Functionalism

• Durkheim

  • social solidarity and specialist skills
  • the education system helps to create social solidarity by transmitting society's culture from one generation to the next
  • schools act as a 'miniature society' preparing us for life in wider society
• Parsons

  • He argues that schools are meritocratic
  • all pupils have an equal chance to succeed through talent and abilities alone, irrespective of class, gender, ethnicity etc.
  • the school acts as an agent of socialisation, acting as a bridge bewteen the family and wider society
• Davis and Moore

  • Schools perform the function of selecting and allocating pupils to their future work roles
  • schools assess the pupils' abilities to help match them to the job they are best suited to