Education

• 11+ Exams


  Exams sat by children at the end of primary school 11yrs to determine which secondary school the child goes to
• Comprehensivation


  Introduction of the comprehensive system
• Catchment Area


  The location boundary which helps determine which school a child attends
• Streaming/Banding


  Splitting children into sets depending on ability
• Education is linked to social mobility as it provides opportunities for people from lower class backgrounds to move up the social ladder.
• Functionalists argue that education helps maintain social stability by providing individuals with skills needed for their role within society.
• Marxists argue that education reinforces inequality, with working-class students being disadvantaged due to their lack of cultural capital compared to middle-class students who have more access to resources such as private tutors and educational trips.
• Functionalist sociologists believe that education promotes equality through meritocracy, where success is based solely on individual effort rather than family background or wealth.
• Interactionism argues that education can be both an agent of change and reinforcement of existing power structures, depending on how teachers interact with students and whether they challenge or perpetuate stereotypes.
• Marxist sociologists believe that education perpetuates inequality, reinforcing the capitalist ideology and maintaining the status quo.
• Feminist perspectives suggest that gender roles are reproduced through education, leading to unequal outcomes between boys and girls.
• Postmodernism argues that education reflects dominant cultural values and norms, shaping individual identities and beliefs.
• Feminist perspectives suggest that gender roles are perpetuated through education, with girls often encouraged towards traditional feminine subjects like English and boys towards STEM subjects.
• Postmodernism argues that education is not neutral but rather reflects dominant ideologies and values, leading to the reproduction of existing power structures.
• Habitus


  Norms and values of a specific social class
• Cultural Capital


  Cultural knowledge and cultural competencies that people need to function effectively in society
• Capitalism


  An economic system based on private ownership of capital
• Tripartite System


  Grammar, technical and secondary modern schools. Brought in by the education act.
• Grammar School


  An advanced school for the most academically able
• In a meritocratic society, everyone has equal opportunity to succeed regardless of their background or circumstances.
• Achievement tests are used to measure academic performance and assess student progress towards meeting learning objectives.
• The curriculum reflects dominant values and ideologies, promoting conformity and obedience to authority figures.
• The marxist view that meritocracy is not real = Myth of Meriticracy.
• Agent of Socialisation


  The functionalist name given to institutions that teach us norms and values of society
• Value Consensus


  The idea that there are shared norms and values in society
• Social Solidarity


  The feeling of being a part of society
• What is meant by cream skimming?

  Where schools pick the children of higher ability so they receive good results and they cost less to teach.
• Privileged-skilled choosers?


  Parents with cultural and economic capital use it to gain their Childs educational capital.
• Semi-skimmed choosers?


  Working class parents that are ambitious towards their children; they have difficulty understanding the education market.
• Disconnected-local choosers?


  Working-class parents restricted by their lack of cultural capital. find it difficult to understand the education system.
• Explain the myth of parentocracy?

  BALL = education gives the appearance of parentocracy but its actually a myth.

  GERWITZ = middle class parents have an advantage over choice as a result of their cultural and economic capital.
• How does the myth of parentocracy hide inequalities?

  Myth of parentocracy makes the inequalities within the education system look inevitable.
• What is the A-C Economy?

  Success is determined by the number of GCSE grades A*-C. This is the education triage.
• Name the 3 types of parents GERWITZ identified?


  1.Privileged-skilled chooser.

  2.Disconnected- local choosers.

  3.Semi-skimmed choosers.
• Sue Sharpe's (1994) interviews with girls in the 1970s and 1990s show a major shift.

  • In 1974, the girls had low aspirations; educational success was unfeminine, appearing to be ambitious would be considered unattractive. They gave their priorities as 'love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs and careers, more or less in that order'.
  • By the 1990s, they had a different order of priorities - careers and being able to support themselves. Sharpe found girls were now more likely to see their future as an independent woman with a career rather than as dependent on their husband and his income.
• Sociological perspectives on the role of education:

  1. Functionalism suggests that education benefits society as a whole.
  2. Marxists believe that education only benefits the ruling classes.
  3. Feminism sees education as only benefiting men.
• What are the functionalist perspectives on the different functions of the education system?


  Socialisation Function - This involves learning the rules and norms of the society as a whole.

  Allocation Function - Schools identify the most capable students through testing and classroom achievements. The most capable students are allocated to the most important or challenging jobs.

  Social Placement - Education provides one of the major methods for upward social mobility. Schools and universities help students progress towards the careers they want.
• What does Hargreaves (1982) argue that education promotes instead of shared values?


  Competition and Individualism.
• The French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) said schools are “socialisation agencies that teach children how to get along with others and prepare them for adult economic roles” (Durkheim 1898).

  
  

  Social solidarity and specialist skills.
• Functionalism argues that educational achievement is based on merit (meritocracy). However research suggests the following factors also influence achievement:

  • Social class,
  • Gender,
  • Ethnicity.