Full Paper 1 Revision

Education, Methods in Context, Theory and Methods

What is the role of education according to functionalists?

• Helps society function

• Serves the economy

What is the role of education according to Marxists?

• Reproduces class inequality

• Legitimises class inequality

What is the role of education according to The New Right?

• When the education system is run by the state, it fails

• The role of education should be to give parents choice

What is the role of education according to Postmodernists?

Education is becoming more flexible and diverse

What are features of Material Deprivation?

• Pupils on free school meals (FSM) underachieve compared to everyone else

• Housing: Overcrowding, lack of safe space, temperature, accommodation, damp etc

• Howard: Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals

• Wilkinson: Among 10yr olds, the lower the social class, the higher rate of hyperactivity (behavioural problems)

• Tanner: The hidden costs and education place a heavy burden on poor families

• Flaherty: Fear of stigmatisation can explain why up to 20% do not take their FSM

• Fear of debt

What are features of Cultural Deprivation?

• Feinstein: Middle Class parents are more likely to use language that challenges their children and praise

• Bereiter and Englemann: Language used in lower class homes is deficient

• Bernstein: Speech codes

• Douglas: Working class parents place less value on education. As a result, less ambitious, less encouraged, and visited school less

• Parenting style and behaviour: Middle class parents = consistent discipline, high expectations, reading to their children, and getting advice from experts

• Sugarman: Working class subculture- fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, present-time orientation

• Bourdieu: Middle Class parents have cultural capital. Alice Sullivan tested these ideas in a questionnaire

What are facts about Material Deprivation?

• 45% of black children are growing up in poverty

• Ethic minorities are almost 2x more likely to unemployed compared with whites

• Ethnic minority workers are more likely to be engaged in shift work

• Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are more likely to be engaged in low paid home working

• Why?

  • Many live in deprived areas

  • Cultural factors

  • Lack of language skills and foreign qualifications not being recognised

  • Racism in housing and employment

What are facts about Cultural Deprivation?

• Intellectual and linguistic skills. Bereiter and Engelmann: Language spoken by working class black families= inadequate

• Family structure: Moynihan- Black families headed by lone mother are deprived of adequate care and role model

• Pryce: Asian culture is more resistant to racism

• Sewell: Lack of fatherly nurturing lead to ‘perverse loyalty’ from gangs

• Asian families: Tiger moms. Asian work ethic- High value on education. Lupton: Adult authority same in family as in schools

What are examples of Racism in Society?

• Rex: Racism leads to social exclusion. Housing- minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard housing

• Noon: Sent out identical pairs of letters of enquiry about future employment opportunities to the top UK companies, signed fictitious applicant called ‘Evans’ and ‘Patel’ with the same qualifications and experience. In terms of both the number and the helpfulness of replies, the companies were more encouraging to the ‘white’ candidates

Features education achievement for Girls?

• The impact of feminism: McRobbie’s study of girls magazines

• Changes in the family: Increase in divorce, cohabitation, lone-parent families and smaller families

• Changes in women’s employment: 1970 Equal Pay Act, 1975 Sex Discrimination Act, Breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’

• Girls’ changing ambitions: Sharpe’s interviews in the 70s and the 90s, As a result of individualisation

Features of education achievement for Boys?

• Boys and literacy: Reading is a feminine activity, boys’ leisure pursuits do little to develop language skills

• Globalisation and the decline of traditional men’s jobs: Mitsos and Browne- Decline in male employment opportunities = identity crisis

What is labelling and the self fulfilling prophecy?

• Becker: Teachers judge pupils according to how closely they fitted to an image of the ‘ideal image’. Middle class children closest to the ideal

• Hargreaves- The halo effect

• Rist: ‘Tigers’, ‘cardinals’ and ‘clowns’- primary school

• Dunne and Gazeley: Teachers normalise the underachievement of working class pupils

• Rosenthal and Jacobson’s field experiment showed evidence of self fulfilling prophecy

What is setting and streaming?

• Douglas found that children placed in a lower stream at age 8 had suffered a decline in their IQ score by age 11

• Lacey: Streaming is a form of differentiation. Pupils then polarise i.e. respond to streaming in one of two ways

What are subcultures?

• Pro-school or Anti-school subculture

• Anti-school: Invert school values of hard work, obedience and punctuality; they ‘sabotage the system’ and they form an anti-school subculture to gain status. Impact on achievement = self-fulfilling prophecy of educational failure

• Hargreaves: Boys in secondary modern formed subcultures due to failing 11+, being labelled as worthless and being placed in low streams

• Ball: Beachside Comp. When streaming was abolished, the influence of anti-school subculture declined

What are Pupils’ class identities?

• Schools place higher value on middle class habitus. Middle class pupils gain symbolic capital. For working class pupils- symbolic violence.

• Archer: Nike identities

• Evans: working class girls reluctant to apply for elite universities. They self-exclude

What is Marketisation?

Gilbourn and Youdell: The A-C economy which leads to educational triage

What is labelling?

• Black pupils seen as disruptive, Asian pupils as passive

• Wright: Teachers held ethnocentric views. Would assume Asian pupils have poor grasp of English, mispronounce their names etc

• Archer: Pupils identities. The ideal pupil (White, middle class), the pathologised pupil (Asian, girl), the demonised pupil (black or white working class)

What is pupil responses and subcultures?

• Fuller: Black girls who rejected their label

• Mac and Ghaill: Black and Asian A Level students- How they responded to labelling depended on ethnic group, gender and former school

• Mirza: 3 types of teacher racism- the colour-blind, the liberal chauvinist, the overt racists. Strategies black girls used to counteract racist label, did not work

• Sewell: 4 responses- The rebels, the conformists, the retreatists, the innovators

• Small minority the rebels, yet teachers see most black boys in this way

What is institutional racism?

• Marketisation and segregation: Application process difficult for EAL parents

• The ethnocentric curriculum: Ball- ‘Little Englandism’. Coard- Leads to low self-esteem

• Assessment: Baseline assessments were replaced with the foundation stage profile (FSP), which meant that, overnight black students did worse

• Access to opportunities: The Gifted and Talented programme included more white students. Black pupils more likely to be entered for lower tier GCSEs

What are examples of equal opportunities policies?

GIST and Wise. The National Curriculum

What is an example of positive role models?

Increase in female teachers and heads

What is GCSE and coursework?

Mitsos and Browne: Girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious than boys

 What is teacher attention?

French: Boys receive more negative attention

What is challenging stereotypes in the curriculum?

Removal of gender stereotypes from textbook, reading schemes and other learning materials

What is selection and league tables?

High achieving girls are attractive to schools

What is identity and girls’ achievement?

Archer: Working class don’t do as well because of hyper-heterosexual feminine identities, boyfriends and being loud. They gain symbolic capital from their peers

What is the feminisation of education?

• Sewell: School do not nurture masculine traits.

• There is a shortage of male primary school teachers, although Francis found 2/3 of 7-8 year olds did not care about gender of teacher

• Read: Most teachers, female as well as male, used a supposedly ‘masculine’ disciplinarian discourse

What are laddish subcultures?

• Epstein: Working class are more likely to be harassed, labelled as ‘sissies’ and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse if they appear to swots. This supports Francis’ findings that boys were more concerned than girls about being labelled by peers as swots because this label is more of a threat to their masculinity than it is to girls’ femininity

• Francis: Laddish culture is becoming increasingly widespread. She argues that this is because, as girls move into traditional masculine areas such as careers, boys respond by ‘becoming increasingly laddish in their effort to construct themselves as non-feminine’

What are gendered subject images?

• Kelly: Science is seen as a boys’ subject- teachers are more likely to be male

• Colley: Computer studies is defined as masculine because it involves machine work (part of male gender domain) and tasks are often abstract and independent which males prefer, whereas females like group work

What are gendered career opportunities?

Employment is highly gendered. Jobs tend to be sex-typed as ‘men’s’ or ‘women’s’. Women are concentrated in a narrow range of occupations including childcare and nursing. This sex-typing of occupations affects boys’ and girls’ ideas about what kinds of job are possible or acceptable. Thus, for example, if boys get the message that nursery nurses female, they will be less likely to opt for a course in childcare

What is peer pressure?

Students do not want to risk a negative response from their peers. For example, boys tend to opt out of music and dance because such activities fall outside of their gender domain

What is gendered role socialisation?

• Norman: From an early age boys and girls are dressed differently, given different toys to play with and encouraged to take part in different activities

• Browne and Ross: Children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults. E.g. mending a car is seen as falling into the male gender domain, but looking after a sick child is not. Children are more confident when engaging in tasks that they see as part of their own gender domain

What are double standards?

Lee identifies a double standard of sexual morality in which boys boast about their own sexual exploits, but call a girl a ‘slag’

What is verbal abuse?

• Connell calls ‘a rich vocabulary of abuse’. For example, boys use name-calling to put girls down if they behave or dress in certain ways. Lees found that boys called girls ‘slags’ if they appeared to be sexually available- and ‘drags’ if they didn’t

• Similarly, Paechter sees name-calling as helping to shape gender identity and maintain male power. The use negative labels such as ‘gay’, ‘queer’ and ‘lezzie’ are ways in which pupils’ police each other’s sexual identities

What is the male gaze?

Mac and Ghaill see the male gaze as a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued. It is one of the ways boys prove their masculinity to their friends and is often combined with constant telling and retelling of stories about sexual conquests. Boys who do not display their heterosexual in this way the risk of being labelled gay

What are male peer groups?

Mac and Ghaill’s study of Parnell School examines how peer groups reproduce a range of different class-based masculine gender identities. The working class ‘macho lads’ were dismissive of other working class boys who worked hard and aspired to middle-class ‘real Englishmen’ projected an image of ‘effortless achievement’- of succeeding without trying (though in some cases actually working hard ‘on the quiet’)

What are female peer groups?

• Archer’s Nike identities:

  • Represent a form of cultural capital where girls use brand names to create status and identity, navigating complex social dynamics alongside influences of femininity and sexuality.

What is the tripartite system?

The tripartite system was an educational structure established in the UK, dividing students into three different types of secondary schools based on their performance in the 11-plus exam

What are the parts of the tripartite system?

Grammar schools for academic students, secondary modern schools for those with average abilities, and technical schools for those suited to technical subjects.

What features of marketisation and the Education Reform Act are influenced by the New Right?

• Ofsted: Market-oriented policies aimed at increasing competition, accountability, and parental choice in education.

• League tables: A system designed to standardise education across schools, ensuring that all students receive a similar level of education in core subjects.

• National testing:

• Formula funding: A framework that sets out the subjects and content to be taught in schools, promoting a consistent education across the country.

• National Curriculum: A standardised curriculum aimed at providing a cohesive educational framework across all schools, ensuring that students learn the same core subjects regardless of location.

What are features of New Labour?

• Literacy and numeracy hours: Specially focused teaching hours designed to enhance basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics for primary school students.

• City academies: Schools set up with private sponsorship to provide greater flexibility in curriculum and management, often targeting underprivileged areas.

• EMA: (Education Maintenance Allowance), increased funding for schools, and initiatives to reduce class sizes.

• Sure Start: A program providing early education and support for children under five and their families, emphasising child development and parental involvement.

• Introduced tuition fees

• Specialist schools

What did the coalition government do?

• Forced academisation

• Free schools

• Reform of the national curriculum and exam system

• Pupil Premium

• Increased tuition to £9250

What did the conservative government do?

• Multi-academy trusts:

  • Are organisations that manage multiple academies, allowing for shared resources and governance across schools.

• Progress 8:

  • Is a measure of student progress from the end of primary to the end of secondary education, encouraging schools to focus on improving overall student outcomes.

• EBacc:

  • is a set of strict subject requirements for students to earn a qualification, emphasising academic subjects and preparing students for further education.

• T Levels:

  • Are new technical qualifications designed to equip students with practical skills and knowledge for specific industries.

What is globalisation?

• PISA rankings show Britain doesn’t fare well globally

• UK copies some ideas from successful countries e.g. free schools from Sweden, raising academic requirements of teachers from Finland, numeracy and literacy hours from China

• Students are now competing globally = stay in education longer

• Immigration = multi-cultural society = teaching of the 6 major world religions in RE

• Technology = iPads, computers etc in schools

• Global companies make a profit out of education e.g. Pearson who own Edexcel, the cola-isation of schools

What are the features of the Functionalist theory?

• Society is based on consensus

• Structural/ Macro

• Positivists/ Use of quantitative methods

What are the features of the Marxist theory?

• Society is based on conflict

• Structural/ Macro

• Positivists/ Use of quantitative methods

• There is conflict between the bourgeoise and proletariat

• Structural and humanistic

What are the features of Feminist theory?

• Society is based on conflict

• Structural/ Macro

• Use of qualitative methods

• Society is patriarchal

• Liberal, Marxist, Radical

What are the features of the social action theory?

• Action/ Micro

• Interpretivists/ Use of qualitative methods

• Symbols

What are the features of the late modernist theory?

• Society is a continuation of modernity

• Risk society

What are the features of the postmodernist theory?

• Diversity and choice

• Society is a break from modernity

What are the criticisms of Functionalism?

• Ignores gender inequality in society

• Ignores social class inequalities

• Take a rose-tinted view

• Is deterministic

• It is a meta-narrative?

What are the criticisms of Marxism?

• Ignores gender inequality in society

• Is deterministic

• Communism has not materialised and where it has, it has failed

• Class divisions are becoming less clear cut

• It is a meta-narrative

What are the criticisms of Feminism?

• Ignores social class inequalities

• Is deterministic

• Ignores the experiences of black/ working-class/ homosexual women

• It is a meta-narrative

What are the criticisms of late-modernism?

• Ignores gender inequality in society

• Ignores social class inequalities

• The source of risk is capitalism, not technology

What are the criticisms of the social action theory?

• Ignores gender inequality in society

• Ignores class inequalities

• Ignores the roles of structures in shaping behaviour e.g. social class

• Doesn’t explain where people get their meanings from

• It is a meta-narrative

What are the criticisms of postmodernism?

• Ignores gender inequality in society

• Ignores social class inequalities

• Exaggerates the extent of choice in society

Is sociology a science?

• Postivists: Durkheim. Sociology can use quantitative methods to establish social facts. ‘Le Suicide’. Process of verificationism

  • Start with a hypothesis and look for evidence to verify it

  • In sociology we might explain the social fact of educational failure in terms of another social fact such as material deprivation

• Kuhn: Science has gone through paradigm shifts:

  • Pre-science:

    • Period of discovery where there was no central paradigm

  • Normal science:

    • Where scientists used an established paradigm, like the theory of evolution, to support theories

  • Revolutionary science:

    • Where the paradigms are challenged. Sociology is a young science that still needs to find its unifying theory

Why isn’t sociology a science?

• It is not falsifiable- Popper:

  • Science seeks to falsify hypotheses rather than verify them (what positivists use)

  • Marxism, as an example, cannot be a science because a lot of its claims are unfalsifiable, e.g. false class consciousness

• The subject matter of sociology is different to that of science:

  • Sociology = People with consciousness and free will

  • Science = Matter that has no consciousness

  • Interpretivists: Not appropriate to use the scientific method. Instead should use qualitative methods to gain verstehen and understand meaning e.g. Atkinson meanings coroners attach to deaths/suicide

Why should sociology be value free?

• Positivists – should be objective. Sociologists should work in the same way as other scientists – observe, measure, classify and test and as a result construct theories and ‘social facts’. Theories can then be constructed and tested (peer-reviewed) by other researchers. Comte & Durkheim - both share the view that a better society can be produced by studying it in an objective, value-free, scientific & systematic manner. Durkheim argued that sociology could be as objective as the natural sciences as long as it studied social facts. In Le Suicide, he attempted to establish the social facts that motivated people to take their own lives.​

  • They argue that the sociologists’ job is to uncover ‘truths’ & ‘laws’ of society that govern its proper functioning. Preferring objectivity & value-freedom meant, Comte & Durkheim argue that the sociologist is free from values & bias & thus in a perfect position to suggest what is best for society.​

• Quantitative research methods such as questionnaires, structured interviews and the use of official statistics. Such methods are objective to positivists because they are untainted by personal opinion and preference and simply count what exists, prior to the research, in the social world. ​

  •  O’Connell, Davidson and Layder (1994), personal biases and political opinions of researchers are irrelevant, provided that the research is well designed and there is no attempt to distort or alter the findings.​

Why shouldn’t sociology be value free?

• Interpretivists – should be value-laden.​

  • Funding of research, career trajectories and personal beliefs and interests mean sociology cannot be value-free and it is a mistake to see it as such. ​

  • Even Durkheim was motivated to conduct his research as a result of the death of a friend. ​

• Committed sociology – values should not only influence research but should be used to change society. (Marxists and radical feminists). Howard Becker argued that sociology should always be on the side of the underdog – the powerless.​

Why should sociology influence social policy?

• Arguing that patriarchy can be changed gradually, through legislation, Liberal Feminists, e.g. Betty Friedan, argue that Sociologists SHOULD try to influence social policy; they point to ground-breaking legislation such as the Equal Pay Act (1970), the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) and the Marital Rape Act (1991) as evidence of Liberal Feminism influencing social policy in Britain.​

• Social democratic view or Third Way.​

  • Giddens’ Third Way is reflected in Labour’s social policy. In their first year in government, they set up the Social Exclusion Unit to find solutions to the problem of exclusion. The Unit was directly responsible to the Cabinet and it attempted to ensure that all policies were part of a coordinated strategy to deal with social exclusion. Labour’s policy to reduce poverty focused on the largest group in poverty: low-paid workers and their dependent children. ​

Why shouldn’t sociology influence social policy?

• The New Right - against sociologists making social policy recommendations as they believe that the state should have a minimal involvement in social problems. They stress individual responsibility instead. Murray maintains that providing generous welfare (as favoured by sociologists such as Townsend) as a social policy solution for poverty actually makes the problem worse. This is because he believes it creates a dangerous underclass, who become dependent on welfare.​

• Marxists and radical feminists. More needed than social policy. Patriarchy/ capitalism needs dismantling.​

  • They believe that if sociologists encourage more benefits this will only serve to reduce class solidarity. This is because they believe that welfare ‘buys off’ the working class and prevents them from realising their true class interests. ​

What are the practical issues?

• Time and money

• Personal skills and characteristics

• Funding bodies

• Research opportunity

• Subject matter

What are the ethical issues?

• Informed consent

• Effects on participants

• Immoral/ illegal activities

• Vulnerable groups

• Confidentiality and privacy

What are the theoretical issues?

• Methodological perspective: positivist or interpretivist

• Reliability

• Representativeness

• Validity