Role/ function of the education system + perspectives on it

Question 1

Education is

Answer 1

the 5th largest category of public spending (£105 billion in 2023) after social protection, health, general public service and economic affairs

Question 2

Functionalism: Durkheim (and Parsons) - 4 basic functions of education

Answer 2

1. Passing on society’s culture and building social solidarity
2. Providing a bridge between the particularistic values and ascribed status of the family and the universalistic values and achieved status of contemporary advanced societies
3. Developing human capital - a trained and qualified labour force
4. Selecting and allocating people for roles in a meritocratic society and legitimising social inequality

Question 3

Functionalism: Durkheim (and Parsons) - 4 basic functions of education - Passing on society’s culture and building social solidarity

Answer 3

Education meets a functional prerequisite by passing on the central/core values and culture, achieved through both the hidden and the overt curriculums (eg in PSHCE), uniting people to build social solidarity by reinforcing value consensus

Question 4

Functionalism: Durkheim (and Parsons) - 4 basic functions of education - Providing a bridge between the particularistic values and ascribed status of the family and the universalistic values and achieved status of contemporary advanced societies

Answer 4

• Durkheim viewed schools as a “society in miniature” preparing young people for life
• Parsons sees schools as places of secondary socialisation, providing a bridge between the particularistic values and ascribed status of the family and the universalistic values and achieved status of societies based on meritocracy
• Children’s status within family is ascribed (eg as younger) but in a meritocratic society status is ascribed based on achievements and schools prepares them for this as the same universalistic values apply

Question 5

Functionalism: Durkheim (and Parsons) - 4 basic functions of education - Developing human capital - a trained and qualified labour force

Schultz’ theory of human capital

Answer 5

suggests that high levels of spending on education/training are justified as these develop people’s knowledge and skills, investing in the future economy
this development of human capital (through expanding schooling) provides a trained, qualified and flexible labour force who can undertake the ride range of jobs which arise from the specialised division of labour
the best and most qualified people end up in the jobs which require the most skill (meritocracy)

Question 6

Functionalism: Durkheim (and Parsons) - 4 basic functions of education - Selecting and allocating people for roles in a meritocratic society and legitimising social inequality

Answer 6

Davis and Moore suggest the education system is a means of selecting people for different levels of the job market, through grading people with streaming and test results, providing a major method of role allocation so the most suitable people end up in the most suitable positions
Davis and Moore suggest that due to equality of educational opportunity, everyone has the same access to jobs if they have the same ability, which justifies inequalities in society

Question 7

Criticisms of the functionalist view of education

Answer 7

• marxists argue that education passing on collective values and culture ignores the inequalities of power in society, suggesting instead that school passes on the values of the ruling class
• feminists may argue that school passes on patriarchal values and disadvantages girls and women
• there’s some doubt on how far contemporary society is meritocratic, as many of the upper class inherit wealth, and there are many elite jobs where ascribed status (class, gender etc) still have influence
• link between pay and educational qualifications is a weak one
• much of the curriculums content isnt relevant to many jobs (lots of jobs are learnt ‘on the job’ eg building)
• social class, gender and ethnicity majorly influence educational achievement, suggesting that there is no equality of opportunity in education
• Bowles and Gintis argue that the education system disguises the lack of equality of opportunity in education (class, ethnicity and gender all influence educational success)

Question 8

Social cohesion definition

Answer 8

the bonds or ‘glue’ that bring people together and integrate them into a united society

Question 9

Social mobility definition

Answer 9

movement of groups or individuals up or down the social hierarchy

Question 10

Functional prerequisites definition

Answer 10

the basic needs that must be met if society is to survive

Question 11

Hidden curriculum definition

Answer 11

the way teaching and learning are organised, and any part of the educational experience not covered by formal content of lessons (the overt curriculum)

Question 12

Social solidarity definition

Answer 12

the integration of people into society through shared values, a common culture, shared understandings and social ties that bring them together and build social cohesion

Question 13

Particularistic values are

Answer 13

rules and values that give a priority to personal relationships

Question 14

Universalistic values are

Answer 14

rules and values that apply equally to all members of society, regardless of who they are

Question 15

A meritocracy is

Answer 15

a society where jobs and pay are allocated on the basis purely of people’s individual talents, abilities, qualifications and skills

Question 16

Human capital (Shultz) definition

Answer 16

the knowledge and skills possessed by a workforce that increase the workforce’s value and usefulness to employers

Question 17

The division of labour is

Answer 17

the division of work or occupations into a large number of specialised tasks, each of which is carried out by one worker or a group of workers

Question 18

Equality of educational opportunity is

Answer 18

the idea that every child, regardless of his/her social class background, ability to pay school fees, ethnicity, gender or disability, should have an equal chance of developing their talents and abilities and of doing as well as his/her ability will allow

Question 19

The New Right perspective on education

Answer 19

• argues that education should not be concerned with equality but should prioritise training the workforce, allowing the most talented students to get the most demanding jobs
• education should socialise people into collective values and responsible citizenship to build social cohesion and ensure a stable and united society
• Chubb and Moe - an education system controlled by local/state authorities is not the best way to achieve this, instead we should have a free market of education, with different types of schools providing options and competition to encourage schools to improve (marketisation of education)

Question 20

Marketisation definition

Answer 20

the process whereby services, like education or health, that were previously controlled and run by the state, have government or local council control reduced or removed altogether, and become subject to the free market forces of supply and demand, based on competition and consumer choice

Question 21

Althusser (Marxist) - education as an ideological state apparatus

Answer 21

saw the main role of education as the reproduction of an efficient and obedient labour force, through
- the reproduction of the necessary technical skills
- the reproduction of ruling class ideology and the socialisation of workers into accepting it (false class consciousness)

suggests the ruling class persuade workers to accept their power through ideological state apparatus, and the education system is the main ideological state apparatus which passes on ruling class ideology (justifying capitalism) and selects people for different social classes as adults (eg workers persuaded to accept exploitation and managers trained to take on responsbaility)

Question 22

False class consciousness definition

Answer 22

a failure by members of a social class to recognise their real interests

Question 23

Ideological state apparatuses (Althusser) are

Answer 23

agencies which serve to spread the the ruling class ideology and justify the power of the dominant class

Question 24

Bourdieu (Marxist) - the reproduction of class inequalities

Answer 24

• the education system legitimises class inequalities
• the dominant class imposes its own habitus in the education system, so middle/upper class students who have more access to the ruling class habitus (as they’re socialised into it within the family) perform better
• middle/upper class students also possess more cultural capital, so have more chance of educational success
• this means that working class students find it very difficult to succeed, meaning they stay in the class they were born in to, whilst the upper class students stay upper class
• due to the presentation of the education system as meritocratic, the success of upper class students is seen as justified
• therefore the education system both reproduces and justifies class inequality

Question 25

Habitus (Bourdieu) definiton

Answer 25

the cultural framework and set of ideas possessed by a social class, into which people are socialised (through the family), and which influences their cultural tastes and choices

Question 26

Cultural capital (Bourdieu) definition

Answer 26

the knowledge, language, manners and forms of behaviour, attitudes and values, taste and lifestyle which give middle-class and upper-class students who possess them an in-built advantage in a middle-class-controlled education system
eg visits to museums, holidays, sports/music lessons etc

Question 27

Illich (marxist)

Answer 27

argues that schools are repressive institutions which promote conformity and encourage students to passively accept existing inequalities and the dominant ideology, rather than encouraging critical thinking.
They do this by rewarding those who accept the school regime with qualifications, access to higher education and better jobs.
Those who don’t conform or who question authority are punished and excluded from further progress so get lower-level jobs.
Proposes the solution to this is ‘deschooling’ - the abolition of the school system

Question 28

Freire (marxist) sees schools as

Answer 28

repressive institutions, where learners are conditioned to accept oppressive relations of domination and subordination, and listen to their betters, eg through obeying teachers, and deferring to their superior knowledge

Question 29

The work of Althusser, Illich and Freire suggests that the education system plays an important role in producing

Answer 29

the hegemony and hegemonic support of the ruling class - convincing the rest of society to accept the truth and superiority of the ruling class’s set of ideas and to consent to continued control by the dominant class

Question 30

Hegemony definition

Answer 30

the dominance in society of the ruling class’s set of ideas over others, and acceptance of and consent to them by the rest of society

Question 31

Hegemonic control definition

Answer 31

where control of the working class is mainly achieved through the hegemony and acceptance of ruling class ideas

Question 32

Bowles and Gintis (marxist) perspective

Answer 32

view the main role of education in capitalism as the reproduction of labour power (like Althusser) and the creation of a hard-working, submissive and disciplined workforce. This is done in 2 main ways:
1. Through the hidden curriculum and the similarity between social relationships at school and at work, in particular the way schooling operates in ‘the long shadow of work’
2. Through the legitimisation/justification of inequality and the class structure

Question 33

Bowles and Gintis (marxist) - schooling and ‘the long shadow of work’

Answer 33

• suggest that school reproduces labour power
• the world of work influences the organisation of education
• the hidden curriculum in schools corresponds to features of the workplace

Question 34

Ways in which the hidden curriculum corresponds to relations in the workplace (Bowles and Gintis - marxist)

Answer 34

• school rules/punishments teach conformity
• privileges for older students teach respect for elders and superiors
• different sports, uniforms, encouraged subjects and careers and expectations for girls and boys teach conformity to gender stereotypes and roles
• competitive sports and grading teaches workers to compete for jobs and wages
• respecting authority (teachers and bosses)
• different streams and bands reflect different levels of the job market based on ability

Question 35

Bowles and Gintis (marxist) - the legitimisation of inequality

Answer 35

• education system helps to maintain and justify social inequality and class structure, helps people come to terms with their socioeconomic position and thus helps reduce discontent and opposition to inequality
• people from upper/middle classes tend to obtain higher qualifications and better jobs
• B+G see equality of opportunity and meritocracy (functionalist ideas) as myths that promote the idea that success arises from hard work and natural ability
• thus, the education system justifies class inequality by suggesting it is due different levels of hard work and ability

Question 36

Criticisms for Althusser, Bourdieu, Illich, Freire, and Bowles and Gintis (marxist)

Answer 36

• lack of detailed research into schools
• suggests pupils passively receive education but they often have little regard for authority and discipline (as Willis’ research shows)
• lack of recognition of the influences of the formal curriculum (humanities and subjects like sociology encourage critical thinking )
• employers often complain that the education system doesn’t produce workers with suitable skillsets
• somewhat deterministic, suggesting students don’t have influence over their success, failing to explain why many working-class children are successful in education

Question 37

Willis (marxist) - Learning to Labour: How working class kids get working class jobs (1977)

Answer 37

• recognises that schools do not produce a willing and obedient workforce
• wanted to explain why working-class young people are so willing to go into low-paid, manual, working class jobs
• studied a group of 12 working class male pupils (‘lads’) in Wolverhampton in the 1970s
• found the lads developed an anti-school subculture and attached little value to school aims/values (eg qualifications), instead prioritising having a laugh
• the ‘lads’ wanted to get out of school as soon as possible to get their hands on money, impress mates and girls and to show that they could ‘graft’
• to them, school was boring and irrelevant, and stopped them from having fun and getting into the ‘real world’ of male manual work
• found similarity between anti-school subculture and workplace culture of male lower working-class jobs, eg sexism, lack of respect for authority, emphasis on fun
• young men are not persuaded by education to go into manual low-paid jobs but actively reject education through anti-school subculture and willingly enter this kind of work as soon as they can

Question 38

Criticisms of both marxist and functionalist perspectives

Answer 38

• both place too much emphasis on education’s impact on forming students’ identities, rather than other agents of socialisation (eg media, family)
• don’t fully consider ways students react to schooling in ways that aren’t functional for the education system or capitalism (eg playing truant, disrupting lessons)
• both overemphasise the link between education and the economy - the new vocational education and pressure to drive up school standards are in direct response to employers who criticised schools for not providing a sufficiently disciplined and qualified workforce

Question 39

Similarities between marxist and functionalist approaches

Answer 39

• both see schools playing a role in legitimising social inequality
• both macro theories concerned with structural relationship between education and other parts of the social system (economy, class system etc)
• both see education as serving the needs of industrial/capitalist society
• both see education as a powerful influence on students, ensuring they conform to social norms and values

Question 40

Differences between functionalist and marxist approaches

Answer 40

• Functionalism suggests education serves the needs of an industrial society but Marxism says it serves the needs of capitalism
• Functionalism: education serves the needs of the social system by encouraging shared norms and values, leading to social cohesion but Marxism: it serves needs of capitalism by socialising young people into the dominant class ideology
• Functionalism: hidden curriculum encourages value consensus, Marxism: hidden curriculum persuades students to accept dominant ideology and inequality
• Functionalism: education provides a means of upwards social mobility for those with ability, Marxism: education reinforces students’ pre-existing class status, reproducing inequality
• Functionalism: education justifies social inequality because roles are allocated based on meritocratic criteria (eg qualifications) with equality of opportunity, Marxism: education legitimises class inequality by persuading working class students to view their oppression as a result of their own failure, when it is in fact due to lack of opportunities

Question 41

Feminist view on education - Heaton and Lawson

Answer 41

education promotes patriarchal values through the hidden curriculum (stereotypes in textbooks, gender division of labour - female teachers and male managers etc)

Question 42

Liberal feminists emphasise that

Answer 42

education has made progress in becoming more educationally equal - girls used to have to do different subjects

Question 43

Stanworth noted that

Answer 43

teachers still have higher expectations of boys and push them towards higher education more

Question 44

Banyard (radical feminist) looked into

Answer 44

sexual harrassment within the education system and how it is not treated as seriously as other forms of bullying

Question 45

Sue Sharpe found that

Answer 45

girls’ priorities had changed since the 1970s to be more career-based