Sociology

• The tripartite system

  1944

  Children were selected and allocated to one of the three types of secondary school.

  Grammer school - mainly middle class, only 20% working class

  Secondary school - manual work, 75% working class

  Technical school

  
  

  Where they were placed deoended on their grades from the 11+ exam
• Critics of the tripartite system


  Reproduced class inequality by channeling two social classes into two different types of school that offered unequal opportunities.

  
  

  Inequality through the ideology that ability is inborn.

  
  

  System failed three quarter of school children so lots of wasted talent.
• Comprehensive school

  1960


  Labor government

  Aim to promote both social justice and social equality.

  All aimed at increasing working class access to higher education.
• Critics of comprehensive


  Functionalist says comprehensive brings different social class together in one school. However ford found that there was little social mixing because of streaming that took place in school.

  
  

  Marxists say that there was reproduction of class inequality through streaming and labeling.
• Marketization


  School made like business

  Reduces state control

  Increasing competition between school
• Neo liberals & the new right


  Favored marketization because it attracts customers and provides the customer with what they want.
• Parentocracy


  Publications of league tables and often inspection reports that rank each school according to its exam performance, parents have info they need.
• Myth of parentocracy


  Ball argues that parentocracy is a myth, not a reality. It appears that all parents have the same freedom to choose which school to send their children.

  
  

  Gewirtz found that middle class parents are better able to take advantage of choices available. For example, as leech and campos they can afford to choose which school to send their children to.
• New labor and inequality


  While marketization policies have tended to increase inequality the new labor government of 1997 to 2010 introduced number of policies.

  
  

  Education action zones - provided them with additional resources.

  
  

  EMAS - payments to students from low income backgrounds to encourage them to stay on after 16 to gain better qualifications.
• Criticism of marketization
• Coalition government policies from 2010


  Aim of the coalitions education policy was to encourage 'excellence, competition and innovation' , by freeing schools from the 'dead hand of the state' , through policies such as academies and free schools.
• Academies


  Over half of all secondary schools had converted to academy status. Some academies are run by private educational businesses and funded directly by the state
• Free schools


  Set up and run by parents, teachers, faith organizations or businesses rather than local authority.

  
  

  Free schools, it is claimed that it gives parents or teachers the opportunities to create a new school if they are unhappy with the state schools I'm their local areas.
• Fragmented centralization


  Ball (2011) argues that promoting academies and free schools has led to both increased fragmentation and increased centralization of control over educational provision in England.

  
  

  Fragmentation- the comprehensive system is being replaced by a patchwork of diverse provision, much of it involving private providers, that leads to greater inequality in opportunities.

  
  

  Centralization of control - funded by central government. Their growth has reduced the role of elected local authorities in education.
• Coalition policies and inequality


  Tried to reduce inequality by introducing free school meals and the pupil premium.

  
  

  However one in ten teachers said that it has changed how they supported pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Privatization of educations

  2010-2015


  Transfer of public assets such as schools to private companies.

  
  

  Private companies in the esi are involved in an ever increasing range of activities in education, including building schools and providing supplies.
• Policy raised the achievements of children from minority ethnic background.

  Assimilation : policies in the 1960s - 70s focused on the need for pupils from minority groups to assimilate into mainstream British culture as a way of raising their achievement.

  
  

  However critics argue that some minority groups who are underachieving such as African Caribbean pupils already speak English and real cause of their underachievement lies in poverty and racism.
• Another policy for helping minority ethnic background


  Multi cultural education MCE

  Policies through the 1980s and into the 1990s aimed to promote the achievements of children from minority ethnic groups by valuing all cultures in the school curriculum.

  
  

  However it's been criticized on several grounds

  Maureen stone (1981) argues that black pupils do not fail for lace of self esteem so MCE is misguided.

  
  

  The new right criticism mce for perpetuating cultural divisions. They take the view that education should promote a shared national culture and identify into which minorities should be assimilated
• Another policy for helping minority ethnic background


  Social inclusion of pupils from minority ethnic groups, and policies to raise their achievement, became the focus in the late 1990s, policies including :

  Help for voluntary 'Saturday schools' I'm the black community

  English as an additional language programmers

  
  

  However Heidi safia mirza (2005) sees little change in policy. The policy still takes a soft approach that focuses on culture.
• Functionalist Approach


  Take a consensus view. Education performs 3 main functions - socialisation into a shared culture, teaching specialist work skills, selecting people for work roles. Education is organised on meritocratic principles.
• New Right Approach


  Take a conservative view. Education should be based on market principles.
• Marxist Approach


  Take a class conflict view. Education's role is to serve capitalism. It's an ideal state apparatus that reproduces and legitimises inequality through correspondence principle and myth of meritocracy.
• Feminist Approach


  Take a patriarchal view. Education still benefits the male gender more.
• Post-Modernist Approach


  Economy has become post-fordist. Education is becoming more diverse and flexible.
• Cultural Capital


  The knowledge middle class parents have that allows them to navigate the education system to best benefit their children.
• Centre for Longitudinal studies (2007)


  By the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to one year behind those with more privileged backgrounds. Gap widens with age.
• Bernstein (1975)


  Speech codes. Restricted code used by the working class. Elaborated code used by middle class.
• Restricted Code


  Primarily working class. Limited vocab. Based on short, unfinished, grammatically simple sentences. Speech is predictable. May only use single word or gestures. Descriptive not analytic. Speaker assumes listener shares same experiences.
• Elaborated Code


  Primarily middle class. Wide vocab, grammatically complex sentences. Varied speech communicating abstract ideas. Speaker makes no assumptions so spell out meanings explicitly.
• Douglas (1964)


  Working class parents place less value on education. Less ambition for children, less encouragement, rarely/not visiting schools. As a result, WC children have less motivation and lower achievement.
• Feinstein (2008)


  Parents education affects children's achievement. Educated MC parents have a more disciplined, high expectancy parenting style, are more aware of what is needed for progress, and can use income to promote success (e.g. private tutoring). Uneducated WC parents have harsh, inconsistent parenting style, less understanding of what is needed for progress, and little/no disposable income to promote success.
• Working-Class Subculture


  Members of the WC have different goals, beliefs, and attitudes that clash with education.
• Sugarman (1970)


  There are 4 key features of WC subculture that act as barrier to educational achievement. Fatalism, Collectivism, Immediate gratification, and Present-time orientation.
• Fatalism


  The belief in fate. "What will be, will be". Nothing you can do to change your fate so why bother approach.
• Collectivism


  Valuing being part of a group more than individual success. May lead to being held back by group loyalties.
• Immediate Gratification


  Seeking immediate pleasure rather than making sacrifices and waiting for greater rewards in the future.
• Present-time Orientation


  Seeing the present as more important than the future. Having no long-term goals.
• Keddie (1973)


  Criticism of cultural deprivation. Cultural deprivation is a myth. It is victim-blaming, WC failure should actually be blamed on schools and their dominant MC values and prejudices.
• Department for Education (2012)


  Barely 1/3 of pupils eligible for free school meals achieve 5 or more A*-C GCSE's
• How Poor Housing Influences Education

  Overcrowding means less room for educational activities, nowhere to work, and disturbed sleep. Temporary housing can result in moving from school to school. Cold/damp housing can result in poor health leading to more school absences.