Functionalist Approach to Education
- Created by: Becky
- Created on: 17-05-13 15:37
Fullscreen
- Two important writers to remember: Durkheim and Parsons.
- They identified 4 basic functions of education:
Passing on society's culture
- Passing on to new generations the central norms, values and culture of a society. Achieved through hidden and educational curriculum. Unites people together by giving them shared values (value consenses) and a shared culture.
A bridge between family and wider society
- Durkheim argued that schools are society in miniture, preparing young people for wider society.
- Parsons sees the school as unit of secondary socialisation, taking over from the family as children grow older.
- Schools provide a bridge between the family (particularistic values, ascribed status) and wider society (universalistic values, achieved status).
Providing a trained and qualified workforce
- Functionalists see schooling and higher education as necessary to provide a trained, qualified and flexible labour force to undertake the various different jobs in modern industrialised society.
- Argue that the education system prepares this labour force, making sure the best…
Comments
No comments have yet been made