functionalism

• social solidarity - sense of togetherness

  school is a society in miniature

  eg school rules, heirarchy , mixing with pupils

  ao3.) rose tinted eg bullying and discrimination, deterministic, ethnocentric , pass on capitalist/patriarchal ideology
• specialist skills - division of labour

  modern industrial societies require skills for job roles

  eg transferable skills - read and write

  technical skills - doctor and lawyer

  required to help keep society stable

  ao3.) NR - wolf review argues student weren't prepared for the future eg high unemployment
• parsons- secondary socialisation

  shared norms and values - meritocratic principles

  eg all students need 80% for A grade

  ao3.) Marxists would argue mc have an advantage to succeed eg private tutors
• parsons- schools acts as a bridge between home and the workplace

  particularistic standards to universalistic standards

  eg we all have to follow rules

  ascribed and achieved status

  ao3.) feminists argues there are double standards on sexual morality
• parsons- education is meritocratic

  free education , success is measured through exams

  education treats everyone fairly, schools reward ability

  ao3.) private schools get better education , labelling - ideal pupil
• davis and moore - role allocation

  education sifts and sorts pupils according to ability

  best graded students will get the better jobs

  eg setting and streaming - top sets , class hierarchy

  ao3.) wc are sifted into bottom sets as they are not seen as the ideal pupil
• functionalism is a structural consensus theory that proposes education contributes to the social stability of society. Functionalism believes society is based on an agreement of norms and values and individuals conform to the structure due to the work of institutions such as education
• however, functionalism is not a complete theory of education because it does not account for ideology that oppresses the working classes and females in education. also it fails to account free will in education and some pupils may resist this by home schooling or truanting.