the role and functions of the education system

• the functionalist perspective on education

  • Functionalists believe education serves functions for society, which help create social solidarity and are necessary for teaching essential workplace skills. Key functionalist theorists include Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore.
  • focus on the importance of the links between education and other social institutions, such as the family and the workplace
• the four basic functions of education according to Functionalists

  1. Passing on society’s culture and building social solidarity
  2. Providing a bridge between the particularistic values of the family and the universalistic values of society
  3. Selecting and allocating people for roles in a meritocratic society, legitimising social inequality
  4. Developing human capital
• passing on society's culture and building social solidarity

  • Education meets a key functional prerequisite by passing on to new generations the central or core values and culture of a society-This is achieved by both the hidden curriculum and the actual subjects learnt at school (the overt curriculum), for example through subjects like Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE).

  This unites or ‘glues’ people together and builds social solidarity by giving them shared values (a value consensus) and a shared culture.
• Providing a bridge between the particularistic values and ascribed status of the family and the universalistic values and achieved status of contemporary advanced societies

  • Durkheim argued that schools are a ‘society in miniature’ - a small-scale version of society as a whole that prepares young people for life in the wider adult society.
  • Parsons sees schools as important places of secondary socialisation, increasingly taking over from the family as children grow older.
• Particularistic values and ascribed status

  Status is ascribed based on factors like being a child or sibling and are treated differently to others outside the family
• Universalistic values

  they are objective - they judge and hold all pupils to the same standards.
• achieved status

  Wider society is meritocratic- people have to earn their status according to their individual achievements like talent or qualifications rather than being born into it
• Universalistic and particularistic values example 


  • A teacher marking student essays might reasonably be expected to mark every essay by the same criteria(universalistic), not give different marks depending on whether they liked the student or not(particularistic)
• Ascribed and achieved status example

  • Students might be expected to achieve a place at university because of their exam grades(achieved status), not through familial connections(ascribed)
• what is human capital?

  the knowledge and skills possessed by a workforce that increase that workforce's value and usefulness to employers.
• why did Schultz argue that high levels of spending on education are justified ?

  education develops people's knowledge and skills, and this investment is an important factor in a successful economy.
• why is the development of human capital through the expansion of schools important to functionalists?

  it is necessary to provide a properly trained and qualified labour force to do the different jobs that arise through the division of labour
• what is the division of labour

  separation of a work process into a number of tasks, with each task performed by a separate person or group of persons. 
• which Functionalists talk about role allocation?

  Davis and Moore
• what is the role of the education system to Davis and Moore?

  
  

  it is a way of selecting or sifting people for different levels of the job market, and ensuring the most talented and qualified individuals are allocated to the most important jobs.
• how does the education system a major method of role allocation ?

  by grading people through exam results
• what is role allocation?

  fitting the most suitable people into the hierarchy of unequal positions in society. (sifting and sorting people into the roles that they will go on to perform in life)
• who suggest that in the educational race for success there is equality of educational opportunity ?


  Davis and Moore
• what is equality of educational opportunity ?

  the idea that every child regardless of social class, background, gender or disability should have an equal chance of developing their talents and abilities in higher education
• how does equality of educational opportunity legitimise inequalities in society ?

  
  

  it enforces the idea that everyone who has the ability and talent and puts in the hard work has an equal chance of coming out ahead. Those who succeed deserve their success, and those who fail have only themselves to blame.
• what does legitimised mean

  made to seem fair and just
• what do the New Right think about state education

  it fails to perform the role it should perform because of centralised state control and policies that seek to standardise and improve equality.
• what is the New Right’s problem with promoting collaboration and fairness in education

  this approach fails to provide people with the drive and ambition needed to achieve in today’s society
• example of schools promoting collaboration and fairness

  idea of sports’ days where everyone gets a prize 
• which parts of the Functionalist perspective do the New Right agree with in education?

  -education should promote social solidarity through the teaching of our shared heritage

  -education should teach specialist skills(Durkheim)

  -education system should be based on meritocracy
• how does the New Right think that schools should function?

  they should be independently managed, run like private businesses and shaped by the wishes and needs of parents and students
• marketisation of education

  refers to a trend in education policy from the 1980s where schools were encouraged to compete against each other and act more like private businesses rather than institutions under the control of local government.
• how does competition between schools raise educational standards?

  schools try to attract customers (parents) with impressive results. Chubb and Moe, for instance, argued that the reason private schools (in the USA) performed better than schools in the public sector was because the schools were answerable to paying parents
• What is Chubb and Moe's view on education


  state education in the USA had failed- it hadn't created equal opportunities as it failed the needs of disadvantaged groups.

  
  

  it was also inefficient-it failed to provide students with skills needed by the economy

  
  

  they believe in the marketisation of education
• what is a criticism of the Functionalist view that education passes on society's culture from one generation to the next including shared values which promote social solidarity and cohesion?

  Marxists- this view ignores the inequalities in society. there is no value consensus and the culture that is passed on is that of the ruling class

  Feminists- school passes on patriarchal values which disadvantage girls and women
• what is a criticism of the Functionalist view that education provides a bridge between the particularistic values and ascribed status of the family and the universalistic values and achieved status of society?

  -many in the upper class inherit wealth

  -there are many elite jobs where ascribed status characteristics like class, gender and ethnicity still have a very important influence
• what is a criticism of the Functionalist view that education provides a trained and qualified labour force?

  -the link between educational qualifications and and job status is a lot weaker than what Functionalists believe

  -most content learnt in school has little to do directly with what people actually do in their jobs

  -most occupational skills are learnt on the job or through training schemes

  -demand for educational qualifications is simply to raise the status of the job rather than providing the knowledge required for a job
• what is a criticism of the Functionalist view that education allocates roles through selecting the most suitable and qualified people and matches them with the right jobs in a meritocratic society?

  -class, gender and ethnicity seem to be the major factors influencing success or failure in education rather than ability

  -there is no equality of educational opportunity-everyone does not start at the same point and not everyone has the same chance of success in education even if they have the same ability
• what did Bowles and Gintis say about equality of educational opportunity?

  education disguises the fact that there is no equality of educational opportunity in education, and it is social class mainly but also gender and ethnicity that influence educational success
• how do Marxists see education as a form of social control?

  It encourages young people to be conformists, accept their social position and not to do anything to upset the current patterns of inequality in society
• how do Marxists believe people are encouraged to accept the positions that they find themselves in after schooling?

  by giving the impression that those who fail in education do so because of their lack of hard work and effort and only have themselves to blame, legitimising inequalities
• what did Althusser see the main role of education in a capitalist society as?

  to reproduce an efficient and obedient labour force
• what are the 2 aspects of reproducing an efficient and obedient labour force according to Althusser?

  1. the reproduction of the necessary technical skills
  2. the reproduction of ruling class ideology and the socialisation of workers into accepting this dominant ideology( false consciousness)
• how do the ruling class prevent the working class from rebelling against their exploitation according to Althusser?

  they persuade them to accept ruling class ideology through ideological state apparatuses
• what is false consciousness?

  a way of thinking that prevents people from recognising the true nature of their social or economic situation.