I Made for Ed

• Define the term 'comprehensive school'

  Non-selective schools, accepting students within a catchment area
• Using one example, briefly explain how schools can be seen to prepare pupils for the world of work

  One way: -School discipline codes, mirror the discipline codes of the workplace which focus on attendance, time-keeping and obedience
• Outline 3 criticisms that can be made of teacher labelling as an explanation of differences in pupil achievement

  • Too deterministic; pupils are reject or not be influenced by labels
  • Innate ability; functionalists claim schools are meritocratic, achievement is not dependent on labelling, but student ability
  • Modern teacher training; teachers are now trained to be aware of and to avoid labelling and stereotyping pupils
• Outline ways in which schools may promote competition between pupils

  Ranking pupils by ability; tests and examinations emphasise individual achievement

  Setting, banding or streaming; pupils are divided by perceived ability and compete to get into higher sets

  Pupils are encouraged to compete with each other for rewards; through behaviour reward systems such as merits
• Outline ways in which the education system may be seen as patriarchal

  The curriculum can be seen as patriarchal - there are more examples of males in subject content

  Double standards - teachers may give more of their time to boys

  The Male Gaze - girls may be seen as sexual objects

  Patriarchal hierarchies or power in schools; males are more likely to be in senior positions in schools
• Outline ways in which globalisation may have had an influence on educational policies in the UK


  Involvement in international testing programmes such as PISA testing - allow international comparisons of standards

  Traditional subjects such as STEM are prioritised in the curriculum - these subjects equip pupils with the skills required for the global skills-based economy

  Growth of the internet offers new ways of accessing information and testing - some schools have policies on home-based learning
• Outline reasons why some WC boys join anti school subcultures

  Status frustration - some WC boys may not achieve academically and join anti-school subcultures to gain status within their peer group

  Fewer job opportunities for WC boys - this may lead to them to express hegemonic masculinity through membership of anti-school subcultures

  WC attitudes and values - such as fatalism and immediate gratification may result in feelings of alienation for some WC boys
• Define the term 'secondary socialisation'

  The way that agencies other than the family transmit the norms, values and culture of a society
• Outline reasons why girls may be more successful in schools than boys

  Motivation of girls to succeed - girls use the increased presence of women in the world of work as an incentive to succeed

  Teacher expectations - teachers may have more positive and higher expectations of girls than boys (self-fulfilling prophecy)

  Feminisation of education - the curriculum is delivered in a way that may 'suit' feminine traits (reading, writing etc)
• Outline factors external to schools that may affect social class differences in educational achievement

  Financial capital - MC parents may be able to afford the equipment and experiences that contribute to high levels of educational achievement

  Poor housing - overcrowding in WC homes may mean there is no quiet place to study

  Parental attitudes towards education - MC parents may be more likely to value educational achievement for their children
• Outline functions that the education system performs for society

  Social solidarity - through the teaching of history/culture, school helps to create a shared sense of identity

  Teaching specialist skills - in a society with a complex division of labour this helps meet the needs of the economy

  Secondary socialisation - schools are focal socialising agencies teaching universalistic principles of behaviour to children
• Outline material factors that may affect social class differences in educational achievement

  High family income - means parents can pay for private tuition to help with schoolwork

  Parents having to work long hours to make ends meet - means they are less able to help their children with homework

  Inadequate nutrition - affects concentration in schools, may lead to illness and absence from school
• Outline reasons why government education policies aimed at raising educational achievement among disadvantaged people, may not succeed

  It is difficult to implement policies - for example, if they involve intervening in pupils home life to change how parents socialise children

  Educational policies alone cannot overcome poverty as a cause of underachievement

  Privileged groups may take advantage of policies - which may exclude disadvantaged groups - e.g. the assisted places scheme largely benefitted MC pupils
• Bernstein on Cultural Dep- External

  Speech codes - Differences in speech codes put WC children at a disadvantage - because elaborate code is used by teachers, textbooks and exams

  Restricted code is used by WC students

  • Early socialisation into elaborate code mean MC children at advantage
• Douglas on Cultural Dep- External

  Parents education - WC parents place less value on education, they are less ambitious and give their children less encouragement to participate in educational activities
• Sugarmann on Cultural Dep- External

  WC Subcultures: Sugarmann identifies 4 key acts that act as a barrier to educational achievement for WC children

  • Fatalism - Nothing you can do to change your status
  • Collectivism - Valuing being part of a group rather than an individual
  • Immediate gratification - Seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices for rewards in the future
  • Present time orientation - Seeing the present as more important (no long term goals)
• Material Deprivation - Housing

  Poor housing can affect a pupils achievement directly and indirectly

  • Overcrowding means there is no room for educational activities (homework/reading)
  • Families living in temp accommodation may find themselves moving frequently - disturbed education
  • Overcrowded means greater risk of accidents and higher risk of getting ill, this may lead to absence from school
• Material Deprivation - Diet & Health

  Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals

  Poor nutrition may affect childrens health - weakening immune system - this may result in more absences from school - Howard
• Bourdieu on Cultural Capital - External

  MC children with cultural capital are better equipped to meet the demands on the school curriculum

  Parents can convert cultural capital into economic capital - they can send their children to private schools
• Becker - Labelling - Internal

  Teachers judge and label pupils according to how closely they fit the 'ideal pupil', this would discourage students not seen as 'ideal', due to teachers deferring their time away from them and being unwilling to help
• Becker - Self-fulfilling Prophecy - Internal

  When students are given a positive label, they react by creating a positive self-concept and vice versa for negative labels

  Rosenthal & Jacobson - studied this by informing teachers of students who scored highly on an IQ test and would be quick learners

  Teachers treated those who were falsely identified as 'spurts' differently

  47% of those identified to 'spurt' had made significant improvement due to how teachers paid more attention to them by giving them more feedback
• Gillborn & Youdell - Streaming - Internal


  Teachers labelled WC students as unintelligent, resulting in them being placed in lower streams or sets
• Pupil Subcultures - Internal


  Lacey: Found that there were 2 ways in which pupil subcultures developed

  • Polarisation - Pupils respond to streaming by either moving to a pro-school subculture or an anti-school subculture
  • Differentiation - A form of streaming where those placed in a higher stream gain a higher status

  Hargreaves found that boys in lower streams were triple failures; they failed their 11+ exam, placed in lower streams then labelled as 'worthless louts', their solution to form a group that provided status
• Archer et al - Pupil identities


  Archer found that WC pupils invest in 'nike' identities, leading to self-exclusion from education, because education did not fit their identities (does not suit their habitus)
• External for Ethnic Differences in Achievement

  Linguistic Skills - Some pupils speak a different language and some speak an informal version of English

  Bereiter & Engelmann - State that the black Caribbean language is ungrammatical and disjointed, which means they cannot convey abstract ideas
• External for Ethnic Differences in Achievement

  Family Structure - There are higher rates of lone-parent families in black ethnicities

  Moynihan found that many black families are headed by a lone mother, leading to lower achievement of black boys due to how they do not have a male role model
• External for Ethnic Differences in Achievement


  Attitudes & Values - Some sociologists argue that black pupils have a fatalistic view on life, meaning they want immediate gratification and have limited motivation to achieve in the long term
• External for Ethnic Differences in Achievement

  Material Deprivation - Many minority ethnic groups are victims of racism in wider society, they face direct or indirect discrimination at work or in the housing market, they may be in low paid jobs or unemployed

  This impacts the child's educational opportunities
• Internal for Ethnic Differences in Achievement

  Gillborn & Youdell: Teachers had racialised expectations of black pupils and expected more discipline problems and saw their behaviour as threatening, black pupils were more likely to be punished for the same behaviour as white pupils

  Fuller: High achieving black girls maintained a positive self-image by rejecting teacher stereotypes.

  Mirza found that black girls strategies still disadvantaged them (wouldn't ask teacher for help)
• Internal for Ethnic Differences in Achievement

  Asian Pupils

  Wright: Found that Asian primary school pupils were stereotyped and treated differently

  Teachers used simple language because they would assume they would speak poor English
• Internal Factors in Ethnic (Pupil Subcultures)


  Sewell: Found that black boys developed a range of responses to teachers racist labelling

  • Conformists - Keen to succeed, accepted schools' goals
  • Innovators - Pro-education, but anti-school (valued success, not teacher approval)
  • Retreatists - Disconnected from the school and black subcultures outside of it
  • Rebels - Rejected the school's goals and conformed to the stereotype of the 'black macho lad'
• Internal - Ethnic


  Ethnocentric Curriculum

  Troyna & Williams state that the British curriculum prioritises white culture and the English language
• Gender Differences in Achievement

  Impact of Feminism:

  McRobbie studied girls magazines and found that in the 1970s, they emphasised importance of marriage, however nowadays, contain images of strong, independent women

  Feminists have campaigned for women's rights and changes in the law
• Gender Differences in Achievement

  Changes in Women's Employment

  • Changes in the law have improved the position of working women, e.g. the Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act
• Gender Differences in Achievement

  Changing girls ambitions - Sharpe interviewed girls and found that their ambitions in the 1970s were to marry/have kids (domestic role)

  However in the 1990s, the girls priorities had changed to careers and wanting to be independent
• Gender Differences in Achievement

  GCSE & Courswork: Mitos and Browne found that girls do better than boys in coursework - they are conscientious/organised

  Gorad found that gender gap increased sharply when GCSE was introduced in 1988

  GIST and WISE programmes encourage girls into science and tech

  National Curriculum - girls and boys largely study the same subjects

  Role Models - There are more female teachers (school as female gender domain)
• Internal - Educational Achievement

  • Teacher Attention - Swann found that boys dominate class discussions, whereas girls are better at listening and cooperating, teachers respond more positively to girls
  • French & French found that teachers paid boys and girls similar amounts of attention for academic reasons but boys received more attention because they were disciplined more often

  Selection & League Tables

  Marketisation policies have led to increased competition between schools - incentive to recruit more able students - girls are generally more successful, so attractive to schools
• External - Boys in Educational Achievement

  • Boys literacy - Parents spend less time reading to sons because it is seen as a 'feminine' activity
  • Boys leisure interests do not encourage language and communication skills, whereas girls 'bedroom culture' does

  Decline in Manual Labour

  Globalisation had led to decline in heavy industries - this has led to a male 'identity crisis', giving them little motivation to get qualifications for a job
• Internal - Boys in Educational Achievement

  • Feminisation of schooling - Boys fall behind because education has been 'feminised', schools no longer nurture masculine traits
  • The introduction of coursework has disadvantaged boys
  • Lack of male primary school teachers

  Laddish Subcultures: Peer pressure on boys to demonstrate their masculinity by being 'anti-school'
• Role of Education - Functionalism

  Durkheim: 2 main functions are social solidarity and specialist skills

  • Education system transmits society's culture from one generation to another, schools act as a 'society in miniature'

  Parsons: Schools are meritocratic, all pupils have the chance to succeed, school as an agent of socialisation

  Davis & Moore: Schools perform the function of selecting and allocating pupils to their future work roles by assessing individuals abilities to match them to a suitable job