The Role and Function of Education (2) Flashcards
Up to what age is the education compulsory in the UK?
18
What is a sixth form college?
Further education.
What is the National Curriculum? When was it introduced?
Board scheme of work set by the government that schools have to follow.
It was introduced by the Education Reform Act 1988 by Kenneth Baker.
What does co-educational mean?
Both genders together in one school.
What do we mean when we talk about “special educational needs”?
Children that have a condition that effects them learning - physical and/or mental.
What do we mean by “educational achievement”?
The extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their short or long-term educational goals.
How might gender affect a child’s experience of education?
Labelling - boys labelled as lazy and don’t want to learn so the teachers don’t teach them as much as they do the girls.
What are the different theoretical perspectives on the role and function of education?
Functionalism - consensus. New Right - political. Marxism - conflict. Feminism - conflict. Interactionism - micro. Postmodernism - choice.
What are the explanations of the different theoretical perspectives?
Functionalism: consensus; schools function for the needs of society and promote social order.
New Right: political; schools are important for meritocracy and promoting traditional values.
Marxism: conflict; schools reproduce social class inequalities and support capitalism.
Feminism: conflict; schools reproduce gender inequalities and support patriarchy.
Interactionism: micro; schools and teachers label pupils and produce self-fulfilling prophecies and pupil subcultures; classroom interactions is observed in detail.
Postmodernism: choice; schools and learning are ‘customised’ to meet the diverse needs of parents and pupils; ‘one-size fits all education’ is outdated.
How do functionalist see society?
Functionalists see society as integrated as a whole. To functionalists every institution in society performs a positive function and they assume that this helps society to run smoothly.
What is the metaphor often used to describe functionalism?
Functionalists see society built up and working like a human body, made up of interrelated parts which function for, or contribute to, the maintenance of society as a whole.
Who was the founding father of functionalism?
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).
What do functionalists agree on?
Norms and values (value consensus).
What are functionalists views?
Macro Structural Consensus Durkheim: social solidarity and skills Parsons: Meritocracy Davis and Moore: Role allocation
What are the key functionalists points?
- Functionalism is a structural consensus theory.
- The founding father was Emile Durkheim.
- He compared society to a living things to explain who society worked.
- This he called the organic analogy.
- Every system in society has a positive function.
- Every system is essential to the whole (indispensable).
- Every system is interdependent (rely on each other).
- Any system without a function will eventually disappear as it is no use.
What were the ideas of Durkheim?
‘Living individuals to society’ (school is a mini society).
School teaches ‘social rules’ that apply to all (norms/values and expectations).
In school people learn to ‘feel’ part of a larger group (social integration).
People learn specialist work skills (division of labour) in school.
How is school like society?
SCHOOL:
Head teacher/pupil hierarchy
Rules and regulations
Punishment for not doing what you are told
Put in a class with people beyond your family who you are expected to get along with
Uniform
Rewards for hard work eg exam results, rewards
Competition is encouraged
WORK/SOCIETY;
Boss/employee
Employment rules and police/laws
Punishment for not doing what you are told
Have to get on with people you don’t necessarily know/like
Uniform
Rewards for hard work, eg bonus/payrise/promotion
Competition is encouraged
How did Talcott Parson describe school?
As a bridge - education is a bridge that helps children see how to survive in the world. Before education the family is what help guide them but it is not very successful because they try and shelter them from the outside world.
What is meant by the term Social Solidarity?
Education teaches us to understand that we are part of a society, otherwise society wouldn’t work. Education transmits society’s culture and socialises us into a value consensus.
What is meant by the term Specialist Skills?
Durkheim also believed that education teaches you skills that your parents can’t. Some of these skills are necessary for specific jobs (an advanced division of labour) and parents do not have the specialist knowledge.
How did Durkheim see education?
Durkheim saw schools as society in miniature in which individuals learn to interact with others and follow a fixed set of rules. This provides preparation for later life when individuals will have to get on with others and comply with the rules of society,
What are the 3 main functions Parsons believed education had?
- It is a bridge between the family and wider society.
- It socialises children into the basic values of society.
- It selects people for their future roles in society.
What is Ascribed Status?
A trait or characteristic people possess as a result of the circumstances of birth. E.g. knowledge, caring, generous, lazy, etc.
What is Achieved Status?
A status that we either earn or choose and that is not subject to where or whom we where born. E.g. hardworking, honest, etc.
What are Particularistic values?
Values that are individual to that person e.g. king, good sense of humour, etc.
What are Universalistic values?
Values that all people in society are judged on e.g. hardworking. motivation, etc.
What is meant by the term Meritocracy?
The idea that everyone is given an equal opportunity and individuals achieve rewards through their own effort and ability.
What are some Particularistic values?
Treated differently Treated according to your position in the family Treated individually May get favourable treatment Dress as an individual Food –eat the food YOU like perhaps
What are some Universalistic values?
Everyone treated the same
E.g. examiners mark the same way for everyone
Nobody given preferential treatment (in theory)
School uniform is the same for everyone (is it?)
Everyone has to do the same work/exams
What the views of Davis and Moore of education?
The view education as a means of role allocation. Education ‘sifts and sorts’ people according to their abilities so that the most able gain high qualifications and can progress to doing the most ‘functionally important jobs’ in society.
The most important jobs are more highly rewarded motivate the talented to work hard to achieve those positions.
What are the strengths of functionalism?
- Structural perspective enables analysis to move beyond the level of the classroom or individual school.
- Links schools to systemic needs of the wider society.
- Identifies schools as transmitters of knowledge, norms and values and as a selecting mechanism.
What are the weaknesses of functionalism?
- Other perspectives, such as Marxism, believe that education only passes on the ideology of the ruling class.
2, Socialisation only seems applicable to countries that have a dominant culture. In countries that are multi-cultural such as it’s hard to see how education could reconcile differences. - Interactions criticise functionalists for their over socialised view of pupils that sees them as passively accepting all they are taught.
- We do not have a meritocracy as functionalists suggest. For example, ability and effort are not the only factors that determine achievement, so does gender, class, ethnicity etc.
- Some sociologists argue that the knowledge and skill taught in school are not particularly useful for life at work.
- Some studies suggest that not all pupils conform to society’s norms and values through education and therefore don’t succeed in socialising them (e.g. Paul Willis)
What are the evaluating points of functionalism?
- Equal opportunity in education does not exist, achievement in influenced by social class, ethnicity and gender.
- Marxism argue education transmits the ruling class ideology so only capitalists benefit.
- Doesn’t consider that some students reject school values (anti-school subcultures).
- Ignores individual free will-success partially due to individual decisions not just structural forces.
- Feminist argue it ignores patriarchy within education.
What is the meaning of the time of the false class consciousness?
A term used by some Marxists for the way in which material, ideological, and institutional processes in capitalist society mislead members of the proletariat and other class actors.
What is the Marxists view of education?
Marxist believe it is education that keeps the workers work and the owners own. Social institutions such as education reproduce class inequalities and play an ideological role by persuading alienated students and exploited workers that inequality is justified and acceptable.
What are the Marxist perspectives of education and what do they mean?
Macro - society shapes individuals.
Conflict - society is divided by two, unequal social classes; ruling class operate elite recruitment via extended family networks and attendance of public school and Oxbridge.
Structural - individuals are controlled by society; education is ideological, promoting false consciousness and meritocracy as a myth.
Economically deterministic - all society’s institutions such as education reflect and reinforce the economic (capitalist) base.
What are the two main functions Marxists see education as performing?
Economic - reproduces inequalities e.g. trains working class pupils to do the working class jobs and encourages the children of the wealthy into positions of power. Ideological - it convinces pupils that their success is based on meritocracy rather than class.
What are the Marxist perspectives on the role of education?
- There are 2 classes in capitalist society.
- Education reproduces, perpetuates capitalism.
- Education brainwashes us so we are ready to become docile workers.
- Athusser - Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) - legitimating inequality.
- Bowles and Gintis - correspondence principle - what you do at school affects what you do as a job.
- Willis - learning to labour.
- Bourdieu - cultural capital.
What are the two classes capitalism is based on conflict?
Proletariat - the workers.
Bourgeoisie - the owners.
How did Louis Althusser see the education system?
Althusser sees the education system as part of the ideological state apparatus. He claims that education, along with other ideological state apparatuses such as the family and the mess media, reproduce class-based inequalities by creating the belief that capitalism is somehow 'normal', 'natural' and 'just'. The school system is purposefully designed to fail working class pupils. This enables the reproduction of the class system, because the sons and daughters of the working class tend to remain working class.
What does Bourdieu believe that the main function of education is and why?
Like Althusser, Bourdieu argues that the main function of education is to reproduce and legitimise ruling class into a 'culture of failure' so that they take up, without question, routine and dull work. This is because the education system favours the culture of the middle class (e.g classical music and serious literature) rather than popular culture (e.g. Harry Potter, Ed Sheeran).
What are the strengths of Althusser and Bourdieu?
- Unveils the interests of the dominant and powerful groups in shaping schooling.
- Reveals the undeclared agenda of schooling. But, so do functionalists.
- Documents resistance by students to negative labelling.
What are the weaknesses of Althusser and Bourdieu?
- Are the working class ‘cultural dopes’ - do they just accept it?
- Tends towards conspiracy theory - are schools purposefully failing students?
- Does the current educational system have no advantage at all? What about role allocation?
- Karabel and Halsey point out that our educational system is remarkably similar to those in communist countries e.g. Cuba.
The educational system reproduces the next generation of workers in which to ways?
- The hidden curriculum.
2. The ‘myth’ of meritocracy.
What is the hidden curriculum?
The things learnt in school that are taught unintentionally.
What does the hidden curriculum do?
Get people to respect authority.
Encourages competition.
Gets people to work for rewards.
Gets people behaving in a particular way with peers/teaching.
What is Bowles and Gintis view on education?
Education is controlled by capitalists and serves their interests. There is a close relationship between schooling and work, because schooling is used to prepare children for working in capitalists businesses. The correspondence principle states that education corresponds to employment.
What is the Correspondence Theory according to Bowles and Gintis (1976)?
The role of education is to reproduce the next generation of labour power.
What is the workforce thought to be?
Passive Obedient Accepts authority without question Motivated by pay Hard-working Reliable Divided and fragmented
Bowles and Gintis believe that education prepares a hard-working, obedient workforce that will not challenge the management through the hidden curriculum in which ways?
- Conformist pupils are awarded higher grades than those who challenge authority or think creatively.
- Schools teach acceptance of hierarchy, since teaches give orders and pupils obey.
- Pupils are motivated by the external rewards success just as workers are motivated by wages.
- Both work and education are fragmented, or broken into small pieces, so that workers and pupils have little overall understanding of production or society. This keeps them divided.
How does Bowles and Gintis see the idea of meritocracy as a myth?
Bowles and Gintis see the idea of meritocracy as a myth as class background determines how well a person does. However, because people believes that the education system is meritocratic; this legitimates the system, making it seem fair.
What are the criticisms of Bowles and Gintis?
- Education corresponds to work - Brown et al. (1997) believe that much work now requires teamwork rather than obedience.
- Education creates obedient and uncritical workers - Reynolds (1084) believes that some education encourages critical thinking (i.e. sociology) some Neo-Marxists such as Willis believe that the hidden curriculum is not always accepted.
- Education is controlled by capitalists - Elected local education authorities and teaches have some independence and do not have to follow the wished of capitalists.
- Education only benefits the ruling class - Functionalists believe that education benefits society as a whole, while feminists believe that it benefits men rather than the ruling class.
- Evidence supports the Marxist theory (Bowles and Gintis) - The research by Bowels and Gintis is dated, USA focused and may not apply to today.
What are the key concepts of Marxism - Bowles and Gintis?
The correspondence principle
The hidden curriculum
The myth of meritocracy
What is the relationship between capitalism and education according to Marxism - Bowles and Gintis?
Capitalism directly shaped the content of education and controls the behaviour of pupils.
What is the view of pupil behaviour according to Marxism - Bowles and Gintis?
Pupils conform within school.
What is the relationship between School and work according to Marxism - Bowles and Gintis?
Schools create passive, obedient workers who will be easily exploited.
What are the main strengths of Marxism - Bowles and Gintis?
Analyses the overall relationship between education and capitalist society.
What are the main weaknesses of Marxism - Bowles and Gintis?
Based on limited evidence. Exaggerates the control of capitalists over education. Doesn’t examine the positive benefits of education or explore gender inequalities within education.
What are the criticisms of Marxist perspective on education?
- It ignores the impact of variables such as gender and ethnicity.
- It ignores the fact results are improving across the board.
- Not all working class pupils fail.
- A different kind of workforce is required today.
- Postmodernism argue education now reproduces diversity, not inequality.
- Feminists argue Bowles and Gintis ignore the ways education reproduces patriarchy.
What are the similarities between functionalist and Marxist perspectives on education?
- Both see schools as playing a part in creating/reinforcing social inequalities.
- Both see education as serving the needs of an individual and/or capitalist society.
- Both look at the big picture of education (Macro theories).
- Both see education as a powerful influence on students.
What are the differences between functionalism and Marxism perspectives on education?
- Functionalists say education serves the needs of an individual society whereas Marxists say it serves the needs of a capitalist society.
- Functionalists say the hidden curriculum helps enable a value consensus, however Marxists argue it helps enable an obedient workforce.
- Functionalists argue that education enables social mobility (meritocracy); however, Marxists argue it keeps the working class in its place.
- Functionalists argue that education can explain social inequality; however, Marxists argue it just reinforces it.
- Functionalists see education as performing a positive function by socialising children into society’s culture, however, Marxists believe that education performs a negative role by serving the needs of the ruling class.
What does the term Neo-Marxism mean?
Neo-Marxism is a term used to describe new versions of Marxism. They are new (neo) because they disagree in some way with the original writings of Karl Marx, while still being strongly influenced by term.
What are the three ways Giroux disagrees with the conventional Marxist approach of Bowles and Gintis?
- Working class pupils do not passively accept everything they are taught, but actively shape their own education and sometimes resist the discipline imposed on them by school.
- Schools are sites of ideological struggle for different classes, ethic, religious and cultural groups. Capitalists have more power that any other single group bu they do not have all the power.
- The education system possesses relative autonomy from the economic base; that is, it has some independence and is not always shaped by the needs of the capitalist economy.
Who is Paul Willis? What did he do?
The most influential neo-Marxist study to education is an ethnographic study of a group of boys (or ‘lads’) in a Midlands comprehensive school in the 1970s. Paul Willis (1977) conducted the study using interviews, observation and participant observation in the school.
What was found in Paul Willis: Learning to Labour?
- The ‘labs’ saw themselves as superior to staff and other pupils.
- They were not interested in getting academic qualifications.
- They aimed to do as little work as possible while entertaining themselves through bad behaviour.
- They were unhappy at being treated as children and identified more with the adult world.
- They formed a counterculture, which was sexist (looking down on women) and racist (looking down on ethnic minorities). They valued traditional working-class masculinity, which emphasised toughness and despised weakness.
- Physical, manual Labour was seen as more valuable than ‘pen-pushing’.
Willis followed the lads into their first job, often in factories. What did he find?
A shop-floor culture similar to the counter-school culture, which:
-was racist and sexist
-had little respect for authority
Workers did as little work as possible and tried to enjoy themselves through, ‘having a laugh’. They developed ways of coping with boring work over which they had little control. Paul Willis argues that to some extent the lads saw through the capitalist system, perceiving that they had little chance of progressing through hard work in education to well-paid or high status jobs.
However, he also saw that their actions led them into jobs where they were exploited by the ruling class.
What are the evaluating points of Willis?
Blackledge and Hunt (1985) put forward some criticisms of Willis:
- His sample is inadequate for generalising about the role of education in society. His sample contained 12 pupils, all of them male, who were by no means typical of the children at school. - Outdated but he did use a small sample meaning he could study them in greater depth.
- Willis largely ignored the full range of subcultures within schools. Many pupils fail somewhere between total conformity and total rejection. - Only boys not girls + low ability working class not middle class + ignores different ethnic groups however he did get involved and didn’t just look at data.
What are the key concepts of Neo-Marxism - Paul Willis?
Counter-School culture, shop-floor culture, ‘having a laff’.
What is the relationship between capitalism and education according to Neo-Marxism - Paul Willis?
Capitalism shapes society as a whole but groups within education form their own subcultures.
What is the view of pupil behaviour according to Neo-Marxism - Paul Willis?
Some pupils actively rebel against school.
What is the relationship between School and work according to Neo-Marxism - Paul Willis?
Schools create poorly behaved workers, but workers who do not rebel against the capitalist system as a whole.
What are the main strengths of Neo-Marxism - Paul Willis?
Based on detailed ethnographic research. Shows a subtle understanding of behaviour in schools. Does not assume that most pupils conform.
What are the main weaknesses of Neo-Marxism - Paul Willis?
Dated, and based on a very small sample. Oversimplifies school subcultures into two types: pro-and anti-school. Relies too much on Willis’ own interpretation of the lads’ behaviour.
What are functionalist, Marxist and neo-Marxist perspectives on education and society based on?
Specific sociological theories.
What are the social democratic and New Rights perspectives on education and society based on?
Political ideologies and associated social policies relating to the education system.
The social democratic perspectives are more left wing (in favour of greater equality and greater state intervention in the economy) and the New Right are more right wing (in favour of competition and free markets).
What are the role of the state?
To make opportunity more equal and society more meritocracy. In a meritocracy, success and failure in education and in the labour market are based on effort and ability.
Social democratic perspectives influenced Labour governments of the 1960s 70s. What were they opposed to?
The Tripartite System in which pupils went to one of three types of schools:
- Grammar schools, which provided an academic education for those who had passed the 11+ exam.
- Secondary modern schools, which provided a more vocational education.
- Technical schools, for those with technical ability.
What did the social democrats believe the Tripartite System was?
Divisive because most pupils in grammar schools were from middle-class backgrounds, whereas most in secondary modern schools were from working-class backgrounds.
What are the social democratic policies?
The Labour Governments of the 1960s and 70s partly replaced the Tripartite educational system with comprehensive schools which all pupils attended.
What are the intention of social democratic policies?
- Get rid of class divisions between different types of schools.
- Create more equal opportunities.
- Encourage economic growth by ensuring that talent was not wasted through taxation and welfare policies in which the rich were more heavily taxed than others (progressive taxation), and welfare was provided to the less well-off so that they did not live in poverty.
What are the evaluating points of the social democratic view?
- To provide the types of education social democrats want is too costly. Taxes would have to rise.
- Comprehensives did not bridge the gap between the class. Setting and streaming still reinforced the differences.
- Critics have argued that social democratic policies have not been particularly successful in helping the working class to do better in education. Despite many new policies being introduced by the Labour government in 1997 to achieve this, the gap in attainments between classes remains large.
- Spending more money on education doesn’t necessarily lead to economic growth e.g. Switzerland spend a low amount on education but their economy is booming.
- Greater equality in education can lead to standards being undermined; education becomes levelled down, and the most able students (for example mixed ability classes that progress at the same place as the slowest learners) are not given the chance to reach their full potential.
- Social democratic views are also criticised by the feminist, who believe they concentrate too much on class inequalities and not enough on gender inequalities.
Who’s views did the new right oppose?
The social democrats and Marxists.
What are the new right ideas that are similar to functionalists?
- They believe that some people are naturally more talented than others.
- They argue with functionalists that education should be run on meritocratic principles of open competition.
- They believe that education should socialise into shared values and provide a sense of national identity.
What are the features of the New Right thinking not found in functionalism?
Too much state control of education (as well as other areas of social and economic life) has resulted in efficiency of national economic decline and the lack of personal and business initiative. A culture of welfare dependence has developed, the cost of which has reduced investment in industry.
What are the New Right arguments based on?
New Right arguments are based on the belief that the state cannot meet people’s needs. In the state education system, educational inevitably ends up as ‘one size fits all’ the does not meet the individual and communities needs, or the needs of the employers for skilled and motivated employees.
What is the issue for the New Right?
For the New Right, the issue is how to make schools more responsible to their ‘consumers’. In their view, the solution is the marketisation of education. Marketisation is the introduction of market forces consumer choice and competition between suppliers (schools) into areas by the state (such as education and health).
What is the summary of the New Rights believes?
- Private enterprises based on competition between businesses, is the most efficient system for running any service.
- Services provided by the state tend to be efficient. This is because the producers have no incentive to work hard since, unlike business, there is no competition.
- There are no customers paying for the service, meaning that state education is unresponsive to its customers.
- Competition is essential to raising standards, which is vital if the UK is to produce the highly educated adults who are necessarily to compete in the global economy.
- The main focus of education should be on training the workforce.
- Training the workforce requires a new emphasis on vocational education.
What are the New right policies?
The New Right perspective on education influenced the policies of the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1997.
What were the main features of the New Right polices?
- They introduced market forces and competition between educational institutions.
- Schools competed for pupils, and unpopular schools lost money.
- Greater choice was introduced with new types of schools such as grant-maintained schools funded directly by the government.
- The National Curriculum, league tables, regular inspections and frequent testing were all designed to drive up standards in order to make the UK more economically competitive.
What are Chubb and Moe (1990) argue?
Chubb and Moe argue that the lower classes have been badly served by state education as it had failed to create equal opportunity. They also argue that state education in inefficient because it fails to produce pupils with the skills needed by employers. Private schools deliver higher quality education because, unlike state schools, they are answerable to paying consumer - the parents.
What did Chubb and Moe do?
They carried out a survey of parental attitudes to schooling. This was a large scale questionnaire containing a fixed list of questions about the way in which schools should be run.
What did the results from Chubb and Moe (1990) show?
The results from the studied showed that parents wanted a greater say in their child’s education. They also found that children from low income families did consistently better in private rather than state schools.
How do Chubb and Moe support the New Right perspectives on education?
They argue that the introduction of a market system in state education is necessary to improve standards and efficiency. The control of education establishment would be put in the hands of the consumer (e.g. parents). This is called parentocracy.
What do Chubb and Moe believe?
They believe that rising standards are essential as a result of globalisation. If countries are going to compete in an increasing global economy, working lacking high levels of skills will lose their more skilled workers in other countries.
What does Vocational training do?
It prepares young people for work, making education meet the needs of the economy. This would enable Britain to maintain a successful position in the Global world economy.
How do Functionalists and the New Right see vocational training?
Functionalism and the New Right see vocational training as a way helping boost the economy as it provides students with a skill for a specific occupation.
How do the UK education system has tried to put the vocational training in place?
- Providing work experience programmes in schools and colleges.
- Providing more vocational A levels e.g. Health and Social care.
- Providing apprenticeships and trainee courses at technical colleges.
- Focusing on basic key skills in schools such as Maths, English and I.T. so that students were more employable. This was due to employers complaining that students were coming out of school unable to do basic maths etc.
What are the criticisms of vocational training?
- Work experience is often boring and repetitive.
- Post-school training schemes are used as a source of cheap labour.
- Such schemes are often seen as a way of reducing the amount NEEDS and keeping them off the streets so they don’t commit crimes.
- Vocational courses are unlikely to lead to university and more likely to lead to low-paid jobs.
- The working class are more likely to do vocational training and this reinforces the class divide.
- Vocational subjects at school are seen as inferior and therefore neglected by teachers who pay more attention to the academic subjects.
- Many vocational qualification are worthless.
What are the evaluating points of the New Right?
- Competition between schools only benefits the middle class, who can use their economic and cultural capital to gain access to more desirable schools.
- The real cause of low educational standards is not state control but social inequality and inadequate funding of state school.
- Under this theory money will be spent on marketing rather than facilities and equipment.
4, The New Right take a less positive view of education that Functionalist, believing that education needs to be run more as a business. - Their views are strongly opposed by both Marxist and social democratic, which both see state educational as the only way to provide opportunities for pupils from all classes.
- Some argue that private education puts profit before the well-being of pupils and will always favour the rich above the poor (only the rich can afford it). Furthermore, this will tend to waste working class talent and therefore harm the economy.
What is meant by private education?
Private or public schools are funded by the pupils’ parents/guardians. Fees per year can range from £10,000-£50,000.
What are the advantages of private education?
-Smaller class sizes.
-Additional support from tutors.
-Better facilities e.g. books, library, computer, sports.
-Scholarships can provide social mobility for working class pupils.
-More opportunities e.g. trips.
Private schools attract better teachers as they can pay more.
What are the disadvantages of private education?
- Only 10% of the population can afford private schooling.
- Private schools are deemed as better and give students a head start in life which doesn’t seem fair.
- Old boys’ network - who you know not what you know.
- Increase inequality in society.
- Universities are more likely to give you a place if you attended a private school regardless of grades gained.
What are the aims of education according to the social democratic perspectives?
To promote greater equality, reduce class divisions and promote economic growth. To provide equality of opportunity.
What are the social democratic policies supported by?
Comprehensive schools, growing welfare state, higher income tax for the rich.
Which governments influenced the social democratic perspectives?
Labour governments of 1960s and 70s.
What are the ideologies of the social democratic perspectives?
Left wing, seeing state and redistribution of wealth as desirable.
What are the aims of education according to the New Right perspectives?
To raise standards and promote economic growth. To train the workforce needed by business.
What are the New Right policies supported by?
Competition and parental choice in education, reduced state expenditure.
Which governments influenced the New Right perspectives?
Conservative governments of 1979-97.
What are the ideologies of the New Right perspectives?
Right wing, seeing a small state and private enterprise as desirable.
What are the Feminist perspectives of education?
- Some feminists argue that the ‘hidden curriculum’ unofficially reinforces gender differences.
- There are still gender differences in subject choice in schools and gender stereotyping still exists.
- Girls now outperform boys at school, but boys still demand more attention from the teacher.
- Men seem to dominate the top positions in schools (deputy head and head teacher) and even more so in universities, this reinforces patriarchy in society.
What do Liberal Feminists want?
Liberal Feminists want equal access to education for both sexes. Radical feminists believe men are a bad influence and want female-centred education for girls.
What do Marxist Feminists want?
Marxist Feminists want to consider gender inequalities of class and ethnicity.
What do Postmodernists argue about education?
Unlike all the other theories Postmodernism argue that there isn’t one solution to tackling today’s education system as it’s changed so much in recent years.
There is so much choice now in terms of subject and places to learn. What can a student do in terms of their education?
- Choose from a long list of subjects e.g. HSFC provides 52 different courses.
- Choose to follow a more vocational route e.g. Robert Owen.
- Choose a distant learning programme e.g. Open University.
- Attend classes in the evening e.g. Flower arranging.
- Engage in Lifelong learning.
What are the criticisms of Postmodernism views?
- Has educational really changed that much? We still follow a national curriculum of traditional subjects.
- Choice is an illusion e.g. some subjects require certain grades to do the course.
- Evening classes and distant learning can only be afforded by the middle class. Not open to everyone.
