Main Theorists Flashcards
Durkheim (F)
- Social solidarity - shared beliefs + values are transmitted through the school’s teachings, e.g. history instils shared heritage.
- Specialist skills - education teaches individuals skills that they need to play their part in labour.
Parsons (F)
- School prepares movement from family to wider society.
- Ascribed + particularistic values to meritocratic ones - equal opportunity to achieve, based on ability + effort.
- Wong: see children as passive puppets of socialisation.
Davis + Moore (F)
- Role allocation - important roles are filled by the most talented people who are highly rewarded
- Inequality is necessary to ensure this.
- Weak link between educational achievement + economic success.
Schultz (F)
Education ensures people are properly trained for work, most qualified end up in jobs that require the most skills.
Chubb + Moe (NR)
- Consumer choice - private schools deliver quality education as they are answerable to paying parents - students from low income perform 5% better.
- Market system where parents shape schools to meet their own needs, improving the quality + efficiency of schools.
- Marketisation - competition between schools: league tables + OFSTED; formula funding; free schools.
- Allen: free schools only benefit children from highly educated families.
Althusser (M)
- Ideological state apparatus - maintains the rule of the bourgeoisie by controlling people’s beliefs + values.
- Transmits + legitimises class inequality: deserve subordination + seen as inevitable.
- Giroux (NM): assumes w/c passively accept their position.
Bowles + Gintis (M)
- Correspondence principle - school mirrors the world of work. E.g. uniform; hierarchy; obedience.
- Myth of meritocracy - meritocracy serves to justify the privileges of the h/c, making it seem as they gained them through success + fair competition.
- ‘Class first’ approach - see class as the key inequality, ignoring all other kinds.
Willis (M)
- Participant observation + unstructured interviews on ‘lads’.
- w/c pupils resist attempts to indoctrinate them
- Rebellion guaranteed that they end up in unskilled jobs.
- McRobbie: females are absent from Willis’ study.
Ball
- Exam league tables + funding formula creates school inequalities.
- m/c have cultural + economic capital that’s more desirable.
- Removal of streaming led to a decline in anti-school subcultures.
- National Curriculum ignores the history of black + Asian people.
Bartlett (M)
- Cream skimming - select high achieving m/c students.
- Silt-shifting - avoiding poor resulting w/c students.
Gewirtz
Parental choice - differences in parent’s economic + cultural capital.
- Privileged-skilled choosers - m/c; understand school’s admission system; economic capital to move to a better school area.
- Disconnected-local choosers - w/c; restricted by lack of capital - distance + travel were major restrictions on their choices.
- Semi-skilled choosers - w/c; ambitious for their children.
Hall (M)
Academies are an example of handing over public services to private capitalism.
Beder
Cola-isation of schools - UK families spent £110,000 in Tesco for one computer for schools.
Gillborn
- Institutionally racist policies in relation to ethnocentric curriculum + streaming disadvantages EM groups.
- As marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence school admission decisions.
- FSP had black children ranked lower than whites, which is ranked based on teachers’ judgements.
Engelmann
- Language used in l/c homes is deficient.
- Language spoken by low-income black American families is inadequate for educational success: ungrammatical + disjointed.
Bernstein
- Speech codes.
- Elaborate (m/c): complex sentences + grammar
- Restricted (w/c): simple sentences + grammar.
Douglas
- Parental attitudes: w/c parents placed less value on education + push their children less.
- Children placed in lower streams at 8 suffered a decline in their IQ score.
Feinstein
Parents’ own education is the most important factor as they have an advantage when socialising their children.
Sugarman
- Instant gratification - immediately reward themselves on successes.
- Present-time orientation - lack of long-term goals.
- Fatalism - unable to change their status.
- Collectivism.
Keddie
- w/c children are culturally different, not deprived.
- EM children are culturally different, schools are ethnocentric - biased in favour of white culture + against minorities.
Troyna + Williams
- Problem is not child’s language but the school’s attitude towards it.
- Speech hierarchy - label m/c highest.
- Institutional racism - discrimination that is inbuilt into the way institutions (e.g. schools + colleges) operate.
Blackstone
w/c parent’s attend fewer parent’s evenings not because of a lack of interest but because they are working.
Flaherty
- Money problems in the family is a significant factor in non-attendance.
- Stigma of FSM prevents students from eating (20%), leading to a lack of concentration.
- Department of Education (2012): 1/3 of students on FSM achieved five or more A*-C grades.
Howard
Poor diet means absences (ill) + difficulty in concentrating.
Tanner
Cost of items (transport, uniforms, books) places a heavy burden on poorer families.
Smith + Noble
w/c students are disadvantaged - can’t afford private schooling.
Bernstein + Young
m/c mothers are more likely to buy educational toys, books + activities that encourage reasoning.
Callender + Jackson
Fear of debt deters from higher education.
Bourdieu
- Cultural - knowledge, attitude + language of m/c.
- Economic - m/c meet demands of curriculum.
- Educational - gain qualifications due to economic capital.
- w/c habitus includes beliefs about what opportunities really exist for them + whether or not they would ‘fit in’.
Sullivan
- Questionnaire found that those who engaged in knowledgeable activities (cultural capital) were more successful during GCSEs, typically m/c.
- Resources + aspirations of m/c families explains the achievement gap.
Becker (Interactionalist)
- Labelling - teachers attach a meaning to a student.
- Interview found m/c’s work, conduct + appearance labelled them as the ideal pupil; w/c was furthest away as badly behaved.
Hempel-Jorgensen
- In w/c schools, pupils are judged in terms of their behaviour - the ideal pupil is: quiet, passive, obedient.
- In m/c schools, pupils are defined by their academic performance.
Rist
Teacher’s used info about home background to sort students into tables.
- Tigers - m/c fast learners.
- Cardinals - w/c medium abilities.
- Clowns - w/c troublesome.
Rosenthal + Jacobson
Pygmalion effect - fake IQ test labelled random 20% as bloomers, who progressed with more IQ points a year later.
Gillborn + Youdell
- A* to C economy - schools focus effort on those with potential to achieve in order to boost the school’s league table position.
- Educational triage - w/c students are labelled as ‘hopeless cases’, so ‘warehoused’ in the lower / bottom sets.
- Black children were highest achievers in primary, but worst of any ethnicity for GCSEs (21 points below average).
- Racialised expectations - teachers expected black pupils to present more discipline problems + misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening.
Lacey
- Differentiation - teachers categorise students according to how they perceive their ability, attitude + behaviour into streams.
- Polarisation - pupils’ response to streaming: pro-school subculture - m/c, committed to the school’s values; anti-school subculture - w/c, low streams, so gain status among peers.
Hargreaves
Boys in lower streams were labelled as triple failures: failed 11+; placed in a low stream; labelled as ‘worthless louts’.
Furlong
Response changes depending on teacher / subject.
Archer
- Nike identity - counter response to not lose their identity.
- Chinese students were seen as over-achievers.
- Symbolic capital - w/c conflict between status + education.
- Hyper-hetrosexual feminine identities - performance brought status among female peer groups but was in conflict with school / teachers.
- Local uni attendance reflects w/c habitus of shared members.
Ingram
w/c boys faced pressure to ‘fit in’ at grammar school.
Maguire
w/c cultural capital counted for nothing in a grammar school.
Evans
- w/c girls were reluctant to apply to elite universities as they felt that they may not ‘fit in’.
- Attachment to locality (4/21 intended to study + move away from their homes).
- Girls went to university to support their families, not based on aspirations.
Reay
- w/c applied to local universities to save money.
- Self-exclusion from elite + distant universities limits their success.
Cultural Deprivation theorists
- Children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation, so haven’t developed problem-solving skills.
- Black children are socialised to be fatalistic.
- Failure to socialise children adequately is a result of a dysfunctional family structure.
- Driver: ignore positive effects, e.g. black Caribbean families provide girls with positive role model: independent women.
Sewell
- Black boys speaking in Standard English were seen as ‘selling out’ to the white establishment.
- Absence of fatherly nurturing means black boys turn to street gangs that offer ‘perverse loyalty + love’.
- Rebels; Conformists; Retreatists; Innovators.
- Feminisation of education - schools don’t nurture masculine traits (competitiveness), but celebrate feminine ones (methodical)
- External factors: boys’ anti-school attitudes; peer group pressure; nurturing role of the father.
Gillborn + Mirza
Indian pupils do well despite English not being their home language.
Official Statistics (2010)
EaL were only 3.2 points behind in GCSEs
Scruton
Low achievement in EM due to failing to embrace British culture.
Murray (NR)
High levels of lone parenthood + lack of positive male role models leads to underachievement of some minorities.
Pryce
- Asians are higher achievers as their culture is more resistant to racism.
- Black Caribbean culture is less resistant, leading to low self-esteem.
- Lawrence: underachieve due to racism, not low self-esteem.
Lupton
Adult authority in Asian families is similar to a teacher.
Palmer
Material deprivation - low income + substandard housing.
- ½ of all EM children live in low-income households; ¼ white.
- Live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment + low wages.
- Lack of language skills + foreign qualifications not recognised by the UK.
- Racial discrimination in the labour + housing market.
Rex
- Racial discrimination + social exclusion.
- E.g. housing: EM forced in substandard accommodation than whites of the same class.
Bourne
- Black boys are seen as a threat, negatively labelled + excluded.
- Achievement after exclusion: 1/5 achieved five GCSEs.
- Osler: placed in internal exclusions with lack of access to the main curriculum.
Wright
Teachers assumed Asian students had a poor grasp on English, so used simplistic language + excluded them in discussions.
Mac an Ghaill
Black + Asian A-Level students didn’t accept negative labels.
Mirza
- Racist teachers discouraged black pupils from aspiring to professional careers.
- These strategies put them at a disadvantage by restricting their opportunities.
David
National Curriculum ignores non-European languages + literature.
Sanders + Horn
Tasks assessed by teachers rather than written exams widened the score gap between ethnic groups.
Tikly
‘Aiming High’ attempts to raise black Caribbean pupils’ achievements, but entered in lower tier GCSE exams: C.
Strand
Black pupils are underrepresented in entry to higher tier tests - tiers reflect teacher expectations, leading to a SFP.
Connolly
- Combination of gender, class + ethnic differences have an effect.
- E.g. gap between the achievements of the white m/c + w/c compared to the black m/c + w/c.
Mitsos & Browne
- Growing service sector has created more ‘feminised’ career opportunities, e.g. healthcare, teaching, childcare.
- Decline in male employment opportunities has led to an ‘identity crisis’ for men, e.g. industry, engineering, mining.
- Girls are better organised, so benefit from coursework.
- Manual work requires few qualifications, so lack of impact on achievement.
Sharpe
Shift in aspirations from the 70s to the 90s, more career-minded.
McRobbie
- Women now stress independence + assertiveness.
- Females are largely absent from Willis’ study.
Fuller
- Educational success is a part of girls’ identities.
- However, w/c girls expressed a desire for low-level jobs + to leave education.
- Negatively labelled black girls rejected their labels + passed.
DCSF (2007)
Gender gap is due to boys’ poorer literacy + language skills.
- Parents spend less time reading with their sons.
- Girls have a ‘bedroom culture’.
- Boys pursue leisure activities.
Boaler (LF)
Policies are the key reason for girls’ achievement.
Weiner
- Teachers challenge traditional stereotypes around gender.
- History curriculum is a ‘woman-free zone’.
Gorard
Gender gap was constant until coursework was introduced.
Francis
- Boys were disciplined more harshly + felt picked on.
- Boys concerned about labelling as it threatened their masculinity.
Swann
Boys dominated in whole-class discussions whilst girls preferred pair-work.
Jackson
High achieving girls are attractive to schools vs low achieving boys
Slee
- Boys are less attractive to schools as they suffer from behavioural difficulties.
- 4x more likely to be excluded - liability students.
Ringrose
- Sexualised identity - involved competing for boys in dating culture.
- Moral panic about failing boys becoming unemployed u/c that threatens social stability has led to a policy shift.
- Ignores w/c, ethnic + girls problems.
- Osler: focus on underachieving boys has led to a neglect of girls.
YouGov (2007)
Survey: 42% boys said the presence of a male teacher made them work harder + behave better.
Epstein
Laddish sub-cultures - w/c boys harassed + labelled as gay if they studied.
Osler
Placed in internal exclusions (PRU) with lack of access to the main curriculum.
McVeigh
- Ethnic + class differences are greater than gender differences.
- Class gap achievement is 3x wider than the gender gap.
Institute of Physics (2012)
- Girls picking A-Level physics = 20% for 20 years.
- Ineffective policies: GIST + WISE.
Norman
Gender role socialisation - gender identity shaped differently.
Browne + Ross
- Gender domains - shaped by expectations.
- More confident when engaging in tasks within gender domains.
Kelly
Science is seen as a boys’ subject.
- More male teachers.
- Textbook representations.
- Boys dominate lessons.
Colley
Computer science is a masculine subject.
- Machines a part of male domain.
- Lack of group work that girls favour.
Leonard
Single-sex schools.
- Girls more likely to pick maths + science A-Level.
- Boys more likely to pick English + languages.
