Theories of Education

Question 1

What are the 2 functions of education according to Durkheim?

A01

Answer 1

1. Creating social solidarity: schools teach children norms and values meaning they have a shared culture and belief thus reducing conflict in society e.g. learning national history - patriotic pride
2. Teaching specialist skills: vocational education helps with role allocation, schools teach children necessary knowledge and skills

Question 2

What real world example can be used to analyse Durkheim?

AO3

Answer 2

David Cameron Speech: “They foster pride through strict uniform and behaviour policies … if you do the wrong thing you will be disciplined but if you work hard and play by the rules you’ll succeed”

Question 3

How could you evaluate Durkheim?

AO3

Answer 3

1. Marxists and Feminists - norms and values transmitted by education system don’t reflect views of society as a whole but of the specific groups with more power
2. Education doesn’t always succeed in self-discipline and social solidarity - not everyone behaves and feels part of the school e.g. pro-school VS anti-school subcultures

Question 4

What is meritocracy?

AO1

Answer 4

A system where everyone has equal opportunity to succeed, individuals’ rewards and status are achieved by their own efforts rather than gender, class, ethnicity

Question 5

What is Parson’s view of education?

AO1

Answer 5

1. As the education system runs on meritocratic principles, education helps you move from ascribed to achieved status
2. In the family, children are judged by particularistic standards however in society they will be judged on universalistic standards, schools judge pupils against the same standards to prepare them for this e.g. standardised exams

Question 6

What real life cases can you use to analyse meritocracy?

AO3

Answer 6

• Alan Sugar went from working class to upper class without education - only had 1 GCSE
• Mark Zuckerberg went from middle class to elite upper class went to Harvard but dropped out - education still gave him connections
• Brampton Manor - high proportion of students on FSM and low income but 90% A-A* rate meaning they go to Russel Group Unversities and get MC jobs

Question 7

How can we evaluate meritocracy?

AO3

Answer 7

Marxists - there is little equality in education, the system reflects the inequalities of wider society - meritocracy is a myth

Question 8

What is role allocation?

AO1

Answer 8

The most able gain the highest qualifications and so the most important and highly rewarded positions

Question 9

What is Davis and Moore’s view of education?

AO1

Answer 9

1. Education acts as a device for selection and role allocation
2. Inequality is necessary to ensure that most important roles are filled up by most talented people
3. It sorts and shifts us according to our ability
4. It encourages competiton

Question 10

How do Blau and Duncan support Davis and Moore?

AO3

Answer 10

The modern economy’s prosperity depends on using ‘human capital’, so it makes use of the most talented and maximises productivity

Question 11

How can you analyse Blau and Duncan?

AO3

Answer 11

Relevant to todays society because:
- banding and setting
- CVs are used to ensure someone is best suited
- selective schools

Question 12

How could you evaluate role allocation?

AO3

Answer 12

1. Employers often criticise the education system for not producing workers with the right skills for the job - most skills are learnt ‘on the job’
2. Not always a close link between educational success and income/status in society - many jobless graduates
3. Ignores that other factors play a role in sorting and shifting people into the right jobs e.g. gender, age, etc

Question 13

What Functionalist views do the New Right share?

AO1

Answer 13

1. Inequality is inevitable but justified as some pupils are naturally more able than others
2. Both value meritocratic ideals, open competition and using education to meet the needs of the economy
3. Education should socialise pupils into shared norms, values, and identities (consensus and social solidarity)

Question 14

What problem does the New Right see in the education system?

AO1

Answer 14

• Current education system is failing to meet its goals as it is run by state and not privatised
• The state takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach with schools
• The solution to this problem is to marketise education - run a school like a business and compete with other schools to attract ‘clients’ (parents). This would force schools to listen to the needs of pupils, parents and staff

Question 15

How does the New Right believe schools market themselves?

Answer 15

1. Parents choose the school that appeals to their child
2. All schools compete in a market, this raises quality of teaching and grades equalling success

Question 16

How do Chubb and Moe view schools and why did they come to this conclusion?

AO1

Answer 16

Argue that America’s state schools have failed their goals and should therefore be replaced by a ‘free market’.
3 ways in which state schools have failed:
1. Failed disadvantaged groups
2. Pupils aren’t equipped with skills they need for work
3. Private schools are more efficient as they have to answer to clients

Method: Compared achievements of 60,000 pupils from low income families in 1,015 state schools and private schools as well as a parent survey

Question 17

What was Chubb and Moe’s solution?

A01

Answer 17

• End the state school system where schools automatically receive guaranteed funding irrespective of quality and favour a ‘market system’:
• Parents should be given an ‘educational voucher’ to spend at the school of their choice forcing schools to improve
• As vouchers would be a school’s main source of income, schools would have to compete in order to attract ‘customers’ by improving their ‘product’
• Ultimately, educational standards would improve by introducing the same forces at work in the independent sector into the state sector. Bad schools would be forced to close.

Question 18

How could we analyse Chubb and Moe?

AO3

Answer 18

• Not everyone has a choice - CAGE factors impact scope
• Relevant today - schools market with league tables, billboards

Question 19

How can we evaluate the New Right?

AO3

Answer 19

1. Gerwitz: cultural capital parents have determines ability to choose
2. Ball: marketisation benefits middle class students and disadvantages working class
3. New Right ignore wider social inequalities and blame it all on schools
4. New Right want freedom of parental choice and strict curriculum??? - contradictory
5. Marxists: schools don’t transmit shared culture only dominant culture of ruling class

Question 20

What is the function of education according to Althusser?

AO1

Answer 20

Education is a part of the ideological state apparatus - it informs our ideas, values, and beliefs and makes us believe that it is the only option. Completed in 3 ways:
1. Reproducing class inequality by transmitting it from generation to generation
2. Legitimises class inequality
3. Teaching skills that future capitalist employers need

Question 21

How does education reproduce class inequality?

AO1

Answer 21

• Working class children are more likely to be negatively labelled put in lower sets
• Working class children are more likely to leave school at 16 or not progress to higher education
• Unrealistic ambitions e.g. not picking the right subjects

Question 22

How does Feinstein et al analyse education reproducing class inequality?

AO3

Answer 22

Statistics show that Althusser’s views are stil relevant today as those on free school meals are less likely to achieve 5 A*-C grades

Question 23

How else do statistics analyse Althuser?

AO3

Answer 23

Still relevant today as those who go to private/grammar schools are more likely to get into top universities such as Oxbridge and so get better job prospects

Question 24

How does school legitimise class inequality?

AO1

Answer 24

Ideological state apparatus that promotes the myth of meritocracy
1. Shows that those who work hard will do well
2. Tells us failure is due to lack of hard work rather than injustice and inequality
3. Teaches us not everyone is supposed to get the top jobs

Question 25

How can you analyse education legitimising class inequality?

AO3

Answer 25

Gov reports show that social mobility is rare and little:
- Cabinet Office 2008 stated that social mobility has failed to improve
- National Equality Panel 2010 stated that mobility is low and inequality hinders opportunities

Question 26

What are the 2 ways Bowles and Gintis view education teaches skills future capitalist employers need?

AO1

Answer 26

1. Correspondance Principle: school mirrors the work place. e.g. rewards, uniform, punctuality, etc. Studied 237 New York high school students, found schools reward obedience not creativity or independence
2. Hidden Curriculum: consists of things pupils learn informally for their experience of going to school on a day to day basis. Teaches working class students the values needed within employment

Question 27

How did Bowles and Gintis find the ruling class manipulate the working class through the hidden curriculum?

AO1

Answer 27

1. Subservience: rewarding acceptable behaviour and punishing unacceptable behaviour
2. Motivation: through external rewards e.g. certificates/wages
3. Acceptance of hierachy: teaching ‘roles’, authority, and power dynamics
4. Fragmentation of knowlege: Fragmented curriculum prepares individuals for fragmented economy - specialised sectors within occupations
5. Legitimisation of inequality: the myth of meritocracy - education is a ‘myth making machine’

Question 28

How can we evaluate Bowles and Gintis?

AO3

Answer 28

1. Ignores social mobility (even if rare/limited). People can, in theory, move up the ladder as many have e.g. Brampton Manor
2. Usher and Thompson: education doesn’t reproduce inequality. Postmodern education means that the correspondance principle no longer operates
3. Their research focuses too much on social class and ignores issues of gender and ethnicity - other factors affecting achievement
4. Reynolds: curriculum doesn’t teach skills needed by employers but passive behaviour that makes workers easy to exploit
5. Willis rejects the view that there’s a direct relationship between the economy and the way the education system operates. There can be unintended consequences

Question 29

What was Willis’ study and conclusions?

AO3

Answer 29

“Learning to Labour”:
- Unstructured interview on 12 working class boys
- Not all pupils are brainwashed into being passive and subordinate due to the hidden curriculum
- Some pupils actively reject the norms and values of the ruling class and form their own subcultures in this case laddish subculture
- These pupils also realise they have no real opportunity to succeed in this system - chose to fail, knew they’d work in mines like their dads

Question 30

How can we evaluate Willis?

AO3

Answer 30

• Small unrepresentative sample - not generalisable to target population
• Feminists: Willis ignores females - work is more about masculinity than class
• Lads may have exaggerated or lied
• Willis ignores conformist culture - only focuses on one small subculture

Question 31

What is the postmodernist view of education?

AO1

Answer 31

Schools during fordism are not for everybody and don’t always provide the best education for all. Fordist schools stop a child’s curiosity because of the formal environment that stops children from learning independently.
AO2:
- school day is too structured
- exams are stressful
- there’s little flexibility in what students can/can’t do
- teachers are under pressure to teach specific content

Question 32

What do postmodernists see as the solution to fordist education?

AO1

Answer 32

De-schooling: when schools move away from traditional schooling to a less restricted method of learning that focuses on being educated by the student’s natural curiosities
A02:
- no fixed curriculum
- greater subject choices
- less rules

Question 33

How can we analyse de-schooling?

A03

Answer 33

Summerhill - democratic school:
- students and teachers are treated as equal
- lessons are optional
- informal setting - everyone addressed by first name
- main philosophy = freedom of the individual
Summerhill had no truancy, high parental satisfaction, high educational achievement shows it can be successful
Summerhill has been running since 1921 and has maintained its values and success - relevant today

Question 34

How have schools become more individualised?

A01/2

Answer 34

Individualised = individuals have become increasingly focused and concerned about how society and networks can be used to provide instant gratification for them
- specialised schools
- apprenticeships
- adaptive teaching styles e.g. peerwork, videos
- increase in faith schools

Question 35

What is post-fordism?

AO1

Answer 35

• We have largely shifted away from fordist production
• New technology and electronic impact has had a huge impact
• Production is now based on ‘flexible specialisation’
• This calls for a different kind of worker

Question 36

How can we analyse postfordism?

AO3

Answer 36

• We have transitioned into postfordism as workers have freedom of choice and can now move between jobs as they wish.
• 91% of millenials expect to stay in a job for less than 3 years
• the average worker today stays at their job for 4.4 years

Question 37

What is Usher and Thompson’s view?

AO1

Answer 37

We are now in postmodern education:
- controlled by communities rather than state
- flexible e.g. distance learning - Open University
- diverse and customised e.g. faith schools, SEN schools
- active learning through experience e.g. apprenticeships
- lifelong learning for an adaptable workforce
They reject Bowles and Gintis’ view that inequality is fundamental to society and that education reproduces inequality. The correspondance principle no longer operates

Question 38

How can we evaluate the postmodernist view?

AO3

Answer 38

1. Exaggeration of the extent of diversity
2. National curriculum is still one size fits all - individualisation is limited
3. Ignores continuing importance of inequality in education e.g. disparity between private and state education