the role and functions of the education system

Question 1

the functionalist perspective on education

Answer 1

focus on the importance of the links between education and other social institutions, such as the family and the workplace, and the functions or role of education for society as a whole.

Functionalists see education as an important agency of socialisation, helping to maintain social stability through the development of value consensus, social harmony and social cohesion.

Education is seen as playing a key role in preparing young people for adulthood, citizenship and working life, providing them with the means for improving their lives and life chances through upward social mobility, and preparing them for a rapidly changing society.

Question 2

four basic functions of education according to Functionalists

Answer 2

1. Passing on society’s culture and building social solidarity
2. Providing a bridge between the particularistic values of the family and the universalistic valuesof society
   3.Developing human capital
3. Selecting and allocating people for roles in a meritocratic society, legitimising social inequality

Question 3

Passing on society’s culture and building social solidarity

Answer 3

Education meets a key functional prerequisite by passing on to new generations the central or core values and culture of a society-This is achieved by both the hidden curriculum and the actual subjects learnt at school (the overt curriculum), for example through subjects like Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE).

This unites or ‘glues’ people together and builds social solidarity by giving them shared values (a value consensus) and a shared culture.

Question 4

Providing a bridge between the particularistic values and ascribed status of the family and the universalistic values and achieved status of contemporary advanced societies

Answer 4

Durkheim argued that schools are a ‘society in miniature’ - a small-scale version of society as a whole that prepares young people for life in the wider adult society.

Parsons sees schools as important places of secondary socialisation, increasingly taking over from the family as children grow older. He argues schools provide a bridge between the particular-istic values and ascribed status of the family, and the universalistic values and achieved status of contemporary societies which are based on the values of meritocracy.

Question 5

example of particularistic values and universalistic values

Answer 5

a child’s status in the family is ascribed and they are judged in terms of particularistic values, e.g. their status is ascribed as a child or as a brother/sister and are treated as special individuals compared to others not in the family

wider contemporary society is meritocratic meaning people have to earn their staus according to their individual achievements like talent or qualifications.

achieved status- the same universalistic values or rules apply to everyone, regardless of who they are. E.g a teacher marking student essays might reasonably be expected to mark every essay by the same criteria (universalistic values), not give different marks depending on whether they liked the student or not (particularistic values), and those same students might be expected to achieve a place at university because of their exam grades, not because they knew someone who worked there

Question 6

Developing human capital

Answer 6

Schultz(1971)-theory of human capital which suggests that high levels of spending on education and training are justified as these develop people’s knowledge and skills and this investment is an important factor in a successful economy

Functionalists see this development of human capital through the expansion of schooling and higher education as necessary to provide a properly trained, qualified and flexible labour force to undertake the wide range of different jobs arising from the division of labour.

Education system makes sure the best and most qualified people end up in jobs requiring the greatest skills

Question 7

Selecting and allocating people for roles in a meritocratic society

Answer 7

Davis and Moore- the education system is a means of sifting people for different levels of the job market and ensuring the most qualified individuals are allocated to the most important jobs.

grading people through streaming and exam results is a form of role allocation-fitting the most suitable people into the hierarchy of unequal positions in society.

In a meritocratic society, access to jobs and wealth depend mainly on educational qualifications. Davis and Moore suggest that there is equality of educational opportunity and everyone has the same chance of coming out on top with effort. This legitimises inequalities in society- those who succeed earned their success and those who didn’t, didn’t work hard enough.

Question 8

New Right approach to education

Answer 8

-reflects many of the Functionalist ideas
-education shouldn’t be concerned with promoting equality or equality of opportunity but with training the workforce, making sure able students are prepared for high level jobs and have their talents developed
-education should socialise people to be responsible citizens
-Chubb and Moe- state controlled education isn’t efficient because it fails to produce pupils with the skills needed by the economy.

Question 9

Chubb and Moe on education

Answer 9

-there should be a free market in education with a range of different school types managed independently like businesses, answerable to the wishes and needs of local communities of parents and students
-competition for students and funding,combined with a free choice for parents will lead to a more efficient education system.
-marketisation of education produces benefits for the consumers of education such as a higher quality of education leading to a more skilled workforce

Question 10

Marxists on education

Answer 10

reproducing and legitimising the class structure
-education is a form of social control, encouraging young people to be conformists, accept their social position and not to do anything to upset the current patterns of wealth
-passes inequality from one generation to the next
-gives the false impression that those who fail in education only have themselves to blame, legitimising inequality

Question 11

How does education reproduce an efficient and obedient labour force according to Althusser

Answer 11

-reproduction of the necessary technical skills
-the reproduction of ruling class ideology and the socialisation of workers into accepting this dominant ideology(false consciousness)

Question 12

How do the ruling class prevent the w/c from rebelling against their exploitation according to Althusser?

Answer 12

they persuade them to accept ruling class ideology. These are done through ideological state apparatuses such as the family, media, law and the education system. Althusser- education in Western society is main ideological state apparatus

Question 13

Bourdieu on education

Answer 13

The key role of the education system is legitimising class inequalities and reproducing the class structure. He suggests success in the education system is based on the posession of cultural capital and of access to the habitus of the dominant class

Question 14

habitus

Answer 14

cultural framework and ideas possessed by a social class. examples are good books, newspapers and TV programmes. This habitus is picked up through socialisation in the family.

The dominant class have the power to impose its own habitus in the education system so what counts as educational knowledge is not the culture of society as a whole but of the ruling class

Question 15

cultural capital

Answer 15

the knowledge, language, manners and forms of behaviour which give middle and upper class students who possess them a built-in advantage in a middle-class controlled education system.

Question 16

why is failure inevitable for the majority of pupils from the lower social classes?

Answer 16

pupils from the lower classes don’t normally possess cultural capital

Question 17

why is it easier for higher class individuals to stay in the class they were born into?

Answer 17

they have an in-built advantage from cultural capital before they even start school

Question 18

Illich(1995)

Answer 18

Marxist idea-education reproduces inequality and a conformist,submissive and obedient working class

Question 19

what does Illich argue schools are?

Answer 19

repressive institutions which promote conformity and encourage into passive acceptance of existing inequalities and the interests of the powerful of the powerful, rather than encouraging them to be critical thinkers

Question 20

How does Illich suggest schools promote conformity?

Answer 20

-rewarding those who accept the school regime with qualifications and access to higher levels of the education system and better jobs

-those who don’t conform or who question the authority of teachers are excluded from further progress in education and end up in lower level jobs

Question 21

What does Illich suggest the solution to schools promoting conformity is?

Answer 21

abolishing schooling altogether-deschooling

Question 22

how does Freire see schools as repressive institutions?

Answer 22

learners are conditioned to accept oppressive relations of domination and subordination, and to listen to their superiors for example through obeying teachers

Question 23

who’s work suggests that the education system plays an important role in producing the hegemony of the ruling class?

Answer 23

Althusser, Illich and Freire

Question 24

what is hegemony

Answer 24

hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who shape the culture of the rest of society

Question 25

what is hegemonic control

Answer 25

convincing the rest of society to accept the truth and superiority of the ruling class’ ideas over others and winning their consent to continued control by the dominant class

Question 26

who proposed the correspondence principle

Answer 26

Bowles and Gintis

Question 27

what do Bowles and Gintis argue the role of education in capitalist societies is?

Answer 27

to reproduce labour power-a hard-working, submissive and disciplined workforce (like Althusser)

Question 28

how do Bowles and Gintis argue a submissive workforce is reproduced?

Answer 28

Two ways:
1. through the hidden curriculum of schooling and the correspondence between the relationships at school and work- in particular how school operates in the ‘long shadow of work’

2. through the role of the education system in legitimising or justifying inequality and the class structure

Question 29

what is the ‘long shadow of work’(Bowles and Gintis)

Answer 29

-the world of work influences the organisation of education- suggests this is like casting a long shadow over education
-hidden curriculum corresponds closely to many features of the workplace

Question 30

what do Bowles and Gintis argue the main factors related to educational/job market success or failure are

Answer 30

ethnicity, class and gender

Question 31

why do Bowles and Gintis argue that meritocracy and equality of educational opportunity are myths?

Answer 31

they promote that failure in education arises from lack of ability or hard work, when in most cases it arises because of social class and family background

Question 32

how does education act as a confidence trick?

Answer 32

by hiding the fact that it maintains and reproduces the existing pattern of social class inequalities between generations

Question 33

what are three criticisms of Althusser, Bourdieu,Illich, Freire, Bowles and Gintis?

Answer 33

1. there is a lack of detailed research into schools-pupils often show little regard for teachers’ authority and school rules and discipline
2. Bowles and Gintis, Illich and Freire ignore some influences of the formal curriculum-it isn’t always designed to to promote the ideal pupil for capitalism and to develop passive conformist behaviour. humanities and subjects like Sociology produce critical thinkers.
   Employers often complain that the education system doesn’t produce the well-qualified and conformist workers that Marxists suggests it does
3. they tend to be deterministic in the sense that people have no real ability to make choices and they don’t explain how and why some w/c pupils are successful in education

Question 34

Which study helps to overcome some of the weaknesses of a more traditional Marxist approach like Althusser and Bowles and Gintis?

Answer 34

Willis’ study : Learning to Labour- How working class kids get working-class jobs

Question 35

Which sociological perspective does Willis adopt?

Answer 35

Marxist(modern view) and Interactionist

Question 36

Learning to Labour:How working-class kids get working-class jobs

Answer 36

-Willis recognises that schools do not produce a willing and obedient workforce- in any secondary school, it is clear that students do not always obey teachers, can be disruptive and challenge the school
-studied a group of 12 w/c boys referred to as ‘the lads’ in a school on a w/c estate in the 70s