Education

Question 1

Class differences- Cultural deprivation

Answer 1

lack the cultural equipment (language, reasoning) needed to do well at school and so underachieve

Question 2

Class differences- Cultural deprivation: Language

Answer 2

Bernstein
WC use restricted code w limited vocab, MC use elaborated code w wider vocab
These give WC a disadvantage bc teachers, books and exams all use elaborated code, MC kids socialised into using this at a young age so are more comfortable with the language used at school

Question 3

Class differences- Cultural deprivation: Intellect/Parent’s education

Answer 3

Douglas- WC parents place less value on education and are less ambitious, less engaged and visited school less and so were less motivated and underachieved
Feinstein- MC more educated so give advantage bc can socialise kids better through parenting style (educated has consistent discipline and encourages active learning), being more aware of what is needed to assist childs learning, using income to promote educational success

Question 4

Class differences- Cultural deprivation: WC subculture

Answer 4

Sugarman- WC subculture has four key features that act as barrier to achievement
Fatalism- it is what it is and you cant change your status
Collectivism- valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual
Immediate Gratification- seeking pleasures now rather than sacrificing for future rewards
Present time Orientation- present more important than the future
WC kids internalise these and so underachieve in school, value differences exist bc it stems from wc jobs being less secure

Question 5

Class differences- Compensatory education

Answer 5

Compensatory education aims to tackle CD by providing schools and communities in deprived areas w extra resources to intervene socialisation process to compensate children
Uk- sure start, educational priority areas and education action zones

Question 6

Class differences- Criticisms of Cultural Deprivation

Answer 6

Keddie- describes it as a myth and victim blames, a child cannot be deprived of its own culture and are culturally different not deprived, they fail bc of an education system dominated by MC values
Troyna and Williams- problem is not childs language but schools attitude towards it, teachers have speech hierachy
Blackstone- WC parents are interested in kids achievement but cannot attend parents evening bc of longer hours or are put off by schools MC atmosphere, lack knowledge to help their child even if they want to

Question 7

Class differences- Material deprivation- Housing

Answer 7

overcrowding makes it harder to study, less room for educational activities and disturbed sleep from sharing rooms
moving houses bc of temp accommodation can disrupt education
poor housing can also affect childs welfare and health like the cold or damp as well as psychological distress

Question 8

Class differences- Material deprivation- Diet and health

Answer 8

Howard- young people from poorer homes have lower intake of energy, vitamins and minerals. poor nutrition affects health resulting in more absences and difficulty concentrating
Wilkinson- in ten yr olds the lower the social class the higher the rate of hyperactivity and conduct disorders

Question 9

Class differences- Material deprivation- Costs of education

Answer 9

Tanner- costs of items like transport, books and equipment place a heavy burden on poor families. This means that poor children may have hand-me-downs and result in being bullied by peers
Flaherty- 20% of those eligible for FSM do not take it, maybe bc of fear of being bullied

Question 10

Class differences- Material deprivation- Fear of debt

Answer 10

Callendar and Jackson- WC students more debt averse and avoided it, saw more costs in going to university, WC 5x less likely to apply to uni, only 43% of WC students received help from home

Question 11

Class differences- Cultural Capital

Answer 11

Bourdieu- refers to the knowledge, attitudes. values and language of the MC, capital bc it gives advantage to those who possess it like wealth. MC have this through socialisation and so have an advantage at school, educational and economic capital also give MC a further advantage
Sullivan- tested it and did a survey of 465 pupils, those who read more complex material had more cultural capital and were children of graduates, however it only accounted for part of the differences in achievement

Question 12

Class differences- Labelling

Answer 12

Becker- teachers label students based on stereotyped assumptions, did interviews on 60 chicago high school teachers and found they judged students on how close they fit to the ‘ideal pupil’
Ray Rist- american kindergarten, teacher used info on childs home background and appearance to place them in separate groups, students deemed as fast learners tended to be MC and gave them the most encouragement

Question 13

Class differences- Self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 13

Teacher labels pupil and makes predictions on the, teacher acts on label as if prediction is true, pupil internalise teachers label and becomes the pupil the teacher believed they were in the first place

Question 14

Class differences- Pygmallion in the classroom

Answer 14

Rosenthal and Jacobson- California primary school, field experiment, made kids do a test to identify who would be spurters but it was actually random but when they came back the kids had in fact made significant progress, they believed that teachers beliefs about the students had changed and so they acted differently towards them

Question 15

Class differences- Streaming

Answer 15

involves separating children into different ability groups or classes, each ability then taught separately, self fulfilling prophecy likely to occur when children are streamed
Becker- WC pupils more likely to be in a lower stream bc they do not fit in with the ‘ideal pupil’
hard to move up stream so dont try bc they dont see the point
Douglas- children in a lower stream at age 8 suffered a decline in their IQ by age 11, those in a higher stream had an improved IQ

Question 16

Class differences- A-C Economy

Answer 16

Youdell- teachers use stereotypes to stream pupils, less likely to see WC as pupils as having ability and so denies them the knowledge and opportunity needed to get good grades
link between streaming and league tables, these rank each school according to their exam performance, schools need good league table position to attract pupils and funding, publishing league table creates an A-C economy- system which schools focus time and effort onto pupils as having most potential

Question 17

Class differences-Educational Triage

Answer 17

Gillborn and Youdell- educational sorting, term used in medical disasters where they sort casualties into 3 categories, pupils sorted into 3 categories by school- those who will pass and can be left, those with potential to get a C so will be helped, hopeless cases doomed to fail
teachers do this through stereotypes of WC and black students as lacking ability, producing self fulfilling prophecy
the need to gain a good league table position drives educational triage which becomes basis for streaming

Question 18

Class differences- Deviance in the classroom

Question 19

Class differences- Pupil subcultures

Answer 19

group of people who share similar values and behaviour patterns, often emerge as response to the way they have been labelled or streamed
Lacey- differentiation: teachers categorise pupils according to how they perceive their ability and behaviour, streamings a form of differentiation bc it puts pupils into separate classes. polarisation: pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite poles
pro school subculture- pupils in higher streams tend to remain committed to school values, anti is opposite and done to get status from peers and joining will become self fulfilling prophecy of educational failure
Hargreaves- boys in lower streams were triple failures, failed 11+ exam, put in low streams and labelled as worthless louts

Question 20

Class differences- Abolishing streaming

Answer 20

Ball- found that when streaming was abolished the basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed and the influence of anti school subculture declined, differentiation continued and teachers still labelled so class inequalities continue even without streaming

Question 21

Class differences- Pupil responses to labelling

Answer 21

Woods- Ingratiation- becoming teachers pet
Ritualism- going through the motions and staying out of trouble
Retreatism- daydreaming and messing about
Rebellion- outright rejection of everything the school stands for
Furlong- many pupils not committed to one response and may switch depending on lesson/teacher

Question 22

Class differences- Criticisms of labelling theory

Answer 22

too deterministic- assumes people who have been labelled have no choice but to fulfil the prophecy and fail, some may also be labelled and try harder
marxists- it ignores the wider structures of power within which labelling takes place, fails to explain why teachers label. prejudices also stem from the fact that teachers work in a system that reproduces class division, not their individual ideals

Question 22

Class differences- Class identity

Answer 22

more WC people going to uni but clash between WC identity and habitus of higher education is still a barrier partly bc of self-exclusion
Evans- studied group of 21 WC girls from a south london comprehensive who were reluctant to apply to elite unis and the few that did felt a sense of hidden barriers and not fitting in. self exclusion from elite unis narrows the options for many WC students and limits their success

Question 22

Ethnic differences- Cultural deprivation

Answer 22

many children from low income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences and are poorly equipped for school
Beretier and Engelmann- language spoken by low income black american families is inadequate for educational success
major cause of failure for black children is lack of motivation, some black children socialised into a more fatalistic attitude that does not value education

Question 23

Ethnic differences- Family structure

Answer 23

Moynihan- bc many black families are headed by a lone mother, black children are deprived of adequate care bc she has to struggle financially in the absence of a male breadwinner. also means boys lack good male role model, sees it as a cycle where poorly socialised children will fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves New Right agree, Murray- high rate of lone parenthood and lack of male role models lead to the underachievement of some minorities

Question 23

Ethnic differences- Fathers, gangs and culture

Answer 23

Sewell- not the absence of fathers as role models that lead to underachievement its the lack of fatherly nurturing and so they find it hard to overcome emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence in this absence, street gangs of other fatherless boys offer them a media inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity they are subject now to powerful anti-educational peer group pressure

Question 24

Ethnic differences- Asian and White WC families

Answer 24

Asian- indian and chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have an asian work ethic and place a high value on education White WC- underachieve and have lower aspirations Lupton- studied 4 WC schools, two white, one pakistani and one ethnically diverse and found teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour in the white WC schools, teachers blamed this on lower levels of parental support and their negative attitude towards education

Question 24

Ethnic differences- Criticisms of cultural deprivation

Answer 24

Driver- ignored positive effects of ethnicity on achievement, black caribbean families provide girls with strong role model of independent women Lawrence- black pupils underachieve bc of racism not low self esteem Keddie- victim blames, culturally different not deprived

Question 24

Ethnic differences- Material deprivation

Answer 24

Palmer- half of ethnic minority children live in low income households, twice as likely to be unemployed, three times as likely to be homeless many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wages, lack of language skills and foreign qualifications not being recognised by Uk employers ethnic minority children much more likely to be eligible for FSM

Question 24

Ethnic differences- Racism in wider society

Answer 24

Rex- racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and this worsens the poverty faced by ethnic minorities, in housing discrimination means minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard housing than whites of the same class Wood et al- sent three closely matched job applications to 1000 vacancies and used names associated w different ethnic groups, 1 in 16 minority names got the job compared to 1 in 9 white names explains why minorities are more likely to face unemployment and low pay and this in turn has a negative effect on childs education

Question 25

Ethnic differences- Labelling and teacher racism

Answer 25

teachers often see black and asian pupils as being far from the ideal student, black pupils often seen as disruptive and asian as passive Gillborn and Youdell- found teachers often quicker to discipline black students than others for the same behaviour, argue it is the result of racialised expectations- teachers expect black pupils to present as more challenging and so may misinterpret their behaviour as threatening, this is acted on and black pupils feel teachers picked on them Bourne- higher level of exclusions in black boys which affects achievement

Question 25

Ethnic differences- Pupil identities

Answer 25

Archer- teachers dominant discourse defines ethnic minority pupils identities as lacking the favoured identity of the ideal pupil, dominant discourse makes three pupil identities: ideal- white middle class, pathologised- asian feminised over achiever, demonised- black/white wc hypersexual underachiever Chinese pupils- seen as having achieved success in the wrong way through hardwork rather than individual ability, often wrongly stereotypes as middle class

Question 26

Ethnic differences- Pupil responses and subcultures

Answer 26

Fuller- studied a group of black girls in year 11 in a london comprehensive, were high achievers despite being in a school where most black girls were placed in lower streams, instead of accepting negative labels they used it to fuel their educational success, had a positive attitude towards academic success but not the approval of teachers Mac an Ghaill- study of black and asian students at 6th form found same results and overcame negative labels instead of accepting them

Question 26

Ethnic differences- Failed strategies for avoiding racism

Answer 26

Mirza- found racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious, identified three main types of teacher racism: colourblind- believed all pupils are equal but allowed racism to go unchallenged, liberal chauvinists- believe black pupils are culturally deprived and have low expectations, overt racists- believe blacks are inferior and actively discriminate

Question 26

Ethnic differences- Boys responses to labelling

Answer 26

Sewell Rebels- most visible and influential group but only a small minority of black pupils, rejected goals and rules of school Conformists- largest group, accepted goals and had friends from diff ethnic groups Retreatists- tiny minority of isolated individuals, disconnected from school and black subcultures Innovators- second largest group, pro education but anti school, conformed only as far as schoolwork teachers tend to see all black boys as rebels, leading to underachievement

Question 26

Ethnic differences- Critical race theory

Answer 26

This sees racism as an ingrained feature of society, like institutional racism which is less overt and less identifiable Gillborn- ethnic inequality is so deep rooted and so large that it is basically an inevitable feature of the education system

Question 26

Ethnic differences- Marketisation and segregation

Answer 26

Gillborn- bc marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions Moore and Davenport- selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools bc of discrimination, primary school reports were used to screen out pupils with language difficulties Commission for Racial Equality- british schools have racist bias in interviews for school places, ethnic minority parents often unaware of how waiting lists work and the importance of deadlines

Question 27

Ethnic differences- Ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 27

Curriculum that reflects the culture of one ethnic group, it is a prime example of institutional racism bc it builds a racial bias into school life examples- Troyna- lack of teaching asian languages compared to european languages as well as literature and music, Ball- promotes little englandism attitude and does not teach the history of black and asian people Coard- the image of black people as inferior undermines black pupils self esteem and leads to their failure

Question 28

Gender differences- Stats of differences

Answer 28

Official statistics GCSE- girls do better than boys by around 10 percentage points Alevel- girls more likely to sit, pass and do better than boys, 46.8% of girls got A or B compared to 42.2% of boys

Question 28

Gender differences- Impact of feminism

Answer 28

Mcrobbie- study of girls magazines, 70s the importance was on getting married whereas now theyre of assertive independent women. changes encouraged by feminism may affect girls self image and ambitions and so may explain improvements in their achievement

Question 28

Gender differences- Changes in the family

Answer 28

Increase in divorce, smaller families and increase of lone parent families are affecting girls attitudes towards education in a number of ways more lone parent families means more women taking on breadwinner role which creates new role model for girls, financially independent women, to do this they need well paid jobs and so good qualifications

Question 28

Gender differences- Changes in womens employment

Answer 28

1970 equal pay act, proportion of women in work risen by 10% and pay gap has halved to 15% these changes have encouraged girls to see their future in terms of paid work rather than housewives and there is now an incentive for girls to gain qualifications

Question 28

Gender differences- Girls changing ambitions

Answer 28

Sharpe- interviewed girls in 70s and 90s, used to have low aspirations and priorities were marriage but have since changed to being career focused O'Connor- study of 14-17yr olds found marriage and kids were not part of their major plans changing ambitions had led girls to realise that they need good education to get a good job and be self sufficient

Question 29

Gender differences- Equal opportunities policies

Answer 29

GIST- girls in science and tech WISE- women in science and engineering these encourage girls to pursue a career in non trad areas National curriculum removed a source of gender inequality as both now study the same subjects school now more meritocratic so girls who work harder anyway achieve more

Question 30

Gender differences- Positive role models

Answer 30

increase in number of female teachers and heads which gives girls positive role models by showing them they can achieve positions of power

Question 30

Gender differences- GCSE and Courswork

Answer 30

Gorard- gender gap fairly constant till 1989 when it increased sharply which was when GCSEs were introduced as well as coursework, did better bc of changing assessment rather than increased failure in boys Mitsos and Browne- girls better at coursework bc they are more conscientious and organised than boys, they spend more time and care with their work which helped girls benefit when coursework was introduced

Question 30

Gender differences- Teacher attention

Answer 30

French- boys got more attention bc they attracted more reprimands Swann- boys dominate whole class discussions while girls are better at listening and preferred paired work explains why teachers respond more positively to girls bc theyre more cooperative and so may lead to self fulfilling prophecy

Question 30

Gender differences- Challenging to stereotypes on the curriculum

Answer 30

removal of gender stereotypes and reading schemes has removed a barrier to girls achievement, presented with more positive empowering images in textbooks

Question 30

Gender differences- Selection and league tables

Answer 30

Jackson- introduction of exam league tables has improved opportunities for girls as high achieving girls are highly desirable to girls leading to self fulfilling prophecy

Question 31

Gender differences- Feminist view of girls achievement

Answer 31

Liberal- celebrate the progress girls have made and further progress will be made by continuing developments of equal opportunity policies Radical- emphasise that system remains patriarchal by sexual harassment, education still limits girls subject choices, still more male teachers

Question 31

Gender differences- Symbolic capital

Answer 31

Archer et al- social class difference in girls bc of the difference in WC girls identities and middle class values of the school. symbolic capital is the status and sense of worth that we are able to obtain from others, archer found that by performing their WC feminine identities they gained symbolic capital from their peers but this brought them into conflict w the school

Question 31

Gender differences- Hyper-feminine identities

Answer 31

many girls spent considerable time and effort into creating a hyper heterosexual feminine identity, this brought them status from female peer group and avoided them being called a tramp for wearing the wrong band but did bring them trouble in school for wearing incorrect uniform led to school othering the girls and defined them as not one of us who are incapable of educational success and get less respect

Question 31

Gender differences- Boyfriends and being loud

Answer 31

having a bf bought symbolic capital but it got in the way of schoolwork and lowered girls aspirations as they chose to settle down and work locally in WC feminine jobs like childcare. some WC girls adopted loud feminine identities that led to them being outspoken and question teachers authority and so brought more conflict with the school

Question 31

Boys and Achievement- Boys and literacy

Answer 31

DCSF- gender gap mainly a result of boys poorer literacy girls, may be bc parents spend less time reading to their sons, boys leisure activities like football also do not aid their literacy skills compared to girls who have bedroom culture

Question 31

Boys and Achievement- Globalisation

Answer 31

Mitsos and Browne- decline of industry has led to decline in male employment opportunity and so led to identity crisis in men as they believe they have little prospect in getting a job and so give up trying to get qualifications

Question 32

Boys and Achievement- Feminisation of education

Answer 32

Sewell- boys fall behind bc education is feminised and schools do not nurture masculine traits like competitiveness and leadership and celebrate more female qualities

Question 33

Boys and Achievement- Lack of male teachers

Answer 33

only 14% of primary school teachers are male YouGov- 39% of 8-11yr old boys have no lessons with a man but most behave better with male teacher present leads to a lack of male role models for boys

Question 33

Boys and Achievement- Laddish subcultures

Answer 33

Epstein- examined the way masculinity is constructed in school, found WC boys likely to be harassed and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse if they appear to be swots Francis- boys more afraid of being labelled by peers than girls bc its more of a threat to their masculinity than femininity in WC subculture masculinity is being tough and manual work rather than schoolwork which is seen as inferior so rejected schoolwork to avoid being called gay

Question 33

Boys and Achievement- Policies to raise boys achievement

Answer 33

Ringrose- moral panic abt boys as scared they will grow up to be unemployable and underclass who threaten social stability, this is reflected in shift in policies- but has ignored problem of disadvantaged WC and minority ethnic pupils and ignores other problems girls face in school like sexual harassment Osler- mentoring schemes aimed at reducing exclusions in black boys ignores problems of exclusions in girls which are increasing, girls are becoming neglected bc of this shift

Question 34

Gender and subject choice- Gender role socialisation

Answer 34

process of learning behaviour expected of males and females in society Byrne- teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative while girls expected to be quiet and helpful Elwood and Murphy- bc of socialisation boys and girls develop diff reading tastes which leads to diff subject choices as boys read hobby books so pick science and girls read stories so are more english based Browne and Ross- gender domains (tasks seen as male or female territories), mending car is male gender domain while childcare is female

Question 34

Gender and subject choice- Gendered subject images

Answer 34

Kelly- science seen as male bc science teachers more likely to be male, examples draw more on boys interests, boys dominate the lab in class Colley- compsci is male bc involves machines (male domain) and the way its taught is off putting to females w little group work Leonard- girls in all girls schools more likely to pick maths and science alevels compared to mixed schools and boys more likely to pick english and languages Institute of Physics- girls in single sex state schools 2.4x more likely to take alevel physics

Question 34

Gender and subject choice- Gender identity and peer pressure

Answer 34

boys opt out of music and dance bc it does not fall into their gender domain and so more likely to get negative response from peers Dewar- male students would call girls lesbian or butch for taking sports single sex has less peer pressure from other genders so dont have to conform

Question 35

Gender and subject choice- Gendered career options

Answer 35

employment highly gendered, female careers often childcare or secretarial, limits what subjects they choose and so will opt out of certain things if they believe they cannot get a career from it eg men and childcare

Question 36

Pupil's sexual and gender identities- Double standards

Answer 36

Lees- double standard of sexual morality where boys can boast abt sexual exploits but girls will get called a slag. gives status to men but girls get negative labels, example of patriarchal ideology for feminists

Question 36

Pupil's sexual and gender identities- Verbal abuse

Answer 36

Connell- boys use name calling to put girls down if they dress or behave a certain way Parker- boys labelled as gay for having female friends and these labels often bear no relation to their actual sexual behaviour it just reinforces gender norms and identities

Question 37

Pupil's sexual and gender identities- Male gaze

Answer 37

Mac an Ghaill- the way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down and see them as sexual objects and and judge their appearance, see it as a form of surveillance through which dominant hetero masculinity is reinforced, one way boys prove masculinity to friends

Question 37

Pupil's sexual and gender identities- Male peer groups

Answer 37

groups use verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity Mac an Ghaill- peer groups reproduce range of diff class based masculine gender identities: WC macho lads were dismissive, WC boys who worked hard were dickhead achievers, MC real englishmen had effortless achievement. dominant masculine identity changes from macho lads to englishmen, reflecting the MC composition of sixth form

Question 38

Pupil's sexual and gender identities- Female peer groups, policing identity

Answer 38

Archer- WC girls gain symbolic capital from female peers by performing hyper hetero feminine identity Ringrose- study of 13-14 yr old WC girls peer groups showed that being popular was crucial to girls identity, as girls transitioned from girls friendship culture to hetero dating culture they faced tension between idealised feminine identity (loyalty to female peer group) and sexualised identity (competing for boys in dating culture) Reay- girls who want to be educationally successful may have to conform to ideal feminine pupil identity and become asexual as so risk being given boffin identity and excluded by other girls

Question 38

Pupil's sexual and gender identities- Teacher and discipline

Answer 38

Haywood- male teachers told boys off for behaving like girls and teased them when they got lower marks in tests than girls, often tended to ignore boys verbal abuse of girls and sometimes blamed girls for attracting it. Ross and Askew- show how male teachers behaviour can subtly reinforce messages abt gender, often have protective attitude towards female colleagues and come into their classes to rescue them but just reinforces idea that women cant cope alone

Question 39

Role of education- Functionalism: Social solidarity and specialist skills

Answer 39

Durkheim- society needs a sense of solidarity as without it social life would be impossible, education does this by transmitting societys shared norms and values from one gen to the next. teaching of a countrys history instils a sense of shared heritage, school is society in miniature preparing for wider life, in both school and work we have to interact w others by a set of impersonal rules that apply to everyone Specialist skills- modern industrial economies have complex division of labour where production of items require many diff specialists, education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge they need to play their part

Question 39

Role of education- Functionalism: Meritocracy

Answer 39

Parsons- sees school as focal socialising agency acting as bridge between family and wider society, needed bc they operate on diff principles. in family child is judged by particularistic standards and status is ascribed but school and society judges on universalistic standards and status is achieved School and society both based on meritocratic principles where everyone has same opportunities and get rewards from own effort

Question 40

Role of education- Functionalism: Role allocation

Answer 40

Davis and Moore- school selects and allocates pupils to their future work roles by assessing pupils aptitudes and abilities, they focus on relationship between education and social inequality. argue inequality necessary to ensure most important roles filled by most talented people, encourages everyone to compete for higher jobs and then society picks most talented, education acts as proving ground so most able gain highest qualifications

Question 40

Role of education- Functionalism: Criticisms

Answer 40

equal opportunity in education does not exist and achievement greatly influenced by class background rather than ability Tumin- davis and moore have a circular argument, job is important bc its highly rewared but theyre highly rewarded bc theyre important Marxists- education in capitalist society only transmit ideology of the ruling class Wrong- functionalists have over socialised view of people as mere puppets of society and assume people never reject the schools values

Question 40

Role of education- New Right

Answer 40

conservative political view w central principle that the state cannot meet peoples needs and people are best left to meet own needs through the free market so favour the marketisation of education. argue state education system take a one size fits all approach and that consumers have no say. schools have lower standards of achievement for pupils so a less qualifies workforce and less prosperous economy solution is to create an education market and believe that competition between schools and empowering consumers will bring greater diversity and increase schools ability to meet needs of consumers

Question 40

Role of education- New Right: Consumer choice

Answer 40

Chubb and Moe- argue state run education in US has failed bc it has not created equal opportunities and failed needs of disadvantaged groups, fails to produce pupils w skills needed by economy, private schools give better education bc they are answering to paying customers. studied 60,000 pupils from low income families and compared their achievements to a parent survey and case studies of failing schools being turned around and found they did 5% better in private than state schools call for introduction of a market system that would put control in hands of consumers so schools could be shaped to meet own needs and improve quality. propose a system where each family get a voucher to spend on buying education from school of their choice forcing schools to become more responsive to parents wishes, schools would have to compete to attract customers by improving their product

Question 41

Role of education- New Right: Two roles for the state

Answer 41

do not see no importance in the state: state imposes framework on schools within which they have to compete- ofsted and league tables give parents info which they use to comapare schools state ensures schools transmit a shared culture for example the national curriculum new right believe education should affirm the national identity, curriculum should emphasise britains positive role in history, oppose multicultural education

Question 42

Role of education- New Right: Criticisms

Answer 42

Ball- competition benefits MC as they can use their cultural and economic capital to acces more desirable schools real cause of low educational standards is not state control but social inequality and inadequate funding of state schools Marxists- education imposes the culture of a dominant minority ruling class and devalues the culture of the WC and ethnic minorities

Question 42

Role of education- Marxism: Ideological state apparatus

Answer 42

see the state as the means by which the capitalist ruling class maintain their dominant position Althusser- state has two apparatuses which keep the bourgeoisie in power: repressive which is force such as police and courts, ideological which is controlling ideas and values education- reproduces class inequality by transmitting it from generation to generation and failing each working class generation in turn and legitimates (justifies) class inequality by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause, function is to persuade workers to accept that inequality is inevtiable

Question 42

Role of education- Marxism: Schooling in Capitalist America

Answer 42

Bowles and Gintis- argue capitalism requires workforce with attitudes and behaviour that is suited to their role as alienated workers willing to accept hard work, education reproduced obedient workforce that accept inequality as inevitable studied 237 NY high school students and concluded schools reward traits that make for a submissive and compliant worker

Question 42

Role of education- Marxism: Correspondence principal

Answer 42

Bowles and Gintis argue there is close parallels of school and work, both have hierarchies for example. principle operates through hidden curriculum like becoming accustomed to accepting hierarchy and competition, prepares them for role as exploited worker

Question 42

Role of education- Marxism: Myth of Meritocracy

Answer 42

Bowles and Gintis- people do not have the same opportunities and WC people are significantly more disadvantaged as main factor in determining whether someone has a high income is class and family background rather than their educational achievement

Question 42

Role of education- Marxism: Evaluation

Answer 42

postmodernists- todays post fordist economy requires schools to produce a different kind of labour force from ones described by marxists, education now reproduced diversity not inequality too deterministic- pupils have free will take a class first approach that see class as key inequality and ignores all other kinds

Question 42

Educational Policy- Tripartite system

Answer 42

1944 education act brought in tripartite system so children could be selected and allocated to one of three types of secondary school based on results from 11+ exam grammar- academic curriculum and gave access to non manual jobs and higher education, for people who passed and these were mainly middle class secondary modern- non academic practical curriculum and were for people who failed third was technical colleges reproduced class inequality by channelling two social classes into diff schools with diff opportunities, girls also needed higher marks to pass

Question 42

Educational Policy- Comprehensive school system

Answer 42

introduced in many areas 1965 onwards, aimed to overcome class divide of tripartite and make education more meritocratic. was up to local education authority to decide whether to go comprehensive and not all did Functionalists- promotes social integration by bringing children of diff social classes together in one school, more meritocratic Marxists- not meritocratic, still reproduced inequality through streaming and labelling

Question 42

Educational Policy- New labour (97-2010)

Answer 42

EAZ- deprived areas provided with more resources and funding Aim Higher- aimed to raise aspirations of groups who are under-represented in higher education EMA- payments to students from low income backgrounds to encourage them to stay on after 16 to get better qualifications National Literacy Strategy- compulsory literacy and numeracy hours and reduced primary school classroom size Critics: Benn- new right had too much of a commitment to marketisation for equality policies to work

Question 42

Educational Policy- Marketisation: parentocracy

Answer 42

David- marketised education is parentocracy and power is on the parents not on the teachers and state, encourages diversity Ball- reproduced class inequality by creating inequalities between schools

Question 42

Educational Policy- Marketisation

Answer 42

marketisation central theme of gov education policy since 1988 education reform act introduced by Maggy T and conservatives policies: publication of ofsted and league tables so parents can adequately pick the right school business sponsorship of schools specialists schools to widen parental choice formula funding, schools get same amount per child have to compete to attract pupils

Question 42

Educational Policy- Gender

Answer 42

since 1970s policies like gist and wise have been introduced to reduce gender differences in subject choice equal pay act national curriculum and coursework

Question 42

Educational Policy- Ethnicity

Answer 42

Assimilation- policies in 60s and 70s focused on need for minority ethnic groups to assimilate into mainstream british culture, especially for those without english Multicultural education- 80s and 90s aimed to promote achievements of children from minority ethnic groups by valuing all cultures and raise their self esteem MCE criticisms- stone- black pupils dont fail from lack esteem, fails to tackle institutional racism Social inclusion- policies to raise achievement became focus of 90s, included detial monitoring of exam results by ethnicity, english as additional language programmes, amending race relations act to place legal duty on schools to promote racial equality

Question 42

Educational Policy- Coalition/Conservative: Acadmies

Answer 42

from 2010 schools encouraged to leave local authority control and become academies, funding taken directly from local authority budgets and given to academies by central gov and academies had control of their curriculum 2012- half of secondary schools converted to academy status, some run by private educational businesses and funded directly by state removed the focus on reducing inequality by focusing on all schools not just disadvantaged ones

Question 42

Educational Policy- Coalition/Conservative: Free schools

Answer 42

free schools set up and run by teachers, parents, faith organisations or businesses instead of local authority claim they improve educational standards by giving power to parents Allen- in sweden 20% schools are free schools and found they only benefit children from highly educated families, socially diverse and lower standards, often strict pupil selection and exclusion policies

Question 42

Educational Policy- Coalition/Conservative

Answer 42

coalition of lib dem and conservative gov elected in 2010 and policies have been strongly influenced by neoliberal and new right ideas about reducing role of state through marketisation and privatisation, promoted competition rather than reduce inequality Ball- policies led to increased fragmentation and increased centralisation of control, did introduce pupil premium and FSM but ofsted said money not spent on those its intended to help spending on education has been cut as part of their austerity programme- emas abolished, sure start closed, university fees tripled

Question 42

Educational Policy- Coalition/Conservative: Privatisation

Answer 42

involves transfer of public assets like schools to private companies, education become source of profit for capitalists in the education service industry (Ball). private companies in ESI involved in building schools, supplying teachers large scale school building projects include public-private partnerships where private sector companies provide capital to design anf finance educational services very profitable, Ball- companies involved make 10x as much as they do on other contracts, local authorities obliged to enter bc its the only way they get funding

Question 42

Educational Policy- Coalition/Conservative: Globalisation of policy

Answer 42

private companies in education services industry are foreign owned, edexcel owned by US educational publishing and Pearson Scanlon- Uks four leading educational software companies all owned by global multinationals like disney and mattel PISA- tests sat by random sample of 15yr olds every 3 years to test whether what they have learnt can be applied to real life scenarios, reading maths and science, more than 300m in over 90 countries Dulwich school Beijing- international school in beijing with british independent school values and ethos, formed from dulwich college in 1619

Question 42

Educational Policy- Coalition/Conservative: Colaisation of school

Answer 42

private sector penetrates school indirectly through vending machines on school premises and development of brand loyalty through logo displays and sponsorships Molnar- schools targeted by private companies bc by their nature they carry enormous goodwill and can confer legitimacy on anything associated w them- kind of product endorsement benefits are limited, Ball- cadburys sports equipment promotion scrapped after kids would have to eat 5,440 bars just to qualify for set of volleyball posts

Question 42

Educational Policy- Marketisation: League tables and creamskinning

Answer 42

policy of publishing league tables ensures that schools w good results are more in demand bc parents more attracted to those ones Bartlett- encourages cream skinning (good schools choose own customers and recruit high achieving pupils) and silt shifting (good schools can avoid taking less able pupils that will damage their position) overall effect of league tables is to produce unequal schools that reproduce social class inequalities

Question 42

Educational Policy- Marketisation: Parental choice

Answer 42

marketisation policies advantage MC parents as they have better capital and so are better at choosing good schools Gewirtz- study of 14 london secondary schools, found differences in economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far they can exercise choice of school, found three types of parents Privileged skilled choosers- professional MC parents, knew how admissions worked, time to visit schools, can afford to move their kids around education system Disconnected local choosers- WC, hard to understand admissions procedures, less confident in dealings w schools, funds limited to nearest school, more importance on safety than league tables Semi skilled choosers- mainly WC, ambitious for their children, still found it hard to make sense of education market

Question 42

Educational Policy- Marketisation: Myth of Parentocracy

Answer 42

marketisation reproduces inequality and legitimates it by concealing true causes Ball- gives appearance of parentocracy (education system seems as though parents have free choice of school) but this is a myth, MC parents better able to take advantage of choices available

Question 42

Ethnic differences -Assessment

Answer 42

Gillborn- assessment game is rigged to validate the dominant cultures superiority, if black children succeeded as a group the rules will be changed to re-engineer failure baseline assessment changed to foundation stage profile in 2003, overnight black pupils appeared to being doing worse than white pupils

Question 42

Ethnic differences - Access to opportunities

Answer 42

Gifted and talented programme- created with aim of meeting the needs of more able pupils in inner city schools, Gillborn- official stats show whites 2x as black caribbeans to be identified as gifted and talented Exam tiers- Tikly found blacks more likely than whites to be entered for lower tier GCSE exams, often bc theyd been placed in lower sets

Question 42

Ethnic differences - New IQism

Answer 42

access to opportunities depended heavily on teachers assessments of pupils ability but black pupils always based worse Gillborn- new IQism, he argues teachers and policymakers make false assumptions abt nature of pupils ability, see potential as fixed quality that can be easily measured, for Gillborn there is no measure of potential, concludes the system is institutionally racist