1.6 Education - Role of Education

Question 1

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: SUMMARY

Answer 1

Society is held together by a shared culture or value consensus.
Functionalists use the organic analogy to help explain this relationship – everything must work together to prevent anomie from occurring.

Question 2

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: CREATING SOCIAL SOLIDARITY: Durkheim

Answer 2

Members must feel part of a single ‘body’ or community. Without it cooperation would be impossible.

Transmitting society’s culture – shared beliefs and values – from one generation to the next. E.g. teaching a child about their country’s history instils a sense of shared heritage and commitment to a wider social group.

School therefore acts as a ‘society on miniature’ preparing us for life in wider society.

Question 3

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: TEACHING SPECIALIST SKILLS: Durkheim

Answer 3

In modern industrial societies there is a very complex division of labour within the workplace, this means a workforce with a multitude of very specialist skills is required. Durkheim argues school teaches individuals specialist knowledge that they need to play their part in the social division of labour.

Question 4

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: FOCAL SOCIALISING AGENCY: Parsons

Answer 4

Parsons – builds on the work of Durkheim and suggests school is a ‘focal socialising agency’,
it bridges the gap between home and wider society. In order to be successful in wider society different skills are required than those taught in the home – school does this

Question 5

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: PARTICULARISTIC STANDARDS: Parsons

Answer 5

Family – children are judged by particularistic standards – only apply to that child. Child’s status is also ascribed, fixed by birth e.g. an older boy may have more rights than his younger sister

Question 6

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: UNIVERSALISTIC STANDARDS: Parsons

Answer 6

School – and wider society judge us all by the same universalistic standards that are impersonal e.g. the same laws apply to everyone and in schools all children are judged against the same standards (same exam). Status is largely achieved e.g. we pass or fail based on our efforts, get a promotion based on hard work.

Question 7

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: MERITOCRACY: Parsons

Answer 7

Parsons and MERTIOCRACY
Parsons sees school as preparing us to move from the family to wider society because both school and wider society are based on meritocratic principles. In a meritocracy we all have the same access to opportunity and you are rewarded through your own efforts and ability.

Question 8

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: ROLE ALLOCATION: Davis and Moore

Answer 8

Functionalists also, Davis and Moore build on the idea that education supports society through role allocation. In a complex modern society we need school to help ‘sift and sort’ pupils into roles best suited for their aptitude and ability.
They argue inequality is inevitable as not everyone is equally talented and should therefore not be rewarded as highly in pay. E.g. it would be irresponsible to let less able people become surgeons and pilots. By keeping these wages high it will attract more people and then the best possible people can be selected. A modern economy prospers due to its ‘human capital’ – its workers skills. A meritocratic education system is best in supporting this as it allows for people to be allocated to jobs best suited to them.

Question 9

ROLE OF EDUCATION: FUNCTIONALIST: AO3

Answer 9

The education system does not teach specialist skills adequately, the Wolf Report, 2011 found high quality apprenticeships are rare and up to a third of 16-19 year olds are on courses that do not lead to higher education or good jobs.

In the topics we have already studied there is ample evidence to suggest that equality of opportunity does not exist and that meritocracy could in fact be a myth. E.g. achievement is greatly influenced by class rather than ability.

Tumin criticise Davis and Moore for putting forward a circular argument. How do we know a job is important? Answer is because it is paid well. Why are some jobs paid well? Answer is because they are important.

Functionalists argue education instils shared harmony and consensus through shared values, Marxists would argue they are not shared values but ideology imposed by the minority dominant class.

Interactionists would argue that Functionalists assume we are all passive puppets and do not acknowledge that pupils do not always accept what they are taught and sometimes reject the schools values.

Neoliberals and the New Right argue that the state education systems fails to properly prepare young people for work.

Question 10

ROLE OF EDUCATION: NEW RIGHT/NEOLIBERAL: SUMMARY

Answer 10

Neoliberalism is an economic doctrine that has had a major influence on educational policy. They argue that the state should not provide services like education, welfare etc. Instead a free-market should operate where competition is present in order to drive up standards. They believe education should help the country compete in the global market place.

The New Right
Is a conservative political view that incorporates neoliberal ideas. The New Right believe the state cannot possibly meet the needs of its people, therefore the people are best left to meet their own needs in a free market and so favour the marketisation of education.

Question 11

ROLE OF EDUCATION: NEW RIGHT/NEOLIBERAL: SIMILAR TO FUNCTIONALISM

Answer 11

: They are somewhat similar to functionalists in that:
1. Both believe that some people are naturally more talented than others
2. Both favour meritocratic principles
3. Education should serve the needs of the economy by preparing young people for work
4. Both believe education should socialise pupils into shared values such as competition and instil a sense of national identity

Question 12

ROLE OF EDUCATION: NEW RIGHT/NEOLIBERAL: DIFFERENT TO FUNCTIONALISM

Answer 12

AO3: BUT…
A difference with functionalism is that the New Right do not believe that current education system is working, they believe this is because it is run by the state.
1. It takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach which disregards local need
2. They are unresponsive and inefficient
3. Schools that waste money and do not get good
results are not answerable to the consumer – this results in low standards and a less qualified workforce
THE SOLUTION is the marketisation of education – create an education market where competition between schools give choice to the consumer and drives up standards.

Question 13

ROLE OF EDUCATION: NEW RIGHT/NEOLIBERAL: Chubb and Moe

Answer 13

they believe that state run education in America has failed because it has not created equal opportunity and failed disadvantaged groups.
In research conducted by them on 60,000 pupils from low income families in 1015 state and private schools they found pupils from low income families do about 5% better in private than state schools.
Based on this they believe that a free market system within state education should be introduced in order to give the consumers (parents) the control. This would allow consumers to shape schools to meet their own needs which in turn would drive up standards.
Chubb and Moe propose a voucher system where each family would be given a voucher to ‘spend’ on their child’s education, schools would be forced to compete to try to attract ‘consumers’ as this would be the schools main source of income.
Their principles are already at work in the private education sector.

Question 14

ROLE OF EDUCATION: NEW RIGHT/NEOLIBERAL: ROLE OF STATE

Answer 14

Whilst the New Right believe the less state interference the better they do believe that the state should have two key roles:
1. Impose a framework on schools within which you have to compete e.g. by publishing Ofsted reports and league tables – this gives parents the information to make a more informed choice.
2. The state should ensure that schools transmit a shared culture, e.g. by imposing a single national curriculum it ensures schools socialise pupils into a single cultural heritage.

Education should affirm national identity e.g. should impose Britain’s positive role in world history
Education should teach British literature and there should be a Christian act of worship – national religion
They therefore oppose multicultural education that reflects the cultures of different minority groups

Question 15

ROLE OF EDUCATION: NEW RIGHT/NEOLIBERAL: AO3

Answer 15

Gerwitz and Ball both argue competition between schools benefits the middle classes as they have the cultural and economic capital to gain access to the best schools.
Critics argue that the real cause of low educational standards is not state control but social inequality and inadequate funding of state schools.
There is contradiction in the New Right supporting parental choice (parentocracy) on one hand and then imposing a National Curriculum on schools on the other (which involves no choice).
Marxists would argue that education does not impose a shared national culture but a culture imposed by the dominant minority ruling class and devalues the culture of working class and ethnic minorities.

Question 16

ROLE OF EDUCATION: MARXISM: SUMMARY

Answer 16

Marxist see education as based on class division and capitalist exploitation. They believe society is based on conflict between the two classes:
• The capitalist class – bourgeoisie, minority ruling class
• The working class – proletariat, majority subject class
This creates conflict and Marx believes that eventually the proletariat will become sick of their suffering, start a revolution and overthrow the bourgeoisie to create a classless society
Despite this potential for revolution it has not yet occurred because the bourgeoisie control the state, a key component of which is the education system. Marxists see the education system as functioning to prevent the revolution and maintain capitalism.

Question 17

ROLE OF EDUCATION: MARXISM: Althusser (APPARATUSES)

Answer 17

The state, according to Marxists maintain the capitalist class’s dominant position.
Althusser argues
there are two ‘apparatuses’ which serve to keep the bourgeoisie in power.
The Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs) – maintain the rule by force or threat of it, e.g. the police, courts, army etc. When necessary they use force or coercion to repress the working class.
The Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) – maintain the rule by controlling people’s ideas, values and beliefs. The ISAs include religion, family, media and education

Question 18

ROLE OF EDUCATION: MARXISM: Althusser (FUNCTIONS)

Answer 18

Education reproduces class inequality by transmitting it from one generation to the next by failing each successive generation of working class pupils
Education legitimises (justifies) class inequalities by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause. The function of ideology is to get workers to accept that their inequality s inevitable and not to question it. Once they accept their subordination they are less likely to challenge capitalism.

Question 19

ROLE OF EDUCATION: MARXISM: Bowles and Gintis

Answer 19

Bowles and Gintis develop the work of Marx and Althusser further and argue that capitalism requires an obedient workforce that will accept that inequality is inevitable. From their study of 237 New York high schools they found that schools reward students who are submissive and compliant – the same as what is required in a worker. Likewise creativity and independence was penalised.
It happens through two processes:
1. Correspondence principle – close parallels with school and the workplace as there is a hierarchy between head teachers (bosses at work) who are at the top who make the decisions and pupils (workers) at the bottom obeying.
2. Hidden curriculum – correspondence principle operates through the hidden curriculum, lessons that are learnt outside of taught classes. E.g. pupils become used to accepting hierarchy and competition, working for extrinsic rewards etc.
In this way school prepares working-class pupils for their role as exploited workers, reproducing and perpetuating class inequality. E.g. Cohen argues youth training schemes and apprenticeships serve capitalism by teaching young workers, not genuine job skills but, attitudes and values needed to be a subordinate worker. It lowers aspirations so they accept low pay.

Question 20

ROLE OF EDUCATION: MARXISM: MYTH OF MERITOCRACY: Bowles and Gintis

Answer 20

Bowles and Gintis argue the education system helps prevent people feeling like the system is unfair and rebelling by producing ideologies that legitimate and justify inequality.
They believe the system is a ‘giant myth-making machine’. The key myth is the myth of meritocracy, they do not believe that a meritocracy exists where the hardest workers gain the highest rewards. Instead they would argue that evidence suggests that the main factor that determines whether someone does well and earns a high income is family and class background, not ability or educational achievement.
By disguising this the ‘myth of meritocracy’ serves to justify the privileges of the higher classes making it seem that they gained them fairly. This also helps persuade the working class to accept inequality as legitimate and are less likely to overthrow capitalism.

As well as this the system justifies poverty by what Bowles and Gintis call the ‘poor are dumb’ theory. In other words poverty is the fault of the individual by not ‘being clever enough/ trying hard enough’ at school as oppose to capitalism, the true cause.

Question 21

ROLE OF EDUCATION: MARXISM: WILLIS

Answer 21

disagrees with Bowles and Gintis. He argues pupils are not just indoctrinated into the ‘myth of meritocracy’ instead his study shows that pupils can resist such attempts to indoctrinate them.
The Lads’ Counter Culture
Willis through a series of participant observations and unstructured interviews studied 12 working class boys.
The lads form a distinct counter culture where they reject the values of the school and mock the conformist boys they call the ‘ear-oles’
To them school is meaningless and boring and they take part in acts that resist and defy the school e.g. drinking, truanting. They reject the ‘con’ that the working class can achieve if they work hard, in other words do not accept the meritocratic ideology.
Willis sees a similarity between the boys counter culture and the culture of males on a shop floor (factory), both see manual work as superior and non-manual effeminate.
Alongside explaining the formation of anti-school subculture, this also explains why their resistant counter-culture helps them to slot into the very jobs – inferior in terms of skill and pay – that capitalism needs. As they are used to entertaining themselves at school they are able to slot into ‘boring, unskilled’ work, at the same time their lack of qualifications ensures their failure.
The irony is that by resisting the schools ideology (indoctrination) the lads counter-culture ensures they are destined for unskilled work which ultimate leads to benefiting capitalism.

Question 22

ROLE OF EDUCATION: MARXISM: AO3

Answer 22

Postmodernist criticise Bowles and Gintis as they argue we are now in a post-Fordist economy which requires schools to produce a very different labour force than the one described by Marxists. PM argue that education reproduces diversity not inequality.
Marxists disagree with one another about how the reproduction and legitimation occurs. Bowles and Gintis take a deterministic view – assume pupils are passively indoctrinated. Whilst Willis rejects that pupils are ‘brainwashed’, he takes a Marxist and Interactionist approach
Willis is criticised for romanticising the ‘lads’ and portraying them as working class heroes despite their anti-school and sexist attitudes. He also only conducted his research on 12 boys therefore it cannot claim to be representative therefore it is risky to generalise his findings.
Marxists are criticised generally by a number of viewpoints, including feminists, for taking a ‘class first’ approach and ignoring other inequalities such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality etc. They also ignore how these factors can all interlink.

Question 23

ROLE OF EDUCATION: POSTMODERNISM: SUMMARY

Answer 23

All of the theories looked at so far, whilst they have their differences, all agree that there is a single best way to approach education – they are known as ‘modern’ approaches to education because they believe society is clear cut and predictable therefore human problems can be rationally solved.
Postmodernists on the other hand do not believe society is clear cut and predictable instead they argue it is chaotic, fragmented and diverse. Therefore one single approach to education is inadequate.
They argue there has been an increase in individualism in society.

Question 24

ROLE OF EDUCATION: POSTMODERNISM: POLICY

Answer 24

If we consider educational policy we can see how this postmodern view point has influenced our current system:
• More of a focus on individual learning programmes – specifically post 16
• Multitude of different qualifications – apprenticships, GCSEs, A Levels, T Levels, BTECs
• Customised schools – faith schools, public schools, academies, free schools, specialist
schools, grammar schools, comprehensive schools
• Increase in adult education from a vast range of providers; colleges, open university etc.

Question 25

ROLE OF EDUCATION: POSTMODERNISM: GLOBALISATION

Answer 25

Another feature of a postmodern world is globalisation, as a result of this process there is a spreading of ideas around the world. Whilst the UK influence policies and ideas around the world – there is now a global trend toward marketisation – the UK is also influenced by other countries e.g. the Free School idea began in Sweden.
Alongside this as we are now globalised it is important to provide a trained workforce to compete on a global scale – this impacts the subjects and qualifications taught in schools e.g. the introduction of T Levels.

Question 26

ROLE OF EDUCATION: POSTMODERNISM: AO3

Answer 26

It is suggested PM theorist exaggerate the changes in education, e.g. there is greater centralisation in education in some areas, particularly the national curriculum rather than greater diversity and choice.
Rather than adult education growing it has actually had its funding cut therefore classes available for adults have declined.
Marxists would argue that rather than education being shaped by individual choice it is actually shaped by big businesses (capitalism) and postmodernists are ignoring the greater issue of inequality that is created by the education system.