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Education Flashcards

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1
Q

Durkheim

Function of Education

A

Functionalist

  • Teaches social solidarity and specialist skills
  • School acts as ‘society in miniature’
  • Complex division of labour requires specialist knowledge and skills.

Evaluation:
Most people are on courses which don’t lead to higher education or good jobs.

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2
Q

Parsons

Function of Education

A

Functionalist

  • Bridge between family and society
  • Family= particularistic standards – School= universalistic standards
  • Meritocracy
Evaluation:
Social class affect educational achievement
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3
Q

Davis and Moore

Function of Education

A

Functionalist

  • Role allocation: sorts jobs based on ability
  • Beneficial for the economy
  • Meritocratic

Evaluation:
New Right > Education system fails to support the economy > They support vocational courses

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4
Q

Chubb and Moe

Function of Education

A

New Right

  • Marketized System
  • Voucher system
  • Consumer choice

Evaluation: M/C have culture capital

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5
Q

Althusser

Function of Education

A

Marxist

  • The ideological state apparatus (maintain ruling class)
  • Reproduces class inequality
  • Justifies inequality (meritocracy)

Evaluation: too deterministic > assume pupils passively accept indoctrination

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6
Q

Bowles and Gintis

Function of Education

A

Marxist

  • The correspondence principle (mirrors workplace)
  • Schooling takes place in the “long shadow of work”
  • Reproduces the workforce of capitalism > Hidden Curriculum
  • “Myth of meritocracy”

Evaluation: Ignores ethnic and gender disadvantages

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7
Q

Willis

Function of Education

A

Neo-Marxist

  • Marxist + interactionalism
  • Learning to labour > anti-school subculture
  • Sub-culture created by rejecting school values > not passively accepting

Evaluation: only studied 12 boys > not generalisable

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8
Q

Bourdieu

Function of Education

A

Marxist

  • All social classes have habitus (culture)
  • Schools based on m/c habitus
  • M/c = culture capital, w/c = Culture clash

Evaluation: compensatory education (trips to museums)

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9
Q

Gerwitz
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Marxist

•Catchment area > poorer family have no choice in a marketized system

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10
Q

Bernstein
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Cultural

  • W/c use restricted code
  • M/c use elaborated code

Analysis: the elaborated used in education by teachers, exams, textbooks, university interviews.

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11
Q

Douglas
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Cultural

•W/c parents value education less > less ambitious > less encouragement

Evaluation: W/c work longer hours and night shift > interpreted as less value

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12
Q

Sugarman
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Cultural

  • Fatalism: no matter what they do, the outcome will be the same because it’s predetermined
  • Immediate gratification
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13
Q

Howard
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Material

•Poorer homes have lower intake of energy, vitamins and minerals > poor diet > more absence and lower performance

Evaluation: Breakfast clubs, free school meals

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14
Q

Feinstein
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Material

•Use of income: Educated parents spend their income to promote children’s development, e.g. on educational toys

Analysis: W/c pupils with educated parents preform better than M/c pupils without educated parents

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15
Q

Bourdieu
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Marxist/Cultural

•Cultural capital: the attitudes, values, skills, knowledge of the m/c

Analysis: material factors and cultural capital are linked together to produce class inequalities in achievement

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16
Q

Becker
Class Differences in Achievement
(internal)

A

interactionist

•Labelling: judging pupils on the idea of the ‘ideal pupil’ > conformist, well dressed > usually m/c

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17
Q

Ball
Class Differences in Achievement
(internal)

A

Marxist

•Streaming: upper streams “warmed up” > Lower streams “cooled out”

Application: w/c end up in lower streams and m/c in higher ones because of teacher labelling

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18
Q

Gillborn and Youdell
Class Differences in Achievement
(internal)

A
  • Educational triage: Grammar school, comprehensive and technical school
  • Schools operate an ‘A*-C economy’
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19
Q

Hargreaves and Lacy
Class Differences in Achievement
(internal)

A

interactionist

  • m/c pupils over represented in higher sets
  • w/c under represented
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20
Q

Hargreaves
Class Differences in Achievement
(internal)

A

interactionist

•Setting and labelling > pro-school and anti-school subculture

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21
Q

Evans
Class Differences in Achievement
(External)

A
  • w/c girls felt inhibited from applying to top universities and moving away from home to study
  • Limiting future educational and career options
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22
Q

Bowles and Gintis
Class Differences in Achievement
(internal)

A

Marxist

•The Hidden Curriculum

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23
Q

Francis
Gender Differences in Achievement
(External)

A

Feminist

•Girls now have high career aspirations and so needed education

Evaluation: Fuller > only some girls aimed for a career > w/c girls had poor job prospects > stereotyped aspirations for marriage

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24
Q

Gorard
Gender Differences in Achievement
(internal)

A

Feminist

  • Girls do better than boys in coursework
  • Gender gap increased sharply when GCSE was introduced in 1988

Evaluation: Elwood > exams > final grade.
Coursework> only limited effect

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25
Francis Gender Differences in Achievement (internal)
Feminist •Although boys received more attention, they were disciplined more harshly > felt teachers picked on them > had lower expectations of them Analysis: Swann, teachers spend time telling boys off as opposed to helping them with their work
26
McRobbie Gender Differences in Achievement (internal)
Feminist * Bedroom Culture * Women more suited to classroom behaviour
27
Sharpe Gender Differences in Achievement (External)
Feminist •Research into values of women have changed – 1970s women focus on family, later in 1990s, girls were focused on work.
28
Mac an Ghail Gender Differences in Achievement (internal)
Difference feminist •Black sisters went against stereotypes teachers help of them
29
Gurain Gender Differences in Achievement (External)
•Biological difference •Girls brain is geared towards then education system. Males (who used to be hunters and gatherers historically) are geared to doing/making things. •
30
Epstein Gender Differences in Achievement (internal)
interactionist * Peer pressure among boys is linked to showing masculinity> anti-school subculture * Boys are subject to homophobic bullying
31
Sewell Gender Differences in Achievement (internal)
* Boys fall behind > education is ‘feminised’ | * Schools no longer nurture ’masculine’ traits, e.g. competitiveness and leadership
32
Mitsos and Browne Gender Differences in Achievement (External)
Feminist * the decline of male employment opportunities * Led to ‘identity crisis for men’ * Undermines motivation and self-esteem > give up on qualifications Evaluation: manual w/c jobs requite few or no qualification > the disappearance unlikely to impact boys motivation
33
Norman | Gender role socialisation
Feminist •Boys and girls are dressed differently, different toys and encouraged to take part in different activities
34
Byrne | Gender role socialisation
Feminist * Teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative and no be weak * Girls expected to be quiet, helpful, clean and tidy
35
Murphy | Gender domain
* Boys and girls pay attention to different details when tackling the same issue * Girls > focus on how people feel * Boys > focus on how things are made and work * Girls > humanities| Boys > science
36
Leanard | Gendered Subject images
Single-sex schooling * Girls schools more likely to take science and maths * Boys schools > take English and languages * Girls from girls school > study male-dominated subjects at university
37
Bereiter and Engelmann Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
* Intellectual and linguistic skills * Low income black families > low skills Evaluation: Mirza, Indian pupil do well although English is second language
38
Murray Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
New Right * “lone parenthood and lack of positive role models leads to underachievement” * 10% white  25% black > lone parenthood Evaluation: victim blaming
39
Scruton Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
•failure to integrate with British culture = low achievement levels
40
Pryce Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
* Asians are more resistant to racism than black Caribbean due colonialism * More culturally devastating
41
Sewell Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
•Due to the lack of fatherly nurturing, the socialisation of black boys comes from peer pressure and street gangs Eval Gillborn: institutional racism > produces the failure of black boys
42
Lupton Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
* Asian families are similar to school structure | * I.e respecting authority
43
Rex Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
•Racial discrimination leads to social exclusion > causes poverty and material factors
44
Mason Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
* Discrimination persistent experience of ethnic minority in Britain * Leads to low self esteem
45
Gillborn and Youdell Ethnic Differences in Achievement (Internal)
•Teacher’s racialised expectation i.e are quick to discipline black pupils for behaviour
46
Foster Ethnic Differences in Achievement (Internal)
•Teacher stereotypes > placed in lower sets
47
Archer Ethnic Differences in Achievement (Internal)
* Minority identities demonised by teachers | * i.e black students are deemed as loud, challenging and uninspirational
48
Gilborn Ethnic Differences in Achievement (Internal)
•institutional racism > produces the failure of black boys
49
Ball Ethnic Differences in Achievement (Internal)
* Ethnocentric curriculum | * Ignores ethnic minority history
50
Swann Report Ethnic Differences in Achievement (External)
* Language holds ethnic minorities back | * 80% do not have English as their first language
51
Hall Ethnic Differences in Achievement (Internal)
* Culture of resistance of black pupils | * Reject schooling
52
Whitty | Social Policy
ERA criticism * Marketisation created a two-tier system * Repatitve cycle of success or decline
53
``` Ball Social Policy (ERA) ```
ERA criticism * w/c pupils more likely to end up in failing school * top schools are oversubscribed > more power to select students
54
Gerwitz | Social Policy
ERA criticism •‘myth of parentocracy’>m/c parents > more advantaged > cultural capital. ^ m/c choice in a marketed system > catchment area
55
Chitty | Social Policy
New Labour critisism •Private finance initiative (PFI) •more costly then anticipated. Many schools today are still paying off huge debts.  •
56
Ball | Social Policy
New Labour critisism •Despite policies to reduce inequality for the working classes the divide between working and middle class students under NL did not decrease.
57
Benn | Social Policy
New Labour critisism * New Labour policy could be seen as ‘cosmetic’ * increase in marketization meant any policies to reduce inequality were ineffective as they did not get the root of the problem. Benn called this the New Labour ‘paradox’.
58
Allen | Social Policy
Coalition government •Free school > benefit only children from highly educated families
59
Hall | Social Policy
Coalition government * Competition and privatisation driving up standards is a myth * its used to legitimise turning education into a source of private profit
60
Ball Ethnic Differences in Achievement (Internal)
* 'Little Englandism’. * the curriculum focuses on White British culture * tries to recreate ‘a mythical age of empire and past-glories while largely ignoring the history of Black & Asian people’.

Sociology (10 decks)

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