Functionalist view on education

Question 1

Durkheims view on education

Answer 1

• Should emphasise moral responsibility & national solidarity
• Should establish a value consensus

Question 2

Parsons view on education

Answer 2

• Bridge between family & wider society
• Children get used to meritocratic culture & that hard work brings success

Question 3

Davis & Moores view on education

Answer 3

• Education allocates people into jobs that best match their talents through examinations and qualifications
• Helps identify people needed for high-skilled jobs & its ok for them to make more money as ultimately everyone benefits from people being in jobs best suited to them

Question 4

Criticisms of functionalist view

Answer 4

• Assumes children respond the same to socialisation in the system
• Ignores aspects of education that are dysfunctional, like prejudice
• Ignores differences in the quality of education (state and private schools)

Question 5

From a functionalist view, why is education meritocratic

Answer 5

• Assessments & examinations are the same for everyone & anyone can perform well if they are prepared to work hard & overcome perceived barriers
• There might be gaps in equity, but not equality.
• Especially since 1988 with the National Curriculum, all assessment is equal at every point regardless of educational setting. Everyone can technically achieve, no matter their starting point.

Question 6

Criticising functionalist view, why is education not meritocratic

Answer 6

• Ignores how social divisions (class, race, gender) may affect achievement
• Private schools impacts educational opportunity
• Whitty, Power & Sims (2013) found students from private schools more likely to be accepted by top universities with lower grades, with earlier research (Sutton Trust, 2010) found they were 55 times more likely to get into Oxford/Cambridge
• Britland (2013) private tutors used more by middle class parents for better results