sociology education

• class differences in education achievement - external

  • cultural deprivation (w/c lacks basic value, attitute and skills
  • w/c subculture (different goal, beliefs, attitude and values (fatalism,collectiveism, immediate gratification, present time orientation)
  • language (m/c uses elaborated code and w/c uses restricted codes)
  • parental education (w/c parents are less educated- cant help and support their child)
  • housing (overcrowding , disturbed sleep, greater risk of accident, cold or damp housing, more likely to have emotional behaviour problems )
  • diet(low on energy, vitimin and minerals)
• class differences in education achievement - internal

  • labelling (teachers negativaly label (w/c) students as underachieving
  • self-fulfilling prophecy (students see/hear this and loses motivation, proving the teacher label of them)
  • streaming ( putting students in groups of skills and all w/c students together, too teach them an easier subject)
• meritocracy - society where people get what they deserve based on merits
• social immobility - downward movement from higher social class to lower social class
• who achieves and underachieve in ethnicity

  • Asians - Chinese and Indians does the best in education
  • Bangladeshi, Pakistani and black pupil, African Caribbean - underachieve
• ethnic differences in education achievement (external)

  • cultural deprivation
  • language (English may be a second language)
  • attitude and values (home values are different from schools
  • family structure and parental support (black families- lone mothers)
  • racism in wiser society(social exclution, harder to get jobs/ low paying jobs
• ethnic differences in education achievement (internal)

  • black Carribeans - not intitled to free school meal
  • labelling- label black students as threatening and trouble makers (leading to exclution)
  • pupil identities - they have ideal pupils- white, m/c, masculine, hetrosexual
  • institunial racism -school may choose not choose non speaking english students
  • ethnocentric curriculum- ignores other ethnic groups
  • racism - chinese students report similar levels of harassment to black Caribeans
• gender differences in education

  • girls now achieve better than boys
  • 1960 feminist movement - challenged traditional stereotype
  • changes in family - increased divorce rates and lone parents= women are being breadwinners
  • women employment 1970 - equal pay act
  • girl changing ambitions 1974- education was seen as unfemanin and unatractive, priority on love, marriage,children
• girls education - internal

  • girls in science and technology, engineering
  • national curriculum 1988
  • women teachers- role models to women
  • girls succeed in coursework
  • teachers give boys more attention and harsher disapline, and lower expectation
  • boys dominate class discusions, girls perfer group/pair work , better at listening to eachtother and cooperating by taking turns
• boys education - internal

  • parents(dads) dont read to their sons
  • boys are likely to do physical work (sport) while girls like to socialise
  • theirs less heavy industries (mining)- 'indentity crisis'
  • feminist- school doesnt focus on masculin traits (competitions and leadership)
  • lack of male teachers/role models to help boys behave
  • 'laddish' subculture their harrased and callede 'sissy' if their academicly smart
• functionalist perspective on roles of education

  • Durkheim - 2 main functions , creating social solidarity and specialist skills
  • parsons-bridge between family and society, inequality is necessary so talented people fill up the roles, hence jobs pay higher creating competition
  • Davis and Moore- role allocation-education allocate jobs suited to their ability
• Neo-liberalism and the new right perspective on roles of education

  • Neo-liberalism - state shouldn't provide services like education, health, welfare
  • New Right-Marketisation, parents choose, creates competition (Ofstead, league tables and national curriculum)
• Marxist perspective on roles of education

  • Karl Marx - class division and capitalist exploitation -2 class system
  • Althusser- ideological state apparatus

  1. repressive state apparatus - physical force to repress w.c
  2. ideological state apparatuses - control people ideas like religion, media and education to repress w.c

  
  

  1. education reproducer - failing all w.c for generation to generation
  2. education legitimates- make w.c believe they cant go up a class position

  • Bowls and Gintis - independent and creative=low grades
  • obediant + diciplined =high grades

  
  

  • school mirrors workplace- hierarchies
• what is restricted and elaborate codes

  • restricted- used by w.c - limited vocabulary, short and often unfinished, grammatically simple sentences. speech is predictable and may involve single word or gestures. the speaker assumes the listener shares the same set of experiences
  • elaborate - used by m.c - wider vocabulary, longer grammatically complex sentences. speech is more varied and communicates abstract ideas
• what is the w.c subculture 4 key features that act as a barrier

  • fatalism: belief in fate- nothing you can do to change your status
  • collectivism: valuing being apart of a group then succeeding as an individual
  • immediate gratification: seek pleasure now than sacrificing it to get rewards later in the future
  • present-time orientation: present is more important than the future- not having long term goals or plans