Theories of education

What is the role of education in Functionalism according to Durkheim?

Education prepares us for work by providing specialist skills and creates social solidarity through value consensus.

• social solidarity- standing up for each other

• value consensus- agreement on what is important

evaluation of ‘social solidarity through value consensus’

although schools may provide values to us they are not consistently adopted and many people will not feel part of the greater whole (school shootings)

evaluation of ‘special skills for work’

schools only provide students with subject knowledge and some social skills but they fall a long way short of providing all the specialist skills for work

How does Parsons describe education?

Parsons describes education as a bridge between the family and wider society.

• the family teaches particularistic values through primary socialisation- everyone is unique

• in wider society, we are a collective who have universalistic values due to secondary socilisation

education is meritocratic- everyone is fair and has equal chances- individual achievement (own work) and equal opportunity (same exams)

society in minature- eduction is a practice on a small scale for the real world- we can make mistakes without being harmed

evaluation for education as a bridge

process can have negative effects as it removes individualism so reduces creativity and innovation

evaluation for education being a meritocracy

people do not have equal chances shown by differences in educational achievement for different groups- social class, ethncity, gender

evaluation for education is society in miniature

likely right that education allows us to practice skills we will need for the world of work, however it is not always a safe environment, some people fail at school and are not given additional chances

Davis and Moore and education

• role allocation is the idea that through education we are given the jobs that best suit our abilities

• sifted and sorted into roles that best suit us based on ability

• most important jobs are best rewarded to motivate people

evaluation for davis and moore

role allocation does not value all jobs despite some being being essential

marxists argue best jobs go to the bourgeoisie not the people who are actually most suitable

marxism view of education

an institution that socialisies people into accepting ruling class ideology

louis althussser, education

ISA- ideological state apparatus that seeks to control your thinking so you believe the capitalist is economy is fair and acceptable rather than being forced into believing it

• reproduction- education fails each new generation of working class students s they achieve the poorest grades and can only access the worst jobs

• legitimisation- education slowly socialises us into accepting that something unfair is fair so justifies the capitalist system. people who fail at school are seen as responsible for their failure even though this is really the fault of the system

bowles and gintis, hidden curriculum and correspondence principle

hidden curriculum is knowlege students learn that is not on formal curriculum e.g. obey authority, work hard. this is how we are taught to support capitalism

correspondence principle- shcool is mirror for workplace

• obey authority of teacher- boss

• heirachy of school- business

• rewards and sanctions- promotion/demotion

new right view of education

a low standard, ineffiecient- lacks competiton and choice.

solution is to introduce marketization- making education like a business

solutions of the new right

parentocracy- give power to parents to choose schools. league tables show evidence of schools, as do OFSTED reports. (open enrolment)

power to schools- perfomance related pay encourages staff to work hard to improve results. formula funding- more students= more money, encourages schools to be good to get more students to come so they get more money

evaluation of marketization solution, new right

studenrs from w/c backrgounds cannot pay to travel to anotehr school so don’t really have a choice

selection by mortgage- w/c families pushed away from best schools as area is more expensive

sink schools- undersubscribed schools struggle on with the worst teachers and the lowest standards