Education Flashcards
What is a repressive state apparatus?
Using physical force to keep a capitalist society, e.g. police, army, courts etc. An example of this could b
Louis Althusser (1971)
What is an ideological state apparatus?
Controlling of ideas, values and beliefs e.g. religion, media and education.
Louis Althusser (1971)
What are the marxist views on education?
- Reproduces class inequalities
- Legitimises class inequalities
What did Bowles and Gintis say about education?
The education system reproduces an obedient workforce that accepts inequalities. He saw that personalities that showed obedience was rewarded, instead of creativity or independence.
School and work are similar, known as the correspondence theory.
What is the hidden curriculum?
Jackson (1968)
Subtle unwritten rules or expectations which prepares pupils for their expected future. Meritocracy is a myth.
What is the myth of meritocracy?
Family and class denote achievement but the working class are fooled into thinking there is fair competition. (Parsons)
What was Paul Willis’ study?
Paul Willis (1977) studied 12 working class ‘lads’. They formed a group together that considered themselved above those who conformed. He then followed them into work after building rapport with them.
What was the 1988 Education reform act?
It was the major break from all previous educational policies. It introduced:
- National curriculum
- Ofstead
- League tables & Mass testing
- Market forces
- Vocationalism
- Local management of schools
Strengths of the national curriculum
- Every school studies the same
- Every child gets the same education
- More equal
Weaknesses of the national curriculum
- Does not stretch pupils
- Isn’t national as private schools do not use it
How is the public sector different to the private sector.
Within the independent sector, schools could be private or public. Public schools have higher fees, and include the best of the best pupils. They are often boarding and have hard entrance exams.
Strengths of league tables
- Allows parents to compare schools and see which is better.
- Promotes competition between schools
- Changes can be measured
Weaknesses of league tables
- Only shows raw data
- Ignores the background of students
- Class differences may affect data
- Behavioural problems not measured
- Does not get the full picture
What is meant by “inequality of opportunity”
This links to education, and how middle class parents snap up places as ‘good’ schools due to their superior acess to cultural capital (such as better knowledge of systems such as entry procedures)
Types of schools
State schools
Public schools
Private schools
Boarding schools
Free schools
Faith schools
What is a faith school, and how does it link to inequality?
A faith school is where pupils can be selected purely based on faith. This links to inequality as it allows schools to perform covert selection of pupils.
What is cultural capital?
Cultural capital is valuable acess to cultural knowledge
What is the name for when middle-class pupils are labelled positively?
The halo effect
What is setting / streaming
Setting / Streaming is the process where students are separated into different ability groups and then taught in these groups for all their subjects.
What is the pygmalion effect?
The greater the expectation placed apon people, the better they will perform. People will internalise their nagative labels, and those with positive labels suceed accordingly.
What was the experiment conducted about the self-fufiling prophecy?
Rosenthal and Jacobson told a school that 20% of pupils were ‘spurters’ at random. They then found that 47% of these pupils had made significant progress compared to other pupils.
What are some reasons that the self-fufilling prophecy becomes true?
- Teachers are more likely to label students
- Students are more likely to internalise these labels
- Teachers put these pupils in higher sets
- Teachers gave these pupils more challenging work
What is labelling?
The process of attaching a meaning or definition to an individual or group
What was Howard Beckers labelling theory?
Becker believes that teachers label pupils as soon as they see them and this affects the way they act to them, as they are compared to a ‘ideal pupil’.
This could involve their work, conduct, appearance and class.
