The Role Of Education Flashcards
FUNCTIONALIST Role and Function 1- Teaches social solidarity and value consensus
-Durkheim
-social solidarity is a feeling of unity and belonging based on shared beliefs and values
-education plays a vital role in instilling a shared culture and identity in the younger generation
-Durkheim believes in the value consensus where society should shared the same norms and values
-the education system encourages people to establish their identity and take pride in the history and feel unified within their role.
-citizenship education represents an important democratic society to the next generation as it provides young people with opportunities to develop understanding of what democracy means and encourages people to take active part in the lives of their communities, gaining moral responsibility
FUNCTIONALIST Role and Function 2 - Provision of specialist skills for the workplace
-Durkheim
-education ensures people have skills for specialised division of labour
-it teachers children skills for their future roles
-benefits wider society as specialist skills are developed which are required for the workplace and economy
-modern industrial economies have complex division of labour - every item requires different specialist skill, this will also help create solidarity
FUNCTIONALIST Role and Function 3 - Secondary socialisation (universalistic values and shared British culture are reinforced)
-parsons
-education acts as a bridge between home and work
-particularistic values are values that are particular to an individual (instilled by parents)
-universalistic values are values that apply to everyone (instilled by education)
-meritocracy is the view that hard work will be rewarded
-education teaches us about individual achievement, equality of opportunity, role allocation which encourages people to work hard
FUNCTIONALIST Role and Function 4 - It allocates roles ready for the workplace (based on functional importance and meritocracy)
-Davis and Moore
-prerequisite = a condition needed to ensure a social system is functional
-4 prerequisites = all roles must be filled, they must be filled by those best able to perform them, the necessary training for them must be undertaken, roles must be performed conscientiously
-social stratification is the mechanism for ensuring effective role allocation - it attaches unequal rewards and privileges to the different positions in society
-stratification ensures that the most able people end up in the most functionally important positions with high rewards to encourage people to work hard
- differential rewards are functional for society because they contribute to the maintenance and well-being of social systems
-education sorts and sifts people into their desired roles
NEW RIGHT Role and Function 1- improve standards through reducing state involvement and increasing parentocracy
-Chubb and Moe
-American schools failed disadvantaged groups as they did not produce skills in pupils that would benefit the economy.
-promoted parentocracy and hypothetically suggested the idea of handing out parental education vouchers to spend on a school of their choice, removing automatic funding from the state
-this means that the schools need the vouchers as their source of funding and making schools responsive to pupils and parents - ensuring higher quality education
NEW RIGHT Role and Function 1- improve standards through reducing state involvement and increasing parentocracy (extra)
-The Education Reform Act (1988)
-introducing league tables and Ofsted
-this would mean that schools want to look good as if they are at the bottom of the table or receive a negative report from Ofsted, this will put students off which would mean that schools don’t get funding so can’t afford resources, therefore causing worse results.
NEW RIGHT Role and Function 2 - Promote traditional “conservative values” and tries to promote/enforce a “shared (British) culture”
-Section 28 of Local Government Act 1988
-prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities
-this was in place until 2003
-an issue with this was that there was no clarity of the word “promotion” which meant that all teachers avoided the subject of homosexuality in lessons
-as a result, homophobia was increased, people avoided talking about it and people felt marginalised
NEW RIGHT Role and Function 3 - Encourage values of competition and meritocracy
-Murray
-US had become too ‘romantic’ and has neglected the simple realties of pupils’ ability
-in an attempt to make education more fair, it has lost its meritocracy and therefore failing those who are most gifted
-feels that society is fundamentally dependent on how well educated the academically gifted are
-promotes that education should essentially be tougher and more challenging, promote meritocracy, admit that though many will not be successful in education, they can still have value in society - just in less skilled vocations
NEW RIGHT Role and Function 4 - transmits and teaches vocational skills
-vocationalism
-the introduction of youth training schemes, NVQs and GNVQs which are a range of scheme and qualifications allowing people to gain skills and employment
-YTS = on-the-job training course for school leavers aged 16 and 17, managed by the manpower services commission
-NVQs = (national vocational qualification) a work based qualification that recognises the skills and knowledge a person needs to do a job
-GNVQs= General national vocational qualification = qualifications related to occupations related occupational areas in general rather than any specific job
-these improve society as it prepares people for the workplace and prevents unemployment meaning more people have jobs so benefits the economy
MARXIST Role and Function 1: Education reproduces and reinforces class inequality
-Willis
-anti school subculture as the working class boys showed no interest in academic work and would amuse themselves through deviant behaviour
-this prepared them for shop floor culture as they used similar distraction techniques
-background influences as they want to follow in father’s footsteps of manual labour rather than education
-school environment enforced hegemonic masculinity
MARXIST Role and Function 2: reproduces class inequalities by reinforced and rewarding the culture of the middle and upper classes
-Bourdieu
-economic, social and cultural capital with cultural capital being really useful in understanding how different social groups may experience education differently due to the extent of which they possess this cultural capital
-it is the appropriate norms and values passed down, reproduced from generation to generation which leads to social reproductive and advantages for the middle classes
-middle class has the most
MARXIST Role and Function 3: is to legitimate class inequality and allows the ruling class to control the masses through ideological control - the culture of capitalism is reinforced as “typical”
-Althusser
-2 main functions of the education system are the reproduction of skills necessary for an effect labour force and the reproduction of ruling class ideology and socialisation of workers in terms of it
-ideological control is the ruling class ideology that is transmitted subconsciously through the hidden curriculum
-false class consciousness maintains the working class in a subordinate position
-ideological state apparatus is a tool used by the state/government to spread ruling class ideologies
Education is a state apparatus as it does not transmit common values and its function is to maintain and reproduce class inequalities in wealth and power by transmitting capitalist ruling class values disguised as common values
MARXIST Role and Function 4 - to teach exploitative skills and prepare students for the culture of the capitalist workplace
-Bowles and Gintis
-correspondence between school and work is essential for capitalists as teachers are like bosses and pupils are like workers who work for rewards. Pupils fit in and rise about those that express attitudes/display behaviour to challenge the system
-education legitimises social inequality by broadcasting the myth that it offers everyone an equal chance = education is not meritocratic.
-higher class position = more likely to attain high class position
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC Role and Function 1: to promote and reinforce a culture of ‘equality of opportunity’ for all in relation to social class
-Halsey (1997)
-middle class children were more likely to get places in remaining grammar schools
-a new system should be implemented to provide greater equality of opportunity
-Educational Maintenance Allowance (2004)
-Labour government launched a financial scheme for working class students aged 16-19 = would receive a maximum of £30,£20,£10 depending on household income a week if they met their guided learning hours
-designed to encourage students to stay in education and get higher qualifications than GCSEs
-still continues in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC Role and Function 2: To promote and reinforce a culture of ‘equality of opportunity’ for all in relation to ethnicity and gender
Ethnicity:
-City Acadmemics (introduced by Labour in 2000) helped improve education for black and minority ethnic students
-intended to give public schools more power to raise standards and target ‘failing’ schools in order to improve quality of education in these areas
-improving curriculum access = additional English Language classes and in-class support for targeted students
-increasing more cultural awareness: increased the school’s understanding and appreciation of different cultures and provided opportunities for students to share in heritage activities
Gender:
-Curriculum 2000 introduced by Tony Blair’s new Labour government in 2000 revised the A level and GCSE curriculums and introduced the idea of a modular curriculum
-candidates took modules as they proceeded through the course rather than only being examined in a single session at the end of the course
-split A level in AS and A2 which would take place in January and June of both years of study
-workload became less stressful and allowed students to understand content in more depth = increase standards of education
-provided equality of opportunity as students take a mixture of subjects, participation is encouraged and skills were developed such as communication which is essential to all gendersn
