Education Flashcards
What is Durkheim’s theory of education?
The education system meets a functional pre-request of society by providing a moral environment for socialisation and creates social solidarity between individuals
What does Parsons believe the functions of education are?
Schools provide a link between the family and wider society which allows students to become the future workforce in a meritocratic society
What is Parsons theory about meritocracy?
System of reward in exchange for hard work and ability
students have an equal chance to succeed as they all learn the same curriculum
What is role allocation?
process by which people are slotted into roles which best suit their abolities
What is human capital
The stock of knowledge, skills, values, habits and creativity that makes someone an economic asset to society
What is David and Moore’s theory of education?
Provides a means to selecting and shifting people into the social hierarchy
What are the criticisms of functionalist perspective on education?
ignores aspects of education which are dysfunctional
myth of meritocracy - private education
Marxists -hidden cirriculum reinforces social inequality
Feminists - hidden cirriculum reinforces patriarchy
Wong - functionalists see children as passive puppets of socialisation when the process is more complex
What is the New Right view of education?
Similar to functionalists but believe the state takes too much of a role and free market policies like schools competing with each other would raise standards
What is Chubb and Moe’s theory?
introduction of a voucher system in state education where each family given a voucher to buy education from a school of their choice so
schools become more responsive to parents wishes as vouchers are their source of income
New Right education policies
1988 - Education Reform Act
-Funding formula
-League Tables
New Labour - Academies
Coalition - Free schools
What are the criticisms of the New Right perspective?
the real cause of low education attainment is social inequality
contradictions between support of parental choice and imposition of national curriculum
completion between schools benefit middle class
What is the Marxist theory of education?
Main function is to maintain capitalism and reproduce social inequality
What are the two functions of Althussers ideological state apparatus in education
reproduces social inequality as lower classes perform worse which creates an unqualified workforce and hidden cirriculum is shaped to assist m.c achievement
legitmaises class inequality as m.c has more access to more cultural and economic capital which puts them at an advantage
What is the correspondence theory?
education mirrors the workplace in its organisation and rewards
How does Bowles and Gintis say the workforce is produce?
School processes mirror the world of work in order to prepare them for manual labour
Education claims to be meritocratic but schools discriminate in favour of the m.c
What is the hidden curriculum
The informal learning processes that happens in school that teaches norms and values
What does Illich say about deschooling society?
genuine learning is replaced by advancement through insitutions through meaningless credentials
school only teach consumerism and obedience
What was Paul Willis study?
qualitative research
participant observation and unstructured interviews
a group of 12 boys
counter culture of being disobedient and unmotivated
prepared them for later life of unskilled work that capitalism needs someone to perform
What are the criticisms of marxist theory?
Giroux (neo-marxism) - rejects view that w.c passively accept their position to become compliant workers - gender and ethnicity often combine with class
Floud + Martin - marxists exaggerate the effect education has on w.c achievement as gov policies have improved
Saunders - middle class educational success is due to biological differences
Chubb + Moe - marxists fail to see how education has failed all social groups
Marrow + Torres - students create their own identities rather than being constrained by tradition
What is the feminist perspective on education?
enforce patriarchy as males hold most of the power and dominate social positions
Heaton and Lawson )1996) and five feminist features hidden curriculum?
resources - children’s books and textbooks portray women dependent on men
students - male students make female students feel uncomfortable in certain subjects like compute b
teachers - posses sexist attitudes about tasks in a classroom
curriculum - boys sports and girls sports
lack of senior role models - men outnumber women at senior management levels
What is the postmodernist view of education?
modern era has ended and education needs to adapt to changes
What is the difference between fordism and post fordism
20th century used forfeit methods of mass production where everyone was trained in a particular skill
post fordism means production methods have become more flexible and adaptable where people are trained or be multi skilled
What is the difference between between internal and external?
internal - factors within school
external - factors outside education system
What is the difference between setting and streaming?
Setting - placing students in groups according to ability in individual subjects
Streaming - placing students in groups according to ability
What is labelling theory?
Teachers often attach a label to a pupil that has little to do with their ability but formed on opinion about the ideal pupil
Becker - teacher/ pupil interactions are based upon labels and can lead to self fufilling propechy
Evaluations of Labelling theory
Deterministic
Focuses too much on negative effects
Attributes too much importance to teacher agency
Fuller (1984) - black girls in a London comprehensive were labelled as low achievers but their response was to study hard to prove the teachers wrong
What did Feinstein (2008) find about language?
educated parents use language to ask questions and challenge their children
less educated parents only use simile descriptive statements
What are Bernstein (1975) two types of speech code?
restricted - used by working class and had a limited vocabulary which is based on short, grammatically simple sentences
elaborated - used by middle class and has a wide vocabulary based on longer, more complex sentences
Name three labelling case studies
Pygmalion in the classroom - Rosenthal and Jacobson - fake IQ test and random 20% selected as bright - after a year these had made the most progress
Rist - US primary school said teachers used home backgrounds to separate students
Jorgenson - ideal pupil varies according to school - Aspen - w.c school is quiet and passive, Rowan - m.c school based on academic ability
What did Feinstein (2008) say the four ways were that middle class socialise their children better?
parenting style - emphasis on disciple and high expectations supports achievements
educational behaviours - educated parents are more aware of how to assist their children’s progress
income - spending income in ways to promote education succeed like buying
educational acyicties or books
parents education - better educated parents have children who are more successful
What is a subculture?
A group of people within culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs often maintaining founding principles but develops its own separate norms
What is symbolic capital and violence?
Capital - the status, recognition and sense of worth that students recieve from others
Violence - using symbolic capital in a negative way like demonstrating superiority
What is working class dilemma?
Faced by w.c pupils to achieve symbolic capital from friends and rejecting w.c identity
How are subcultures formed according to Lacey?
Differentiation - teachers categorise pupils according to percieved ability
Polarisation - the process which pupils respond by moving to two extremes
Features of pro -school subcultures>
Committed to school values, gain status through success, invovled in wider life o the school
Mac An Ghaill (1994) - academic achievers - achieve success by focusing on traditionals subjects
new enterprisers - reject traditional cirriculum
What does Archer say about symbolic violence?
schools impose forms of symbolic violence against students whose identities are shaped by designer clothes
What does Reay say about school environments?
students align their ability with the type of school that they attend
What are the four factor is working class subculture according to Sugarman?
fatalism - belief that you cannot change your lot in life
collectivism - value being part of a group rather than an individual
immediate gratification - seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in the future
present time orientation - present is more important than the future
What is self fufilling prophecy?
when students take on the label that is attributed to them by the teacher or school which causes
What is habitus?
Bourdieu - learned or taken for granted ways of thinking or acting that are shared by a particular class
m.c has the power to set the habitus of the school so w.c habitus is achieved through disruptive behaviour
What are evaluations of habitus
postmodernists argue class doesn’t have as much of an impact on identity anymore
What is compensatory education?
aims to tackle to problem of cultural deprivation by providing resources to deprived areas
Exp. Operation Head start in the U.S
What is cultural deprivation?
having inferior norms and values that make it difficult to access education
What material deprivation?
not having the resources or spaces available to do well in school - linked to poverty
What do Hubbs and Tait say about language?
parents who challenge their child to evaluate their thinking are more likely to have higher cognotative ability
What does Douglas say about parents education?
parental attitudes to education own level of education impact achievement as w.c parents place less value in education so are less likely to push their children
What does Keddie (1973) argue about cultural deprivation
a child cannot be deprived of it own culture and working class children are isn’t culturally different rather than deprived
schools should recognise this and build on their stengths
