Education

Functionalism

is a consensus theory. Claims education benefits the whole of society. The main function of education is secondary socialisation - this means it teaches norms and values ie culture. This helps maintain order in society and intergrates people into society. Education performs role allocation, it develops important skills and allocates people to a job. Education uses sanctions to reinforce hardwork, obedience and motivation e.g by detentions, reports and good grades. Education proves work with skilled workers - organic analogy. Education performs a child minding service for when parents go to work. Functionalists claim that education is meritocratic - it is fair and based on equality of oppertunity e.g all students have the same chance to do well.

Marxism

This is a conflict theory and explores class inequality in education between the rich and the poor. The rich control education and use it to benefit themselves and to bring about social class reproduction. The rich attend the best private schools, the best unis and get the best paid jobs, whilst the poor attend state schools and do not do as well - end up in low paid jobs. The working class also suffer from material deprivation - they can't afford things that are needed to do well e.g tutors, stationary, books, good catchment areas, good diet and spacious housing.

Marxists claim that meritocracy does not exist. Marxists explore the hidden curriculum - this refers to the routines and regulations of school that teach pupils certain attitudes and behaviour outside of the national curriculum e.g punctuality and obedience. The hidden curriculum teaches the working class pupils to respect authority, obedience, punctuality and hard work. As a result the ruling class benefit because they get workers that obey them , work hard and earnt hem more profit. Education also uses ideology - this brainwashes the working class and puts them into a false consciousness so that they think education is fair and they will not resist or revolt. 

Marxists also explore labelling. Labelling is where teachers catergarise pupils positively or negatively.  Teachers often label in relation to a stereotype of the ideal pupil - female middle class. Teachers label the working class negatively because they don't fit the stereotype of the ideal pupil. Once labelled the pupil becomes the label - this is called the self - fulfilling prophecy.

Feminism 

is a conflict theory. Education is controlled by males and is used to maintain patriarchy. Radical feminists claims education remains sexist and canalises girls inmto traditional roles e.g housewives and carers e.g by doing subjects such as food tech and child care studies.

However, liberal feminists claim that education is no longer as patriarchal as it was - girls now do much better and have more oppertunity at school. Girls also have more oppertuntiy at school. Girls also have more ambition to have a successful career and a good wage.

Groups that tend to be labelled negatively include: working class, boys, Afro Caribbean. Labelling is also linked to setting and banding - pupils in the top sets are more likely to be labelled positively, however pupils ain low sets are labelled negatively and teachers have low expectations. This can lead to low self esteem and anti school subcultures. 

Private Schools

aka independant schools or public schools. Private schools are funded by parents paying fees. These can be as much as £30,000 a year. Therefore it is the wealthy who attend these schools.

Advantages Include:     Better facilities e.g sports and music, smaller class sizes so often more focused learning, better qualification and oppertunities. Disadvantages Include:        Expensive - the poor can't afford, shielded from social challenges (isolated), brings about social class reproduction.

Faith Schools

These schools usually follow the national curriculum however they also promaote a particular religion e.g christian or catholic. Such schools will have assemblies about their religion and can also select pupils and staff based on their religious background.

Advantages include:      pupils can learn about their religion and they tend to have more disapline. Disadvantages include:  Religious groups do not mix with one another and non religious groups are excluded.

Special Schools

These schools are for pupils with speical educational needs. These may be physical or mental.

Advantages include: They have specialist teachers and equipment and pupils can learn skills to help with their disability. Children are similar to one another and this decreases the chance of wider descrimination and the chance of bullying. Disadvantages include:  it segregates pupils from wider society and they may not study the whole national curriculum.

Testing Pupils

Testing is useful because it provides teachers with data on pupil progress and provides parents with information on the schools success e.g league tables. It also allows students to moniter their own progress and allows the government to measure the school's standards.

However there are weaknesses to testing: testing can causes stress to pupils, exam results do not show the ethos and discipline of a school. Schools can minupulate exam results by not entering pupils who are likely to fail.

Social Class

Social class is usually defined in relation to a persons occupation and earnings. The middle class usually have professional jobs e.g lawyer with higher incomes. However the workign class tend to have manual jobs and lower incomes. Statistics show that the working class do worse thanthe middle class. The middle class are more likely to do A-levels, go to university and get the best paid jobs. There are internal and external factors to explain the differences.

External Factors: Material deprivation - this means poverty and is associated with the working class. They can experience financial stress from low income and unemployment. Poverty influences achievement in a number of ways: They can'y afford private schools and tutors, can't afford resources e.g computers. Smaller houses mean no where quiet to study, poor diet and nutrition leading to illness and absense from school. Can't afford houses in the bets catchment areas and can't afford transport to the best schools.

NB the government have introduced a range of policies to help pupils on low income e.g bursaries and free school meals but despite this inequality between classes stilll exist.

Cultural Deprivation 

This means lacking important values and beliefs which are needed to be successful in education e.g. languge and thinking skills, general knowledge and supportive parents.  The working class are more likely to be culturally deprived- these values are passed on through socialisation within the *** environment.  Within working class homes there is a lack of intelectual development during early years the following studies provide evidence of cultural deprivation:

Bernstein: speech codes

Carried out study in 1970's claimed the working class use restricted speech codes - simple sentences using slang here meaning is not made clear, however the middle class use elaborated speech codes - more complex sentences where meaning is made clear.  Teachers and the curriculum use elaborated speech codes so the middle class are at an advantage.  However this study is outdated as class differences in speach are now much less.

Douglas: parental interest

Claims working class parents are less interested and supportive of their children.  He measured this in terms of how often teachers visited school e.g.: parents evening.  He found working class visited less, so concluded they were less interested.  We can criticise as working class may not be able to attend i.e. working.

Sugar man:  gratification

Claims that the working class favour immediate gratification.  This means they want to leave school ASAP in order to earn money for a paid job.  However the middle class favoured delayed gratification, this meand they stay on at school, do A levels and attend University.  They obtain good grades and are rewarded later on.

N.B. The government have introduced policies to help the poor overcome cultural deprivation e.g. surestart provided support for young children and parents in deprived areas e.g. parenting classes and toddler groups with educational facilities.  

These factors operate within school and include: 

labelling and SFP

Working Class pupils are more likely to be labelled negatively as low ability are trouble makers because they do not fit the stereotype of an ideal pupil - SFP.

***

The working class are more likely to be part of an ***-A pupil subculture which rejects education and authority.  Reasons for this include: status deprivation-the working class find it difficult to gain official status i.e. good grades, so instead they develop an alternative way to gain status, they join ***.  Within the *** pupils reward each other and gain status through rebelling and misbehaving.  Within the *** there is peer pressure to break the rules, there are also pro-school subcultures.  The working class are labelled negatively and may join an ***.  Working class parents used to socialise their children not to value academic education.  Instead the socialise children to value manual and practical skills. N.B this has changed because heavy manual industry has declined in the last 50 years.

Setting and Banding

These are ways of grouping students in classes according to ability.  Working class tend to be in lower sets-where teachers have lower expectations and label them negatively.

Selection and League Tables

Since legal tables were introduced the best schools want to maintain a strong position.  The best schools will therefore recruit the most able middle class pupils to ensure they achieve the best results.  The working class are left to attend lower rank schools.

Ethnicity and Achievement

An ethnic group is one which shares a common history, culture, customs and identity.  Often it also has its own language and religion.  An ethnic group sees themselves as distinct from others.  Ethnicity is cultural and learn through socialisation.  It is different to race which is biological and determined by genes.  The highest achievers are chinese and indians, the lowest achievers are pakistani, bangladeshi and AC.  In every ethnic group girls do better than boys except gypsies.  Factors to explain these patterns include external and internal factors.

Material Deprivation

Some EM groups are more likely to suffer poverty and financial stress-through unemployment, low pay and descrimination in the workplace.  The poorest EM groups include polish, bangladeshi and AC in deprived areas. Poverty influences achievement in the following ways (see earlier notes)

Cultural deprivation (same as earlier) some claim that AC families don't socialise their children properly - lack of parental support and stimulation during early socialisation. Chinese and Indian value education highly and have higher expectations.

Language 

This is an aspect of cultural deprivation.  Some EM groups have poor english skills as it is not their first language-will find it difficult to understand the curriculum and the teachers. N.B. Language barriers are less than they used to be because many EM pupils have been bought up in English speaking schools and language support is available.

Racism-Many EMs experience racism-this can result in mental stresst and physical injury which are linked to low achievement.

Family Structure

Theories such as functionalism and the New Right claim that family structure is important.  Some EM groups e.g. black communities have high divorce rates and single parent families usually led by a mother.  This can cause stress and a lack of parental support.  For many black boys the father is absent, this means they lack a male role model.  However Asian families are much more stable, they can provide more support.

Internal Factors

Labelling-Asian Students P and AC pupils N

Gailborn myth of black challenge-he claims that white teachers do not fully understand black culture, they see the behaviour of black pupils as a threat to authority. Meaning they are more likely to be punished. However this is an incorrect interpretation and simply the way black pupils are, it is not a threat of authority and just a display of ethnicity. In this way white teachers are racist and ethnocentric.

Black boys are more likely to be part of an *** because they are labelled negatively.  They cannot gain status through grades so as part of *** they reject education and rebel.  However indian and chinese pupils are more likely to be part of a proschool subculture in which they value education.  

Setting and Banding

Indian and chinese are more likely to be in a higher set and AC pupils in lower sets.  Teachers have different expectations of sets and label them appropriately.

Ethnocentric curriculum

This means culturally biased.  The curriculum can be seen as ethnocentric because languages tend to be european. EM contributions to history are often ignored.  This includes negative stereotypes of EM's e.g. slavery.

Internal Factors

Labelling- boys labelled negatively, girls labelled positively SFP

Pupil subcultures

Boys are more likely to join an ***, where there is peer pressure to show masculinity through rejecting education and being disruptive.  Boys gain status within the ***.

Setting and Banding

Girls more likely to be in top sets, boys more likely to be in lower sets.

Coursework

Introduced in 1980s, this favours girls because they are more organised and work more consistently, boys tend to fabour cramming, just before an exam. N.B. Over recent years coursework has declined, which will favour boys.

Feminisation of Education

This refers to how education has become less patriarchal, this includes majority of people being female (more positive role models for girls).  Teaching resources contain positive stereotypes of girls.

Exernal Factors

Female aspirations-Over the last 50 years female aspirations have increased. They are no longer content with being housewives or mothers instead females now want their own careers and financial independance. N.B. This idea is linked to girl power.

Changing Labour Market

This refers to the changing nature of jobs.  Over the last 50 years heavy manual jobs have declined and have been replaced by lighter work e.g. service sector jobs.  This has given greater opportunities for females so therefore they work harder to get good qualifications and a job.

Leisure Values

Girls are more likely to communicate or read which develops skills, boys are more likely to play video games.

Divorce-over the last 30 years divorce has increased resulting in more single parent families, usually headed by a mother.

Government policies to help boys

The raising boys achievement project-this involves new teaching strategies to stimulate boys e.g. using sport and involving single sex school environment.Reading champions-using male sporting celebrities to inspire boys to read more and encouraging fathers to be more involved in sons education.

The tripartite system (1944)

a system of secondary schooling which aimed to be meritocratic. This system was based on selection, pupils would sit an intelligence test and based on perfomance would attend one of the three schools: Grammar schools - for those who passed, these schools provided an achedemic curriculum preparing their students for university and professional jobs. Secondary Modern schools: for those who did not pass were provided with a non academic curriculum, preparing students for manual jobs attended mainly by the working class. Technical schools - for pupils gifted in technology, few were built.

Consequences of the tripartite system - it created and maintained class divisions, either rich attended the best grammar schools witht he best facilities and teachers or the working class felt like failures and went to inferior schools. As a result of this, government introduced comprehensive schools and so it was non-selective.

Comprehensive Education (1960)

aimed to be truely meritocratic - by getting rid of selection and introducing one type of secondary school for all, regardless of ability or social class background. Students attended the school based on catchment area.

Consequences of Comprehensive education: studies show that working class acievement improved slightly, however the system still created class divisions - the best schools were in the most expensive catchment areas where only the wealthy could afford to live. Selection also took place within schools e.g setting and banding and the middle class we in the higher sets.

Marketisation (1988)

The New Rigth introduced a range of policies that were called marketisation. They aimed to improve education standards, give parents more choice by creating different types of schools and creating competition. Policies included: (next page)

League tables/national testing

national tests were introduced at the end of each key stage. Schools were ranked into league tables that were made public e.g the percentage of students obtaining A* - C at GCSE. This meant parents could compare schools and have more choice. The government could also moniter school performance in this way.

Ofsted

A government agency that would inspect schools, check in on standards and make their report public. Again this gave parents more choice and monitered standards in schools, However critics claim this is not successful because schools are given notice and can change their behaviour (Hawthorn effect)

Formula Funding

This meant schools would be funded according to how many pupils they have therefore most popular schools who do well in league tables attract more pupils and more funding. This created competition in schools and drove standards.

The National Curriculum

introduced a nation wide curriculum that schools had to follow ie for each subject schools were told what to teach. Introduced key stages and the national testing.

Diversity of Schools

The New Right introduced new schools to give paretnts more choice these included; city technology collages - set up ininner cities partly funded by private buisiness. Grant Maintained Schools - where schools were given greater freedom on how to spend money and recruit pupils.

Consequences of Marketisation: 

Class divisions - the best schools, high on the league tables were in middle class areas with expensive hausing. The working class could not afford to love in such areas. This meant middle class parents had more choice. League Tables - these did not disclose anything about school discipline or ethos. They also say nothing about social class bakground of students. Testing - too much testing through national tests created stress and meant that less time was speant actually learning. Therefore Marketisation did not create meritocracy.

New Labour Policy (1997)

Before the election Tony Blair staed that his 3 main priorities were education, education and education. New Labour continued many marketisation policies, however they also introduced policies to help disadvantaged groups. These can be called compensatory educational policies. Policies included:

Excellence In Cities - This included extra funding and resources in deprived areas, especially improved IT facilities. This was to help materially deprived students.

Sure Start - introduced in deprived areas for pre-school children. Provided day centres and parent support. The aim was to ensure working class pupils did not get caught behind when they reached primary school. 

Educational Maintenance Allowance - For low income 6th form students - coudld get up to £30 per week to help pay for school books and transport. This encouraged more low income pupils to do A-Levels.

University expansion /tuition fees

New Labour created more university places to live, to give more working class oppertunities but also introduced tuition fees (£3000)

Academies (old)

This provided extra support and funding for comprehensive schools in deprived areas. Often included building new schools or modernising old ones. The aim was to improve standards in deprived areas.

Consequences of New Labour

Some sociologists claim that they helped disadvantaged groups, they provided them with extra money and support which meant deprived students performed better. Also more students from working class and EM background went to uni than had done before. Finally schools in deprived areas improved. However, other sociologists say they have not been successful - class inequality still exists in achievement, AC boys still underachieve, inequality still remains at uni e.g tuition fees are still a barrier for working class. The wealthy attend the best universities e.g Oxbridge

This government was made up of the conservatives and lib dems. This government introduced a range of policies which included:

Pupil Premium - where the government gave extra funding to schools depending on the number of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. This money could be used on teaching assistants, counsillors or extra equiptment.

Free Schools - a new type of school which would be independant of local council control. These schools were free to make their own funding decisions. This created diversity among schools and gave parents more choice. These schools could be set up by parents, charities or local businesses.

Tuition Fees - these were raised to £9000

Vocational Education - This is a type of education that is more practical and less academic. It usually involves work based training, examples include, hair and beauty and construction. In the 1980s teh New Right introduced NVQ's - national vocational qualifications - a  two year course which included colllage education and work experience. In 2000 New Labour introduced vocational A-Levels. Some sociologists claim the vocational courses create social class and gender divisions e.g the working class tend to do VQ's and get working class jobs.