EDUCATION - AQA A LEVEL SOCIOLOGY

• What are the four functions of education according to functionalists

  Socialisation & Social solidarity DURKHEIM

  Bridge between family and society PARSONS

  Developing Human Capital SCHULTZ

  Role allocation DAVIS N MOORE
• Socialisation & social solidarity DURKHEIM


  The education system meets a functional pre request of society by passing on the cultural norms and values of society. This is achieved through the hidden curriculum and PSHE lessons.

  this helps to build social solidarity as it teaches students the core values of society.
• Bridge between family and society PARSONS


  parsons believed that schools provide a link between the family and wider society which allows students to move from the ascribed status and particularistic values of the home to the meritocratic and universalists values of wider society.
• developing human capital SCHULTZ


  This suggests that investment in education benefits the wider economy. education can provide a properly trained, qualified and flexible workforce. They argue that education makes sure that the best and most qualified people end up in jobs that require the most skill.
• Role allocation DAVIS & MOORE


  The education system provides a means to selecting and sifting people into the social hierarchy. In a meritocratic society access to jobs and power, wealth and status are directly linked to educational achievement.
• functionalist EVALUATION 


  • Ignores aspects of the education system which are dysfunctional such as negative conflict

  • myth of meritocracy- private education

  • Marxists - hidden curriculum reinforced social inequality And maintains ruling class ideology

  • feminists - hidden curriculum maintains and reinforces patriarchy not meritocracy

  • Wong - functionalist see children as passive puppets of socialisation when the process is much more complex and involves teacher-pupil relationships

  • there is a weak link between educational achievement and economic success
• Human capital 


  The stock of knowledge, skills, values, habits and creativity that makes someone an economic asset to society.
• Hidden curriculum 


  The informal learning processes that happen in school. It is a side effect of education that teaches students the norms and values of society.
• Particularistic values 


  Means values and rules which only apply to that particular person in a given situation (e.g., home).
• Universalistic values 


  Values and rules which apply to all members of society equally.
• New right view of education

  Similar beliefs to the functionalists but believe that the state takes too much of a role and that free market policies (marketisation) would raise standards.

  Schools should compete with one another and parents and pupils should be seen as consumers.

  chubb and moe - education vouchers and parentocracy
• New right influence on education policy

  1980s vocational education

  1988 education reform act:

  • funding formula

  • league tables

  new labour - academies

  coalition government:

  • free schools

  • privatisation of education
• Education vouchers

  Education vouchers refer to a system where parents are given financial resources or vouchers to choose the school their child attends, including private schools. This idea aims to introduce competition and empower parents to make educational choices for their children.
• New right EVALUATION

  • New Right's focus on market principles and competition in education can lead to increased social inequalities. Critics argue that this approach may favor those from privileged backgrounds and neglect the needs of disadvantaged students.

  • the New Right's emphasis on individual choice and parental control may undermine the role of the state in ensuring equal access to quality education for all. It is argued that this approach may result in a fragmented and unequal education system, where some schools thrive while others struggle.
• Marxist view on education

  The Main role of education is to maintain capitalism and reproduce social inequality.

  • reproduction of social inequality ALTHUSSER

  • legitimisation of social inequality ALTHUSSER

  • correspondence principle BOWLES AND GINTIS

  • myth of meritocracy BOWLES AND GINTIS
• Reproduction of social inequality ALTHUSSER 


  education deliberately engineers W/C failure in order to create an unqualified Factory workforce.

  private education prepared children of the elite for positions of power.

  hidden curriculum is shaped to assist M/F achievement and deter W/C achievement.
• Legitimisation of social inequality ALTHUSSER 


  M/C has access to more cultural and economic capital which puts them at an advantage

  education encourages students to blindly accept capitalist values, Through the hidden curriculum
• Correspondence principle BOWLES & GINTIS


  school processes mirror the world of work in order to prepare them for manual labour:

  • wages not satisfactory

  • lack of control

  • obedience

  • achieved status

  • discipline and consequences

  • boredom
• Myth of meritocracy BOWLES & GINTIS

  Education claims to be meritocratic but schools discriminate in favour of the middle class, e.g. language

  hidden curriculum lowers working class ambitions.
• MARXIST CRITIC Giroux: 'Marxism rejects the view that the working class passively accept their position to become compliant workers. Existence of anti-school subcultures, truancy and exclusion suggest both the hidden curriculum and correspondence principle have failed. Marxists often fail to acknowledge that gender and ethnicity often combine with class to produce success or failure.'
• MARXIST CRITIC Social democratic view

  Halsey, Floyd and Martin suggest that Marxists exaggerate the effect that education has on working class achievement. They point out that government policies such as comprehensivisation have improved the chances of the working class.
• MARXIST CRITICISM Neo-liberal view

  Saunders claims that middle class educational success is due to biological differences.
• MARXIST CRITICISM New right view

  Chubb and Moe argue that the Marxists fail to see how education has failed all social groups, not just the working class. They believe that education has failed to equip all students with the skills needed to be successful in the global marketplace.
• MARXIST CRITIC Postmodernist view


  Marxists fail to acknowledge that education actually reproduces diversity rather than inequality. Morrow and Torres claim that students create their own identities rather than being constrained by traditional structures like class. In postmodernist societies, students are able to make their own choices about their identity, e.g. increasing number of trans students.
• Ideological state apparatus 


  A social institution whose main role it is to pass on the dominate ideology of the ruling class
• Marketisation 


  The process of where by services like education are pushed towards operating like a business based on supply and demand. Students are considered consumers rather than pupils.
• Privatisation IN education 


  Changing the internal processes of a school to be more like a business, for example treating parents and students as consumers, target setting, performance related pay and league tables.
• Privatisation OF education 


  Opening up aspects of education to private businesses such as staff training, school finances, school management (academy chains) and exams.
• Parentocracy 


  When a childs achievement has more to do with parental wealth and wishes than student ability. Parents are able to have more choice over where to send their children.
• There features of marketisation

  INDEPENDENCE - allowing schools to run them how they see fit

  COMPETITION - making Schools compete with eachother for students

  CHOICE - giving customers (parents and students) more choice in where they go to school
• Three elements of quality control

  Foster inspections

  publication of performance tables such as examination results

  national curriculum- baseline for what is taught
• Evaluation of privitisation OF education

  Positives:

  • more efficient
  • more choice for parents
  • profit making might induce companies to support failing schools

  negatives:

  • takes money from the education system

  • business go out of business - leave schools stranded
  • less equality
• Policies which promote marketisation

  Conservative govt 1979-1997:

  • league tables
  • local management schools
  • funding formula
  • open enrolment

  Labour govt 1997-2010:

  • business sponsored academies
  • specialist schools

  coalition govt 2010-2015:

  • new style academies
  • free schools
• Policies which promote raising standards policies

  Conservative govt 1979-1997:

  • ofsted
  • national curriculum
  • national testing

  Labour govt 1997-2010:

  • maximum class sizes for 5-7yr old
  • building schools for the future program
  • education action zones
  • business sponsored academies

  coalition govt 2010-2015:

  • pupil premium
  • english baccalaureate
  • reform of national curriculum and exams system
  • tougher performance targets for school
• evaluation of marketisation policies and raising standards MOM

  MYTH OF MERITOCRACY

  • parents do not have equal freedom to choose the schools which their child attends due to covert selection processes, postcode lotteries in catchment areas, MC parents have much more freedom in choice due to their cultural capital, higher education and income
• Evaluation of marketisation policies and raising standards : EDUCAITONAL TRIAGE


  Teachers tend to allocate more resources to the students who are on the C/D border line in order to achieve the 5 A*-C needed for the league tables thus ignoring those who are unlikely to achieve this.
• Evaluation of marketisation policies and raising standards : REDUCED QUALITY CONTROL

  ofsted is not as independent as it appears with government and politicians interfering with the process by changing the standards and goal posts
• What are the three aims of education policy in the YK

  ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY: develop the skills of the young to improve the labour force. This involved making the education system meet the needs of industry and employees.

  RAISING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS: uk education needs to compete in a global education market and is ranked against other countries - e.g., PISA

  CREATING EQUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY: ensuring that all students get the best educational opportunities
• What are the 4 aspects of educational equality identified by Gillbourn and Youdell

  1. EQUALITY OF ACCESS
  2. EQUALITY OF CIRCUMSTANCE
  3. EQUALITY OF PARTICIPATION
  4. EQUALITY OF OUTCOME
• Equality of access

  Every child should have the same opportunities to access educational provision of similar quality regardless of socio economic background