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Education - Topic 1 - Coggle Diagram
Education - Topic 1
Functionalism
Education is a vital part of society that performs a vital function in maintaining it (Links to organic analogy)
Education is a '*bridge' between family and the wider society
- Family and society operate on different principles
- Children need to learn a new way of living to cope with the world - through meritocratic principles:
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Childs status in the family is ascribed and is judged on particularistic values (inheritance - apple of mummy's eye)
Society is meritocratic and is based on universalistic values (you work for what you have)
Durkhiem
- Two functions of education
Society in Miniature
- Education is a small scale society that prepares young people for life in wider adult society
- Communication skills
- Respect
- Hierarchy
- Cooperation
- Time keeping
- Dress code
- Punctuality
Social Solidarity
- Education creates solidarity by transmitting culture from one generation to another (if this didn't happen there would be no social life as people would only follow their own desires)
- Example - History is taught to give children a sense of common identity
Davis and Moore
- Education is a device for role allocation
- People are 'sifted and sorted' into the hierarchy
In a meritocratic society - Access to jobs depend on qualifications
- Equality of educational means there is equal chance for success (not everyone can be successful and so inequality is legitimised)
- Inequality is necessary to ensure most important roles are fulfilled by most talented people
(not everyone is talented so society must offer higher rewards for these)
- It allows competition - society selects most talented
AGAINST
- Private schools have better funding
- Class, ethnicity and gender influence educational success - not everyone has equal opportunity
- Knowledge and skill of workforce increases value and usefulness to employer
- High levels of spending on education and training are justified it is necessary for a successful economy
- Education makes people trained for a job - requires a specialised division of labour in a modern society/economy
Critics
For Parsons
Doubts that society is based on universalistic values and achieved status - bourgeoisie have a ascribed status = inheritance
For Davis and Moore
- Education isn't a sieve - grades on ability - class, gender, ethnicity - influences factors of success in future - no equality in school - no one has an equal ability or starting point in school
- Bowles and Ginitis - Education disguises that there is no equality / equal opportunity (things are influenced by gender, class and ethnicity)
For Durkheim
Marxists and Feminists
- M = ignores inequalities n power (no value consensus - culture gets passed on by school and ruling class
- F = passes on patriarchal values - disadvantaging women
For Shultz
Links to school and jobs are weak
- Occupational skills are learnt 'on the job' (the demand of qualification raises the status of the job and not performance
The New Right
Key features:
- Emphasis on individual freedom (reduction of state power)
- Wants society to be self-reliant
- A defence of the free market (encourages competition to allow choice)
- A stress on importance of traditions institutions and values
Reflects functionalism (meritocracy and solidarity) - but agues education shouldn't focus on promoting equality but should instead should be concerned with training a workforce
- Ensures the most able students are employed for the most important jobs- preparing others for lower level employment
Education doesn't currently fulfil these goals (run by state)
- Pupils, parents and employers have no say
Chubb and Moe
- Call for introduction of a market system that would put education in hand of consumers
Marketization (supply, demand, competition and choice)
- Believe that this will bring greater diversity, choice and efficiency to schools and increase their ability to meet everyone's needs
- They propose school's shouldn't automatically get funding from the state regards of how well they perform
- Each family should get a voucher that they spend on buying an education from a school of choice
- Forcing schools to become more supportive of parents wishes since vouchers would be the main source of income for schools
- Schools should have to compete for business - thus improving products for their consumers
Critics
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Marxists
- Education doesn't impose a shared national culture (imposes the culture if the working class)
Marxism
Main role of education in a capitalist society is to reproduce and efficient and obedient labour force
Althusser
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2 - Reproduction of the Ruling Class Ideology and Socialisation of Workers into Accepting Dominant Ideology (Maintain False Class Consciousness)
Education is mainly responsible for passing on the ruling class ideology and developing the right attitudes and behaviours among different social classes as adults
- Schools reward students with promotions (prefects = role models because they do things right
- Bad behaviour = sanctioned
It is the Ideological State Apparatus's role to win the hearts and minds of proletariat people to prevent resolution (persuades them to accept dominant ideology)
Education legitimises class inequality - reproducing structure
(Reproduction of class inequality - Bourdieu)
- Social class is a cultural framework (Habitus), picked through socialisation- containing ideas about what is good vs bad taste, books, newspapers
- Bourgeoisie imposes habitus on education system giving upper class students an advantage (more access to culture)
- Cultural capital (knowledge, language, attitudes) gives middle class a built in advantage in controlled education systems - giving them a much greater chance of success (even before beginning school)
Pupils form lower classes tend to not possess cultural capital making educational failure inevitable
- Educational systems devalue culture of lower classes - makes success difficult (makes higher class individuals stay in the social class they were ascribed - legitimises and reproduces social class inequality from one class to the next - prevents social mobility)
Illich and Freire
- School = repressive institution which promotes conformity and encourages pupils into passive acceptance of existing inequalities rather than encouraging them to be critical and think for themselves
- This is done through the rewards of higher qualifications for those who accept the school regime
- llich Solution to this is DESCHOOLING
Bowles and Gintis
- Corresponding principle operates through the hidden curriculum (what students learn at school that isn't a educational objective)
- U.S Marxists - school corresponds to work and the education system produces an obedient workforce who accept authority without question
- There is no meritocracy - it is a myth that makes it seem as though achievers have been rewarded fairly and not through class advantage
Hidden Curriculum
- Privileges and responsibilities given to sixth formers
- Teaches respect of elders and managers
- School rules, detentions, exclusions, rewards and prizes
- Conformity has to be stuck to even if one agrees or not
- Respecting teachers regardless of an opinion on them (justify where one goes)
Willis
Suggests working class males aren't forced or persuaded by schools to leave and look for manual jobs, but actively reject school through the counter school culture and willingly enter unskilled work when they leave school
Learning to Labour - How WC Kids Get WC Jobs
- Investigated 'the lads' (saw themselves as better than other students and staff)
- No interest in academic achievement
- Aimed to do as little as possible and entertain themselves through bad behaviour (having a 'laff')
- Formed a counter culture in which they expressed sexist masculine views, dismissing weakness and endorsing toughness - they formed an anti-social subculture
- Manual labour = more important to them than education
Criticisms
- Too deterministic (little emphasis on forming students through socialisation)
- Don't fully consider reactions to schooling in ways that aren't necessarily 'functional' for social system ' capitalism
- They believe there's a tight link with education and economy / exaggerates extent of willing workforce
- New emphasis on vocational education and pressure to drive up school standards - direct response to employer's who criticise school for lack of discipline
Vocational Education
Relates to a career / specific work role
- Students are prepared for a skilled employment (plumber, electrician) - requiring strong practical skill and training
Opinions on VE
Functionalist
- See it as a positive (relates to the organic analogy), part of Parsons 'bridge' - strengthened connections are increased (not just norms and values) but also through a workplace
- Allows role allocation (specific roles for specific people)
- Shultz - human capital (investment in human skills) meeting needs of the economy
Marxist
- Positive
- Produces a qualified and flexible workforce
- Benefits the bourgeoisie
- Gives the WC a second class education, forces them into WC jobs
The New Right
- Positive
- More people are in jobs, contributing to the economy
- Boosts the economy
Focus of VE
- Improve the quality of the basic skills of the workforce and in particular those of young people aged 14 to 18
- This has become more important because of high levels of unemployment among young people ((2014 = 16% of 16-24 were unemployed)
- Ending the status division between academic and vocational qualifications so that practical, technical and vocational education is integrated with academic learning so that they have more value in the labour market
How has this been achieved
- Work experience programmes for schools and colleges
- Ease the transition from school to work
- Encourage them to get a job and carry them out with a better understanding of the work and economy
- An expansion of post 16 education and training
- More courses and government training available for school leavers in relation to the world of work (Work based NVQ, Diplomas and B-Tecs - all recognised qualifications)
- There's a stronger emphasis on key skills in use and application of number, communication, basic skills (found to be lacking by school leavers by employers) They don't have the correct attitude towards or the awareness of working life
- Pearson's Gateway to Growth These changes were designed to produce a more flexible workforce, to fit employer needs and allow both parties to adapt and take advantage of the rapidly globalizing world
Critics of VE
- Work experience is boring and repetitive, little skill development
- Post- school training is very similar ^ - cheap labour for employees - doesn't lead to a 'proper' job
- Schemes are more involved with reducing political embarrassment of NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) Keeping Kids out of crime
- VE has a lower status than traditional education - less likely to lead to a uni entry (reinforces class division)
- Birdwell et al - Schools routinely neglect pupils with vocational education aspirations and focus more on bright children destined for uni
- They fail to prepare teens for work, giving little career advice and they undervalue volunteering, part-time work and extra curricular activity