sociology ; education

formal education

takes place in an educational institute such as schools or universities where you develop your knowledge and skills

informal education

when people develop knowledgeand skills by observing what is happening around them in their everyday life.

• secondary socialisation - learning the way of life of a particular culture.
• selection - the education system works like a sieve,grading people and allocating them into particular sets.
• encouraging social mobility - encouraging pupils that they are able to move up and down the different layers of strata.
• social control - pupils learn to conform and accept rules and adult authority.
• social cohesion - coming together as a community.
• serving the needs of the economy - economic role in teaching pupils the knowledge and skills which will enable them to succeed in future jobs.

• 1988 education act - introduced ofsted,league tables,SATs etc. 
• teach first - when top graduate students teach in deprived areas.
• EMAs - educational maintainence allowance
• sure start - centres where chilren aged 0-5 can go to learn the basic skills and knowledge. 

• the pupil may be living in poverty or is materially deprived.
• the child may be cultrally deprived. 
• parental interest.
• the parents may not have been to university.
• the parents may not be able to speak english 
• codes of speech - elaborated and restricted.

• boys are more likely to be influenced by laddish cultures. 
• anti school subcultures.
• labelling
• self fulfilling prophecy
• halo effect 
• institutional racism 
• how well resourced the school is 

• minority ethic groups (indian,chinese) are most likely to do better in GCSEs.
• girls do better than boys.
• working class girls are most likely to underachieve. 
• students from middle class backgrounds achieve higher than a student from a working class background.