Education

Question 1

Func - Social solidarity

Answer 1

creates sense of community and transmit value consensus
EVA - post mod - do we need value consensus
Marx - only taught ruling class values

Question 2

Func - Specialist skills

Answer 2

Certain skills are needed for skilled jobs needed for good economy
EVA - what you are taught in school has little relation to what jobs they do

Question 3

Func - Social bridge

Answer 3

From Particularistic values of home to universalastic values rules depend on the person to the rules are the same for everyone
Ascribed to achieved status
EVA - HIgher classes can inherit wealth/buisnesses, elite jobs influenced by ascribed status

Question 4

Func - Role allocation

Answer 4

Sifting people into the right jobs so we have capable people and little wasted potential, meritocracy means the best jobs and salaries depends on skill
EVA - Meritocracy is a myth best jobs taken by rich white men

Question 5

Marx - Ideological state apparatus

Answer 5

Althusser says that the state uses tools to control people, the isa controls peoples ideas and beliefs through socialisation techniques
thinks that education creates an obidient workforce and teach false class consiousness
EVA - Too deterministic and that not all w/c are not entirely molded by capatalism, many left wing marxist are university educated

Question 6

Marx - Culture Capital

Answer 6

main role of education is to justify class inequality, each social class has its own culture and the ruling class impose its culture on the education system this helps middle and upper class as they have easier access to the culture so they have a built in advantage this reproduces class inequality, legitimises class inequality and reinforces myth of meritocracy
EVA - Too deterministic doesnt explain how or why many w/c students do well

Question 7

Marx - Hidden curiculum

Answer 7

The role of the education is to produce an obedient work force so the schools have a hidden curiculum lessons that arent directly taught e.g accepting authority
Researched 237 NYC high schools and found that schools reward behaviour that make a obidient workforce
Correspondence principle - situations at school correspnd to situations at work
EVA - Subjects like sociology teach traits like critical thinking a trait capatalists would want

Question 8

Marx - The Lads

Answer 8

Critisied Bowles and gintis by arguing that schools arent producing an obidient workforce, Researched the “lads” a group of boys that formed an anti school subculture, they saw school as irelavant, school was getting in the way until they could do real “mans work”
similarity between antischool subculture and lower w/c men where status was earned through drinking smoking and objectifying women the lads rejected the school but still ended up with what capatalist want them as
EVA - romantacised the lads despite anti-social and sexist actions, research was unrepresentative only being 12 boys in school in the uk

Question 9

Indirect perspective

Answer 9

Feminist perspective - gender differences in subject choices and gender stereotypes still exist
men dominate the top positions in schools and reinforce patriarchy
Postmod perspective - believe society is in a new era there is no one right way of thinking and that perspective on education are now irrelevant as the education system has changed so much recently

Question 10

New Right

Answer 10

Chubb and Moe - argue that state education is failing as it isnt meritocratic conducted research on 1000 schools in the us and found that students from poorer backrounds do 5% better in pricate schools because they have to answer to consumers, they argue that the introduction of marketisation is necessary to increase efficiency

Question 11

Internal - Class
Teacher stereotypes

Answer 11

Teacher stereotypes - Harvey and Slatin = 96 pri teachers chose white middle class as most successful student, Halo effect, Waterhouse = teacher stereotypes will become fixed and behaviour is based on the stereotype, Becker = teacher compares students to ideal stereotype then labelling theory change behaviour to fit label = self fuffiling stereotpye, rosenthal and jacobson = field experiment labelled random kids as spurturs
EVA = doesnt explain where the stereotpes come from, labelling theory too deterministic with people self negating prophecy

Question 12

Internal - Class
Setting and streaming

Answer 12

Setting and Streaming - setting is individual subjects streaming is all subjects, the set/stream you can be put into affects education achievement, w/c more likely to be put in lower sets/streams and those lower sets/streams are more likely to recieve negative labels and stereotypes and then form anti-school subcultures
Ball found that in lower sets they were encouraged to take vocational cources and higher sets academic subjects
Keddie = unequal classroom knowledge , lower sets werent taught as much and worse knowledge compared to higher sets
EVA = competitive nature of schools means teachers are underpressure to make sure all students achieve target grades so they are likely to do everything they can to help students

Question 13

Internal - Class
Educational triage

Answer 13

Gillborn & Youdell founf educational triage
1) Those who get good grades without extra support
2) Those who are borderline and will get good grades with support
3) Those who wont get good grades even with support
Middle set get the most help as they will make the most difference to league tables
EVA - New Labour introduced Value-added to league tables to prevent this

Question 14

Internal - Class
Pupil subcultures

Answer 14

Pupil Subcultures - Lacey says through differentiation (making students different and seperate more and less abled students)
then polarisation (Students become one extreme or the other) it creates a subculture, Woods says there are 5 ways
Ingratiation - teachers pet
Opportunism - trying to impress peers and teachers
Ritualism - Staying out of trouble
Retreatism - Daydreaming and mucking about
Rebellion - Rejection of school values
students may vary between times and teachers
EVA - Supported by ball who found that when setting/streaming is removed polarisation and therefore anti-school subcultures declined

Question 15

Internal - Class
Covert selection

Answer 15

Covert Selection - Schools have to accept anyone unless its a popular and good school then they can cream skim to pick the middle class and most likely to succeced pupils, Bartlett also says that they silt shift the worst student off by using 3 methods 1) using complicated language to discourage poorly literaterate parents 2) having expensive school uniform 3) not marketing schools in w/c areas EVA - Pupil premium introduced to avoid covert selection

Question 16

External - Class
Material factors

Answer 16

Material factors
Housing - W/c students more likely to live in bad housing leading to sickness then falling behind, disruption of sleep if with a sibling
Diet and Health - W/c kids have worse diet in turn poorer health and difficulty concentrating, kids from poorer home more likely to have emotional and behavioural problems
Catchment area - w/c families cant afford to move to move near better schools and then selection by mortgage
Hidden cost of education - 2013 parents spent £1614 per year per child on basic school expenses poorer families cant afford this
EVA - many w/c kids achieve well in education, pupil premium, Sure start and Ema to help with material deprivation

Question 17

External - Class
Parent attitude

Answer 17

Parents Attitude - M/c parents more likely to take interested in the work, encourage children to stay in education, and be educated themselves so able to deal with what their child needs and deal with teachers, Washbrook nad waldfogel found that w/c were already a year behind priviledged kids before even starting primary school
EVA - the way we measure parental interest may not be accurate, parents could be interested but dont have the time to contact school so we wouldnt know

Question 18

External - Class
subcultural attitudes

Answer 18

Subcultural Attitudes - W/c and M/c have own subculture and attitudes and values - Sugarman argued that w/c often unable to get promoted so there subculture was based on present time orientation and immediate gratification, wheras the m/c were able to progress so had a subculture based off future orientation
EVA - overlooks the role schools can play to shape a students identity

Question 19

External - Class
language

Answer 19

Language - Bernstein argued that lang is important to education, he states that m/c kids are more likely to have their lang skills developed at home and therefore have and advantage, The restricted code and elaborate code
EVA - Bernstein lumps all of w/c together and all of m/c together, Labov found that many w/c people were better comunicators than m/c who got boged down in unecessary detail and lang

Question 20

External - Class
cultural and social capital

Answer 20

Cultural and Social Capital - Robson supports bourdieu and found that reading for pleasure going to muesums/zoos/art galleries/ theatres and doing artistic and musical activities improved educational achievement. Knowing the right people and having connections to get advice and help from, Archer argues that m/c have an easier time transitioning from home to school but w/c will have a culture clash
EVA - Schools should change their culture and recognise w/c culture more

Question 21

Internal - Gender
equal oppourtunities

Answer 21

Equal oppourtunities - GIST (get girls in science) WISE (women in science and engineering) Boaler argues that equal oppourtunities are the key reason for the changes in girls achievment as they have made school more meritocractic
EVA - still significant gender stereotypes shown through gendered subject choice

Question 22

Int - Gender
teacher labellin

Answer 22

Teacher labelling and stereotypes - Girls are stereotyped positively due to this they are more likely to recieve help and encouragement swann argues that girls are better at listening and cooperating this may lead to the positive stereotypes leading to self fuffiling prophecy EVA - many sociologist consider class to be a more significant factor on determining teacher stereotypes

Question 23

INt - Gender
positive role models

Answer 23

Positive role models - significant increase in female teachers 67% females in headteacher role, women in high positions may act as role models and show that women can achieve high status’ and recognise educational importance
EVA - 63% of high school teachers were still male so majority of female students see men in the role instead of women

Question 24

Int - Gender
student selection and league tables

Answer 24

student Selection and league tables - Girls are seen to be more succssful in gcses so girls are more sought after for better league tables, boys are 4x more likely to be excluded and are less attractive to schools, Jackson argues that girls are more likely to be recruited by good schools and therefore more likely to achieve making a cycle
EVA - majority of teachers time is taken up with boys even if theres a majority of girls in the class

Question 25

Ext - Gender
imapact of fem

Answer 25

Impact of feminism - feminism has changed the trad role of women and how they are viewed, Mcrobbie compared girls magazines from 70s to 90s and found that it changed from all about being a housewife to being an independant women, educational aspirations have increased and people are more focused on career, equal pay and sex discrimination act mean that indepenace is easier to achieve and are more motivated in education to achieve indpendance EVA - media imagery can be critisised for repr women as objects for men as well as pay gaps still existing

Question 26

Ext - Gender