, teaching, IT, and the sciences have led to increased immigration to fill these vacancies, illustrating a failing of the education system to teach specialist skills adequately
• Feminists argue that the teaching of specialist skills has created hierarchies of employment, with girls being discouraged from traditionally masculine subjects