EDUCATION KEY SOCIOLOGISTS
FUNCTIONALISM
DURKHEIM - socialisation, society needs a sense of solidarity, without it, society would be impossible as each member would only pursue their own selfish desires. History instils a sense of shared heritage and commitment to the wider social group. Education operates as a ‘society in miniature’ and we need to learn to cooperate with people who aren’t our family or friends with impersonal rules
PARSONS - education operates as the ‘focal socialising agency’, the family has particularistic values vs the shools universalistic, it preps the move from family to wider society
DURKHEIM - each person must have the necessary specialist knowledge and skills, needed to play a role in the social division of labour. They teach skills, the pass and fail at school through individual efforts like promoted/fired at a job (meritocracy) Meritocracy best perpetuated through human capital/workers skills
DAVIS AND MOORE - role allocation, relations between education and social inequality, inequality is necessary to ensure the most talented people get the most important roles, sifts and sorts according to ability. Most able gain the highest qualification and are highly rewarded by society
SCHULTZ - developing human capitals, investing in education benefits the wider economy, to Schultz human capital was the acquiring of all the useful skills and knowledge needed for a deliberate investment/ Education is an investment in human capital that people make to have access to better paying jobs, less time spent unemplyed by speeding the transition to a desired career
BUT - (DENNIS AND WRONG) - meritocratic but the inequalities that exist due to class, gender and ethnicity challenge this (BOWLES AND GINTIS) - children of the wealthy and powerful obtain high qualifications and well rewarded jobs irrespective of their abilities (myth of meritcracy), those denied success blame themselves rather than the system, inequality in society is thus legitimated and made to appear fair
NEW RIGHT
CHUBB AND MOE - argue that the reason why US private schools do better is becasue the schools were answerable to paying parent, the more the public school system would follow this model, the better the schools would become, thus conservative governments introduced exam results tables, ofsted ratings, formula funding
MARXISM
ALTHUSSER - education is an example of an ISA (control ideas, values and beliefs)
MARX - education prmotes ruling class values, justifies and reproduces class inequality, meritocracy is a myth and education fails the working class by reproducing and legitimating class inequality, highlighting that their inferior place is inevitable, reproduces the need for capitalism without the ned for force which would expose them as being corrupt and oppressive
BOWLES AND GINTIS - ‘schooling in Capitalist America’ (1976), argue that the education system reproduces an obedient workforce that accepts inequality, found that they reward personality traits that show obedience, they dont reward creativity or independence, studied 237 NYC schools, education reflects the needs of capitalism it gives pupils the skills and attitudes needed to make them good and obedient workers, there is a direct correspondence between school and work (alienation, heirarchy, competition and division, rewards external to work, lack of control, extrinsic motivation, levelling, labelling
WILLIS (1997) - studied 12 working class lads, formed a group together that considered themselves above those who conform, called those who conformed ‘earoles’, formed a subculture, allowed them to cope with boring dead end jobs (like school and dont take it too seriously) but they were found to be bd at their jobs as people disliked their attitudes
BOURDEIU - (just inspired by marx, not a marxist), economic capital, cultural capital, and educational capital, at the centre of the process is habitus which is ‘a set of perceptions, appreciations and actions’ which are internalisd by the child, largely through interactions with parents (thus habitus differs according to class)
FEMINISM
HEATON AND LAWSON - the hidden curriculum taught patriachal values in school, they noted: traditional family structures in textbooks, subjects aimed towards specific genders, gender divisions in PE/sport and gender divisions of labour in schools
STANWORTH - there were 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
BANYARD - sexual harassment in education is not treated as seriously as other forms of bullying
SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATION (EXTERNAL)
JESSON AND GRAY - 1991 Nottinghamshire study revealed that half of the pupils recieving FSM had low GCSE scores as opposed to one sixth of pupils who did not qualify for FSM
BERNSTEIN - elaborated and restricted codes, m/c can have access to both, w/c only have restricted but teachers often only speak in elaborated and exam papers are often written in elaborated code
DOUGLAS - ‘the home and the school’, working class less likely to stay on at schools whilst more affluent students are more likley to stay to take A levels, related educational sucess to students health, size of family, quality of schools,
SUGARMAN - working class socialisation focuses on present time orientation and immediate gratification and are more focused on collectivisim (parents involved in trade unions) than individual achievement, middle class occupations provide more opportunity for advancement so used to deferred gratification
REAY - used the concept of ‘cultural capital’, it is mothers who make cultural capital work for their kids, middle class mothers have the knowledge skills to help their kids more effectively with homework, can negotiate with teachers for the benefit for their kids, can afford domestic help and pay for private tutors
BALL, BOWE AND GERWITZ - three types of parents who select their skills for their students, use school league tables, open enrolment, opportunities for students from different social groups, shift in emphasis from student needs to student performance, three types of choosers are: skilled/priviliged choosers (strong motivation and skills to fight for the best school, money to move to catchment areas/private schools), semi-skilled choosers (strong motivation but little ability to engage with the market, lack social contacts and cultural skills, less likely to appeal) and disconnected choosers (not involved, don’t see school as important, more concerned with happiness than performance)
JENSEN AND EYSENCK - found that identical twins raised in different environments had very similar IQs
DOUGLAS - ‘Home and the school’,material deprivation has a cumulative effect on achievement
DOUGLAS - most important factor in education is parent’s interest
EVANS - m/c mothes are more knowledgable about early years development
SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATION (INTERNAL)
BECKER - ideal pupil is white, middle class, female
BALL - beachside comprehensive, three bands were established, band 1 was given a positive label (middle class) then bands 2 and 3 negative label (mixed and manual backgrounds) saw that band 1 warmed to education and did well in education but bands 2 and 3 cooled down and underperformed
GILBORN AND YOUDELL - argue that schools perform a triage, categorising pupils into 1) those who will achieve anyway and dont require too much input 2) hopeless cases (waste of efforts) and 3) borderline cases who will require some effort to pass, they linked this pressure on schools to maintain their position on league tables and the published A*-C rate. Therefore this could be seen as a connection between education policies and processes within school such as labelling
CICOUREL AND KITUSE - guidance counsellors classified students into future carerrs based partly on social class
LACEY - differentation ( teachers categorise pupils students based off of percieved ability) and polarisation (pupils response to streaming by moving to opposing ‘poles’, pro/anti school subcultures)
WOODE - 8 subcultures students join (from pro to anti school) ingration, compliance, opportunism, ritualism, retreatism, colonisation, intransgence, rebellion
ARCHER - w/c students would need to change how they talked and presented themselves in order to gain symbolic capital from the school, those who don’t are devalued and judged negatively, eg the NIKE IDENTITIES, students wish to obtain symbolic capital and this gives a sense of ‘being me’, as w/c students see higher education as unrealistic and desirable
RAMSEY - truanting is a protest against pressure
ROSENTHAL AND JACOBSON - (pygmalion in the classroom) selected a random sample of 20% of the student population and informed teachers that these students could be expected to achieve rapid intellectual development (spurters), they on average gained more IQ than the other 80% and on their report cards teachers belived these groups had made greater advances in reading
HARGREAVES - (deviance in the classroom) analysed the ways students can be labelled, focusing on how teachers ‘got to know their students’, Hargreaces idenitifed three stages of classification (specualtion, elaboration, stabilisation), this speculation stage involved seven main criteria (their appearance, how far they conformed to discipline, their ability and ethusiasm for work, how likeable they were, their relationship with other children)
RIST - (research into one american kindergarten) new students were grouped into three tables, one for the more able and one for the less able, this occured on the eighth day of their school careers, teachers made this judgement based on appearance (eg neat and tidy) amd whether they were known to have come from an educated, middle class family
ETHNICITY AND EDUCATION (EXTERNAL):
STRAND - white british and black caribbean students, both boys and girls are the lowest achievers of all students,
HASTINGS - white pupils make less progress between the ages of 11-16 compared with black or asian pupils, if current trends continue then white pupils will become the lowest performing ethnic group in the UK
BOWKER - ‘education of coloured immigrants’, a lack of standard english creates a barrier to UK education
BEREITER AND ENGLMANN - suggests the language spoken in low-income black american families is inadequate for educational success
MURRAY - African Carribbean lone-parenthood is to blame, lack of male role model means that mothers struggle to socialise kids adequately, often matrilocal
SCROTON - low achievement is the result of the result of ethnic minorities failing to embrace and confrom to british culture
PRYCE - blsck sociologists, argues that asian pupils achieve higher because their culture is more resistant to racism, this is becasue of the differing impact of colonialism on the two groups, in particular black people experienced transportation and slavery which led to the loss of their religion, language and family system. Thus some black pupils have low self esteem and underachieve by contrast asian languages, religion and family structures remain intact, increasing their self-worth
SEWELL - does not agree that absent fathers are the problem for black boys, Instead, the problem is a lack of ‘tough love’, firm, fair, respectful and non-abusive discipline, boys turn to street gangs for role models, leads to peer pressure to be ‘anti-school’ and thus wanting to do well in education was seen as ‘selling out’, this can be overcome by raising the aspirations of black boys vying for having greater expectations of them
ARNOT - suggests the media have created a negative anti school role model, for black pupils in particular which he describes as ‘the ultra tough ghetto superstar’ reinforced through rap lyrics and MTV videos
DRIVE AND BALLARD - asian families bring educational benefits such as poitice attitudes towards education and high aspirations for the future
LUPTON - adult authority in asiain families is similar to the modl that operates in schools (eg expectations of respect towards adults)
LUPTON - this lower level of aspiration in white w/c families and achivement may be due to a lack of parental support
EVANS - street culture in white w/c areas is to blame for underachievement
DRIVER - cultural deprivation highlights how ethnicity can be an advantage in education, eg Afro-Caribbean girls do very well in school
LAWRENCE - underachievement is not due to low self esteem its due to racism
KEDDIE - says that to blame culture is to blame the victims of educational failure
PALMER - almos thalf of all ethnic minority children live in low income households
SWANN REPORT - social lass differences account for a high proportion of differencs in achievement between ethnic groups
WOOD ET AL - set identical letters to 100 top UK companies but alternated between the names ‘Evans’ and ‘Patel’ and found that the replies to the white individual were more helpful and informative
MASON - discrimination is a continuing, persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s Ethnic Miorties
BURGESS - said white british students benefit from larger numbers of students from EM, notably london and birmingham
ETHNICITY AND EDUCATION (INTERNAL)
GILLBORN AND MIRZA - it is the actions of schools and not cultural background which causes EM underachievement (eg in one LEA black pupils were the highest achievers at the start of primary but were the worst by GCSE - culture doesn’t change but school does)
GILLBORN AND YOUDELL - teachers have a negative, racialised, expectations of black pupils, more likely to be seen as a threat, report feelings of being underestimated or picked on more, more likely to be excluded or isolated, limiting access to the curriculum
FOSTER - black pupils are more likely to be streamed low due to negative perceptions of behaviour and ability
WRIGHT - asian culture is regarded as inferior by teachers, they assume asian pupils suffere from language barriers, pupils feel isolated when teachers express disapproval of their culture when names are mispronounced
FULLER - black girls accept negative stereotypes but channel their anger to pursue education, sucess, only coformed as far as schoolwork was concerned
ARCHER - three types of pupil identity: ideal pupil (white, middle class, masculinised identity and heterosexual, achieve the ‘right way’ through natural ability and iniative) pathologised identity (an asian, deserving poor, feminised identity either asexual or with an oppressed sexuality, plodding, conformist, culture bound over achievers succeeding throug hard work, not natural ability) and the demonised identity (white, black, w/c, hypersexualised, unintelligent, peer led, culturally deprived underachiever
MAC AN GHAILL - asian girls commited themselves to academic success to prove teachers wrong
MIRZA - three types of teachers (colour blind, liberal chauvinists and overt racists), avoid these teachers (especially girls) but this cuts off access to education which leads to underachievement
SEWELL - variety of boys responses, rebellion, conformity, retreatism or innovation
ROITHMAYR - (critical race theorist) instiutional racism is a ‘locked in inequality’, the scale of historical discrimination is so large that there is no longer any conscious intent to discrimate, the inequality is self-perpetuating and it feeds on itself
GILBORN - applies critical race theory to education sees ethnic inequality as ‘so deeply rooted and so large that it is practically an inevitable feature of the education system’
GILBORN - marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about schools admissions
MOORE AND DAVENPORT - they show how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation with EM’s failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination, eg primary school reports were used to ‘screen out pupils with language difficulties while the application process was difficult for non-english speaking parents to understand that selection leads to an ethnically stratified education system
COMISSION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY - noticed that racism in school admissions procedures meant that EMS were more likely to end up in unpopualr schools
TROYNA AND WILLIAMS - note the meagre provisions for teaching asian languages as compared with European languages
DAVID - describes the national curriculum as ‘specifically british’ that largely ignored non european languages
BALL - criticises the national curriculum for ignoring ethnic diversity and for promoting an attitude of ‘little englandism’, such as trying to recreate a ;mythical age of empire of past glories’
COARD - explains how the ethnocentric curriculum may produce underachievement, eg in history the British may be presented as bringing civilisation to the ‘primitive’ people they colonised, the image of black people as inferior undermines black kids self esteem which leads to failure, however while the curriculum may ignore Asian Culture indian and chinese achievement is still above the national average
STONE - black kids do not suffer from low self esteem
GILBORN - argues that ‘the assessment game’ is rigged to validate the dominant culture’s superiority. If black kids succeed as a group the rules will be changed to re-engineer failure, eg in the past schools used ‘baseline assessments’ which tested pupils when they started schooling. This was replaced in 2003 with the foundation stage profile (FSP), thus overnight black pupils now appeared to be doing worse than white pupils. In one LEA where black kids in 2000 had been on the highest achievers on entry to school (20% above the average) but the FSP meant that black kids ranked lower across all 6 developmental areas (now based on teacher judgements and FSP was at the end of the school year, baseline at the start)
SANDERS AND HORN - found that where more weighting was given to assessments by teachers, rather than written exams the gap between the different ethnic groups widened
GILBORN - official statistics show that white people are over 2x as likely as black caribeans to be identified as gifted and 5x as likely as black african students
TIKKEY ET AL - found that in 30 schools in ‘aiming high’ black people were more likely to be entered for lower tier exams and streamed in lower sets
GILBORN AND YOUDELL - secondary schools are increasignly using IQ tests to stream on entry
SEWELL - argues that racism is no enough to prevent success, instead focusing on external factors
GILBORN - argues the image of a ‘model minority’ performs an ideological function, hiding institutional racism (makes the system appear fair and meritocratic, justifies failures of other minorities, ignores racism that still occurs)
EVANS - ethnicity, class and gender are linked
CONNOLLYS - pupils and teachers construct masculinity differently depending on ethnicity (asian boys are passive, non conformist)
GENDER AND EDUCATION
FRANCIS - interviewed girls about their career aspirations and concluded that due to increased employment opportunities women have become extremely ambitious and aim for high professions such as doctors and solicitors
SHARPE - changing female aspiration, changing attitude to typical mum/woman job roles, survey in 1976 had ‘love, marriage, children, jobs, careers’ in that order but in 1994 at the top of the list was job, career and being able to support themselves overall
O’CONNOR - marriage and kids is no longer a major life plan
BECK AND GERNSHEIN - individualisations means value is placed on achievement and self-sufficiency
FULLER - education is now central to identity
FRANCIS AND SKELTON - both primary and secondary students now see their career as relfecting their identity and a necessity for future fulfilment, money women are now looking forward to jobs that require degree level qualifications
MCROBBIE - magazines such as ‘Jackie’ in the 1970s emphasised the importance of getting married whereas nowadays priorities have changed and women are given more positive role models in the media
WEINER - teachers have changed their stereotypes since the 1960s and books reinforce how books have been made more fair (eg removing sexist imagery)
BEST AND ABRAHAM - women continue to be presented as passive and used in a narrow range of jobs (domestic) while men are portrayed as active (running a business)
MCROBBIE - bedroom culture, girls are liekly to be encouraged into educational hobbies ay home such as reading and crafts where boys are more likely to be encouraged into sports and outdoor hobbies, girls also under stricter controls from parents (fear over being victims of crimes) thereofre they are more likely to socialise with friends at home rather than in public spaces, means girls may develop a larger vocab and be more accustomed to sitting at desks etc, later leading them to succesfully embody the ‘ideal pupil’
REAY - ambitions are linked to opportunities avilable
BIGGART - w/c girls more likely to view motherhood as an option
MITSOS AND BORWN - suggests that globalisation and the decline of traditional mens jobs has led to a ‘crisis of masculinity’ and manual working class jobs have declined
SEWELL - education has become more feminised, education does not nurture masculine traits of competitivness and leadership and the achievement causes boys to underachive as well as coursework, need a greater focus on outdoor activity and more exams
FRANCIS - two thirds of 7/8 year olds do not think that the gender of the teacher matters
READ - two types of discourse, disciplinarian (shouting, exasperation, sarcasm) and liberal (speak to kids as adults, child centered), first is associated with masculinity, second femininity but most just fabour disciplinarian
HASSE - schools ‘masculinised’ structure is dominated by women
JONES - leadership, 1 in 4 men and 1 in 3 women
EPSTEIN - construction of ‘laddish subcultures; in school, w/c boys labelled as sissies/gay if appear to be swots (real boys dont work)
FRANCIS - boys see schoolwork as effeminate, reject school to avoid being called gay, increase in laddish subcultures due to more girls in masculine areas
RINGROSE - moral panic bout boys, they are creating an unemployable underclass (threat to social stability), new policy move to raise boys achievement, policies for boys ignore class disadvantage and ignores issues that girls face in school
MCVEIGH - gender differences not as great as class or ethnic differences
CONNOLLY - some class, gender, ethnicity combinations have more of an effect than others
ARCHER - conflict between w/c girls identity and the ethos of the school, instead they focus on the hyper-heterosexual feminine identity, focus on a boyfriend and being loud
MITSOS AND BROWN - teachers have lower expectations of boys and are less likely to be disciplined for minor infractions
JACKSON - teacher expectations of boys lower due to laddish behaviour, notably w/c
FRANCIS - boys dominate space whilst girls are more reserved
FRANCIS - school is male dominated as boys are given more negative attention
SKELTON ET AL - girls are drawn towards feminine subjects where they can form bonds with female teachers
EPSTEIN ET AL - confroming or gaining teacher approval is seen as being against hegemonic masculinity and subject to homophobic abuse
WARD - not all students conform to stereotypes, boys particualrly were more likely to be excluded or underachieve
FRANCIS - girls are encouraged to develop academic identities by the school, girls peer groups have moer co-operationa and collaboration when it comes to schoolwork
CONNOLLY - found that literacy differences were consistent between social classes, highlighting gender as a key factor
MARSH AND WARSHBROOK - boys were betwwen 6-12% more likely to be below standard required than girls at 5,7,11
MITSOS AND BROWNE - suggests that girls perform better on standardised assessments as they understand the lamguage
GORARD - improvements in girls achievement since the introduction of coursework is linked to better literacy skills
BARBER - boys overestimate their ability and girls underestimate
EVANS - interviewed w/c girls in south london comprehensives, girls wanted to goto Uni to earn more money to help their families
SKEGGS - working class girls identity focus on caring, often live at home due to cost
GENDER AND SUBJECT CHOICE
COLLEY - arts and humanities are portrayed as feminine and STEM as masculine despite changes to subject images
PAETCHER - sports are still seen as masculine
MITSOS - subjects are assosciated with gender identities (reading seen as feminised)
FRANCIS - boys monopolise technical equipment in science, constructions of masculinity as boys were steered away from ‘feminised’ subjects by peer groups
JACKSON - laddish behaviours, anti-school attitudes and competivness are present regardless of class
FRANCIS - backlash is a response to feminism and political correctness
GESHUNNY - gender socialisation fails to equip boys with the skills for 21st century society
OAKLEY - gender is the learbed cultural differences between males and females, primary socialisation shapes gender identity
NORMAN - girls and boys are dressed differently, given different toys, encouraged to take part in different activities, boys are meant to be active, girls rewarded for being passive
BYRNE - teachers encourage boys to be tough and to show initiative, girls are expected to be quiet and not rough/noisy thus boys and girls develop different tasks in reading
MURPHY AND ELWOOD - these tastes inform subject choices, eg diiferent tastes in reading, prefer hobby books and information texts (boys) and girls prefer book about people (english based)
BROWNE AND ROSS - children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ are shaped by their early experiences and expectations of adults
MURPHY - girls and boys pay attention to different details when tackling the same task, boys focus on how things work and girls on people
KELLY - science, boys subject choice (male teacher, textbooks, boys dominate)
COLLEY - IT is a boys subjecy, machines are in the male domain and its formal and abstract
LEONARD - girls are more likely to take maths and science a levls and boys english and languages at single sex schools
DEWAR - sporty girls seen as ‘lesbian’
SOCIAL POLICY
BENN - contradiction between labours policies to tackle inequality and its commitment to marketisation, called it the ‘new labour paradox’
GERWITZ - skilled, semi skilled and unskilled choosers
BALL - only appears to be a choice but actually choice is dictated by cultural/economic capital (myth of meritocracy)
GERWITZ - middle class can take advantage
LEECH AND CAMPOS - m/c can afford to move closer to better schools, parentocracy appears to make the system fair but its a myth
CHUBB AND MOE - (consumer choice) compared the achievements of 60k pupils from low income backgrounds in 1015 state and private schools in the USA, data shows that pupils from low income families do about 5% better in private schools, thus state education is not meritocratic, and parents cant do anything about it as the school in asnwerable to the state, their solution is to use a voucher system making schools answerable to parents
ALLEN - argues that research from Sweden, where 20% of schools are free schools, shows that they only benefit kids from highly educated families
BUCKINGHAM AND SCANlON - Uk’s 4 leading educational software companies are global (Disney, Mattell, Hambro and Vivendi)
MOLNAR - schools are targeted by private companies becasue schools by their nature carry enormous goodwill and thus can confer legitimacy on anything assosciated with them
BALL - a cadbury’s sports equipment promotion was scrapped after it was revealed that students would have to eat 5,440 chocolate bars to qualify for a set of free volleyball posts
BEDER - UK families spent 110k in Tesco supermarkets in return for a single computer for schools in return for a single computer for schools
STONE - black kids don’t fail due to a lack of self-esteem
BALL AND WHITTY - marketisation reproduces inequlaity and bad schools get worse
DAVID - marketisation encourages diversity in schools, giving parents more choices and raises standards
BARTLETT - cream skimming and silt shifting occurs due to the existence of league tables
LEECH AND CAMPOS - middle class parents can afford to move into catchemnt areas of more desirable schools
HALL - conservative principles are ‘the long march to the neoliberal revolution’
BALL - argues that promoting academies and free schools has led to both increased fragmentation and an increased centralisation of control of education provision in England
BALL - fundamental change is occuring, policy is increasingly focused on moving education services out of the public sector and to the nation state, to be provided by private companies
POLLACK - notes the flow of personnel allows companies to provider insider knowledge and gain contracts
GILBORN - marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions
MOORE AND DAVENPORT - they show how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation with EM pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination. EG primary schools reports were used to ‘screen out’ pupils with language difficulties while the application process was difficult for non-english speaking parents to understand which meant that selection leads to an enthnically stratified education system
COMISSION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY (1995) - noticed that racism in school admissions procedures meant that EM kids are more likely to end up in unpopular schools due to individual racism and institutional racism