education Flashcards
what is a Steiner school
aims, philosophy, founded, staffing, expectations
children should enjoy learning for own sake, not just to pass exams. Steiner schools give equal attention to children’s physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural and spiritual needs. it aims to provide an unhurried and creative working environment. founded in 1919. there is no headteacher and a chair appointed annually to avoid a hierarchy.
what is globalisation of education
interconnectedness of education systems around the world
compulsory education
all children in England between ages of 5 and 18 are entitled to a free place at a state school. compulsory education starts the term after 5th birthday.
comprehensive schools (state)
- funded through the government
- teach the national curriculum (have to because of government funding)
- no admission policy
academies
- part government, part business/charity funded
- choice to teach national curriculum
- no admission policy
- if oversubscribed, can sit fair testing
special schools (SEND)
- local government funding
- admission policy (have to be SEND approved and referred to a special school)
- teach a version of national curriculum. tailored to students needs.
free schools
- funded by faiths, charities, communities, donations and university sponsors
- don’t teach national curriculum
- admission by catchment area
faith school
- funded by religious area and possibly government
- teach own curriculum (unless funded by government)
- admission based on faith and practice of faith
private schools (grammar/independent)
- have to pay a fee or scholarship
- choose whether to teach national curriculum
- admission policy, have complete control over who attends.
what are SAT’s
- standard assessment testing
- national curriculum tests
- only used in England and Wales
- taken at end of primary (year 6)
- previously taken age 14 as well (year 9) but removed in 2008
GCSE’s
- general certification of secondary education
- introduced in 1986 and replaced O levels
- taken at end of year 11
new GCSE’s
- 2017, grading system changed to grades 9-1
- course work was reduced
- greater depth of subject knowledge required
- was a bid to ‘raise standards’
- GCSE results put into league tables to compete with other schools.
A levels
- advanced level
- for students aged 16-19
- 2 year course
- some coursework subjects, others exams at end of 2 years.
- schools measured on A level results
what is social cohesion
a sense of belonging to a wider society. a set of characteristics that keep a group able to function as a whole unit
what is the formal curriculum
subjects taught in schools
what is the informal curriculum
values and principles passed on to students
functionalist view of education
- one of the key functions of education is to pass on to the new generation the central core values and culture of society
- shared values lead to social cohesion at schools.
- in order for society to function, we all need to know how to behave and what is expected of us in society
Durkheim’s view on education
- functionalist
- major function of education as the transmission of society’s norms and values
- provides a link between the individual and society
- rules should be strictly enforced in order to children to learn self-discipline and to see that misbehaviour damages society as a whole.
what is meritocracy
a social system that rewards merit rather than inherited status
what are particularistic standards
subjective judgements based on individual characteristics, people seen and judged as individuals
what are universal standards
judgements applied equally to all members of society, regardless of who they are
Parson’s view of education
there are four main functions of education
1) creating social cohesion - schools teach norms and values of society. schools act as a bridge between homes and wider society
2) learning specialist skills for work - allocates people to most appropriate job for their talents
3) teaching core values - teaching norms and values to each generation
4) role allocation and meritocracy - everyone who has ability and talents and puts in effort has an equal chance of coming out ahead of other people.
what is primary socialisation
teaching norms and values from the family
what is secondary socialisation
continuing to teach the norms and values of society through schools, media, friends, and religion.
what is pupil premium
additional funding from government to raise attainment of disadvantaged students of all abilities to close the gap between them and their peers.
provides things such as free school meals, free school trips and revision guides.
Albert Halsey
- used a sample of 8,000 males and divided them into three groups based on father’s occupation:
1) service class (managers etc)
2) intermediate class (self-employed, sales, etc)
3) working class (manual workers) - research showed individuals from service class compared to working class had 4 times as great a chance of being in school at 16, 8 times the chance at 17, 10 times chance at 18 and 11 times chance at going to university
- found a correlation between income and educational opportunity
- found parental attitudes and uneven distribution of grammar schools as factors affecting educational success
what is material deprivation
lack of materials to succeed in the education system
what is cultural deprivation
lack of wider opportunities.
what are external factors
anything that happens outside the school area
examples of external factors
material deprivation cultural deprivation speech patterns parents attitudes working class subculture
what are internal factors
anything that happens inside the school area
examples of internal factors
setting and streaming
teacher pupil interactions
speech patterns
working class children lack appropriate language skills to succeed in education. elaborated code: used by middle classes, complex sentences, greater vocabulary, correct use of grammar restricted code: used by working class, simple sentences, limited vocabulary, grammar mistakes. said by Basil Bernstein
parents attitudes
Ball, Bowe, and Gerwirts researched into the process of choosing secondary schools and found middle class have an advantage over working class.
they have:
-better knowledge/contacts to find best school for child
- money to pay for better school
- cultural capital and resources to ensure success
setting and streaming
setting - students divided into sets based on ability per subject
streaming - dividing students based on their average ability across all their subjects.
mixed ability - students taught together regardless of ability
teacher pupil interactions
teachers label students based on first impressions. the label given changes students behaviour. you are either motivated by label to work hard and succeed or not work and ultimately fail.
it is a self-fulfilling prophecy
Paul Willis
- Marxist
- schools not working as an agent of socialization
- pupils actively reject the norms and values of society
- working class boys actively choose to fail, creating anti-school subcultures
- working class children go down to working class jobs
- benefits capitalism
- a coping strategy for boring, unfulfilling work
Willis study conflicting with Functionalism
functionalists believe it is the systems fault when things fail whereas Willis is saying it is the persons fault they are failing, not the system
Willis study conflicting with Marxism
Willis is saying the students choose their social class based off of how they act at schools, opposing Marxist beliefs of a capitalist society of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.
what is a subculture
individuals who align themselves with a distinct set of values different from the shared values of wider society
what is cultural capital
experiencing wider opportunities that help you with achieving in education
what is bedroom culture
- McRobbie’s study
- girls achievement may be higher than boys due to the fact they typically spend more time in their bedrooms talking and reading.
- gives them an advantage in education as they practice their communication skills more often than boys.
what is the hidden curriculum
- non direct learning at school - no curriculum to follow
- strengthens societal attitudes and gender behaviours to conform to
- demonstrates through gender role allocation and expectation of subject choice
- boys choose stem subjects because they are perceived to be more difficult and have higher status
what is feminisation of education
teacher roles being dominated by women
definition of race
physical differences that groups and cultures consider socially significant to their identity
definition of ethnicity
shared culture and practices, values and beliefs. can include religion and language
what is institutional racism
organisational practice within systems that are intentionally or unintentionally discriminative against one ethnicity. for example, hijabs, pe kits, cultural jewellery
what is the ethnocentric curriculum
subjects taught in the curriculum that focus on one ethnicity and gives advantage to that ethnicity over another. for example, history, English, languages
what are league tables
graphs showing direct comparison of achievement between different aspects of educational institutions aimed at parents. created nationally and globally.
what is cream skimming
selecting the best from each grade
what is marketisation
making schools run like businesses therefore leading to an educational market place.
Ball, Bowe and Gerwirts study on league tables
suggest that league tables have a negative impact on education as they increase the pressure and enforce the social divide between working and middle class students. schools therefore schools engage in cream-skimming and silk-shifting to get the best pupils. league tables make schools strive to keep improving their standards and so only accepting the best students.
what is silk shifting
leaving the students not at the top of each band for the worse schools.
1944 education act
- the tripartite system introduced to give free, compulsory access to all.
- 11+ tests introduced
what was the tripartite system
- secondary moderns - general education for the less able. working class students. made up from 75% of the people who took the 11+ test
- secondary technical - practical education for working and middle class students. 5% who took 11+ test went here and so after 5 years was shut down and students instead went to secondary moderns
- grammar schools - academic education for the more able. upper and middle class students. only 20% who took the 11+ test went here
1965 comprehensive school system
- set up by labour government and continued by conservative government
- aim was for all students to attend same schools regardless of ability.
strengths of 1965 comprehensive school system
- late developers can flourish
- less able benefit by being surrounded by able students
- lower class students feel like they fit in more due to being treated equally
weaknesses of 1965 comprehensive school system
- teachers attention split between more students and so less able fail to reach academic potential
- parents don’t have a choice where to send children, catchment are only.
1988 education reform act
- thatcher government (conservatives 1979)
- had 4 clear aims
1) develop a system that met the needs of industry
2) to raise standards of schools
3) reduce state control over education, enabling schools to be more independent
4) give more choice to parents
what is parentocracy
rule by parents. the power of the parents to make own choices regarding children’s education.
what did the 1988 education reform act do
- national curriculum - teachers legally had to follow same curriculum for all students age 5-16.
3 core subjects and 7 foundation subjects followed by students. key stages introduced - national tests and 7, 11, and 14 - compulsory national tests at these ages. results published annually in league tables allowing schools to directly compare to each other.
- LMS (local management of school budget) - responsibility taken away from LEA (Local education authorities) and given to individual schools
- schools could opt out of LEA control in majority of parents voted for such an action.
- new types of schools set up in inner cities which specialised in technology, arts and science and were independent from LEA control
- OFSTED - inspection of schools every 3 years. schools awarded grades with failing schools being placed into ‘special measures’
- league tables - test results published annually to be compared and give parents more choice where to send their children. schools that appeared successful in league tables were often oversubscribed.
new labour manifesto 1997
- ‘we will make education our number one priority’
- had 3 aims:
1) raising standards through league tables and competition
2) reducing inequality
3) promoting diversity and choice.
1998 educational action zones
- extra money for schools building projects
- to involve and link schools with parents, local businesses and other community groups to promote a good working environment.
- schools were given extra resources and more freedom within their curriculum to improve standards
- first OFSTED inspection revealed it was raising standards
2000 city academies
- aimed to rebuild and refurbish existing inner-city school
- academies replaced failing or under-achieving schools and sponsors were expected to have plans to improve education for all students
200 curriculum
- introduced a modular curriculum, requiring candidates to take modules throughout A-levels
2003 aim higher
- focus was to increase participation of underprivileged groups in higher education
- scheme was scrapped in July 2011 and responsibility for increasing minority group participation was now the responsibility of the university
2004 educational maintenance allowance
- supported students from lower income families within higher education
- students given payment of £30 per week provided they attend all their lessons
- expected to use money on textbooks and to cover transport costs
- conservative government scrapped this policy with research students would continue higher education without payments as it was too expensive.
coalition government of 2010
policies introduced:
- pupil premium
- tuition fees
- schools can freely convert to academies
- cut out ema
- brought back same day detentions
- schools can stop and search students
- pseudo subjects cut out of league tables
