Education - key words

Key words

Social cohesion: the bonds or 'glue' that bring people together and integrate them into a united society.

Social mobility: movement of groups or individuals up or down the social hierarchy.

Functional prerequisites: the basic needs that must be met if society is to survive.

Hidden curriculum: concerns not so much the formal content of subject lessons and examinations (the overt curriculum) as the way teaching and learning are organised. This includes the general routines of school life which influence and mould the attitudes and behaviour of students, such as the school rules and discipline, dress codes, school organisation.

Social solidarity: the integration of people into society through shared values, a common culture, shared understandings and social ties that bring them together and build social cohesion.

Particularistic views: rules and values that give a priority to personal relationships.

Universalistic views: rules and values that apply equally to all members of society, regardless of who they are.

Meritocracy: a society where occupational positions and pay are allocated on the basis purely of people's individual talents, abilities, qualifications and skills - their individual merits. 

Human capital: the knowledge and skills possessed by a workforce that increase that workforce's value and usefulness to employers.

Division of labour: the division of work or occupations into a large number of socialised tasks, each of which is carried out by one worker or a group of workers.

Equality of educational opportunity: the idea that every child, regardless of his or her social class background, ability to pay school fees, ethnic background, gender or disability, should have an equal chance of doing as well as his or her ability will allow. 

Marketisation: the process whereby services, like education or health, that were previously controlled by the state, have government or local council control reduced or removed altogether, and become subject to the free market forces of supply and demand, based on competition and consumer choice. 

False consciousness: a failure by members of a social class to recognise their real interests.

Ideological state apparatuses: agencies which serve to spread the ideology, and justify the power, of the dominant social class.

Hegemony: the dominance in society of the ruling class' set of ideas over others, and acceptance of and consent to them by the rest of society.

Hegemonic control: control of the working class is mainly achieved through the hegemony and acceptance of ruling class ideas.

Subculture: a smaller culture held by a group or class of people within the main culture of scoiety, in some ways different from the main culture, but with many aspects in common. 

Anti-school/counter-school subculture: a group organised around a set of values, attitudes and behaviour in opposition to the main aims of a school.

Sexism: prejudice or discrimination against people, especially women, because of their sex.

Underachievement: the failure of people to fulfil their potential - they do not do as well in education (or…