Education: Role of education

Question 1

What is Durkheims’s two main functions of education

Answer 1

(Functionalist)

Social solidarity: Education system helps to create social solidarity by transmitting society’s culture and value consensus from one generation to the next. E.g teaching of a countrys heirtage instils a sense of shared commitment to wider social group.

schools acts a society in minature preparing us for life in wider society. E.G both in school and at work we have to cooperate with people who are neither family or friends. teachers and pupils at school collegaes and customers at work. we have to interact with others according to a set of impersonal rules.

specialist skills: modern industrial companies have a complex division of labour where the production of even a single item involves cooperation of many different specialists. this cooperation promotes social solidarity but each person must have specialist skills. durkheim argues that education teaches individuals specialist knowledge and skills that they need to play their part in the social division of labour.
social integration

Question 2

Parsobs perspective of the role of education

Answer 2

(Functionalist)

Sees the school as focal socialising agency. acting as a bridge from family to the wider world/society. This bridge is needed because family and society operate on different ptincibles so children need to learn new princibles.

within the family children are judged by particularistic standards (rules thar apply only to that particular child) similarly in the family the child’s status is ascribed (fixed by birth).

both school and wider society judge us all by the same universalitic values and impersonal standards. e.g laws. in school each pupils is judged against the same standards (exams pass mark same for everyoen). (achieved status)

insititutions like education pass on sociallu desired and accepted behaviors through secndary socialisation ensuring children have basic commitment to society’s values and beliefs. Parsons sees school as preparing us to mve from family to wider society, school and society both based on meritocratic princibles everyone given an equal oppurtunity based on achieved status

Question 3

Examples of how schools teach norms and values to its pupils

Answer 3

workhard and achieve full potential: meritocracy, publication of league tables, ofsted pressure. sets peer pressure/competition, external parental pressure, reward system. target grades, grade requirements sets and streams.

obedience to authority: teachers disipliary procedures (e behavior detentions) heirachy collective responsiblity

respect others: rs lessons and history mix of cultures hatecrime/bullying dealt with, seating plan, rasing hand in class.

working together collabirtively to create social solidarity: group projects partner work houses sports day

Question 4

Davis and moore role allocation

Answer 4

Functionalists argue that schools also perform the function of selection and allocating pupils to their future work roles. by assesing individuals apitudes and abilities, schools help to match them to the job they are suited to.

they argue that inequality is necessary to ensure that the most important roles in society are filled by the most talented people. it would be inefficient and dangerous to have less performing people as a surgeon or pilot. not everyone is equally taleted so society has to offer rewards for these jobs.(social stratification)

education sifts and sorts us according to our ability.

e.g testing

Question 5

Evaluation of functionalist view on the role of eductaion

Answer 5

• Vocational routes are not as available as durkheim claims. vocational subjects underfunded and apprenterships rare.
• brexit close divide of votes suggest value consensus is pver exaggerated
• althoguh statistics claim that girls peform better in education still pay gap between genders
• interactionalist wong argues that functionalist have an oversocialised view of people as mere puppeds of society.
• new right argue schools are failing to prepare young people for work.
• marxists argue thhat education in a capitalist society only transmits the ideology of the minority-ruling class british values incentive leads to discrimination. racism still present