Roles of education

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  • Created by: Alecia
  • Created on: 29-08-17 22:46
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  • The role of education in society
    • Functionalist perspective
      • Durkeim:Solidarity & Skills
        • two main functions of education
          • social solidarity
            • society needs a sense of solidarity
            • without it, social life and cooperation would be impossible
            • education system helps to create social solidarity
            • school acts as a society in miniature preparing for life in society
          • Specialist skills
            • each person must have the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their role
            • Durkheim argues that education teaches individuals the skills that they need
      • Davis & Moore: Role allocation
        • school performs a function of selecting and allocating pupils to their future roles
        • 1945
        • see education as device for selection and role allocation
        • argue that inequality is necessary to ensure the most important roles in society are filled by the most talented people
          • education plays a key part in this process- proving ground for ability
        • Blav & Duncan 1978
          • argue modern economy depends for it uses 'human capital'
            • sorts them into the best- make it effective use of their talents and maximise productivity
      • EVALUATION
        • there is ample evidence that equal opportunity in education does not exist
          • e.g. achievement is greatly influenced by class background rather than ability
        • Tumin(1953) criticises Davis &Moore for putting forward a circular argument
          • how do we know that a job is important?
        • Marxists argue education only transmits ideology of the ruling class
        • Wrong(1961) fuctionalists have an'over socialised view'
          • they imply that pupils passively accept all taught
        • Education system doesn't teach specialised skills well like Durkheim states.
          • Wolf review of vocational education(2011) claims that high-quality apprenticeships are rare and up to 1/3 of 16-19y olds are on courses that do not lead to good jobs
        • neoliberals & new right argue that the state education system fails to prepare young people for work
    • Neoliberalism and New Right perspective
      • new right
        • key difference between new right and fuctionalists
          • they don't believe that the education system is achieving goals as it is run by the state
        • Chubb & Moe 1990
          • argue state-run education in the USA failed because of
            • not created equal opportunity & failed the needs of disadvantaged groups
            • inefficient as it fails to produce pupils with the skills needed by the economy
            • Private schools deliver higher quality education as they are answerable to consumers
          • based on their comparison of the achievements of 60,000 pupils from low-income families in 1,015 state and private high schools
            • called for the introduction of a market system which would put the parents in control
              • argue this would allow parents to shape school to meet their own needs & would improve quality & efficiency
        • 2 roles for the state
          • 1) state imposes framework on schools where they have to compete
            • e.g publishing Ofsted inspection reports and league tables of the school exam results
          • 2) state ensures that schools transmit a shared culture
            • e.g imposing a single National curriculum
        • EVALUATION
          • Gewirtz (1995) & Ball (1994)
            • both argue that competition between schools benefits the middle class but not the working class
          • real cause of low educational standards is not state control but social inequality & inadquate funding of state schools
          • Marxists argue that education does not impose a shared national culture.
            • the culture of a dominant minority ruling class & devalues the culture of the working class & ethnic minorities
      • neoliberalism
        • argues that the state should not provide education
          • argues the value of educations lies in how well it enables the country to complete in the global market place
          • school should be run like a business
    • Marxist perspective
      • Althusser: ideological state apparatus
        • repressive state apparatuses (RSAs)
          • maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie by force or threat of it
        • Ideological state apparatuses (ISAs)
          • which maintain the rule og the bourgeoisie by controlling peoples ideas, values and beliefs
          • performs 2 fuctions
            • reproduces class inequality by transmitting it from generation to generation
            • legitimates(justifies) class inequality by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause
      • Bowles & Gintis:schooling in capitalist America
        • 1976
        • capitalism requires workforce with attitudes, behaviour and personality type suited to alienation and exploitation as workers
          • role of education
        • study of 237 NY high school students
          • conclude that schools reward personality traits that make them more submissive, compliant workers
          • students that showed indedpendence or creativety tended to gain low grades
      • Correspondence principe & hidden curriculum
        • close parallels between work and school
          • hierarchy
            • authority in school e.g. teachers --> pupils
            • authority of managers --> workers
          • alienation
            • through students lack of control over education
            • through workers' lack of control over productin
          • extrinsic satisfaction
            • pay
            • grades
        • Cohen (1984)
          • youth training schemes erve acapitalism by teaching young workers attitudes and skills not  job skills
      • Myth of meritocracy
        • Bowles & Gintis
          • education is a 'giant myth-making machine'
          • main factor determining whether o not someone has a high income is their family & class background
      • Willis (1977)
        • Lads' counter-culture
          • group of 12 working class boys during their transition from school to work
            • took **** out of conformist boys called 'ear'oles' and girls
              • acts of defiance against school were ways of resisting school
            • rejected meritocracy and didn't believe they could get middle
      • EVALUATION
        • Post modernists criticise Bowles & Gintis' correspondence principle- education reproduces diversity not inequality
        • Bowles & Gintis' view is deterministic and assumes the pupils have no free will; just passively accept indoctrination
          • fails to explain counter-school groups
        • Modernists Morrow & Torres(1998) criticise Marxists for taking class 1st approach
        • Macdonald(1980) arugs Bowles & Gintis ignores the fact that schools reproduce patriarchy aswell

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