5.3 Influences on the curriculum

Question 1

The social construction of knowledge

Weber (1922)

Answer 1

Argues that all societies develop beliefs about what ‘is worthy of being known’.

This suggests that knowledge is not simply ‘out there’ waiting to be discovered.

Question 2

The social construction of knowledge - Marxist view

What do Marxists characterise education as?

Answer 2

Ideological State Apparatus (ISA)

Question 3

The social construction of knowledge - Marxist view

What are cultural institutions seen as instruments of?

Answer 3

Cultural institutions such as the media, education and religion are seen as instruments of class oppression and domination through the power they have over what people learn and how they learn it.

Question 4

The social construction of knowledge - Marxist view

What ways are our views od the world influenced by what we learn in school?

Answer 4

• Through formal learning - children must learn skills for the workplace.
• Access to knowledge is restricted through control of the curriculum - the higher a person goes in education, the more knowledge they gain access to.
• Academic knowledge has more value than practical knowledge - it’s more useful to the professional middle classes.
• Children must learn to accept authority - this is important in the workplace.

Question 5

The social construction of knowledge - Marxist view

Commodification

Answer 5

The idea that knowledge must have economic value so it can be bought and sold. This is achieved through educational qualifications.

Question 6

Young (1971)

Young (1971) argued that what counts as knowledge always has what dimension?

Answer 6

An ideological dimension.

Question 7

Young (1971)

How schools are organised reflects the idea that knowledge can be:

Answer 7

• Categorised in terms of ‘subjects’ that have their own unique body of knowledge.
• Presented in particular ways through a formal curriculum.
• Validated through examinations. Knowledge must be continually assessed and evaluated to ensure that students reach approved levles.

Question 8

Young (1971)

Credentialism

Answer 8

The idea that knowledge is only valid if it can be quantified in the form of qualifications.

It also leads to the idea that certain types of knowledge have greater validity than others.

Question 9

Young (1971)

Young argues the formal school curriculum reflects the interests of a ruling class in capitalist societies in the way that knowledge is:

Answer 9

• Selected - this involves decisions about which subjects appear on the curriculum and the content of each subject.
• Stratified - with the classroom, school and society. This involves questioning things such as why theoretical knowledge is considered superior to practical knowledge, the division between vocational and academic subjects and why subjects are seperated rather than combined in the curriculum.

Question 10

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum

According to Althusser, cultural reproduction involves the ability of the ruling class to…?

Answer 10

Pass on its political and economic domination from one generation to the next.

Question 11

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum

What were schools as modern institutions originally developed to meet?

Answer 11

The needs and requirements of modern industrial societies.

Question 12

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum - Steiner schools

Steiner schools

Answer 12

Based on the education philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, they are an example of an alternative approach to learning and the curriculum produces a ‘different kind of message’ about education.

Question 13

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum - Steiner schools

In Steiner schools, what does the curriculum reflect?

Answer 13

The needs of the child at each stage of their development.

Question 14

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum - Steiner schools

In Steiner schools, what to children enter classes according to?

Answer 14

Their age rather than their ability.

Question 15

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum - Steiner schools

In Steiner schools, learning involves the development of…?

Answer 15

‘Practical, emotional and thinking capacities’.

Question 16

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum - Steiner schools

In Steiner schools, children are encourage to…?

Answer 16

Discover and learn for themselves.

Question 17

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum

How do schools serve economic demands, according to functionalists?

Answer 17

The education system has the role of producing the right number of trained and qualified workers that the economy needs - a certain number of doctors, engineers, teachers etc.

Question 18

Factors influencing the content of the curriculum

As economic demands change, so will…? Give an example.

Answer 18

The curriculum.

For example, ICT is now computer studies, with the latter having an emphasis on programming rather than software such as word processing.

Question 19

The gendered curriculum

Gender can be an influence on the curriculum in 2 ways:

Answer 19

1. Different subjects are associated with males/females and this influences the choices students make about which optional subjects to study and their attitudes to the subject.
2. Teachers tend to teach different material within a subject based on whether they are teaching boys or girls or both.

Question 20

The gendered curriculum

What kind of subject is often particularly strongly gendered?

Answer 20

Vocational subjects, such as engineering, are often taught in single-sex classrooms.

Question 21

The gendered curriculum

What do differences in subject choice in school translate into?

Answer 21

Differences at undergraduate level.

Question 22

The gendered curriculum

Self and Zealey (2007)

Answer 22

• More women than men study subjects linked to medicine, such as nursing.
• More men than women studied business and administrative services, engineering/technology subjects and computer sciences.

Question 23

The gendered curriculum- gender stereotyping

The Equal Opportunities Commission (2007)

Answer 23

Argue that educational achievements - girls consistently outperform boys at all levels in education - are not necessarily helping women into well paid jobs.

They suggest that once cause of variation between achievement and occupation is gender stereotyping.

Question 24

The gendered curriculum- gender stereotyping

Gender stereotyping

Answer 24

The idea that boys and girls have different educational and occupational aptitudes.

Question 25

The gendered curriculum- gender stereotyping

Warrington and Younger (2000)

Answer 25

Note that male and female career aspirations often reflect traditional gender stereotypes, such as childcare, nursing, hairdressing for girls, and computing, accountancy and plumbing for boys.

Males appear more frequently and are more likely to be shown in ‘active’ rather than ‘passive’ roles.

Question 26

The gendered curriculum- gender stereotyping

Best (1992)

Answer 26

Demonstrated how pre-school texts designed to develop reading skills remain populated by sexist assumptions and stereotypes.

Question 27

The gendered curriculum- gender stereotyping

Subject hierarchies

Answer 27

Both teachers and students quickly appreciate that some subjects are more important than others within the formal curriculum, such as English, maths and science.

Question 28

The gendered curriculum- gender stereotyping

Gender hierarchies reflect…?

Answer 28

Subject hierachies, with males choosing higher-status subjects in far greater numbers.

Question 29

The ethnocentric curriculum

Ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 29

School curriculum based on the cultural norms, values, beliefs and history of a single ethnic group.

In a multicultural society, an ethnocentric is likely to favour the majority ethnicity.

Question 30

The ethnocentric curriculum

What is an issue that students from minority groups may face?

Answer 30

The curriculum not being relevant to them.

For example, they may find the content of lessons does not include their own history/literature, or reduces their worth at the expense of the majority culture.

Question 31

The hidden curriculum

The hidden curriculum

Answer 31

A concept which Jackson (1968) defined as ‘the things children learn from the experience of attending a school’.

Question 32

The hidden curriculum

Skelton (1997)

Answer 32

Suggested that informal education involves a ‘set of implicit messages relating to knowledge, values, norms of behaviour and attitudes that learners experience in and through educational processes’.

Question 33

The hidden curriculum

Schools transmit certain value-laden messages to students.

These messages have two dimensions:

Answer 33

• Intended consequences = the things teachers do such as encouraging certain values (politeness, obeying authority etc.) whilst discouraging others (lack of effort, attendance etc.).
• Unintended consequences = the messages students receive through the teaching/learning process. Includes status messages and mesages relating to beliefs about ability.

Question 34

The hidden curriculum

What two categories do the messages transmitted within schools generally fall into?

Answer 34

• Socialisation messages
• Status messages

Question 35

The hidden curriculum

Socialisation messages

Answer 35

Relates to what is required from students to succeed in education.

Some refer to behaviour, others relate to how to learn.

Generally, they are about conformity and recognising the informal rules and not questioning what is being taught.

Question 36

The hidden curriculum

Through the hidden curriculum, children also learn ideas about…?

Answer 36

• Individualism
• Competition
• Knowledge

Question 37

Status messages

Status messages

Answer 37

Relate to the ideas that students develop about their ‘worth’.

Question 38

Status messages

What does the type of school a child attends influence?

Answer 38

Their self-image and sense of self-worth.

Question 39

Status messages

Who does the hidden curriculum give lower status to?

Answer 39

Particular groups, such as working class children, but also those who are mentally/physically disabled.

Question 40

The curriculum and the concept of cultural capital

Cultural capital

Answer 40

The different advantages and disadvantages granted by people’s cultural histories.

Question 41

The curriculum and the concept of cultural capital

Why was the concept of cultural capital originally developed?

Answer 41

To explain differences in educational achievement in terms of a range of non-economic factors that help/hinder individual life chances.

These include family history/status and the extent to which family members invest time/effort in their children’s social and educational development.

Question 42

The curriculum and the concept of cultural capital

Otsuka (2005)

Answer 42

Indo-Fijan culture place high value on education as ‘the only way to success’.

Meanwhile, in Fijan culture, some parents think it’s more important to encourage children to become ‘good members of their community… somewhat at the expense of their children’s education’.

Due to this, Indo-Fijan children are likely to become better educational performers than their ethnic Fijan counterparts.

Question 43

Bourdieu (1930-2002) - Habitus

Habitus

Answer 43

A set of ways of thinking and acting that people are socialised into.

In the sociology of education, used to explain how middle-class students fit easily into the middle-class nature of schools.

Habitus is similar to the concept of a habitat, the environment in which a group lives and flourishes.

Question 44

Bourdieu (1930-2002) - Habitus

Bourdieu believed that schools are the natural habitat of who?

Answer 44

The middle and upper classes.

Question 45

Bourdieu (1930-2002) - Habitus

Why are working class children immediately disadvantaged when entering a middle class institution? What is this called?

Answer 45

Because their interests, beliefs, values and norms are not only different but actively conflict with those of both teachers and the education system.

This is called a ‘culture clash’.

It can lead to their eventual academic failure, appearing to be their own fault when it actually may not be.

Question 46

Bourdieu (1930-2002) - Habitus

Why are middle class children immediately advantaged when entering a middle class institution?

Answer 46

Because their cultural beliefs, norms and values are similar to those of teachers and the general approach of the school.

Question 47

Bourdieu (1930-2002) - Habitus

Light (2013)

Answer 47

Middle class children have ‘high cultural knowledge that ultimately redounds to the owner’s financial and social advantage.’

They know how to play the system.