Unit 5: Education Flashcards
What is an Academy?
A failed school taken over by central government in partnership with private sponsors to raise achievement.
Define Achievement in education.
The level of schooling successfully completed and the ability to attain success in studies.
What is an Anti-school sub-culture?
Values shared by a group of pupils that run counter to the values of the school as a whole.
What is an Attitude survey?
A range of questions to measure opinions on various topics such as education, family, and immigration.
Define Bias.
Being one-sided rather than neutral or open-minded, operating either in favor of or against an idea.
What is a Case study?
A detailed study of a particular institution, such as education.
What is a Census?
A questionnaire survey conducted every 10 years to collect information on the whole population in the UK.
Define Citizenship.
Participation in a political community, describing the relationship between citizens and society.
What is a Closed question?
A fixed choice question that requires the respondent to choose between given answers.
What is Competition in education?
A contest to become the best, encouraged to improve standards.
Define Comprehensive school.
A non-selective education system where all children can attend regardless of ability.
What is Compulsory state education?
A period when a child must attend education, required in the UK until age 16.
What is Confidentiality?
An agreement to keep participant information private, accessed only by authorized individuals.
Define Conformity.
Behavior that complies with or follows society’s norms and values.
What is Consensus?
A broad agreement of norms and values.
What is Content analysis?
The analysis of documents and images by categorizing and counting themes.
Define Continuity.
Lack of social change; social structures and values remain the same over time.
What is the Correspondence principle?
The way school learning mirrors workplace requirements in a capitalist society.
What is a Counter school subculture?
A group within a school that rejects the values and norms of the school.
Define Covert observation.
Observing activities without informing members that research is being conducted.
What is Cultural capital?
Knowledge, attitudes, and values provided by the middle class that give children an advantage in education.
Define Cultural deprivation.
Culturally based differences between social groups, including norms and beliefs.
What are Cultural values?
Core principles and ideals upon which a community exists, including customs and beliefs.
Define Culture.
The whole way of life of a particular society, including values, norms, and language.
What is a Curriculum?
The subject content to be taught in state schools as decided by the government.
Define Data.
Information collected and analyzed during a research process.
What is Data analysis?
Interpreting and summarizing the information collected during research.
Define Data protection.
Legal protection for research participants to access their identifiable data.
What is De-schooling?
The idea that the current education system should be abolished.
Define Discrimination.
Less favorable or unfair treatment based on characteristics like age or gender.
What is the Economy?
A system by which goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed.
Define Education.
Receiving systematic knowledge or instruction, particularly in a school or university.
What is Education reform?
Planned changes in the operation of a school system.
Define Egalitarian.
Based on the idea that people are equal.
What is the Eleven plus?
An examination taken at age 11-12 to determine the secondary school type for a child.
Define Employment.
The state of having paid work.
What are Ethical considerations?
Issues such as informed consent and confidentiality in sociological research.
Define Ethnic diversity.
Having a range of different ethnic groups in a society.
What is an Ethnic group?
A social group whose members share an identity based on cultural traditions.
Define Ethnic minority.
A group within a community with different national or cultural traditions.
What is Ethnicity?
Cultural traditions and values distinguishing social groups from others.
Define Ethnocentric curriculum.
A curriculum that judges things from the perspective of one culture.
What is Ethnography?
The study of people’s cultures and practices in everyday settings.
What is the Ethos of a school?
The values and beliefs within a school.
Define Exclusion (from school).
Prevention of a child from attending school due to bad behavior.
What are Expectations in education?
Hopes or beliefs about what something will be like, such as private vs state schools.
What are Fee paying, public, independent or private schools?
Schools that charge fees and set their own curriculum and admissions policies.
Define Feminism.
A movement that fights for gender equality in society.
What are Feminists?
Sociologists who explore gender operations in society and advocate for equality.
What is a Focus group?
A type of group interview focusing on one particular topic.
Define Formal curriculum.
The education system’s structured subjects provided to students.
What is Formal education?
Education that is systematic and follows a set calendar and timetable.
What is a Free school?
Schools funded by the state but set up and run by various groups.
Define Functionalism.
An approach explaining social structures in terms of the functions they perform.
What are Functionalists?
Individuals who believe in functionalism.
What are Functionally important roles?
Key positions that provide essential functions and services for society.
Define Further education.
Education after leaving school but not in university, such as A levels.
What is Gender?
Social rules and behaviors based on being male or female.
Define Gender roles.
Expected behaviors associated with masculinity and femininity.
What is a Gendered curriculum?
A curriculum that fits differently for boys and girls.
What is the Glass ceiling in relation to women in employment?
An invisible barrier to promotion faced by certain groups, including women.
Define Hidden curriculum.
What students learn at school outside of formal lessons.
What is Higher education?
Education at universities or similar establishments, especially to degree level.
Define Home tuition.
Teaching children at home rather than at school.
What is a Hypothesis?
A prediction that can be tested and either supported or refuted.
Define Image in sociology.
A representation or picture of a particular social group.
What is an Immigrant?
A person who has migrated to another country to live and work.
Define Immigration.
The process of moving to another country to live and work.
What is Inclusion (in education)?
All students attend and are welcomed by schools, supported to learn and participate.
Define Income.
The flow of resources received by individuals or households over time.
What is Informal education?
Education that occurs outside of a structured curriculum.
Define Informed consent.
Participants agree to research after being fully informed about it.
What is Institutional racism?
Discrimination by the structure and practices of an organization.
Define Intelligence quotient.
A number representing a person’s reasoning ability, with an average of 100.
What is Interactionism?
A theory focusing on how people interact daily.
What are Interest groups?
Members of a group sharing common concerns, trying to influence governments.
Define Interview.
A method used to collect data through questions and responses.
What is Labelling?
Names given to individuals by teachers that influence behavior and responses.
What are League tables in education?
Lists showing each school’s position based on exam performance.
Define Life chances.
Opportunities for positive or negative outcomes as individuals progress through life.
What is Lifestyle?
The way people live, influenced by factors like religion and social class.
Define Lone parent family.
A person raising children without a partner’s support.
What is a Longitudinal study?
A study conducted over a long period with the same group of people.
What is Marketization of education?
Changes to the education system to make it more business-like.
Define Marxism.
A form of sociology based on the idea that rich people dominate poorer people.
What is a Marxist?
Someone who believes in Marxism.
What is Mass media?
Forms of communication reaching large audiences, including newspapers and TV.
Define Master status.
A status that overrides all other statuses an individual holds.
What is Meritocracy?
A social system where rewards are based on merit rather than other factors.
Define Middle class.
A social class made up of people in non-manual, managerial, and professional occupations.
What is Mixed ability?
Pupils from different abilities taught in the same class.
Define Mixed methods research.
Using different methods in one project to generate both quantitative and qualitative data.
What is the National Curriculum?
Subjects and content that must be studied by all children in state schools.
Define News value.
Media professionals’ ideas about what issues are seen as newsworthy.
What is a Non-participant observation?
Observing a group without taking part in their activities.
Define Norms.
Rules defining appropriate behavior within a specific setting.
What is Observation?
A research method where data is gathered by observing.
What is Ofsted?
The Government agency monitoring the quality of schools and teachers in the UK.
Define Open question.
A question allowing respondents to provide their own answer.
What is Organized religion?
A systematic and formally established belief system.
What is Participant observation?
A qualitative research method where the researcher joins a group to study it.
Define Particularistic standards.
Judgments in the home based on individual achievement, unlike universalistic standards in education.
What is Pluralism?
An approach arguing that multiple views and interests exist in society.
What is Popular press?
Daily tabloid newspapers with large readerships.
Define Primary data.
Information gathered first-hand through research methods.
What is Privatisation (economy)?
The transfer of business or service from public to private ownership.
Define Propaganda.
Information used to promote a particular viewpoint, often biased.
What are Public examinations?
Exams set by a central examining board, such as GCSE or A level.
What is Qualitative data?
Research focused on quality of feeling and emotion.
Define Quality press.
Newspapers covering serious news issues like politics and the economy.
What is Quantitative data?
Information that can be counted in some way.
What is a Questionnaire?
A set of structured, standardized questions.
Define Quota sample.
A sampling method where an exact number is gained from certain categories.
What is Racial discrimination?
Treating someone differently based on their cultural or ethnic background.
Define Racism.
When people are treated less favorably based on their ethnicity.
What is a Random sample?
A sample where every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
Define Reliability.
Repeating a study to check if findings are consistent.
What is Representative data/sample?
Data that reflects the characteristics of the population well.
Define Research.
Collecting data in an organized way using methods like interviews or observations.
What is a Respondent?
The person providing information in research.
Define Role conflict.
When the demands of one role conflict with another role.
What are Roles?
Patterns of behavior acceptable for the person occupying that role.
Define Rural.
Country life, characterized by lower population density than cities.
What is a Sample?
A subgroup selected from a larger population.
What is research?
Collecting data in an organised way by certain methods; interview, observation, questionnaire
Who is a respondent?
The person who gives the information needed
What is role conflict?
When the demands of one of our roles conflict with another role
Define roles in sociology.
The pattern of behaviours that are acceptable behaviours for the person occupying that role
What does rural refer to?
Country life, these are more sparsely populated than cities
What is a sample?
Subgroup of the population who are selected for study
What is a sampling frame?
A complete list of all the members of the population from which the sample are drawn
What are sanctions?
Rewards or punishments to those who conform or break rules
What are SATs?
Assessment method used at the end of each key stage of schooling (no longer taken at KS3)
What is secondary data?
Information that sociologists can use as evidence that already exists in one form or another
What is secondary socialisation?
The kind of socialisation that takes place outside the family
What are selective schools?
Where schools have some form of criteria that need to be met in order for someone to go to that school
Define selective use of data.
Where a large amount of data is overlooked leading to suppressing evidence or ‘cherry-picking’ biased figures
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Where people who are labelled and begin to believe their label and behave as such, making the label true
What does setting in education mean?
A way of dividing pupils into groups for particular subjects based on their ability in those subjects
What is sex (gender) discrimination?
Treating someone less favourable or differently because of their gender
What is sex (gender) equality?
Treating people equally whatever their gender
What is sexism?
Discrimination based on gender or sex
What is a snowball sample?
A researcher contacts one member of the population and this one person finds other people to study
Define social change/changing social attitudes.
A change in social attitudes, behaviours, norms, values and relationships
What is social class/socio-economic class?
Stratification that is based on economic factors such as occupation and income
What does social cohesion mean?
The idea that people in society should have a shared set of values and attitudes that help to unite society
What is a social construct?
Views of education influenced by the values and norms of the society we live in
What is social control?
Control or constraints over people’s actions and behaviour from society or groups
What are social conventions?
The norms or accepted ways to behave in particular situations
What is social exclusion?
Being shut out or excluded from participating in society’s social, economic, political and cultural life
What is social inequality?
The uneven distribution of resources such as money and power or of opportunities related to education and health
What is social mobility?
Movement up or down between the layers in society
What is a social network?
A network of relatives and friends
What is social order?
Occurs when society is stable, ordered and smoothly run
What is social stratification?
The way society is divided into hierarchies or layers
What is socialisation?
The process where people learn the culture, norms and values of the group or society that they were born into
Define socially defined behaviour.
Behaviour that is thought of as natural but is actually a product of cultural expectations
What is society?
A group who share a culture or a way of life
What is a special school?
A school for children who have some serious physical illness or mental illness
What is a specialist school?
Centres of excellence in particular subject areas intended to raise standards of teaching and learning
What is status in sociology?
Social position in society, e.g. occupations or families; it can also refer to prestige
What is a stereotype?
A fixed, standardised or distorted view of the characteristics of a particular group
What is a subculture?
A group with its own set of values and ways of behaviour which are distinctive from the generally accepted cultural values
What is a survey?
Research that is filled in by the respondent, e.g. questionnaires and interviews
What is a systematic sample?
A sampling technique that takes every nth item from the sampling frame
What are teacher expectations?
Teachers are involved in making judgements and classifying students, affecting educational achievement
What is technological change?
Developments in technology such as computers, IVF, mobiles
What is a theoretical perspective?
Ideas to explain the social world, e.g. functionalism, Marxism, feminism
What is a trend in relation to data?
A general direction in which statistics on something change or move over time
What is triangulation in social research?
Cross-checking the findings from a qualitative method against the findings from a quantitative method
What is the tripartite system?
Created by the 1944 Education Act, used the 11 plus test to allocate students to different types of schools
What is unrepresentative data/sample?
A sample that does not reflect the characteristics of its population
What is an unstructured interview?
Informal interviews that gain rich qualitative data through guided conversations
What are universal standards?
The moral standards/norms and values that apply in wider society
What does urban refer to?
Cities
What is validity in research?
Data is valid if it gives a true picture of what is being studied
What is value consensus?
Agreement on values
What are values in sociology?
Beliefs and ideas about what is seen as desirable or worth striving for in society
What is vocationalism in education?
Work or career related education
What is a welfare state?
A system where the state takes responsibility for protecting the health and welfare of its citizens
What is working class?
A group of people engaged in manual occupations
What is a world view?
Way of seeing the social world
What is youth culture?
A set of fashions, values and shared norms typical of a group of young people
