Functionalist Role of Education

• Role of education: education is an important social institution that helps meet the needs of society and maintain stability
• Focuses on the positive functions performed by school
• 4 Positive Functions Performed By Education

  1. Creates social solidarity
  2. Teaches specialist skills for work
  3. Teaches students core values
  4. Role allocation and meritocracy
• Social Solidarity :

  The idea of a real integrative functioning society where all members have been socialised into shared norms and values.
• We have social solidarity when we feel like we are part of something bigger
• Durkheim argued that school makes us feel like we are part of something bigger
• How do we feel like we are part of "something bigger" in education?

  This is done through the learning of subjects such as history and English which gives us shared sense of identity
• An example of social solidarity in education?

  Students pledging allegiance to the flag in America
• Durkheim

  Durkheim said "school is a society in miniature" preparing us for life in wider society

  e.g. at school and work we have to cooperate with people who are neither friends or family, this gets ready to deal with people at work in later life
• Learning specialist skills for work

  Durkheim noted that an advanced industrial economy required a massive and complex Division of Labour
• Learning specialist skills


  At school individuals learn the diverse skills necessary for this to take place.

  e.g. we all learn the same subjects at school and then later on we specialise when we do GCSE's
• Examples of specialising at school

  • GCSE's
  • Vocational education/subjects where you learn skills required for particular professions e.g. engineering and construction, media, IT technicians and beauty therapy
• Durkheim believes that the most impressive thing about the modern education system was that they simultaneously taught core values and a sense of belonging whilst they teach us diverse and different skills that modern economic systems require to function
• Education teaches us core principles


  Parsons argues that education is the 'focal socialising agency' in modern society
• Schools play the central role in the process of secondary socialisation taking over from primary socialisation
• Schools playing the central role of secondary socialisation is necessary because the family and the wider society work in different principles and children need to adapt if they're to cope in the wider world
• • In the family children are judged according to particularistic standards by their parents.
  • They are judged by only the rules that only apply to that particular child
  • Individual children are given tasks based on their different abilities and judged according to their unique characteristics
  • Parents often adapt rules to suit the unique abilities of the child
• In contrast in schools and wider society, children and adults are judged on universalistic standards

  e.g. Judged by the same exams and laws

  • The rules and laws are applied equally to all people regardless of the unique character of the individual - school gets us ready for this
• Education allocates people to the most appropriate jobs for their talents using exams and qualifications
• Role allocation ensures that the most talented are allocated to the occupations that are most important for society

  • This is the seen to be fair because there is equality of opportunity
  • Everyone has a chance to to succeed and it is the able who succeed due to their own efforts - this is known as meritocracy
• Meritocracy

  • Functionalists believe that meritocracy is extremely important for peace in society because people in society will only accept status and wage differences
  • If those in lower status jobs believe that they have had a fair chance to climb the ladder and get higher status and better paid jobs themselves