Functionalism
durkeim - social solidarity - people must feel like they are part of a community. education unites and provides a sense of social cohesion through British values and shared history-
A03: socialises children into r/c ideology not consensus values- ISA
durkeim - specialist skills- provides children with the skills they need for the complex division of modern labour e.g T levels, vocational education, apprenticeships
a03: wolf found that quality apprenticeships are rare and 1/3 of 16-19 y/o are on apprenticeships that dont lead to good jobs
Davis and moore - role allocation, sifted based on ability- A03 - not a neutral sieve. though exams and the national curriculum, abilities are assessed to ensure the most capable people fulfil the most important roles like doctors, lawyers and engineers.system is meritocratic as it rewards hard work.
A03:education isn’t a neutral sieve solely based on grading, factors like race and ethnicity and gender
Parsons meritocracy -school is a focal socialising agency- Particularistic to Universalistic standards which everyone is judged on
This is the opposite of the family as the child’s status isn’t ascribed but achieved
A03: marxists myth of meritocracy
marxism
Altusser - ISA- transmit ideology to keep the working class in a false class conciousness
A03: Postmodernist believe this is an outdated view today
hidden curriculum- B AND G - correspondence prinicple. reproduce an obedient workforce
Myth of meritocracy - disguise the m/c unfair advantages e.g cultural capital as fair competition. evidence proves background influences achievement B AND G poor r dumb - A03 national curriculm
Paul Willis learming to labour12 w/c lad who had a counter school subculture shows some people actively reject structural influences
A03: as they didn’t gain their qualifications they still ended up as wage slaves who were unable to gain their qualifications
bourdieu: cultural capitla and social reproduction: language skills, values, interests - value and reward middle class culture
Class external
Parents education - douglas - parental interest- w/c parents are distant, only interact w/ teachers about behaviour so kids dont learn self control. feinstein M/c are invested. bernstein found m/c parent buy their children educational toys.
A03: w/c parents can’t go to parents evening as they work longer and are put off by the m/c environment
Sugarman’s Working class subcultures - collectivism, present time orientation, immediate gratification, fatalismw/c students are socialised into them. apply them to their learning mindset
A03: Marxist perspective, such as Bourdieu, argue that Sugarman blames the working class for their own underachievement, rather than addressing the structural inequalities in the education system e.g cultural capital
language - bereiter and engleman - lang is deficiceient - bernstein speech codes. Elaborated is used by the teachers textbooks and exams so the m/c succeed
A03: the w/c dont fail because they are culturally deprived but because the school fails them by not teaching them how to use the speech code
Material deprivation - overcrowding - no work space, nos sleep , no food noisy. Howard: low income are likely to have a lower intake of minerals and vitamins so a weaker immune system
Financial - hidden costs - uniforms books. W/C kids try to balance a job and school to afford all of this and avoid bullying
Class internal
Labelling - different interactions- Becker - 60 chicago hs teachers - judged student based on how close they were to ideal pupil
A03: Amelia hempel jorgensen found ideal pupil depends on the class makeup of that school.m/c kids are judged according to ability and w/c children are judged based on behaviour.
Rosenthal and Jacobson - Pygmalion in the classroom. SFP internalise expectation, part of their self concept and its true
A03: its deterministic, maybe being labelled as dumb will actually motivate them
schools stream w/c and bolack into lower sets and they are capped leading to a to c Gilbourn and Yodel: streaming - educational triage leads to lower attention for low streams. pay attention to the top sets because they make the league tables look good. w/c student get less attention so they perform worse.
hargreaves found boys in lower streams formed anti school subcultures because they felt like triple failures. failed 11+, put into low set, labelled as stupid. Pupil subcultures - alternative status heirarchy rewards based on deliquency.lacey: differentiation: teachers catergorie pupils based on percieved ability polarisoation: anti or pro skl
bourdieu: symbolic violence: when the school witholds the symbolic capital they give to m/c. They define w/c habitus (way of thinking, feeing and acting)as inferior. m/c people gain symbolic capital because education places value on m/c habitus as the m/c have the power to impose their habitus on the education system. W/c people feel alien in school and feel they have to ‘lose themselves’ to do well (archer)
ethnicity internal
ethnocentric curriculum - an example of institutional racism- Coard - black culture primitave and were civilised by whites.
A03: Chinese and Indians still at the top of the league tables despite their culture being ignored
pupil identities - differs teachers ineteractions with students. Archer identified, idealised (white m/c normal sexuality, natural ability),
pathologised(asian deserving poor feminine asexual, achieve via hard work) and demonised(black or white w/c unintelligent hypersexual)
labelling and teacher racism
gilbourn found teachers were quick to discipline black students - blacks are in lower sets due to race expectations and develop anti school subcultures. they expect blacks to misbehave so they misinterpret everything = conflict.
Mirza: some black girls were ignored or marginalised by teachers—receiving little attention or encouragement—until something went wrong, at which point they were blamed or disciplined unfairly.
A03: functionalists argue that schools are meritocratic and that underachievement reflects differences in effort or ability rather than identity.
Fuller - studies high achieving black girls supported eachother and themselves and didnt accept help from racist teachers. didnt accept any negative labels and channeled their anger into success by working hard.
a03: labeling theory isnt always true and is sometimes deterministic
ACCess to opporturnities - whites are 5x more likely to be talented and gifted than blacks. asians are pushed to stem reinforcing race expectations. Blacks are more likely to be entered into lower tier exams that cap them at a C
ethnicity external
cultural deprivation from black lone parent house hold 24.3 %. TNr: this leads to inadeuete socialisation. lack of role model for black boys who have the lowest pass rate in the Uk.sewell: black boys have a lack of tough love leading to behavioural issues
a03: black girls have a strong independent role model.
colonialsim means black (culture is less cohesive and resistant to racism)have low sense of self worth compared to asians (language and religion wasn’t destroyed by colonialism)
a03: Lawrence : black boys have low self esteem due to racism not culture
Material deprivation due to racism in wider society - racial discrimination in job or housing market, foreign qualifications aren’t recognised abroad. palmer: more likely to be unemployed/ low paid jobs. Pakistani and Bangladeshi were 5x most likely to be the poorest in the uk
A03: indian and Chinese are materially deprived but still do better than most
Lupton: ethnic attitudes towards education chinese pro school - allows socially mobile, better grades, M/C careers.respect and never question their elders applies to teachers. white w/c are indifferent to learning and have low goals
A03: compensatory education e.g sure start was developed to combat this
language barriers - beiereiter and englemennn said the language spoken in EM families (restricted)is inadequate for success ethnic english is broken up and ungrammatical. White M/c: elaborated English is their first language head start before school.
A03: Gilbourn and Mirza claim Indians and Chinese do just as well as white M/C and dont speak English at home
Gender and subject choice
Gender role socialisation . Murphy and elmwood different types of books(books about other people vs hobby books). Norman, from an early age boys and girls are dressed differently and encouraged to take part in different subjects
gender subject images- colley CS is masculine cuz no opportunities for group work and is off-putting to girls. Maths is a male gender domain(in their territory), English is female.Kelly science teachers, especially physics and chemistry, tend to be men.
Gender identity and peer pressure - police each others subject choices so they develop appropriate gender identity. Dewar- girls who chose sports are called lesbian or butch
A03: not a worry in single sex schools. Leonard studied 13k students and found that girls in single sex schools were more likely to choose maths and science
Gendered career opportunities - jobs are typed as men(builder) or women(childcare). vocational courses are more gendered - directly link to a career. won’t apply for jobs for the other sex.Apprenticeships à childcare is 99% female and 1% male; vehicle maintenance and repair is 98% male and 2% female.
Gender vocational choice and class- Fuller: W/c girls want jobs in childcare. sense of what is a realistic expectation for “people like us”choose based on trad gender roles e.g hair and beauty
Gender external factors for girls high achievement
impact of feminism has led to changes e.g angela mc robbie: study of girls magazines.
1970s: pushed importance of getting married and dont be left on the shelf. now they contain images of independent women. magazines change womens priorities
A03: hard to measure the impact of feminism. changes in the job market/ culture could’ve led to changes
Changes in the family - (more cohabitation divorce lone parent) single parent households = more breadwinner women. independent role models encourage girls to get good qualifications
A03: doesn’t apply to all groups like south asians
changes in women’s employment - equal pay act = breaking the glass ceiling - incentive to enter work and not stay domestic. equal pay and sex discrimination act. see a future outside of being a housewife.
changes in girls ambitions sue Sharpe 1970s (priorities were to get married and have a family)and 1990s(career and then family later in life)
A03: w/c girls still have low ambitions because they see these aspirations as more realistic for m/c women
boys and achievement: why boys are falling behind in school
boys and literacy - Parents don’t read to sons, encourage sports. when mum reads its seen as feminine. department of children : gender gap is mainly due to boys’ poor literacy + language skills
A03: national literacy strategy was developed to improve boys reading
globalisation, decline of trad men jobs - creates an identity crisis for men because it undermines their self esteem. factory jobs are lost, no secure work for men = low motivation to be qualified
A03: m/c boys are outperformed by middle class girls though they don’t associate w/ factory work and masculinity
shortage of male primary school teachers - read said boys respond better to a male authority figure. 42% of boys said a male teacher makes them work harder
A03:Francis: 2/3 of 7-8 year olds believe the gender of teachers doesn’t matter.
feminisation of education, sewell - coursework, we need more focus on outdoor curriculum. schools dont nurture masculine traits like leadership, they celebrate female qualities like attentiveness.Browne argued that girls are better at coursework as they’re more organised, conscientious and better at presenting. changes in assessment and courework
Paul Willis: laddish subcultures to respond to girls in mens career so they dont appear to be feminine
a03: Epstein found w/c boys are subjected to homphobic abuse if they appear to be trying
Evaluate the extent to which education policies have reduces inequality
- comprehensive schools. overcome the class divide of the tripartite system - which favoured the middle class who got to go to grammar schools. functionalists support as it promoted integration. via social mixing. meritocratic. all pupils have an equal opportunity of selection.
A03: ford found little social mixing. Ball said M/C dtill get more ttention in the schools - new labour policies. EMA 30£ pw for 16-18 y/o to stay in school. DO household income. stay past legal age to encourage social mobility. scored 4 points higher in a levels. aim higher increases aspirations and runs summer schools at universities. raises school leaving age.
a03: ema, didn’t spend money on education, people still left without qualifications - policies to reduce inequality between social groups.multi cultural curriculum: 6 worldly religions in RE. helps self esteem.
ESL policy. gist and wise and national curriculum means boys and girls study the same subjects.
A03: still racism in schools and ethnocentric curriculum -Coard they teach black culture as primitive - league tables- publishing exam results leads to parentocracy w/c have the choice to select the best schools for their children. overcomes w/c subcultures collectivism because they are informed enough to make their own decision
a03: Ball argues there’s a myth of parentocracy. Gerwitz found 3 types of parents. semi skilled, privileged skilled and disconnected local choosers. - admission codes. forbids discrimination in admission based on ability or economic status of parents. stops schools from denying disadvantaged people access. Ammendment in 2014 allowed positive discrimination which gave priority to pupil premium. extra money for schools who had the most disadvantaged students. best schools go out of their way to attract students who typically had no chance.
a03: tough and brooks covert selection. schools never published in poor areas and had lengthy admission forms to deter the w/c
evaluate the impact of globalisation on educational policy in the uk
1.International teaching styles. china has high education standards and diff approaches e.g teacher centred and drilled learning approach of content.policy is shaped by borrowing ideas: numeracy and literacy hours and master teachers from Singapore. Finland influenced the creation of free schools.
a03: wasteful effect on policy as they ignore the local culture values whilst trying to fulfil an international benchmark that focuses on test scores rather than human learning.
2. overseas economies- globalisation moved manufacturing jobs overseas due to mncs cheap labour. labour expanded higher education and t levels to try and produces people w different skills for a service based economy. raising sky leaving age means people have No less than a level 2. high demand for ice and languages like mandarin. Durkheim - pupils can work in a globalised division of labour
a03: has not led to more people going to uni, no development of human capital.
3. changes to the curriculum.
multi cultural curriculum due migration there’s new demands from the skl population. all now teach the 6 world religions in RE. faith schools serving muslim and jewish parents. halal catering. els teachers. diverse history and English
a03: only relevant to areas w high EM e.g London. may not be due to globalisation but increased awareness and equality
4. privatisation in education. educational policy is shifted to a global level which is often privatised. Ball - some GCSE’s are now marked in Sydney. Disney, a global international now own the UK’s leading educational software. private companies have more involvement in writing the curriculum. education is shaped by private companies who make profit selling these services to the gov. e.g aqa.
a03: Ball: education is treated like a commodity to be bought and sold rather than something free which can lead to chaos in education system
state some marketisation policies
1988 education reform act (national curriculum, formula funding, open enrolment)
league tables
ofsted inspections
academies, free schools, specialist
