Knowledge

Question 1

Feminisation of education

Answer 1

teachers are more likely to help girls, ways of learning in the classroom are & better suited to girls, most teachers are female - especially primary, the school environment emphasises neatness and tidiness, teachers encourage boys to do worse by having lower expectations, the exam system and coursework advantages girls

Question 2

Reasons for male underachievement

Answer 2

lower expectations, disruptive behaviour, masculinity and anti-learning subculture, declining employment opportunities, feeling and behaving differently, leisure, reading habits

Question 3

New right perspective on educational policies

Answer 3

educational policy should not be concerned with promoting equality or equality if opportunity but training the future workforce for various positions. argues the education system is not working - failed in creating social cohesion
there needs to be more competition within and between schools

Question 4

The halo effect

Answer 4

Teachers assigning labels to children based on stereotypes formed from conscious or unconscious bias

Question 5

Streaming

Answer 5

a year group being separated into ability bands so they are in classes of similar ability pupils across subjects

Question 6

Setting

Answer 6

pupils being separated into ability groups across particular subjects. (can be in top set for something and bottom for other things)

Question 7

3 findings of streaming setting

Answer 7

a tendency for middle class pupils to be placed in higher groups and working class in lower groups, lower stream pupils have more negative attitudes to school, lower self-esteem and lower confidence, most teachers prefer teaching higher ability groups, teachers perceived as lower quality tend to be placed with lower ability groups

Question 8

Criticism of tripartite system

Answer 8

assumed there are 3 types of intelligence (academic, technical, practical). didn’t take into account the fact that children develop at different rates and have different skills at different times. due to a pass or fail in the exam, the majority of pupils were labelled as a failure at age 11. grammar schools were mostly middle-class, and secondary moderns were mostly working-class, reproducing social class inequalities.

Question 9

Criticisms of comprehensive schools

Answer 9

setting and streaming means there is still a selection process. comprehensives in middle class areas are better than those in working class catchment areas. comprehensives prevent meritocracy (criticism that came from the New Right (functionalists dislike comprehensives)) working class children are no longer able to strive for a better education, leaving the positions of power only to those in private education. the education on offer at comprehensives doesn’t prepare pupils for the world of work, leading to a less skilled workforce

Question 10

1988 education reform act

Answer 10

conservative party favoured a neoliberal ideology of marketisation of education. based on the idea of competition and choice promoting better service and improves standards
control, including budgets and decisions, was removed from local authorities to the schools themselves

Question 11

Creation of competition between schools

Answer 11

national curriculum, SATs, league tables, formula funding, local management, Ofsted

Question 12

Neoliberalism

Answer 12

political philosophy advocating for minimal government intervention in the & economy, favouring free markets, deregulation, and privatisation. argues that the market is the most efficient mechanism for allocating resources and generating wealth