Role & function of education

Question 1

Give the Functionalist perspective

Answer 1

Functionalism is based on the view that society is a sytem of interdependant parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus

Each part of society, including the education system, performs a function that helps maintain society as a whole as well as meeting society’s needs

Question 2

Define value consensus

Answer 2

An agreement among society’s members about what values are important

Question 3

The founder of funtionalist sociology, identified which two main functions of education?

Answer 3

Durkheim: Creating social solidarity and teaching specialist skills

Question 4

Define social solidarity

Answer 4

Individual members must feel themselves to be part of a single ‘body’ or community

Question 5

How does the education system help to create social solidarity?

Answer 5

By transmitting society’s culture - Its shared beliefs and values - from one generation to the next

For example, Durkheims argue the teaching of a country’s history instils in children a sense of shared heritage and commitment to the wider social group

Question 6

What does Durkheim argue on social solidarity?

Answer 6

• Society needs a sense of solidarity. WIthout it,social lifeandcooperationwould be impossible as each individual would pursue their ownselfish desire

• Education helps create social solidarity by…

• School acts as a‘society in miniature’preparing for life in wider society
For example in both school and society we must cooperate with people that areneither family nor friends
i.e. teachers and pupils, colleagues and customers

In both, we interact according to a set ofimpersonal rulesthat apply to everyone

Question 7

What does Durkheim argue on specialist skills?

Answer 7

• He argue education teaches individuals the specialistknowledgeand skills that they need to play their part in thesocial division of labour

• Modern industrial economies have acomplex division of labourwhere even the production of a single item involves the cooperation of many different specialists

• This cooperation promotessocial solidairtybut for this to be successful, each individual; must have the necessary specialist knowledge and skills to perform their role

Question 8

Define meritocracy

Answer 8

A person’s status is achieved not ascribed through individual effort and ability

In a meritocracy, eveyone is given an equal opportunity

Question 9

What does the American functionalist say on meritocracy?

Answer 9

•Parsonssees schools as preparing us to move from the family to wider society as both are based onmeritocratic principles

• He sees the schools as the‘focal socialising agency’in modern society acting asbridgebetween the family and wider society - the bridge necessary as society & the family operate on different principles

• In the family the child is judged byparticularistic standardsSimilarly in the family, the child’s status isascribed, fixed by birth. For example, an elder son and a younger daughter may be given different rights and duties due to differences in age and sex

• Both school and wider society judge us all by the sameuniversalisticand impersonal standards.
E.g. same laws apply to all, we all sit the same exam and the pass mark is the same for all

• In school and society - status is largelyachieved, not ascribed
E.g. promotion - based on strength and how well we do our job, pass/fail based on individual efforts

Question 10

Give the functionalist view on role alloction

Answer 10

School performs a function of selecting and allocating pupils to their future work roles. By assessing individuals’ aptitudes and abilities.

Davis & Mooresee education as a device for selection and role allocation

• They argue inequality isnecessaryto ensure important roles are filled by most talented people

E.g. It would be innefficient and dangerous to have less competent people performing roles like a surgeon of airline pilot

Not eveyone is equally talented so higher rewards are given, increasingcompetition& society can select the most talented

• Education plays a key role in this process: Acts as a‘proving ground’for ability, It‘sifts and sorts’us according to ability

SimilarlyBlau and Duncanargue that a modern economy depends for its prosperity on using its‘human capital’, arguing a meritocratic education system does this best making most effective use of talents and maximise their productivity

Question 11

Define ‘human capital’

Answer 11

Blau & Duncan

It’s worker’s skills

Question 12

Give the six evaluations of the functionalist perspective on the role of education

Answer 12

Doesn’t teach specialist skills adequately - The Wolf review of vocational education claim high quality apprenticeships are rare and up to a third of 16-19 yr olds are on a courses that don’t lead to high education or good jobs

Achievement is greatly influenced by class background rather than ability

Tumin criticises Davis & Moore for putting forward a circular argument

Marxists argue education in capitalist society transmits the ideology of the minority - the ruling class not like functionalists that view education as a process that instils the shared values of society as a whole

Functionalists wrongly imply that pupils passively accept all they are taught and never reject shool values.
Interactionist Wrong argue Functionalist have an ‘oversocialised view’ of people as mere puppets of society

Neoliberals + New Right argue the state education fails to prepare young people adequately for work

Question 13

What is the neoliberal perspective on education?

Answer 13

Value of education lies in how it enables the country to compete in theglobal marketplaceonly achieved if schools become more likebusinesses, empowering parents and pupils as customers usingcompetitionto drive up standards

They believe the state shouldn’t provide certain sevices such as education

Question 14

What is Neoliberalism?

Answer 14

A highly influential economic doctrine that has had major influence: on education policy, all governments

Based on the idea that the state must not dicatate to individuals how to dispose of own property, and shouldn’t try ro regulate the free-market economy

Governments should encourage competition, privatise state-run businesses and deregulate markets

Question 15

What is the New Right?

Answer 15

A conservative political view, incorperates neoliberal economic ideas

A central principle is the belief that the state can’t meet people’s needs & that people are best left to meet their own needs through the free market - for this reason they favour the marketisation of education

Question 16

Give the three similarities between the New Right and Functionalist perspective

Answer 16

Both believe some people are naturally more talented than others

Both favour an education system run on meritocratic principles of open competition, and one that serves the needs of the economy by preparing young people for work

Both believe education should socialise pupils into shared values, such as competition, and instil a sense of national identity

Question 17

Give a key difference between the New Right and Functionalist perspective

Answer 17

They believe the current education system is not achieving these goals

The reason for it failure - it is run by thestate

State education system takes a‘one size fits all’approach imposing uniformity and disregarding local needs. The local customers - parents, pupils, employers - have no say

SES are thereforeunresponsiveand inefficient. Schools that waste money or get poor results are not answerable to customers

This means lower standards of achievement for pupils, a less qualified workforce and a less prosperous economy

Question 18

Give the New Right’s solution to this key difference

Answer 18

Marketisation of education - creating an ‘education market’

Competition between schools and empowering consumers will bring greaterdiversity, choice and efficiencyto schools, and increase schools’ ability to meet the needs of pupils, parents & employers

Question 19

Give a good example of the New Right perspective on education

Answer 19

Chubb & Moe- Consumer choice

argue state education has failed in the US

Question 20

Why did the NR American sociologists argue state educaction in the US has failed? Givethreereasons

Answer 20

It has not createdequal opportunity+ has failed the needs ofdisadvantaged groups

Inefficientas it fails to produce pupils with skills needed by the economy

Private schoolsdeliver higher quality education, since unlike state schools, they are answerable to paying consumers - parents

Question 21

What did Chubb & Moe base their arguments on?

Answer 21

Acomparisonof theachievementsof60,000pupils from low income families in1,015private and state high schools

Together with the findings of aparents surveyandcase studiesof ‘failing schools’ apparantly being ‘turned around’

Their evidence shows that pupils from low income families consistently do about5%better in private than in state schools

Question 22

Based on these findings what did Chubb & Moe call for + propose?

Answer 22

Call for theintroduction of a market systemin state education, that would putcontrolin the hand of consumers (parents + local communities). They argue this would would allow consumers to shape schools to meet their own needs and would improvequality&efficiency

To achieve this, they propose asystemin which each family is given avoucherto spend on buying education from a school of their choice.

Question 23

Give anadvantageof the voucher system Chubb & Moe proposed to intoduce a market into the SES

Answer 23

Forces schools to become morerepsonsiveto parents’ wishes, as vouchers would be the school’s main source of income

Like private businesses, schools would have tocompeteto attract ‘customers’ by improving their ‘product’

Question 24

Where does the market system already exist?

Answer 24

Private sector- principles already at work

In C+M’s view, educational standards would be greatly improved by introducing the same marketforcesinto the state sector

Question 25

Give another function of education in the NR view

Answer 25

Education shouldaffirmthe national identity

For example, thecurriculumshould emphasise Britains positive role in world history, teach British literature & their should be a Christian act of worship each day in school - since Christianity is the main religion

The aim is tointegratepupils into a single set of traditions and cultural values - oppose multicultural education reflective of the cultures of different minority groups in Britian

Question 26

Give thetworoles of the state in the NR view

Answer 26

Imposes aframeworkon schools within which they have tocompete

For example by publishing Ofsted inspection reports and league tables of exam results, the state gives parents’ information with which to make more informed choice between schools

Ensures schools transmits ashared culture

By imposing a single National Curriculum, seeking to guarantee pupils are socialised into a single cultural heritage

Question 27

Give thefourevaluations of the NR perspective

Answer 27

Gewirtz & Ballargue thatcompetitiononly benefits the middle class who can use their economic and cultural capital to gain access to more desirable schools

Critics argue the real cause of low educational standards issocial inequalityandinadequate fundingin state schools not state control

Contradition betweenthe NR’s support for parental choice on one hand and the state imposing a compulsory National curriculum on the other

Marxists argue education doesn’t impose ashared national culture, but imposes the culture of the dominant minority ruling class and devalues the culture of WC and ethnic minorities

Question 28

Give the Marxist perspective on education

Answer 28

A class conflict approach, based on class division and capitalist exploitation

See education as a function to prevent revolution and maintain capitalism