Education

• Marxism

  -main role is to pass on ruling class ideology that supports capitalism to legitimise and reproduce inequality

  Althusser=education is an ideological state apparatus which reproduces class inequalities. Education legitimises inequalities by creating a false consciousness.

  Bowles and Gintis=correspondence principle, myth of meritocracy, hidden curriculum

  Bourdieu=claims that middle-class possess cultural capital

  Marxism ignores the influence of the formal curriculum and ignores any interactions or processes within school.
• New Right

  -education system should be run like a business and enable parents to have choice in the school they send their children to.

  -optimistic that the education system can offer opportunity for all.

  -they claim that the private system is a better model of education

  -the role and function is to enable individual choice.

  -Chubb and Moe=marketisation is beneficial as it helps to improve standards and efficieny.
• Functionalism

  Durkheim=it is a key aspect of socialisation as individuals conform to social values and act as a form of social solidarity

  Parsons=school acts as a bridge between the home and wider society which is known as particularistic and universalistic standards.

  Davis and Moore=role allocation, school prepares people for their future roles

  -education is a meritocracy

  critic Hargreaves=education promotes competition and individualism and not shared values
• Feminism

  -education system perpetuates a patriarchal ideology leading to girls moving into lower paid jobs and weaker economic positions in society.

  -women are overlooked in education

  Liberal=education system socialises young people into gender roles. Changes should take place within existing structures.

  Radical=it is a tool that perpetuates gender differences through gender roles.

  Marxist=role is to create an obedient and compliant workforce where women are seen as free labour.
• Postmodernism

  -education reflects the increasing individualism in society

  -individual identity is becoming more fluid and that a range of factors shape and influence a person's identity.

  -globalisation has increased the use of other countries techniques

  -globalisation has led to the development of a greater range of working and learning opportunities
• Interpretivism

  -explores education on a micro level

  -they don't regard education as positive or negative

  -they look at the way labelling affects students during and after school

  -labels can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy
• Social class- External factors

  Feinstein=evidence of the effects of class differences are apparent even before children reach nursery

  -material deprivation

  -cultural deprivation

  -lower aspirations

  -parental interest
• Social class- Internal Factor

  
  

  Woods=students adapt to their schooling environment which are to comply, ingratiate or rebel

  Keddie=teachers label students from middle class backgrounds as 'ideal pupils'

  Sugarman=working class has a particular culture that prevent them from doing well- immediate gratification, collectivism, fatalism, present time orientation
• Social class- External factors

  Douglas=parental interest and encouragement became ever more important in encouraging children to reach their full potential

  Bernstein= speech codes

  -lower aspirations from working class

  -culture clash from school and home

  -cultural and material deprivation
• Social class- Internal factors

  -labelling (Becker)

  -self-fulfilling prophecy

  -streaming/setting/banding

  -subcultures

  White=curriculum is based on middle class knowledge
• Social class- Key evidence

  -children who have free school meals are less likely to reach their expected targets

  -social class remains the largest factor in determining different results

  -NEETS are disproportionately working class
• Social class- Marketisation

  -1988 Education reform act introduced market forces into education.

  -schools run like businesses so there was an increase in competiton.

  -middle-class parents are able to afford to 'play the system' by moving into better catchment areas

  -the constant driving up of standards widens inequalities
• Gender- Internal and External factors

  -more emphasis on equal opportunities for girls

  -girls are more likely to form pro-school subcultures whereas boys form 'laddish' subcultures

  -girls generally mature earlier than boys

  -more female role models

  -legislation to increase and more equality in the work and home

  -changing attitudes about the role of women
• Gender- External factors

  McRobbie=bedroom culture

  Browne and Ross=gender domains

  Francis=gendered primary socialisation
• Gender- Internal factors

  -labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy

  -subcultures

  -curriculum

  -coursework

  Sewell=feminisation of education

  Epstein=peer pressure

  -gendered subject choices

  -male gaze
• Gender- Key evidence and social policy

  -gap between girls and boys is at its widest at GCSEs

  -girls outperform boys at all levels since mid 1990s

  -Raising boys' acheivement

  -Dads and sons campaign

  -Education Act 2011-reduction of coursework

  -Sure start
• Gender-differences in subject choices

  -girls are more likely to choose subjects in the arts and humanities while boys choose science and technology-related subjects

  Smith=girls make up around 70% of all A-level psychology candidates

  Francis=schooling process reinforces and reproduces gender indentities
• Ethnicity-External factors

  -racism in society

  -minority ethnic groups are twice as likely to live in poverty as White British

  -material deprivation

  -cultural deprivation

  Engelmann=language differences

  Noon=evidence that managers will overtly discriminate workers based on their ethnicity
• Ethnicity- Internal factors

  -institutional racism

  -labelling (Fuller)

  -self-fulfillig prophecy

  -lack of role models

  -ethnocentric curriculum

  -language differences
• Ethnicity- marketisation

  -reproduce some inequalities as some ethnic minorities are unable to use parental choice

  -ethnic groups who experience the lowest outcomes the poorer groups, they lack cultural capital and money to pay for the commute to school and educational goods
• Ethnicity- Key evidence

  -some ethnic groups outperform like Chinese and Indian

  -some ethnic groups underperform like African Caribbean and White working class
• Relationships and processes in school-Processes

  -hidden curriculum ( Bowles and Gintis )- preparation for adult world

  -stereotypes-labelled from 'slow' to 'bright' which is known as the halo effect ( Waterhouse )

  Becker=concluded that teachers initially evaluate pupils in relation to a stereotype of an 'ideal pupil'
• Relationships and processes in schools-Labelling

  Rosenthal and Jacobson=pupils can bring their self image and behaviour in line with these teacher stereoypes and expectations

  Merton=a student may find a negative label difficult to shake off which can create a self-fulfilling prophecy
• Relationships and processes in schools-Categorisations

  -banding, streaming and setting involve organising pupils acoording to their actual or predicted ability

  Ball= pupils in higher sets and streams werre 'warmed up' tp achieve highly

  Keddilower= lower-stream pupils weren't given the same access to knowledge compared to higher streams

  Gillbourn and Youdell= educational triage, division of pupils into three groups
• Relationships and processes in schools-student experience

  Lacy= the process of differentiation and polarisation reactions are often include the formation of pupil subcultures

  Woods= range of responses between pro and anti-school subcultures that would change over time

  -reactions to education influence pupil identities, motivation in schools and levels of achievement
• Educational policies-equality

  Gillborn and Youdell=4 aspects of educational opportunity:

  1.equality of access

  2.equality of circumstances

  3.equality of participation

  4.equality of outcome

  -attempts to equality of opportunity=tripartite system, comprehensive system

  -compensatory policies=educational action zones, excellence in cities, pupil premium
• Educational policies-privatisation

  -privatisation refers to the drive to make schools and colleges operate more like independent private businesses

  Ball and Youdell=distinguish between privatisation in education and of education

  -privatisation creates more business-like and efficient schools. leading to raised standards

  -provides parents with more choices

  -however money might be drained from education and into private profit. it may also lead to more inequalities in education
• Educational policies-marketisation

  -1988 education reform act has three main features= indepedence, competition and choice

  -parentocracy isn't a reality for many parents, parents from disadvantaged backgrounds might be dicriminated against

  -schools might attempt to maintain their position in league tables by concentrating resources on those who are most likely to achieve

  -marketisation fails to help weaker schools improve
• Conservative policies


  1988 Education Reform Act

  -parental choice and open enrolement

  -national curriculum and league table

  -introduction of ofsted

  -encouraging schools to 'opt out'
• Labour policies

  -increased funding for schools

  -more nursery education (free) and smaller primary classes

  -establishment of Education action zones

  -introduction of education maintenance allowance

  -introduction of specialist schools and academies

  -stricter ofsted and an increase on uni fees
• Coalition policies

  -increase in the number of academies

  -introduction of free schools

  -pupil premium

  -reintroduction of 2-year a levels

  -tougher performance targets for schools

  -EMA cut

  -emphasis on old-fashioned discipline
• Globalisation


  -international league tables compare the standards of educational performance

  -British universities are relying on globalisation to help with financial hardships as international students pay much higher tuition fees

  -increasing flow of people from other cultures has led to teachings of multiculturalism, citizenship studies and a wider variety of modern foreign languages
• Durkheim


  -social solidarity

  -education teaches specialist schools for work

  -education helps to make individuals feel themselves to be part of a community
• Parsons


  -education acts as a bridge between the home and wider society

  -particularistic and universalistic standards

  -education is meritocratic

  -equal opportunities- work hard= good grades
• Davis and Moore


  -role allocation

  -allocating the appropriate job roles
• Bourdieu


  -middle class possess cultural capital

  -middle-class students get better qualifications so get better jobs and therefore paid more
• Bowles and Gintis


  -myth of meritocracy

  -hidden curriculum

  -correspondence principle
• Althusser


  -school creates a false consciousness, it presents the capitalist system as just and inevitable

  -school creates a passive and subservient workforce

  -ideological state apparatus

  -capitalist society cannot be maintained by force alone

  -education legitimises inequalities through subconsciously introducing a particular set of ideas or ideology
• Chubb and Moe


  -marketisation is beneficial to the education system as it helps improve standards and efficieny
• Becker


  -labelling