Relationships and processes within school Flashcards
What is the formal curriculum?
Involves the subjects which are on the school timetable.
What is the hidden curriculum?
Involves the hidden, informal messages and lessons that come from the way schooling is organized and run.
According to functionalist DURKHEIM, what does school teach?
- Sense of belonging and commitment to a bigger society
- A shared belief in importance of cooperation
- Activities that produce a sense of pride in a pupil’s individual school helps to pass on values.
According to functionalist PARSON, what does school teach?
- A belief that individual achievement should be based on merit
- A belief in individual competition through which individuals learn to make the maximum possible contribution to society
Why do Marxists criticise functionalists?
They argue that the hidden curriculum benefits the ruling class and not society as a whole.
What did BOWLES & GINTIS say about capitalism and the hidden curriculum?
Believed main role of hidden curriculum is to produce a docile, easily manipulated and exploitable workforce for capitalists.
How did BOWLES & GINTIS think the exploitable workforce was achieved?
Achieved through:
-Schools based on hierarchy, obey teachers
(accustomed to obedience that will be necessary towards managers)
-Taught to be motivated by external rewards
(exam success/ pay packet)
-School divides pupils, they compete with one another
What do feminists say about the hidden curriculum?
It does not serve interests of society as a whole but promotes patriarchal values that ensure dominance of male society
What did STANWORTH say about the hidden curriculum and the message education gave to women?
Men more important than women
Boys’ careers are more important than girls’ careers
Boys are cleverer than girls
Most senior positions are held by men
What did HARGREAVES say was the main reason why subcultures formed?
So pupils who receive little status within school can gain status by forming subculture where they are valued.
What are the basic pupils subcultures categorised into?
- Class background
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Sets/streams
- Youth culture
- Sexuality
What subcultures did PAUL WILLIS distinguish in males?
Anti-school 'lads': white, working-class males, lower streams Pro-school 'ear' 'oles': middle class
Clear dichotomy between 2 opposite subcultures
What was the MAC AN GHAILL study on the variety of male subcultures?
Study of boys in secondary education- found 5 subcultures:
- Academic achievers: work hard
- Macho lads: opposed school values
- New Enterprises: pro-school but keener on vocational education
- Real Englishman: highly educated backgrounds, valued education
- Gay students: critical of homophobia of school
What did DAVIES claim about exaggerated femininity?
Anti-school female subcultures.
Emphasizing boyfriends, prioritising marriage, childbearing over academic success.
What subcultures did SEWELL identify about African-Caribbean boys?
Conformists: accepted values of school and tired to succeed through education
Innovators: wanted to succeed but dislike schooling
Retreatists: individuals who tended to keep to themselves
Rebels: strongly rejected school
What is the interactionist theory?
A label that defines someone as a particular type of person can affect a person’s perception of themselves
- resulting in self-fulfilling prophecy
What was the experiment on the self-fulfilling prophecy by ROSENTHAL & JACOBSON?
Field experiment
Teachers given false info on students IQ scores.
Results showed pupils performed inline with info that had been given to teachers.
Pupils that the teachers had been told were intelligent made more progress.
What was the GILLBORN & YOUDELL research on the ideal pupil?
Teachers tend to see ability as fixed.
M/C and white pupils more likely to fit the ideal image of pupil.
Pupils who did not fit ideal- behaviour was negatively judged.
What are the 4 main ways pupils are organized?
Mixed ability
Streaming: separate groups for all subjects based on ability
Setting: particular groups according to ability in specific subjects
Within-class groupings
What was the study on teaching and learning in primary schools by HALLAM ET AL.?
6 primary school with different ways of organizing and learning.
- Most pupils preferred whole-class or individual work
- Negative attitudes to those in lower streams
What are the 4 Afro-Caribbean subcultures outlined in Sewell’s study?
Conformist, Innovator, Retreatist, Rebels
