Education Flashcards
Identify and explain one economic function of schools in Britain today.
- For functionalists, schools and colleges teach skills and knowlege neccecary to work in a modern, technical, industrial society, such asliteracy, numeracy and ICT.Vocational courses aim to train young people for the world of work. So education prepares people fortheir future roles.
- For Marxists, education is seen as reinforcing the class system, teaching lower classes skills for lower classed jobs, and higher classes the skills for a higher status job.
Identify and explain one selective function of schools in Britain today.
- Functionalists see the education system as a sieve, grading students according to their ability and placing individuals in occupational roles best suited to their talents and abilities. This is believed to be a metriocratic system, grading students according to their abilities and placing them in a job according to that. In this system, if done right social class will not matter.
- Marxists do not believe that the education system provides equal opportunities for everyone. They argue that the school system is designed to benefit powerful groups as teachers and schools reject working class students, and they therefore underperform.
Identify one way in which schools teach children to become part of society. Explain with a example how it is done.
Socialisation- teaching norms and values
•For functionalists, education also plays a role in teaching the values and norms of society to each new generation. School is seen as an agency of socialisation, through which young people learn a common culture, beliefs and expectations. The education system ‘knits’ children from different backgrounds as a flexible whole. Marxists see education as socialising individuals as socialising children into accepting the values of the powerful groups.
Explain what sociologists mean by the ‘Hidden Curriculum’
The learning which takes place outside particular subjects or lessons as part of general school life
Explain some of the things which the hidden curriculum teaches pupils
- Heirarchy, to understand the concept of authority
- Competition, to compete with other students for grades etc. in sport and exam results. Society is based on competition for jobs, possessions and status.
- Gender role allocation. There is a link between expectations, subject choice and gender in school and gender role allocation in the wider society. Job segregation begins at school, where a teacher may expect female students to have more trouble with science. This could discourage girls from entering science professions.
- Lack of satisfaction. Critics of schools argue that much of the school day is took up by meaningless activities, and students have little say in what is studied. Many argue that Schools prepare for students for boring, meaningless and repetitive jobs.
What kinds of schools were introduced by the tripartite system?
- Secondary modern, general education for the less academic. (75% of all students)
- Secondary technical, practical education e.g. crafts, skills (5% of all students)
- Grammar, academic education for the more academic (20% of all students)
In a tripartite system, what decided the type of school a student attended?
11-plus exam:
•Taken at age 11, designed to test ability and potential of student. Depending on this, pupils were placed into different schools.
Explain what is meant by the “comprehensive system”
The current school system in which students all attend the same school, regardless of academic ability.
Identify two reasons for the introduction of a comprehensive system
- Break down social class barriers
- Cater to children of all abilities
- Schools are larger, so more facilities and money available
- Each school has a specific catchment area so that a child can go to a school close to them.
Give two disadvantages of the comprehensive system
- Comprehensives limit parental choice. Each student is expected to go to the nearest school, ignoring the repuation.
- It is also argued that the more academically able students are held back by the less able, particularly in mixed-ability groups.Teachers’ attention and time might be torn between meeting the needs of the bright as well as the needs of less able students.
- There is also criticism that comprehensives accept lower standards. This criticism is related to social class, as comprehensives contain a mixture of classes with a range of values and attitudes. The grammar school, on the other hand, was largely middle class and so would only reflect middle-class standards only
Identify one form of pre-school educational provision.
- Day nurseries, which may be provided through the local authority or by voluntary or private means
- Playgroups, which provide care and learning experiences mainly for 3-5 year olds
- Nursery Education, which may be provided in nursery schools or nursery classes attatched to primary schools for children up to 5 years old.
Explain what is meant by the independent sector
The independent sector is a sector of education which charges fees. They comprise of private schools, most schools which charge fees and public schools, the older and more famous independent secondary schools, such as Eton, Harrow and Rugby.
Identify and explain 3 arguments in favour of private education
- They have a lower teacher-student ratio than state schools, which means that classes are smaller and recieve more attention from the teacher.
- Resources and facilities are often better than in some state comprehensives
- Many independent schools have an academic culture, in which academic achievement is emphasised and examination results are good. Students are said to be well motivated and examination results are good.
- Parental input is high in terms of fees, support and expectations.
- Independent boarding schools are said to benefit from the full immersion of staff and students in school life.
Identify and explain 3 arguments in favour of state education
- State schools are free, not based on the ability of parents to pay the high fees of private schools. Some critics argue that it is not morally right to have a private education system to which the rich only have access as this reinforces inequalities in society based on wealth.
- State schools are more socially mixed. Independent schools are seen as elitist and socially dividing.
- State school may provide a route for upward social mobility for students from poor familes. Fee-paying schools are less likely to do so.
- Students do not have to travel so far on a daily basis if they attend a local state school. Private school students may have to travel relatively long distances or live away to attend.
Identify and explain a criticism of vocational education.
•Vocational qualifications are similar to the idea of the tripartite system in that some children are labelled as “failiures” and pushed into lower-status vocational training.
