The Role Of Education Flashcards
What are general roles and functions of education?
- teaches children about the world
- teaches key skills —> literacy, numeracy, language
- aids in intellectual development
- teaches social skills —> getting along with other people
- help the society be stable —> teaches norms and values —> less/no conflict
- benefits economy
- provides a skilled workforce
- helps children get a good education for future jobs —> prepares them for future careers/jobs
- builds friendships and relationships
Is the education system achieving its purpose?
No - it has not adapted to the needs of the society today —> doesn’t teach skills, only teaches how to pass exams and memorise things
What are the Functionalist key ideas for education?
- society is like a human body —> all the parts are interlinked and work together
- everyone in society is socialised into the same norms and values by the different institutions in society - consensus
- everything in society has a positive function
Durkheim’s functions of education: (Functionalist)
- to create social solidarity —> e.g. through subjects like citizenship and PSHE
- to transit society’s norms and values (a key functional prerequisite)
- to prepare young people for adult life
- to teach specialist knowledge and skills needed in the workplace
Parson’s functions of education: (Functionalist)
- to act as a bridge between the family and wider society
- to prepare us for being judged by universalistic standards rather than particularisation ones
- to prepare us for having to achieve status rather than being given it
- to prepare us for the meritocratic nature of society
Evaluation of Durkheim and Parsons (Functionalist)
- we’re living in a multi-cultural society and therefore there is more than one set of norms and values
- schools don’t teach specialist knowledge and skills, they just teach general academic skills e.g. English and maths
- Functionalist are too positive and ignore negative aspects of schools like bullying
Schultz’s functions of education: (functionalist)
- meet the ends of the economy
> education helps with the development of human capital —> societies should invest money on education and training
> societies whose people have high levels of human capital have more successful economies - a trained, qualified and flexible workforce is needed to do the wide range of jobs which arise from the specialised division of labour in contemporary societies
Davis and Moores’s functions of education: (functionalist)
- to allocate roles for adult life (role allocation)
- education sifts and sorts pupils into roles which reflect their talents and abilities
- the most talented and hard working are rewarded with the most functionally important and well rewarded jobs
> these jobs are highly paid and high status as a reward for achieving them
> therefore the education system is meritocratic
Evaluation of Davis and Moore: (Functionalist)
- not all functionally important jobs are well rewarded e.g. teachers, social workers
- not all well rewarded jobs are functionally important
What is the hidden curriculum?
The things we learn at school which are not part of the official curriculum e.g. values and attitudes
What is meant by the term ‘functionalist prerequisites’?
The basic needs that must be met if a society is to survive e.g. people being educated so that they share the same norms and values
What is meant by the term ‘human capital’?
The advantage that you have in the workplace if you possess skills and qualifications
What is meant by the term ‘universalistic standards’?
The standards that we are judged on in society. These standards apple to everyone and evaluate them according to set criteria
What is meant by the term ‘value consensus’?
The idea that we all share the same norms and values and are in agreement about them
What is mean by the term ‘meritocracy’?
The idea that the education system rewards hard work and talent. Therefore those who are most successful deserve it.
What is the New Right?
- A political perspective associated with the Conservative Party
- similar to functionalist ideas
The New Right believe that the key functions of education should be:
- To reward those who are hard working and talented (meritocracy) —> Davis and Moore
- To prepare young people for work —> Schultz and Durkheim
- To socialise young people into shared vales such as competition —> Parsons
- To create a sense of national identity
What do the New Right believe about the functions of education?
They believe that they are not being achieved
Why do the New Right believe that the functions of education are not being achieved?
The eduction system is run by the government
- the gov takes a one size fits all approach to education ignoring local needs and pupils and parents
- they believe there’s no incentive for schools to improve as even if the results are bad then the school still receives funding and the teachers still get paid
What does the New Right think can solve the problem for functions of education not being achieved?
Marketising education —> marketisation means to reate a market whereby schools compete with each other for customers (pupils)
- this way schools have an incentive to try to improve and be the best as they are aiming to attract the best pupils
What things have been introduced to help parents and pupils make school choices?
- Ofsted reports
- exam results
- league tables
- open day tours
- websites
What are recent changes to education which reflect the New Right ideas?
- making GCSEs and A-levels harder
- expansion of the apprenticeships scheme
- promotion of British values at every level of education
- more choice of schools and school types
What are the Marxist key ideas for education?
- education system exploits the lower class
- the upper class is advantaged —> private schools, tuition resources
- teachers may favour those from higher classes and encourage them more
- education teaches norms and values e.g. meritocracy
What are Althusser’s functions of education? (Marxist)
1) To reproduce class inequality
- this happens because education is a middle class institution and therefore the middle class thrive and are more successful
- they are disadvantaged by their cultural and economic capital
2) To legitimate class inequality (make it seem like class inequality is okay)
- it does this by teaching norms and values that will ensure that working class accept their position in society
- he claims that meritocracy is a myth —> education is an example of an ‘ideological state apparatus’
Evaluation of Althusser (Marxist)
- some working class people have gone on to become highly successful and apart of the upper class e.g. JK Rowling
- he didn’t have any research evidence to support his claims
What is Illich’s function of education? (Marxist)
1) To promote conformity and to socialise children into passively accepting that inequality is normal
- education does not teach children to be critical and think for themselves
- those who do not conform or who question teachers’ authority are excluded from success in education
HOWEVER —> not all subjects do this e.g. sociology
What is the function of education according to Bowles and Gintis? (Marxist)
1) To produce workers who can be easily exploited and who will accept this without challenging it
- education teaches the values, attitudes and beliefs which will lead the w/c to become easily exploited and to accept low paid jobs
- it does this through the hidden curriculum
Evaluation of Bowles and Gintis (Marxist) :
- not everything we learn at school teach us to be exploited —> subjects like sociology and politics teach us to question the system
- their theory is more relevant to jobs such as factory work not the service sector BUT it is relevant to call centre work
What did Willis study? (Marxist)
- studied ‘the lads’
- 12 working class male pupils in a school on a w/c housing estate in Wolverhampton in the 1970s
- studies through overt observations and focus group interviews
- the lad’s attitudes —> anti-school/counter school subculture —> boring, pointless, irrelevant (similar to the workplace culture)
- Willis found that a similarity between the counter-school culture and the workplace authority and an emphasis on ‘having a laff’ to escape the boring + oppressive nature of both school and work
- being disobedient = working class job
Evaluation of Willis’ lad study:
- its a small sample —> not representative (12 w/c males)
- outdated —> 1970s
What is vocational education?
Education which teaches you the skills for a particular job/sector of work
Schultz argues that vocational education can help in the development of human capital
What are examples of vocational educational initiatives?
- work experience programmes
- BTECs and NVQs
- apprenticeships
- T-levels
- emphasis on key skills e.g compulsory maths ad English GCSE re-sits
What is the Functionalist view on vocational education?
- it teaches specialist skills —> creates a skilled workforce (Durkheim)
- helps prepare people to meet needs of economy
- helps to develop human capital (Schultz)
What is the Marxist view on vocational education?
- serves the needs of capitalist society
- does not teach skills but values and attitudes which would lead you to be exploited
- Finn —> schemes such as apprenticeships provide cheap labour and work experience provides free labour
- vocational educational has a lower status than academic education
- it’s a way of keeping NEET’s out of unemployment statistics
What would radical feminists argue about education?
- the education system is male dominated and holds the function of reinforcing patriarchy
What examples do feminists give for education being patriarchal?
- still more male senior managers and principals in schools and colleges
- the curriculum is more focused on male achievements —> e.g Weiner argues that the history curriculum is a “woman free zone”
- girls may suffer verbal abuse in the playground as way of controlling their behaviour —> Lees claimed that girls were often labelled “slags” and “sluts” as a way of reinforcing gender norms
- girls may be subjected to the “male gaze” which is a way male pupils or teachers might look them up or down in order to reinforce their role as sex objects
- girls suffer sexual harassment at school
- teachers may not treat male and female pupils differently which reinforces gender identities
- teachers paying more attention to girl dress code than boys
- boys asked to do more manly things e.g. move furniture
- girls asked to help hand stuff out —> sheets
Evaluation of radical feminist’s perspective
- girls outperform boys in GCSEs in all subjects
- studies show that teachers give girls more positive encouragement than they give to boys (Becker)
What is the Postmodernist’s perspective on education?
- They believe that our education system should be adapting to create a workforce that can meet the needs of a rapidly changing global economy
- new educational qualifications should be introduced which create a more skilled and flexible workforce
- the current conservative government is introducing new qualifications called T-levels which aim to do this
Rikowski (2002) - Postmodernist
- education also becomes a consumer product in itself in a globalised economy
- argues that global educational businesses are seen as a way to create economic growth and profit e.g. UK companies such as Nord Anglia Education - operates in 42 international schools in 15 countries across the world
- universities are opening campuses in different countries e.g. Middlesex University has branches in Dubai, Malta and Mauritius
- Rikowski argues that education has become commercialised, privatised and capitalised
Evaluation for Rikowski (Postmodernist)
- this does not apply to compulsory education in the same way as the majority of this is state controlled
Usher - Postmodernist
- education can be used to help create and shape our identities
- claims that people may use adult education courses for this purpose
- e.g. belly dancing may be learnt to appear more sexy or Italian classes taken to appear more sophisticated
