Theories Of Education Flashcards
What are the 4 theories of education?
Functionalism
Marxism
Interactionism
New Right
What do functionalists believe?
Society is like a human body
Different social institutions work together to maintain the health of the whole
Education makes society better
Who are functionalists?
Durkhiem
Parsons
Merton
Davis and Moore
What does Durkhiem believe?
Schools are a society in miniature that pass on norms and values needed for adult life
Give knowledge and skills for different jobs
What does Parsons believe?
Education has 2 jobs
What 2 things does Parsons believe education does?
Education is a bridge between particularistic values at home and universalistic values of higher society
Schools pass on 2 key values
What are particularistic values at home?
Rules and values that give a priority to personal relationships
What are universalistic values of higher society?
Rules and values that apply equally to all members of society, regardless of who they are
What 2 key values does Parsons believe education passes on?
Value of achievement
Value of meritocracy (equal chance)
What does Merton believe?
2 functions of education called Manifest function and Latent function
What is a manifest function?
The first function of education which is the obvious function eg: teacher a curriculum
What is the latent function?
The second function of education which is the hidden function eg: punctuality, respect for authority which help with later life
What does Davis and Moore believe?
Social Stratification
Role of schools is to sift and sort people into the right jobs
What do Marxists believe?
Education legitimises inequality through ideology
Who are Marxists?
Althussers
Bowles and Gintis
Willis
What does Althussers believe?
Education acts as an ideological state apparatus Education tells students what the Bourgeosis want them to know so they do not challenge authority Schools pass on false class consciousness to the Proletariat so they don't know they are being exploited
Who are the Proletariat?
Working class who are exploited by the Bourgeoisie
Who are the Bourgeoisie?
Rich people who exploit the working class
What study does Willis produce?
Study of the Lads who did not accept fcc Non-participant observation on 12 working class boys who created a anti-school subculture as they saw no value in education Resisted school Caused poor educational achievement Low paid jobs Exploited massively
What does Bowles and Gitis believe?
Correspondence principle
Everything happens in school as preparation in the world of work
According to Bowles and Gintis how are students prepared for the world of work?
Schools pass on the hidden curriculum which is a set of social norms and values
Schools pass the myth of meritocracy eg: wc blamed for their poor results but its due to their social class
Jug and Mug
What is the Jug and Mug theory?
Teachers pour information into students encouraging perversity ensuring the proletariat do not rebel
What do ineractionists believe?
Students are labelled by teachers which is what they become
Who are Interactionists?
Becker Hargreeves Rosenthal and Jacobson Lacey Cicourel and Kituse Willis
What does Becker believe?
Middle class students are seen as the ideal students
What does Hargreeves believe?
There is a 3 step process for labels to become fixed
What are the 3 steps for labels to become fixed according to Hargreeves?
Speculation - Assuming/guessing a label
Elaboration - Finding evidence
Stabilisation - Label becomes fixed and stays
What does Lacey believe?
Labels impact students in 2 ways
Differentiated and Polarisation
What is differentiated according to Lacey?
Students put into different groups within school eg: sets
What is polarisation according to Lacey?
Top sets develop an pro-school culture
Bottom sets develop an anti-school culture
What do Rosenthal and Jacobson believe?
Labels eventually become a self-fulfilling prophecy
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
People acting in response to predictions of their behaviour, thereby making the prediction come true
What research did Rosenthal and Jacobson try out?
Picked a random 25% of students and told the teachers they will do best
These students ended up doing better than the rest due to the teachers believing they were better
What 4 reasons made the students do better in the Rosenthal and Jacobson study?
Climate - Teachers were nicer to the student
Feedback - Better feedback was given to these students
Response - Students had more opportnities to respond in class
Imput - Teachers taught more material to the better students
What did Cicurel and Kituse research?
American guidance councillors Put working class students on more vocational courses to prepare for work Put middle class students on more academic courses to prepare for higher education
Who were the New Right inspired by?
Functionalists
What do the New Right believe?
Power of individual choice
Like marketisation of education system - giving parents lots of choice (parentocracy)
Raises standards of schools as schools compete for students
Who supported the New Right?
Chubb and Moe
What did Chubb and Moore do?
Advocate voucher system of education
Parents could choose where to send their child
Stop capping (putting an upper limit of how many students can go to school)
All students should be given a place at school of choce
