Done: View
Lesson Outcomes:
Understand the role and functions of the education system, including its relationship to the economy and to class structure
Functionalist and new right explanations of the role and functions of the education system, e.g. in relation to social solidarity,
skills teaching, meritocracy, selection and role allocation
Marxist explanations of the role and functions of the education system, e.g. in relation to ideological state apparatuses,
reproduction of social class inequality, legitimation of social class inequality.
Education in Society
Video 15 mins
The study of education is an examination and understanding of how educational institutions are structured and how education plays a part in
the process of socialisation.
What’s your opinion?
How useful is the material children learn in schools?
What should the balance be between skills and knowledge in schools ?
How well equipped are young people after going through education?
Post your thoughts on the forum!!
Video 15 mins
Education in England
The Conservative Education Act 1902 (also ‘Balfour’s Act’) introduced radical changes to the entire educational system of England and
Wales. It weakened the divide between schools run by school boards and church schools. Local Education Authorities were established,
which were able to set local tax rates, and the school boards were disbanded
The Fisher Education Act 1918 made secondary education compulsory up to age 14 and gave responsibility for secondary schools to the
state
The Education Act of 1944 was an answer to surging social and educational demands created by the war and the widespread demands
for social reform. The Education Act 1944, relating to England and Wales, was authored by Conservative Rab Butler. Known as “the Butler
Act”, it defined the modern split between primary education and secondary education at age 11
In 1964, preparations had begun to raise the school leaving age to 16, to be enforced from 1 September 1973 onwards
In 2013 the Education and Skills Act 2008 came into force. This requires all young people in England to stay on in education or training, at
least part-time, until they are 17 years old, with this extended to 18 years in 2015.
The main reasons behind the expansion of education include the opinion that with increased education comes increased wealth for the country.
It was also believed that schooling would encourage a shared set of values and beliefs in young people and that the population would become
better equipped to make educated decisions, such as voting. By educating everyone in the same system, it was thought that everyone would
gain the same opportunities and would be able to escape from the poverty that many previous generations had experienced.
Video 15 mins
What’s your opinion?
Do you think education should be compulsory up to the age of 18? Or do you think the Scottish model is better where pupils can leave school at
the age of 16?
The Functionalist View on Education
Functionalist see society as being essentially harmonious. They argue that for society to survive and grow, everyone needs to share the same
values. Without these shared values and norms society would fall apart. Education is seen as performing a positive function by socialising new
members into societal norms. Functionalism is a conservative view of society.
What’s your opinion?
What positive impacts do you think education can have?
Video 15 mins
Functionalist Approach
1. Solidarity and Skills
EMIL DURKHIM (1903)
Durkheim outlined a number of basic ideas concerning the role of the education system that were to be picked-up and developed by later
Functionalist writers such as Parsons, Davis and Moore.
Durkheim’s basic position was that the education system should be seen as an agency of secondary socialisation. While the family is an agency
of primary socialisation, the education system is an institution that “broadens the individual’s experience” of the social world. It prepares people
for adult role relationships.
Durkheim saw the major function of education as the transmission of society’s norms and values from one generation to the next.
This is necessary to produce social solidarity. This is where individual members of society feel that they belong to a community much
bigger than themselves.
The school is a society in miniature. In school, the child learns to interact with other members of the school community and to follow a
fixed set of rules. This experience prepares the child for interacting with members of society as an adult and accepting social rules.
Teaching specialist skills
Durkheim argues that individuals must be taught specialist skills so that they can take their place within a highly complex division of
labour in which people have to cooperate to produce items.
Video 15 mins
2. Socialisation and Meritocracy
TALCOTT PARSONS (1961)
Parsons argues that school performs two major functions for society.
1. Through the process of socialisation, education acts as a bridge between the family and wider society. When in a family environment, children
are judged on standards that may only apply within that particular family setting. However, in wider society, the individual is judged against
standards which apply equally to all members of society. For example, laws apply to all equally.
Parsons stated that education helps to ease these transitions. The exam system judges all pupils on merit, and school rules, such as wearing
uniform, are applied to all pupils equally.
2. Education helps to socialise young people into the basic values of society. For example, schools teach children the value of achievement and
that everyone achieves through merit. They also teach the value of equality of opportunity for every student to achieve their full potential. This
is based on a meritocratic view of society where success and failure are based on merit.
Video 15 mins
3. Role Allocation
Davis and Moore (1945)
Davis and Moore see education as a means of role allocation. The education system sifts and sorts people according to their abilities. The most
talented gain high qualifications which lead to functionally important jobs with high rewards.
This will lead to inequalities in society, but this is quite natural and even desirable in capitalist societies because there is only a limited amount of
talent. These talented few need to be persuaded to make a sacrifice (by staying on in education rather than earning a wage) and society
therefore offers incentives through the promise of greater rewards, such as higher salaries.
Video 15 mins
Evaluation of Functionalist Theory
School performs positive functions for most pupils. In England exclusion and truancy rates are very low.
Those with degrees earn 85% more than those without degrees, supporting the theory of role allocation.
Through a number of policies introduced over the years, it can be argued that education is more skills focused allowing children to access
vocational courses.
It goes without saying, that although not perfect, the current education system is a lot fairer that the system in place in the 19th century.
Criticisms of Functionalist Theory
Marxists would argue that the values shared in education are not those shared by all society but by the ruling class. Marxists would also
argue that a meritocracy does not exist and that functionalist views ignore social divides. It assumes that everyone has equal access to
education with the same opportunities and ignores the existence of private education.
Functionalist focus very much on the positive aspects of education and ignore any negative aspects. With regards to socialisation, the
theories don’t take onto account the fact the we now live in a multicultural society where not everyone shares the same values. In
addition, interactionists would argue that not all pupils passively accept the school’s values as some reject and rebel against them.
With regards to skills provision, it can be argued that schools are not teaching the correct skills and that the balance between skills and
knowledge is skewed. Vocational courses are still seen by many to be low status and not as worthwhile as more academic pursuits.
Marxist View on Education
Marxism is a conflict view that sees society as being based on class divisions and exploitation. Marxist argue that societies are dominated by a
ruling class. This ruling class are in control of the wealth of a society which allows them to control the economic base. The Marxist views states
that social institutions, such as education, play a role in the exploitation of the working class.
What’s your opinion?
Do you think current society undervalues the culture of the working class?
Video 15 mins
Marxist Approach
1. Ideological State Apparatus
LOUIS ALTHUSR (1971)
Althusser sees the education system as part of the ideological state apparatus. He claims that education, along with other ideological state
apparatuses such as the family and the mass media, reproduce class-based inequalities by creating the belief that capitalism is somehow
normal, natural and just.
This is achieved though:
The repressive state apparatus (RSA) which is where the state may use force to subdue and repress the working class through the police,
courts and army.
The ideological state apparatus (ISA) where the state controls people’s values and beliefs through education, religion and the media.
The effect of this is the reproduction of the class system as the sons and daughters of the working class tend to remain working class. This can
affect people’s life chances for generations.
The education system, according to Althusser, also legitimises inequality convincing people that failure is inevitable and is the fault of the
individual rather than the system they find themselves in.
Cultural Capital
PIRR BOURDIU (1977)
Like other Marxists, Bourdieu argues that the main function of education is to reproduce and legitimise ruling class culture and power. Another
important function of education is to socialise the working class into a culture of failure so that they take up, without question, routine and dull
work.
Video 15 mins
Correspondence Theory
Bowles and Gintis (1976)
Correspondence theory is the idea that the norms and values pupils learn in school, correspond to the norms and values which will make it easy
for future capitalist employers to exploit them at work.
Video 15 mins
The Hidden Curriculum
As well as the formal curriculum (Maths, English, Geography etc) schools also teach norms and values to their students. This is known as the
hidden curriculum.
Examples of norms and values taught are being punctual to lessons, dressing smartly in school uniform, working hard to achieve your best and
receiving rewards for those efforts. It is called the hidden curriculum because there are no formal lessons on these values.
Neo-Marxist Theories
Learning to Labour
Willis challenges the over-deterministic nature of much of Bowles and Gintis’swork, which sees schools producing docile and compliant
workers. Pupils can create a counter-culture and rebel against school values, however, the outcome is the same in that anti-school behaviour
leads to fewer opportunities for pupils when they leave school.
Criticisms of Marxist Theory in Education
Postmodernists argue that Correspondence Theory is out of date. Generally speaking, Marxist views focus very much on class inequality and
therefore do not take into account other factors that could influence a child’s education, such as gender or ethnicity.
It is also thought that the idea of education systems being run by the ruling classes is now outdated. Brown (1997) states that much work now
involves teamwork rather than obedience of authority. Reynolds (1984) also states that as some subjects (for example Sociology) encourages
critical thinking which counters the ISA theory.
Willis’s (a neo-marxist) study found that the hidden curriculum is not always accepted as pupils may reject school but still end up in working
class jobs. Willis himself has been criticised for romanticising ‘lad’ culture, presenting them as working class heroes whilst downplaying their
anti-social behaviour and sexist views. In addition to this, a sample size of 12 is unlikely to produce robust results.
Feminists argue that schools also perpetuate patriarchal ideals and that young women are generally missing from many Marxists studies into
education.
Social Democratic Perspectives
Social democrats believe that governments should invest heavily in education and use education to improve equality of opportunity, which in
turn is the best way to ensure that education also contributes to economic growth.
Social Democratic perspectives exercised a strong influence on British educational policies in the 1960s and 70s. Their views are mainly
associated with the Labour Party during these decades.
Social Democrats criticised the Functionalist idea that that the British education system (the Tripartite system) of the 1950s and 60s, provided
equality of opportunity and promoted economic growth. They argued that the tripartite system needed to change to a comprehensive system to
do both more effectively.
Criticisms:
The policies put in place were not wholly effective as an attainment gap still exists. Neoliberals argue that greater equality will lead to standards
being undermined as education becomes levelled down. Feminists argue that the focus remains too much on class.
Neo-liberal / New Right Perspectives
These views have had the most influence on education in recent years. Neoliberals are in favour of private businesses and the free market. They
believe that state education can drain resources though taxes.
Chubb and Moe (1988) state that state education is unresponsive to pupils needs. They believe that education should be run as a business and
that standards are higher in private education as this system has to please its customers.
Feminist Perspectives
Many liberal feminists are of the opinion that education has done much to improve equality between genders. Evidence of this includes that fact
that girls tend to outperform boys in most subjects and at most levels of assessment.
Radical feminists believe that education is an agent of secondary socialisation that helps to enforce patriarchy. Heaton and Lawson (1996)
refer to the hidden curriculum as discussed by feminists. This occurs in several ways, such as literature that portrays women as being
dependent on men. Kelly (1987) states that women are ‘invisible’ in science subjects and that several women feel uncomfortable studying some
subjects. Culley (1986) stated that in ICT lessons, boys take over and exclude girls. In several cases the teachers were not seen intervening.
Heaton and Lawson argue that some teachers still have sexist ideas with regards to some tasks, e.g. they may task boys to move furniture and
girls to clean. Several feminists argue that what is taught in schools still creates gender inequality despite the National Curriculum. Sport tends
to concentrate more on boys’ successes and the choice of ‘A’ levels, in some subjects, still tends towards traditional patterns of gender
segregation.
Although there are more female teachers in England and Wales, in schools and colleges there are more men in senior management posts. There
is also a shortage of black female teachers. Feminists state that all this gives the misconception that positions of power are held by men.
Video 15 mins
Past Paper Question 30 mins
Item B:
Sociologists agree that education transmits ideas and values. However, they disagree about the nature of these ideas and values, and who
benefits from this process. For example, feminists argue that education transmits patriarchal ideology, and that this benefits men. Other
sociologists argue that the education system has become fragmented and transmits a diverse range of ideas and values.
Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of the role of education in transmitting ideas and
values.
20 marks