Education

Aim of 1944 butler education act

To allocate students to different types of schools which best fit their skills

What 1944 butler act introduced

Tripartite system where students were allocated to one of three types of secondary school. Every child sat an 11+ exam which was supposed to test their abilities.

• Grammar schools - academic curriculum, access to non-manual jobs and higher education, for pupils who passed 11+

• Secondary modern schools - non-academic, more ‘practical’ curriculum and access to manual work for pupils who failed 11+

• Technical schools - real world employment and had a solid practical edge

Criticisms of the 11+

• 11+ test was unfair - based more on cultural knowledge and not a valid test of intelligence

• No parity of esteem - grammar schools had a much higher status

• Led to low self-esteem - education success/failure was decided at 11, failing the 11+ could lead to students being labelled by teachers and society as underachievers. Many secondary modern students left with few or no qualifications

• Strong correlation between social class and type of school attended - designed to remove class barriers in education but failed to do this as grammar schools were mostly populated by middle class students

Aim of 1965 comprehensive education (labour)

To give all students equal opportunities in education by attending the same type of school

Academies

• Ku: Academies were schools that became independent of local authority control and wore directly funded by the government. They were given more freedom in terms of curriculum, teaching methods, and finances. These schools could be run by charities, businesses, or faith groups.

• An: Academies have generally shown improvement in academic performance, especially in disadvantaged areas. However. evidence of their overall effectiveness is mixed. Some have outperformed local authority schools, while others have struggled.

• Eval: Academies were seen as a way to privatise education, removing local accountability. There was concern that the independence from local authorities meant that schools could be run like businesses, potentially prioritising profits over education.

Free schools

• Funded by the government but not run by the local council

• Have more control over how they do things

• ‘All ability schools’

• Can set their own pay and conditions for staff

• Can change the length of the school term and school day

• Don’t have to follow the national curriculum

Specialist schools

• Ku: Focuses on a specific area of the curriculum, such as science or sports. Aim to develop students strengths in particular subjects while providing a broad and balanced education.

• An: Specialist schools have had a positive impact on some students, offering them tailored education that matches their interests and future careers.

• Eval: Social Democratic Perspective - policy could be seen as exacerbating social inequality, as it disproportionately benefited middle-class students whose parents could access more resources.

Beacon schools

• Ku: Demonstrated high standards of teaching and learning, with a focus on sharing best practices with other schools. Selected for their strong performance, effective leadership, and good practices and they received additional funding to support their role as models of excellence.

• An: Beacon Schools contributed to the professional development of teachers and helped raise standards in some underperforming schools.

• Eval: Some argue that the Beacon School initiative was not broad enough, as it only focused on a small number of successful schools, leaving many others without the same level of support.

Ball “beachside comprehensive” 1981

Investigates why working class pupils underperformed at school

• He found that pupils who started schools with similar attitudes to study began to diverge when they were banded/streamed

• Working class pupils gravitated towards the lower bands and then became increasingly disinterested in education and “anti-school”

• The net effect of this was that children from lower-income families left school with fewer qualifications, therefore reproducing class inequalities, apparently by accident

Criticism of 1965 comprehensive education

• System was established to overcome the bias created by the tripartite system - educating all children, regardless of their ability, in the same type of school, however many sociologists argued that selection still takes place within comprehensives but it is just hidden - ‘covert selection’

• Tough and Brooks identified a number of methods used by comprehensives to covertly select their pupil intake which reinforce social class divisions in education

  • Making school literature difficult to understand for parents with poor literacy

  • Having expensive compulsory school uniform

  • Having a requirement of faith - MC more religious than WC

New right beliefs

• Some people are naturally more intelligent than others

• Education needs to socialise individuals into national identity and shared values. This ensures that we meet the economic demands of the country.

• Society is meritocratic - people should be responsible for themselves and work hard

• Education prepares you for the workforce

• Students are responsible for themselves - if a student fails education, it’s their own fault

Chubb and Moe argument

The reason private schools performed better than schools in the public sector was because the schools were answerable to paying parents. The more the education system could follow this model, the better schools would become.

Social democratic beliefs

• Society should be based on justice and fairness

• Everyone should have an equal chance to succeed

• Education should be a means for social mobility for all students

Theodore Schultz argument

Skills and knowledge are forms of capital in themselves. Increasing spending on education represents an investment in people - the more government spends on education, the more skilled the workforce will become.

Gillborn and Youdell - 4 dimensions of equality in education

• Equality of access, everyone can go to school

• Equality of circumstance, everyone should have the same starting point

• Equality of participation, equal right to participate in school processes

• Equality of outcome, equal chance to do well after school

Aim of 1988 education reform act (new right policy introduced by conservatives)

To raise standards of achievement and teaching by introducing marketisation and the national curriculum

What 1988 education reform act introduced (conservative)

• The national curriculum - all students being taught the same thing - the core subjects English, maths, science etc at GCSE level

• Open enrolment - parents are allowed to select multiple schools to send their children to, but only specifying one as their ‘first choice’

• National testing - introduction of SATs and GCSEs

• Ofsted - government organisation that inspects schools, ofsted reports are published and underachieving schools are shut if they consistently receive bad reports

• League tables - parents could make informed decisions on where to send their children using performance data

• Funding formula - funding for schools based on how many pupils they manage to attract

League tables AO2 + AO3

AO2

• Ranking of schools based on performance

• Published online and in local newspapers

• Parents use these to choose the best school for their child

AO3

• Schools ranked lower down will become unpopular and close down

Open enrolment AO2 + AO3

AO2

• More choice of school

• If you can get there you can go there

AO3

• Lower class students can’t afford to travel far

• Oversubscribed schools will cream skin

National curriculum AO2 + AO3

AO2

• Allows parents to directly compare results as all children have been taught the same curriculum

AO3

• Doesn’t fit individual needs, not all students potential is realised

National testing AO2 + AO3

AO2

• Standardised assessment testing

• Allows parents to directly compare results

AO3

• Can cause anxiety/ stress for children

Formula funding AO2 + AO3

AO2

• Pounds per pupil

• School is funded based on the number of pupil in the school

AO3

• Schools lower down the table will receive funding and so less resources

OFSTED AO2 + AO3

AO2

• Inspect schools based on other factors than performance such as wellbeing of students and enrichment activities

• Helps parents choose the best school for their child

AO3

• Hawthorne effect

Sharon Gewitz identifying 3 types of parents

• Privileged-skilled choosers: middle class parents who use economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children. Their economic capital meant that they were able to afford to move their children around the education system so they could get the best deal out of it, such as travelling costs to get their child into the best school.

• Disconnected local choosers: working class parents who were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital. It was difficult to understand school admission procedures. Looked at safety and facility rather than league tables. No money to travel to a school of their choice.

• Semi-skilled choosers: working class but were ambitious for their child but didn’t have cultural capital and found it hard to understand the education market and relied on people’s opinions about school.

Stephen Ball - school/ parent alliance

Middle class parents want middle class schools and schools want middle class pupils. In general, the schools with more middle class students have better results. Schools see middle class students as easy to teach and likely to perform well. They will maintain the schools position in the league tables and its status in the education market.

Cream skimming

The best schools become oversubscribed - four or more pupils competing for each place. This means that these schools can ‘cream skim’ the best pupils - they get better results and so are in even more demand the next year. Schools are under pressure to cream skim because this increases their chance of rising up in the league tables.

Silt shifting

The next best school skims off the next best students and so on until the worst schools at the bottom just end up with the pupils who no one wants. The schools at the bottom turn into sink schools.

Ball, Bowe & Gerwitz criticism of “market forces & parental choice” 1994

• The pressure that league tables and the associated formula funding put on schools and how that pressure impacted on children’s education. Some schools responded to the pressure by focusing their attention on the most able children, which arguably disadvantaged lower-ability pupils.

• Marketisation benefited middle-class children, whose parents took advantage of the system to reinforce their advantages. Schools would also engage in cream skimming and silt shifting to try and get the best pupils in their school and pass on lower ability pupils elsewhere. As such, working class pupils and minority-ethnic groups found themselves in the undersubscribed and under-funded schools lower down the league tables. The class divide that existed under the old grammar school system was recreated in the comprehensive system.

Strengths of education reform act

• National Curriculum – majority of students studied the same topics

• League tables and Ofsted reports allow parents to see which schools are performing better- gives them choice

• Promotes competition which raises achievement

• Measures changes over time

Weaknesses of education reform act

• National Curriculum didn’t allow schools to stretch students

• Private Schools do not have to follow the national curriculum

• League tables ignore differences in student’s background

• Only see academic achievement – NOT PROGRESS

• Some schools use budget to improve the look of the school

Aim of 1997 new labour policies

To reduce inequalities through a focus on ‘education, education, education’

New labour polices designed to improve standards

• Class sizes — were reduced to 30

• Literacy and Numeracy Hour - one hour per day of reading and maths

• Extension of school career and the school day - children now start at 4, even younger in Sure Start nurseries and the leaving age is being raised to 18.

• Tougher Line on Inspection - Expanded the role of
  OFSTED

• City Academies - 10% funded by the private or voluntary sector - extra money should help improve standards

• Higher Education - expanded the number of places available in universities

New labour policies designed to reduce inequality of opportunity

• Education action zones - providing additional resources for deprived areas

• Aim higher - funding to help raise the aspirations of groups underrepresented in higher education

• Educational maintenance allowance - £30 per week to encourage students from low income households to stay on in 16-18 education

• National literacy strategy - targeted approach to ensure 80% of students met the literacy requirements for their age group

• Sure start - 12 hours a week free nursery provision for children aged 2-4

• Vocationalism - expanding vocational education and ensuring it was on par with academic qualifications

Education action zone impact

• An: was successful

• Eval: long lasting, short term effect

National literacy strategy impact

• An: increased literacy

• Eval: too rigid

Aim higher impact

• An: successful, working class people went to uni

• Eval: too many students at uni, focused too much on uni

Education maintenance allowance impact

• An: raised attendance → raised achievement

• Eval: only encouraged those who weee likely to go into further education

Sure start impact

• An: increased access to early education → improved outcomes

• Eval: mixed results of learning outcomes

Types of schools labour introduced

• Academies

• Specialist schools

• Beacon schools

Strengths of new labour policies

• Focused on reducing inequality

• Put policies into place to help working class who had been largely ignored up to now

• Increased opportunities for all pupils

• Now a greater diversity of schools (Specialist Schools, City Academies) and a greater variety of subjects one can study (AS and A levels, Vocational A levels, the mix and match curriculum), meaning there is more choice for parents and pupils.

Weaknesses of new labour policies

• Working class were embarrassed to take part in sure start

• EMA wasn’t always spent on school materials

• The gap between middle classes and working classes achievement continues to grow because of selection of by mortgage, cream skimming

Halsey, Health, & Ridge “origins & destinations” 1980

• Accessed a large sample of 8000 men, to look at the extent to which social class had impacted their experience of education.

• Found that children born into the service class did much better at school than those from the intermediate class, and both did better than the working class

• People from the service class were 11 times more likely to attend university as those from the working class

Possible problems of “origins & destintions”

• Research did not consider girls

• There had been significant change in both the education system and society since many of the sample had finished school

• Some sociologists would question the way the study defined social classes

Aim of 2010 coalition policies

To bring in influences from around the world into the uk education system and reform previous education systems.

Curriculum reform (coalition and conservative)

• Government ‘toughened up’ Alevels by removing opportunities to retake exams and separating AS from full a levels

• 2013- new national curriculum was introduced and there was more emphasis on grammar and spelling

• The english baccalaureate (Ebacc) emphasised core subjects

Contemporary education policies (coalition and conservative)

• Covid catch up premium - £650 million allocated to schools to help them provide catch up lessons

• Extra funding for national tuition programme

• £200 million additional funding for summer schools in summer 2021

• Extra training and support for teachers

• Mental heath and wellbeing support

Strengths of vocational education in 2011

• Some courses taught important and valuable labour market skills to a very high standard, skills which couldn't be met through academic courses

• Some courses offered a direct route to higher level study - hundreds of thousands of students had benefited from these

• Some prestigious apprenticeships were massively over-subscribed, and thus very popular (in high demand)

• Good vocational programmes are respected, valuable and an important part of our educational provision

Weaknesses of vocational education in 2011

• Many 16-17 year olds were moving in and out of education and short-term employment

• At least 350,000 students were getting little to no benefit from the post-16 education system

• System steered that 50% of maths and English failures into ‘inferior’ vocational qualifications

Recommendations from the 2011 Wolfe report on vocational education

• Schools should have more freedom to offer vocational qualifications for pupils aged 14-16

• Students who fail English and maths GCSEs should be required to redo them as part of their post 16 study

• Employers who provided apprenticeship should be paid

• Needs to be better links and standardisation between colleges and employers in the provision of training

Privatisation

The transfer of assets and resources from state control into the hands of the private sector

Privatisation within the education system

• Schools operate like private businesses

• Staff increasingly have performance targets

• Schools often have a marketing team to attract new students

• A focus on greater efficiency and profitability

Privatisation of the education system

• Growth of academy trusts which manage several schools & often have an Executive Head who oversees the running of several schools. In 2019, there were 1,170 multi- academy trusts in England.

• Education consultants, supply agencies and careers advice from the private sector

• Private companies are exporting UK education policy to other countries (e.g. Ofsted-type inspections) and then providing the service.

• Examination services e.g. Pearson supply 70 countries worldwide

• Developing educational brands e.g. Google classroom, SMART boards etc.

• Private investment in school buildings

• Large scale building projects often involve Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in which companies provide money to design, build, finance and operate educational services.

• Contracts typically last 25years+. The local council pays a monthly lease and a management fee out of public funds.

Evaluating privatisation

• Companies could influence the curriculum, meaning it favours subjects which have a more obvious link to the current employment market, (Eg stem subjects), rather than more creative/ discursive subjects like drama

• Profits have become the main goal and less profitable courses are cut as a result

• Stephen Ball talks about the ‘Cola-isation’ of education - the ability of companies to advertise to students via education, eg iPads and products in vending machines

• Academies can hire unqualified and untrained teachers (whom they can pay less) - concerns this could lower standards

Endogenous privatisation

• Making schools compete for pupils so they become like businesses

• Giving parents choice so they become consumers

• Linking school funding to success rate

• Introducing performance related to teachers

• Allowing successful schools to take over and manage failing schools

Exogenous privatisation

• Running examination systems - edexcel is a run by Pearsons

• The expansion of the education services industry more generally

Globalisation

The process by which the world's economies, cultures, and populations become more interconnected. It's characterised by increased trade, the spread of technology, and the movement of people, products and information across borders.

Direct impacts of globalisation: types of schools

• Ku: Gove inspired by Sweden free schools and so brought it into the uk, Gove maintained that such reforms were essential for improving educational standards

• Impact: Some free schools have achieved high performance in league tables, particularly those that emphasise innovative teaching methods or cater to underserved communities.

• Eval: However, studies suggest that the performance varies, and success often depends on the quality of leadership and teaching.

Direct impacts of globalisation: preparation for global workforce

• Ku: emphasises the development of transferable skills that align with the demands of a global economy

• Impact: Schools emphasise global transferable skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and digital literacy, which are essential in a globalised job market.

Direct impacts of globalisation: teaching and learning

• Ku: Finland's education system focusing not only on academic achievement but also on student well-being, emotional intelligence, and social skills

• Impact: Schools in the UK have introduced mindfulness programs and have started to reduce the emphasis on standardised testing in favour of more collaborative, exploratory learning.

Direct impacts of globalisation: school facilities

• Ku: The growing cultural, religious, and social diversity brought about by globalisation has led to changes in how schools accommodate and support their students' needs.

• Impact: Halal and Kosher Food - Schools are increasingly offering halal and kosher food options in their cafeterias to meet the dietary requirements of students from different cultural and religious backgrounds.

  • Prayer Spaces for Religious Observance - Globalisation has brought greater religious and cultural diversity to schools. Many schools now have prayer rooms or spaces designated for students to observe religious practices, such as daily prayers for Muslim students

Indirect impacts of globalisation

• Global risks - introduced the teachings of British values

• Marketisation and privatisation - Uk universities have campuses in other countries

• Increased travel - attracts students across the world. International students pay higher fees

Post-modernism

• Post (after), modernity (feminism, Marxism, functionalism) which all came about during the enlightenment period

• We are in a new era and that previous modernist theories are no longer relevant due to increased changes in technology and globalisation

• There is not one ‘theoretical truth’ in society and that these meta narratives (big stories/ theories) don’t adequately reflect our society

Choice and consumerism

Increased access to products and services due to technological and travel improvements.

Individualism

• We cater for individual needs and requirements of the students, and we are more individual. Education is not the same for everyone and we take from it what we need/ want.

• Fragmentation - society is not ‘whole’ but broken down into lots of fragments

Media saturation

Society is dominated by technology, we cannot escape media. It is penetrating all aspects of life.

Durkheim (functionalist) - social solidarity

• Ku: students develop a sense of belonging to a larger community by attending school and participating in team support activities that promote teamwork and collaboration.

• App: The teaching of history as part of the National Curriculum instils within students shared history. For example, the teaching of WW1 and the home front encourages students to reflect on their family history and how they helped with the collective war effort.

• An: This makes students feel a sense of belonging in society as they can were a part of something bigger and important.

• Eval: Hargreaves challenges Durkheim's idea by suggesting that most British schools fail to transmit shared values. He suggests that schools are not homogeneous environments; they consist of various subcultures based on social class, ethnicity, academic ability, and peer groups.

  • Conflict theorists (Marxists and Feminists) would argue that the norms and values promoted in schools belong to the dominant groups in society and therefore do not reflect the shared values but rather the values of the most powerful groups.

Durkheim - specialist skills

• Ku: individuals develop specialist skills that can enable them to perform specific roles within the division of labour. Education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge and skills that they need to play their part in the social division of labour. This cooperation promotes social solidarity.

• App: subject choice at GCSEs, alevels

• An: education has a positive impact on society as this specialisation fosters interdependence and social cohesion

• Eval: Marxists would suggest this function benefits the bourgeoisie rather than the whole of society

Durkheim - society in miniature

• Ku: schools prepare individuals for life in wider society by teaching them the norms, values, and rules needed to participate effectively, as members of society

• App: Schools introduce shared values. (respect, discipline, co-operation). Enforce rules and sanctions monitoring how laws operate in society. Preparation for specialised roles in the workforce.

• Eval: ignores the fact that schools may reproduce inequality, with interactions in school reflecting power imbalances in a capitalist society

Parsons (functionalist) - education is meritocratic

• Ku: everyone is given an equal opportunity and individuals achieve rewards through own effort and ability. Parsons argues schools also allocate pupils to their future work roles by assessing their abilities by sifting and sorting people into appropriate jobs.

• App: standardised exams like GCSEs or alevels

• Eval: idea of meritocracy is criticised as a myth because class, gender and ethnicity still heavily influence educational outcomes and career options

Parsons - education as an agent of secondary socialisation

• Ku: sees school as an agent of secondary socialisation as it acts as bridge between family and wider society. Children are judged by universalistic standards and gain achieved status which prepares them for their adult roles in society.

• App: Within a family children are judged by particularistic values, i.e. there are rules for each child but these may differ from family to family. Similarly child's status within the family is ascribed, i.e. fixed from birth. By contrast in school (and in society more broadly) we are judged by universalistic values, i.e. the same rules apply to everyone. In society and school one's status is achieved not ascribed i.e. you have to work hard to gain some status.

• An: this establishes universalistic standards where all pupils achieve their status. The same standards apply to all pupils regardless of ascribed status eg sex, race. Schools operate on meritocratic principles.

• Eval: labelling theory shows teachers do not treat all students equally and therefore universal standards don’t always apply

Davis and Moore (functionalist) - role allocation

• Ku: the education system sifts and sorts people into the social hierarchy which is linked to the idea of meritocracy. So the idea is that people are able to access the best jobs, wealth and status, because they have talent or because they have worked hard. So for Davis and Moore, the education system is a way of sorting people to the best possible position that they should have in society. And that is based upon a meritocratic system, you get there because of hard work. It is not linked to your social structures, such as class, ethnicity, or gender.society.

• App: education is a meritocracy so schools fairly sorts and shifts people into jobs according to ability. Most able and talented take the most important jobs.

• An: this benefits both the individual and the wider society

• Eval: Bowles and Gintis - intelligence and ability have only a limited influence on educational achievement other factors also contribute such as Gender, Ethnicity and Social class. Feminists would argue that the education system sifts and sorts students into gender roles - gendered subject choices.

Althusser (Marxist) - ideological state apparatus

• Ku: Education is an ideological state apparatus which enables the bourgeoisie to maintain control over what people think. Education justifies inequality by producing a set of ideas which disguise its true cause - it encourages the mindset that if a student isn’t doing well, it is simply because they’re not working hard enough (false class consciousness)

• App: Education reproduces class inequality by transmitting ideas from generation to generation through the hidden curriculum and failing the working class deliberately

• An: The working class are essentially forced to fail & end up taking up low status, low paid, alienating work roles. The idea of meritocracy has to be constantly reinforced so that inequalities are justified.

• Eval: interactionists think that not all students have to passively accept the school rules as they have free will. However Willis research shows that even though boys resisted the education system this led them into working class jobs

Bowles and gintis - meritocracy is a myth

• Ku: the education system socialises young people into accepting the idea of meritocracy where in reality meritocracy is a myth according to Marxists. They argue that working class pupils are taught to believe that their position is off their own ability and effort and failure is due to a lack of ability and effort however it’s actually a persons class background that determines their position in society.

• App: working class don’t have access to cultural and economic capital and are therefore at a disadvantage compared to middle claaa pupils

• An: this creates the idea that the education system is equal and causes the working class to blame themselves, creating a false class consciousness

• Eval: functionalists disagree because they argue that meritocracy is not a myth because everyone sits the same universal exams and everyone is taught the same content through the national curriculum

Bowles and Gintis (Marxist) - correspondence theory

• Ku: the structure of education parallels the hierarchical and exploitative nature of the workplace, eg schools condition students to follow rules, meet deadlines and respect authority, all of which prepare them to follow similar expectations in the workplace.

• App: at school there is a hierarchy - head teachers, teachers, pupils where teachers have authority over pupils and pupils are expected to obey the orders that teachers have given them

  • Studied 237 high school students and found that schools reward submissive, compliant workers and punished defiant behaviour

• An: this shows that education serves the interests of capitalism by preparing us to be obedient and complaint workers who conform to the capitalist values

• Eval: have been criticised for viewing students as passive sponges who just soak up the atmosphere of the school without thinking about it

  • Willis learning to labour study suggests that students were not passive as they actively rejected school

Jackson (Marxist) - hidden curriculum

• Ku: Schools instil values that benefit capitalism, such as obedience, conformity, and competitiveness.

• App: grading systems promote individual achievement and discourage collective work, mirroring the competitive nature of capitalist economies

• An: the hidden curriculum ensures that students internalise social norms that justify their future positions within the labour market which reinforces capitalist ideology

Willis (neo-Marxist) - setting and streaming

• Ku: education system sifts and sorts pupils based off their class status rather than ability. Therefore working class pupils are enrolled into lower sets and middle class pupils are sifted and sorted into top sets which allows them to pursue high status career.

• App: Willis - studied the culture of 12 working class “lads” using interviews. These lads formed an anti-school subculture when at school which had its own set of values. Willis notes the similarity between this anti-school culture and the shop floor culture of male manual workers. Both cultures see manual work as superior and intellectual work as inferior or feminine.

• An: this maintains a capitalist society by reproducing class inequality from one generation to the next as working class continue to obtain working class jobs,

• Eval: Students do have the power to reject the values being transmitted by the education system. He would therefore argue that mainstream Marxists are too deterministic.

  • However they still end up with working class jobs

Strengths of Marxists theory

• Exposes that meritocracy is a myth and makes us aware of inequalities

• Exposes the ideological state apparatus and the danger that we are being brainwashed to conform

Weaknesses of Marxist theory

• Bowles and Gintis as found by Willis study

• There are more inequalities than just class inequality

• Feminists would question why females are not studied

Marxist feminists

• Women’s role in society is shaped by the needs of the economy and capitalism. This means that women are socialised into supporting men in the home and at work, which education reinforces.

• They consider gendered subjects as being one of the ways that women are being held back in society.

• Marxist feminists argue that the education system channels women into lower-paid, lower-status jobs, preparing them to act as a reserve army of labour for capitalism. This means women can enter the workforce when needed and be pushed back into domestic roles when not, keeping wages low and profits high.

Marxists feminists - reserve army of labour AO2

• Gendered Subject Choices

• Hidden Curriculum & Expectations

  • Schools subtly reinforce traditional gender roles, teaching girls to be compliant, supportive, and caring—qualities useful for domestic work and lower-status jobs.

  • Boys are encouraged to be assertive and ambitious, preparing them for higher-status jobs.

• Supporting Patriarchy & Domestic Labour

  • Education also prepares girls for domestic roles, reinforcing unpaid labour at home that supports male workers and the economy.

  • For example, schools promoting home economics or caring roles subtly teach domestic responsibilities

Evaluation of Marxist feminists

• Links class and gender oppression

  • Shows how capitalism and patriarchy work together to keep working-class girls in subordinate roles.

  • It highlights how education prepares girls for low-paid, gendered labour, reinforcing both class and gender inequality.

• Narrow focus on class

  • It tends to prioritise class over other factors like ethnicity, religion, or sexuality, which also shape girls’ experiences.

  • This can lead to a limited understanding of how different forms of oppression intersect in education.

• Underestimates student agency

  • Often portrays girls as passive victims of structural forces.

  • In reality, many girls challenge stereotypes, succeed academically, and resist gender norms, showing more agency than the theory suggests

Liberal feminists

• Changes in equal opportunities and educational policies, eg the national curriculum will end patriarchy.

• Changing socialisation is relevant - changing females’ self-expectations and those of their teachers and peers.

• Perhaps the biggest change, since the 1980s, is that girls now outperform boys in education so if the system is a patriarchal one, designed to favour boys, it is singularly failing.

• However, Michelle Stanworth noted that there will still higher expectations of boys and teachers would be more likely to recommend boys apply for higher education than girls at the same academic level.

• Ann Oakley: Sexist attitudes about gender are Social Construction: transmitted through socialisation.

Liberal feminists AO2

• Toys & play: Girls once encouraged to play with dolls (caring roles), boys with construction toys (technical skills). Today, there’s more encouragement for gender-neutral play.

• Subject choice: Boys were pushed towards maths/science, girls towards arts/domestic subjects. Liberal feminists note changes like the introduction of GIST (Girls Into Science and Technology) and WISE (Women Into Science and Engineering) to challenge stereotypes.

• Teachers & expectations: Teachers now more likely to encourage equal ambition, e.g. girls being pushed towards higher education and careers, not just family roles.Evaluation –

Liberal feminists view AO2

Spender: talks about ‘invisible women’ in education - a lack of focus on females in the curriculum; in textbooks and the fact that women weren’t historically encouraged in education.

Evaluation of liberal feminism

• Recognises progress

  • Liberal feminism highlights how legal reforms and policy changes (e.g. GIST/WISE, Equal Pay Act) have improved girls’ access and achievement in education.

  • It shows that gender equality is gradually being achieved through equal opportunities and changing attitudes.

• Too optimistic

  • Critics argue liberal feminism is overly positive, assuming that equality has been largely achieved.

  • It may ignore ongoing issues like gender stereotyping in subject choices, the hidden curriculum, and unequal outcomes in the labour market

• Ignores deeper structures

  • Liberal feminism focuses on individual rights and reforms but doesn’t challenge patriarchal or capitalist structures that maintain inequality.

  • Radical and Marxist feminists argue that deeper systemic change is needed, not just policy tweaks

Difference feminists

• Not all girls have the same experience in education and that minority-ethnic girls are often victims of specific stereotyping and assumptions

• Factors such as ethnicity, class, religion, sexuality, and cultural background significantly shape how female students engage with and are treated within the education system

Difference feminists AO2

• Black feminists within the difference feminist tradition argue that racism and sexism intersect to create unique challenges for black girls in education

• In schools, black girls may face stereotyping, under representation in curriculum content and leadership roles, cultural misunderstandings from teachers

Evaluation of difference feminism

• Recognises diversity of experience

  • Difference feminism highlights that girls are not a homogenous group and experience education differently based on ethnicity, class, religion, and sexuality.

  • This approach encourages a more inclusive and intersectional analysis of educational inequality.

• Lacks clear solutions

  • While it effectively critiques mainstream feminism, difference feminism often doesn’t offer concrete strategies for tackling inequality in education.

  • Its focus on complexity can make it harder to apply in policy or practice

• Incorporate black feminists perspectives

  • By including Black feminist views, it draws attention to racialised experiences in schools, such as stereotyping and underrepresentation.

  • This helps challenge the Eurocentric bias in both curriculum and feminist theory

Radical feminists

• Argue that despite improvements the education system continues to perpetuate patriarchal values, especially in areas like subject choices and career aspirations

• Oppresses women through reinforcing patriarchal ideology through the formal and hidden curriculum and normalising the marginalisation and oppression of women so that by the time girls leave schools they see it as normal and and natural rather than as patriarchal oppression

• Radical feminist see concern over boys’ relative underachievement as a ‘moral panic’. The feminist argument is that the focus on education at the moment on ‘raising boys’ achievement’ reflects a male dominated system panicking at the fact that old patriarchal power relations are starting to breakdown.

• Male gaze - a way of portraying and looking at women that empowers men while sexualising and diminishing women

Radical feminists - male gaze AO2

Radical feminists argue the education system plays into and reproduces the male gaze in several ways:

• Verbal Abuse & Harassment

  • Boys may subject girls to sexist name-calling or unwanted attention, treating them as sexualised beings.

• Peer Pressure & Policing Identities

  • Peer groups encourage boys to look at and talk about girls in sexual terms, reinforcing male bonding through the male gaze.

  • Girls may also be pressured to conform to narrow standards of femininity to avoid ridicule.

• Hidden Curriculum

  • Even if not explicit in lessons, the everyday culture of schools (e.g. banter, “lad” behaviour, tolerance of sexist jokes) normalises the male gaze as part of school life

Radical feminist AO2 - oftsed study

• Around 9 in 10 of the girls we spoke to said that sexist name calling and being sent unwanted explicit pictures or videos happened ‘a lot’ or ‘sometimes. Inspectors were also told that boys talk about whose ‘nudes’ they have and share them among themselves like a ‘collection game’

• Children told inspectors that they didn’t always want to talk to adults about sexual harassment for a variety of reasons, including concerns about ‘reputational damage’ or being socially ostracised. They also worried about not knowing what would happen next once they reported an incident, and about potential police involvement.

Radical feminists AO2 studies

• Haywood and Ghaill: Male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls’ and ignored boys verbal abuse of girls and even blamed girls for attracting it

• Heaton and Lawson: ‘hidden curriculum’ - textbooks show nuclear families, food tech aimed at females, sports I’m schools differs between genders

• Coffey and delamont: Male pupils and teachers look at females as sexual objects and therefore females often don’t feel confident or comfortable in the classroom. This is known as the ‘male gaze’.

• Kat banyard: looked at sexual harassment in education and how it is not treated as seriously as other forms of bullying

Evaluation of radical feminism

• Highlights patriarchal control

  • Radical feminism effectively shows how education can reinforce male dominance, especially through the hidden curriculum, gendered subject choices, and male authority figures in leadership.

  • It draws attention to how schools socialise girls into submissive roles, preparing them for patriarchal expectations in wider society

• Overemphasis on patriarchy

  • Critics argue radical feminism overstates the role of patriarchy, ignoring other factors like class, ethnicity, and individual agency.

  • It may overlook how some girls challenge gender norms and succeed in traditionally male-dominated subjects

• Ignores progress

  • Radical feminism tends to downplay improvements in gender equality, such as rising female achievement and increased representation in education.

  • Liberal feminists would argue that policy changes and shifting attitudes have led to real progress for girls in schools

Internal: labelling (class)

• Ku: Becker - teachers apply labels to their pupils in relation to their ability, potential or behaviour, can be positive or negative. Middle class pupils are more likely to fit into the concept of an ideal pupil

  • Self fulfilling prophecy - If a label is applied enough, it can “stick”. For example, if a student is labelled as unintelligent and unlikely to succeed, they may simply give up and stop trying, in which case the label becomes true.

• App: Working-class pupils may be labelled as less academic or disruptive, leading to lower teacher expectations and reduced support.

• App: Rist - study of primary school teachers and found teachers used students backgrounds to place them in separate groups. Those seen as fast learners were labelled as "tigers" and tended to be middle class.
  Those seen as less able were placed on tables towards the back, labelled "clowns" and received less teacher attention, these students tended to be working class.

• An: Over time, pupils may internalise these labels, resulting in disengagement and underachievement. This converts class background into educational outcomes.

• Eval: However, Fuller shows some working-class pupils resist negative labels anc achieve success. This suggests labelling does not aftect all pupils equally.

Internal: subcultures (class)

• Ku: a subculture is a group which has its own set of values and its own culture. In response to labelling and streaming, working class pupils are more likely to form anti-school subcultures.

  • Anti-school subculture - goes against the norms and values of the school, gains status through misbehaving and not following rules, placed in low sets/ streams

• AO2: Willis - Observed 12 working class lads who saw school as pointless to their future lives as manual workers. Resented school and spent their time messing around and resisting to learn anything.

• AO3: Fuller - Studied a group of black female pupils who had been labelled “failures”. The girls worked hard in order to prove their teachers wrong. Shows that pupils have the ability to resist the labels being given to them.

Internal: setting and steaming (class)

• Ku: Setting - allocating pupils into groupings based on ability for different subjects. Steaming - allocating pupils into groupings based on ability which they are in for all subjects. Working class pupils are more likely to be placed into lower streams. This can affect the knowledge taught as teachers use low status language which is more descriptive. This reduces lower class students access to elaborated code and thus putting them at a disadvantage.

• App: Kutnick: higher sets are more likely to be allocated highly qualified and experienced teachers whereas lower sets are less likely to be taught by a subject specialist, and experience more changes of a teacher

  • Ball's study of Beachside Comprehensive - found working class pupils were more likely to be placed into lower sets in comparison to middle class pupils regardless of ability. Teachers have low expectations of these students, behaviour deteriorated quickly over time.

• An: School organisation therefore reinforces inequality by restricting opportunities for certain pupils. Class background shapes academic pathways within schools.

• Eval: Supporters of marketisation argue competition raises standards overall. However, evidence suggests benefits are uneven and often favour middle-class pupils.

Internal: pygmalion effect (class)

• AO1: High expectations lead to improved performance and low expectations lead to worsened performance

• AO2: Told teachers Harvard researchers could predict which students were about to bloom intellectually. They reported to the teachers which students were “bloomers” - chosen at random. Those who had been assigned as “bloomers” outperformed the other students

Social class trends

• Pupils from professional backgrounds are significantly more likely to enter higher education than those from unskilled backgrounds

• Pupils from middle class backgrounds are more likely to study for alevels whereas working class pupils are more likely to take vocational subjects

• Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to leave school at 16 and less likely to start school being able to read

• Nearly 90% of failing schools are in deprived areas

External - cultural factors: intellectual development (class)

• Ku: Intellectual development - working class families lack books and toys that would stimulate a child’s intellectual development, thus begin school without the skills needed to progress

• App: Bernstein and Douglas: middle class parents more likely to choose toys that encourage thinking and reasoning and this prepares them better for educational success

  • Centre for longitudinal studies: found that by the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to 1 year behind those from more privileged homes. This gap widens with age.

• Eval: local libraries have play areas for children

External - cultural factors: Language (class)

• Ku: Language used by working class families is not sufficiently sophisticated enough to enable children to have success in the education system. They are therefore at a disadvantage when it comes to conversing with teachers, articulating questions and answers and comprehending questions in exams.

• Bernstein: working class and middle class use different types of language. Restricted code is a speech code used by the working class, it has limited vocabulary and is based on short, unfinished and grammatically incorrect sentences. Elaborated code is used by the middle class and contains a wider vocabulary, is grammatically correct and uses more complex sentences.

• App: This can disadvantage working-class pupils in exams and classroom discussion, where extended explanations and abstract reasoning are rewarded.

• An: As assessment is language-based, linguistic disadvantage can be misinterpreted as low ability. This contributes to lower achievement among working-class pupils.

• Eval: Gaine and George criticised Douglas for oversimplifying the differences between MC and WC speech codes