Education - Role and Function

The New Right view of education (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

• schools should be centred around competition & choice through marketisation

• ‘education market’ - schools respond to parents, pupils, teachers

Chubb & Moe:

• State education fails – no need to respond to pupils’ needs

• Lack of control – parents/communities can’t change failing schools

• Private schools superior – accountable to parents → higher quality

What is marketisation? (Since 1980s) (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

• Competition between schools – schools compete for pupils & funding

• Business-like model – schools act like private enterprises

• Reduced local authority control – shift away from local government oversight

• Parental choice – parents choose schools → drives competition

What is parentocracy? (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Parents are in control of the education system – they have freedom to decide instead of the state

What are the two rules for the state? (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

• Promoting British values in education through the national curriculum

• Framework for checking schools e.g. Ofsted

Labelling & its effects (Internal Factors)

Becker:

• Teachers label students

• Non-“ideal pupil” → less motivation

• Teachers give less attention/support

Self-fulfilling prophecy: Rosenthal & Jacobson

• Positive label → higher motivation + improved grades

• Negative label → low self-concept + low motivation

• Fake IQ study – teachers told some students were “spurts”

• Teachers gave them more attention + encouragement

• Result: ~47% improvement

Streaming: Gillborn & Youdell

• Teachers label w/c pupils as less able

• Pupils placed in lower streams/sets

• Reinforces inequality in achievement

Lacey: Pupil subcultures & Identities (Internal Factors)

• Polarisation – pupils respond to streaming by forming:

  • pro-school subculture OR anti-school subculture

• Differentiation – higher streams = higher status

Chubb & Moe solution for improving schools? (Internal Factors)

Voucher system:

• Parents would receive gov funding vouchers to pay for chosen school

• Schools compete for students and funding

• Competition encourages higher quality + efficiency

• Expected result: raised standards + improved outcomes

Criticisms:

• Widened inequality – wealthy parents access better schools

• Two-tier system – private schools improve, state schools lose funding + decline in quality

• Cherry-picking – schools select higher-ability pupils, excluding weaker students

Durkheim’s Functionalist View of Education? (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Social solidarity – education transmits culture across generations

Specialist skills – schools = “society in miniature” (e.g. time management via bells, order via queueing)

Talcott Parson’s Functionalist View of Education? (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Meritocracy – equal chance of success for all pupils

Agent of socialisation – schools = bridge between family and wider society

Davis & Moore’s Functionalist view of Education (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Role allocation – schools assess ability and allocate pupils to future work roles

Louis Althusser Marxist view of Education? (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Reproduction – education reproduces class inequality across generations

Legitimation – inequality seen as inevitable and individual failure, not the capitalist system

Bowles & Gintis Marxist view of Education? (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Workforce reproduction – schools create workers for capitalism

Hidden curriculum – untaught lessons reinforce hierarchy and obedience

Meritocracy = myth – success based on class background, not ability

Paul Willis Neo-Marxist view of Education? (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Resistance – pupils see through ruling class ideology

Counterculture – w/c boys reject school values

Study of “the Lads” – anti-school subculture (Midlands, 12 boys)

Outcome – w/c failure reproduced (“damned if they do, damned if they don’t”)

Liberal Feminist view of Education (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Improvement over time – girls’ achievement and school experience increasing

Radical Feminist view of Education (Topic 1 - Role & Function)

Education reinforces gender inequality

Gendered language – teachers & textbooks use biased language

Gendered roles – traditional roles (women = housewives)

Gendered stereotypes – girls = caring, boys = dominant/active

Hargeaves: Pupil subcultures & Identities (Internal Factors)

• Lower-stream boys = “triple failures”

  • failed 11+ exam

  • placed in lower streams

  • labelled “worthless louts”

• Response: form anti-school group

• Group provides status through rule-breaking + leads to educational failure

Archer: Pupil Identities (Internal Factors)

• W/c pupils adopt “Nike identities” (brand/status culture)

• Self-exclusion from education

  • seen as not for them (for rich/clever pupils)

  • seen as undesirable (doesn’t fit habitus)