A LEVEL SOCIOLOGY: EDUCATION

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Durkheim (functionalist)
Education creates social solidarity
+Subjects like PSHE promote solidarity
-Ignores negative sides e.g. bullying
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Durkheim (functionalist)
Education teaches skills necessary for work
+More work focused- vocational qualifications
-Postmodernists- teaching to tests kills creativity
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Parsons (functionalist)
Teaching core values, particularistic to universalistic values
+Exclusion and truancy rates are very low
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Davis and Moore (functionalist)
Role allocation and meritocracy
+Those with degrees earn 85% more
-Marxists- not meritocratic e.g. private schools benefit the rich
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New Right
-Schools should be run like a business (marketisation)
-Compete to attract consumers
-League tables introduced that create competition between schools and help to raise their standards
-Marketisation mainly favours the middle class as the working class do not have as many schools to choose from.
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Althussar (marxist)
-Education is an ideological state apparatus (isa) which reproduces class inequalities.
-Education legitimises inequalities by created a false consciousness (inability to see how unjust the system is)
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Bowles and Gintis (marxist)
-Correspondence principle, essentially where school and the workplace mirror one another
-Meritocracy is a myth as it pushes the idea that failure to succeed is as a result of a lack of hard work, when it usually comes down to social class and family background.
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Marxism evaluation
-Ignores the influence of the formal curriculum
-Assumes people are passive and unaware of the unjust system
-Ignores any interactions or processes within school
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Chubb and Moe (New Right)
-Education has failed all students
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Halsey, Floud & Martin
\-More life chances for the working class

* argue that **the comprehensive system and the expansion of the higher education sector in the 1960s actually benefitted the working­class in that more working­class people went on to university and entered professional jobs as a result. Allocation to manual work is not an inevitability for bright working­class pupils.**
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Willis (neo-marxist)
-Learning to labour (1977)
-Working class are aware that meritocracy is a myth
-So, they form anti-school subcultures
-And in the end still end up slaves to capitalism.
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Bernstein (marxist)
-Language codes
-Restricted code, linguistic code of the working class and is not a part of the curriculum
-Elaborated code, linguistic code of the middle class, used by teachers and in textbooks
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Lacey
- Streaming
-Studied students at a grammar school, even those labelled as bright at age 11 formed an anti-school subculture as they were labelled as failures
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Fuller (neo-marxist)
-Ethnicity
-Studied black girls in year 11, they were high ability but had a racist teacher so formed an anti-school subculture and worked alone to succeed and achieve good grades
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Labelling THEORY
+When a teacher labels a student, that label will become part of the students identity and live up to it to create a self fulfilling prophecy
-Possibly research biased, interviews may not be valid if students are not aware that they are being labelled
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Gillborn and Youdell (marxist)
-Ethnicity
-Black students are more likely to be disciplined for the same behaviour as white students.
-As well as teachers having lower expectations of them.
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Hartley and Sutton (marxist)
-Gender
-Labelling, stereotypes and peers generate a negative self-fulfilling prophecy of boys.
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Rist (marxist)
-Social class
-Teachers made judgements about appearance and family background rather than ability
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The Butler Act (1944)
-Compulsory state education up to the age of 14
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The Tripartite System (1944)
\-Grammar schools (11+ test)

\-Technical schools

-Secondary modern schools

*  In reality very few technical schools were built and in most areas of the country there was really a two-tier system.
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Self-fulfilling prophecy
Labelling leads to this
-Positive labelling leads to success, vice versa
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Labelling in Education
Teachers label students as a part of their student-teacher relationship.
+Positive labels led to success, vice versa
-Fuller's study of black girls suggests that negative labels can lead to success.
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Setting/streaming
Setting is sorting by ability per class, streaming is sorting by ability for every class
+Allows students to work at their own pace
-Students suffer from low self esteem when placed in low sets
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Marketisation
Services like education are pushed into operating like a business based on supply and demand. Pupils are consumers.
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Parentocracy
The concept that parent's wealth and wishes has more to do with their child's education than the child's ability.
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Privatisation IN Education
Changing internal processes within the school in order to operate more like a business.
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Examples of Privatisation IN Education
-Parents and students as consumers
-Target setting
-League tables
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Privatisation OF Education
Opening up aspects of education to private businesses.
+More efficient
+More choice
+Profit making may create more help for failing schools
-Takes money from the education system
-Business goes out of business, school stranded
-Less equality
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Examples of Privatisation OF Education
-Staff Training
-School Management
-Exams
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3 Features of Marketisation
1. Independence- schooling running themselves
2. Competition- schools competing with each other
3. Choice- giving 'customers' choice of schools
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3 Element of Quality Control
-Ofsted Inspections
-Publications of performances tables
-National Curriculum
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Marketisation Policies (Conservative Govt) (1979-1997)
-League tables
-Local Management Schools
-Funding formula
-Open enrollment
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Raising Standards Policies (Conservative Govt) (1979-1997)
-Ofsted
-National Curriculum
-National Testing
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Marketisation Policies (Labour Govt) (1997-2010)
-Business sponsored schools
-Specialist schools
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Raising Standards Policies (Labour Govt) (1997-2010)
-Maximum class sizes for 5-7 year olds
-Building Schools for the future program
-Education Action Zones
-Business Sponsored Academies
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Marketisation Policies (Coalition Govt) (2010-2015)
-New Style Academies
-Free Schools
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Raising Standard Policies (Coalition Govt) (2010-2015)
-Pupil Premium
-English Baccalaureate
-Reform of the National Curriculum
-Reform of the Exams systems
-Tougher performance targets for schools
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Evaluation of Raising Standards and Marketisation Policies
-Myth of Meritocracy: Not all parents get to choose the school of their choice for their child.
-Educational Triage: Teachers ignore students who are less like to achieve A*-C grades because of League tables
-Dumbing Down: In order to retain students, schools are likely to lower their standards to appease students
-Reduced Quality Control: Ofsted is not as independent as it seems with interference with politicians and the government
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Schools Admissions Code
Forbids discrimination in admitting pupils on the grounds of socio-economic backgrounds or ability
-Covert selection still takes place. Postcode lottery
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1988 Education Reform Act
All schools has to teach the same core curriculum
-Suits academic pupils more
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Pupil Premium
Additional funding for students from poorer socio-economic status
-Kerr and West found that too many other factors affect educational achievement
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Economic Efficiency
-Creating a workforce that meets the needs of society by teaching essential skills
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Evaluation of Social Policy
-National Curriculum is ethnocentric
-Cream Skimming and Silt Sifting
-Postcode Lottery
-Pupil Premium is too new to see impact
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Centre for Longitudinal Studies (2007)
-By the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to one year behind those with more privileged backgrounds. Gap widens with age.
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Cultural Deprivation
-Not having the correct kind of culture needed to succeed
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Bernstein (Marxist) (Evaluation)
-Is Bernstein almost blaming the working class for speaking in a 'restricted code'?
-Do all people with restricted code fail?
-Can we actually admire the restricted code?
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Douglas
4 types of parental influence on education
-Parenting style: Middle class parents are more likely to enforce discipline and high expectations
-Parents' educational behaviours: Middle class parents are more likely to read to their children, help with homework and attend school events like parents evening
-More income: Middle-class parents earn more because of their education, and higher income in correlated with higher educational achievement for students.
-Use of income: Middle class parents are more likely to spend their income in ways that benefit their child's education
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Sugarman
Working Class Subcultures
-Immediate Gratification
-Fatalism
-Low value on Education
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Cultural Deprivation (Evaluation)
-CD theorists ignore the importance of wealth and income
-Also ignores the impact of internal factors
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Material Deprivation
-A lack of resources and money needed for educational success.
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Poor Diet
-Can lead to sick days and missed school in general
-Students may find concentrating in school more difficult
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Housing
-Crowded homes lead to lower levels of concentration
-Colder due to poor insulation and less money for heating leading to sick days and lower grades
-Less settled as homes are more likely to be rented causing instability
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Lower Income
-High university fees discourage the working class from joining
-WC pupils may be bullied for lacking new uniform or stationary
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Material Deprivation (Evaluation)
-MD theorists ignore the importance of culture
-Ignores the impact of internal factors
-Doesn't the government support the WC? Isn't this enough?
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Bourdieu
-Highlights how cultural and material deprivation are interlinked and not separate.
-For example a middle class parent will have all the tools to go to university, get a high paying job and also enabling them to be able to help out with ard homework
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Becker
Labelling
-Teachers' ideas of the 'ideal pupil' often match up to middle class students
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The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The concept that students become their labels
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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (Evaluation)
-Too deterministic
-If true, wouldn't all teachers label their students as smart?
-Teachers would argue that they have professionalism and do not label students
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Lacey
An anti school subculture is formed when students who want to succeed are labelled as "thick" and therefore form their own subculture where they have their own status hierarchy.
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Habitus (Bourdieu)
-Someone's way of being, thinking and acting
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Symbolic Violence (Bourdieu)
-Schools 'attack' WC students by devaluing who they are
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"Nike" identities (Archer)
-Gaining symbolic capital through consuming branded goods. These also lead to more conflict with the school
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Sue Sharpe
-Found that girls ambitions had changed over the years. While girls in the 1970's prioritised love and marriage, girls in the 1990's were more career driven
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Sue Sharpe (Evaluation)
-Sharpe's research involved magazines, do people still read magazines in a large rate?
-This doesn't explain why girls do better than boys
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The Equal Pay Act 1970
-Employers must pay both men and women equal rates for the same jobs
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The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
-Law that outlaws sex discrimination in employment
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Equal Opportunities Policy
-The ideas of feminism are present throughout the education system with the aim to offer both genders opportunities
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Mitos and Browne
-Boys do worse than girls at coursework because they are less organised
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Gorad
-Found that the gender gap in achievement increased in 1998 when GCSE's were introduced. Most were coursework
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French and French
-Found that teachers paid boys and girls similar amounts of attention for academic reasons. But boys received more attention overall because they attracted more punishments for misbehaviour.
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Swann
-Boys dominate class discussions, whereas girls are better at listening and cooperating. Teachers respond more positively to the girls, and therefore gave them more encouragement
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Francis
-Boys receive more attention, however this is because they are disciplined more, so they are less motivated
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Selection and league tables
-Marketisation policies like league tables lead to competition between schools, schools want to boost their positions, so recruit more able students which are mostly girls and therefore more girls get recruited into better schools.
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Sewell - Feminisation of School
-Argues that boys underachieve because schools no longer embody traditional masculine traits such as competition and leadership.
-Lack of male role models leads to the feminisation of school
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Francis - Laddish Subcultures
-Found that boys are not concerned about being labelled as 'smart' by peers, as this threatens their masculinity. WC subcultures see non-manual work as feminine
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Epstein
-Found that pro-school WC boys were likely to be harassed or labelled as 'gay' by their peers
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Globalisation
-Has led to a decline in traditional male jobs in heavy industries such as ship building, mining and manufactoring within the UK.
-Some sociologists believe that this has created an identity crisis amongst males
-Boys feel they do not have a chance so they lack motivation to become qualified
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Literacy
-Parents spend less time reading to their sons as this is seen as a feminine activity
-Boys leisure activities do not develop communication and language skills, whereas girls bedroom culture does
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Browne and Ross
-Found that when children are given open ended tasks such as designing a boat, boys designed battleships while girls designed cruise ships, highlighting the different gender domains
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GMB (2019)
-1 in 8 construction workers are women. at this rate it will take 200 years to achieve gender equality in construction
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Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
-In 2017 just 10.8% of registered nurses were men
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Connell
-Argues that schools reproduce hegemonic masculinity, the dominance of male heterosexual identities and the subordination of female and gay identities
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Lees
-Boys called girls 'slags' if they appeared to be sexually available, and 'drags' if they didn't. And there was no male equivalent to this name
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The Male Gaze
-A form of social control where male pupils and teachers looks girls up and down as sexual objects. Boys who do not participate in this may be labelled as 'gay'- another form of social control
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Bereiter and Engelmann
Low income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences
- Children who don't speak English at home are held back (poorly equipped for school)
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How do CD theorists believe Black children look at life?
-They have a fatalistic view
-Contrasting other ethnicities
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Murray (New Right)
-Higher rates of single parent Black families lead to more Black children being poorly socialised
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Sewell
-A lack of tough love leads to emotional and behavioural problems
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Racism in Wider Society
-Employment
-Housing
-Ambitions/Motivations
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Ethnocentric Curriculum
-The idea that the curriculum is centred around Britishness
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Marketisation (Ethnicity)
-Racial bias during school interviews
-Lack of information and application forms in foreign languages
-POC parents may not be familiar with the system
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Fuller
-Studied a group of high achieving Black girls who rejected negative labelling from teachers.
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Mirza
3 types of teachers
-Colour-blind: believed all students are equal but allowed racism to go unchallenged
-Liberal Chauvinist: believe Black students are culturally deprived and have low expectations of them
-Overt Racist: who believe Black students are inferior and actively discriminate
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Sewell
4 categories of Black boys
-The Rebels: Small but influential group, openly hated school and were often excluded
-The Conformists: Largest group who tried to fit in and avoid stereotypes
-The Retreatists: Smallest group who were isolated from school and subcultures and despised by the Rebels
-The Innovators: Second largest group who were anti-school but pro-education (linking to Fuller's study)
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Wright
-Found that assumed a poor grasp of English for Asian primary students. This lead to them being left out of class discussions and being talked to simply
-Also teachers disproved of customs and got annoyed when they mispronounced their names
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A to C Economy
-A system in which schools concentrate their efforts on those pupils they see as most likely to gain five A*-C grades at GCSE and so boost the school's league table position.
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Differentiation and Polarisation (Lacey)
-Most schools generally placed a high value on things such as hard work, good behaviour and exam success, and teacher judge students and rank and categorise them into different groups - streams or sets - according to such criteria.
-Refers to the way students become divided into two opposing groups, or 'poles': those in the top streams who achieve highly, who more or less conform, and therefore achieve high status in the terms of the values and aims of the school, and those in the bottoms sets who are labelled as failures and therefor deprived of status.