education perspectives

• Functionalists consider education


  It's a fair system, a meritocracy where everyone has equality of opportunity and the best performers get the best rewards and jobs
• Hidden curriculum


  Everything learned in school not just in lessons, like obedience, respect, punctuality - functionalists see this as positive as it teaches life skills for work
• Talcott Parsons' view


  Education acts as a bridge between the family and wider society/workplace, providing a different type of socialisation to the family
• Davis and Moore's role allocation theory

  Schools sort and select students into the most appropriate roles and jobs based on their talents and efforts
• Criticisms of functionalist view: Inequality in achievement between different groups, not truly meritocratic, hidden curriculum can be seen negatively
• Marxist view of education

  Meritocracy is a myth, education legitimises and repeats inequality, benefits the middle/upper classes at the expense of the working class
• Bowles and Gintis' correspondence theory


  Schools correspond to and mirror the needs of capitalism and the workplace, teaching skills for exploitation
• Bourdieu's cultural capital


  Middle class students have cultural capital (knowledge, values, experiences) that schools value, working class students lack this
• Paul Willis' working class resistance


  Working class students resist middle class school culture and values, see no point in trying hard as they expect to get working class jobs anyway
• Criticisms of Marxist view: Meritocracy is not completely a myth, hidden curriculum doesn't always produce work-ready individuals, education doesn't only benefit capitalism
• Feminist view of education

  Education system is patriarchal, set up to maintain and justify gender inequality, though this has changed with girls now outperforming boys
• The whole point of social institutions like education is to maintain and justify gender inequality
• Schools are run by men in favour of men to reflect the patriarchal system
• Girls significantly outperform boys on almost every measure in school
• Subjects like engineering, resistant materials and technology are male-dominated, while textiles and food tech are female-dominated
• Marginalised


  Not seen as important, on the periphery
• Boys dominate space and time in school

  Girls are marginalised to the outsides
• In the last 30 years, there has been a feminisation of education with more female teachers, but senior positions are still male-dominated
• Marxists argue schools control the working class by preparing them for capitalism
• Feminists argue schools reinforce patriarchy and keep women marginalised
• Functionalists see schools as meritocratic, providing equal chances for success
• Marxists argue meritocracy is a myth
• The whole point of social institutions like education is to maintain and justify gender inequality
• Schools are run by men in favour of men to reflect the patriarchal system
• Girls significantly outperform boys on almost every measure in school
• Subjects like engineering, resistant materials and technology are male-dominated, while textiles and food tech are female-dominated
• Marginalised


  Not seen as important, on the periphery
• Boys dominate space and time in school

  Girls are marginalised to the outsides
• Boys are labelled positively for promiscuity


  Girls are labelled negatively for the same behaviour
• In the last 30 years, there has been a feminisation of education with more female teachers, but senior positions are still male-dominated
• Marxists argue schools control the working class by preparing them for capitalism
• Feminists argue schools reinforce patriarchy and keep women marginalised
• Meritocracy


  The idea that people succeed based on merit, effort and ability
• Functionalists see schools as meritocratic, sorting and selecting people based on merit
• Marxists argue meritocracy is a myth and education serves the interests of capitalism