Education

education is an essential part
of the overall socialisation
process. socialisation is
the act of adapting behaviour to
the norms of a culture or society.

education is essential in
providing skilled workforce.
Governments have placed
increasing emphasis on economic
functions of education.

formal education may start
in nursery school and
continue to university level.

sociological theories of education:
• functionalist
• marxist
• feminist
• interactionist

functionalist
theory of
education

Functionalism views society as
an organism. education is a
part of this organism. If the
education system works so
does the whole society.

schools play an integrated part
with other agents of
socialisation in the process of
transmitting norms, values and
roles.

functionalists suggest that
for a healthy society
individuals must learn
society’s norms and values.

The norms and values
contribute to social solidarity
and values consensus and
education plays a vital role in
this.

Links what goes on in the
education system with the
needs of wider society.

In this way, the biological
analogy is helpful - the school
is an organ that serves the
body, which is society.

The suggestion that the
education system, as a mini-
society, socialises individuals
into learning the norms and
values of wider society is helpful.

Assumes a monoculture where
everyone shares similar norms
and values - the uk is now
claimed to be multicultural with
variety of norms and values.

Assumes education is a
meritocracy, thus ignoring
factors such as social class,
gender and ethnicity.

Criticised for assuming that
education system fulfils the
needs of modern society,
particularly in areas such as work.
Often seen as irrelevant to such
needs.

marxist
theory of
stratification

education systemis used by
the ruling class to control the
working class ideologically
rather than having to use force.

the education system helps
to achieve these objectives
largely through hidden
curriculum.

the education system
provides an illusion of
equality of opportunity that
results in inequalities.

marxism is seen as strong in
analysing inequality inherent
in the education system.

To bring equality into education
we would need to change the social
structure that causes inequality,
capitalism.

Demonstrates that education
is not always beneficial.

working class pupils do not
accept everything they are being
thought, therefore their
behaviour is not entirely
determined by capitalism.

the education system poses
relative autonomy from the
economic infrastructure.

marxism often focuses on
class inequality and ignores
other inequalities such as
gender or ethnicity.

feminist
theory of
crime and
deviance

Heavily critical of other
sociological theoriesas
they are from a male
orientated perspective.

education is seen as
patriarchal, reflecting a
society run by and for men.

feminism recognises importance of
education within the
overall socialisation of women
within a patriarchal and
sexual discriminatory society.

Even in recent years there is still
plenty of evidence of gender
inequality within the education
system, for example uptake of
subjects on a gender basis.

recent political and media
preoccupation with boys
failing, when little or no previous
political or media interest when
girls weren’t performing.

Fails to explain why girls have
been out-performing boys in
many subjects for a numbers
of years.

interactionist
theory of
education

interactionism looks at the
interactions between students
and teachers, and those
between students.

It looks at how these
interactions may affect the
performances of pupils in the
education system.

interactionists challenge the
functionalist illusion of
equality of opportunity.

the interactionst
perspective has the
advantage of focusing on
small-scale interactions
at school.

Strong in analysing the ability
of individuals to control their
own environment.

It considers the experience of
individuals and credits them
with the ability to interact
and negotiate in the classroom.

It takes things as it finds them
without making positive or
negative assumptions.

By focusing on small-scale
interactions they sometimes
ignore the wider society.

It is difficult to support the views
of some interactionists who
argue that the meanings that
guide actions are simply
constructed in classroom.

differential educational
achievement can be studied by
analysing the following aspects:
• social class
• gender
• ethnicity

research shows that the
higher a person’s social class,
the higher their educational
attainment is likely to be.

children of parents in higher
social classes are more likely to
achieve higher grades at school
and gain university entrance.

Measuring class differences in
educational attainment is difficult
as researchers use different
classifications of social class.

Douglas (1964, 1970) the home
and the school
Conducted a longitudinal study of
the same group of children through
primary and secondary school.

Douglas (1964, 1970) the
home and the school
He found that the length of stay in
the educational system was
related to social class.

Douglas (1964, 1970) the
home and the school
The most important factor was the
degree of parent’s interest in
child’s education.

and the school
The strength of this study is that it
recognises inequality based on
social class background.

and the school
It is criticised for making too
many assumptions about what
working values are.

and the school
It also underestimates the
importance of material factors
in educational performance.

Bernstein (1960) language and
social class
Suggested that class differences
in speech patterns are related to
educational achievement.

social class
working class children are
linguistically deprived and
therefore speak restricted code.

Bernstein (1960) language
and social class
Children in middle social class
use an elaborated speech code
and use wider set of vocabulary.

social class
Is good at highlighting that poor
socialisation at home may lead to
lack of success at school.

social class
Is criticised for creating a myth that
middle-class elaborated code is
superior to working-class restricted
code.

rutter (1979) fifteen thousands
hours: secondary schools and their
effects on children
Studied schools in London in1970s.
Showed major differences within schools
of similar working class background.

effects on children
Successful schools are those which placed
emphasis on academic achievement, had
purposeful leadership and emphasised prise
and reward.

effects on children
Strong in recognising the interaction
within the classroom between teacher
and pupil.

effects on children
Also strong in recognising and analysing
the importance of labelling and teacher
expectation.

hours: secondary schools and
their effects on children
criticised for overstating the importance
of labelling which will only have an
impact if done repeatedly.

effects on children
understatesthe importance of the system
in producing inequality on social class
basis.

Over the past 30 years the
improvement in the
educational attainment of
girls has been unprecedented.

The focus of feminists has
moved away from educational
performance to hidden
curriculum.

This is the idea that males and
females are encouraged to
study different subjects.

spender (1983) invisible women
Found that men controlled the
education system and, therefore,
importance was placed on the male
experience and knowledge.

teachers paid more attention to
male pupils and boys dominated
the classes.

Found that girls tended to work
harder and were more motivated
than boys.

spender (1983) invisible
women
Strong in highlighting importance
of gender within interaction in
classroom.

Criticised for underestimating the
importance of interaction. Boys were
given more time because they are more
demanding and behaviour is more
problematic.

Sharpe (1976,1994) just like a girl:
how girls learn to be women
Stydy of working-class school girls in
1970s showed that their main priorities
were marriage, husband and
children.

Sharpe (1976, 1994) just like a girl:
In the 1990s she found significant
changes. Now girls’ main concern were
job, career and being able to support
themselves.

The changing attitudes and
expectations of girls were reflected in by
their parents and by schools.

It is strong at recognising continuing
inequality within the education
system.

The strength of this study is that it
recognised the importance of social
class in terms of low educational
achievement.

criticised for overstating the impact of
the education system and understating
the impact of individual perceptions.

Also criticised for ignoring progress
which had been made in terms of sexual
inequality.

Francis (2000) boys, girls and
achievement
Focuses on interviews with young people
and classroom observations to examine
how boys and girls see themselves as
learners.

achievement
Shown that girls’ educational
achievement has improved despite
continuing male dominance of the
classroom.

achievement
Good at highlighting that girls
are also disadvantaged outside
classroom.

achievement
Acknowledges that boys can feel
picked on and this may
discourage them at school.

Francis (2000) boys, girls
and achievement
Criticised for focusing only on
gender and diverting attention
from class and ethnicity.

ethnicityhas become an important
element in the sociology of
education both in itself and as
recognition of the importance of
ethnicity generally within society.

education is an important agent
of socialisation so its impact on
aspects such as ethnicity is
important in understanding society
and inequality in society.

Generally children from an ethnic
background do less well than white
children but the situation is complex. There
is an important link with social class
as children from an ethnic background are
more likely to be from a lower social
class background.

Also there is a big variation within and
amongst ethnic minorities. Children
of indian, chineese and african-
asian origin tend to do particularly
well. bangladeshi and west indian
children tend to do badly.

Connolly (1998) Racism, Gender
Identities and Young children
Studied primary children using
ethnographic methods. He placed
particular emphasis on the perception of
very young children in an attempt to
understand and explain racism.

He challenged psychological approaches,
which imply that racism can be both
measured and is something which is fixed
and unchanging.

Connolly (1998) Racism, Gender Identities
and Young children
Found that racism was prominent within
the educational system and was a key factor
in the community. Connolly’s study refers to
a group of black boys who, because they
played together were known as the ‘black
boys’.

This labelling, even when it was well
intentioned by teachers, reinforced
negative imagery, and increased their
likelihood of getting into trouble.

Connolly’s work is seen as important in
that both in its methods and subject it
took forward research on education and
ethnicity.

Connolly (1998) Racism, Gender Identities
and Young children
This study was also seen as strong in
making clear the importance of the school
and education system in children making
senses of their broader social world, even at
a very early age .

Connolly (1998) Racism, Gender Identities and
Young children
Connolly’s work, as with all ethnographic
research, is seen as limited. Although it is
research over a long period of time, it is
based on a very small sample. Therefore it
is difficult if not dangerous to generalise.

swell (1997) black masculinities
and schooling
Based his research on a school, which
was predominantly ethnic as far as its
pupils were concerned.

and schooling
Provides an explanation for the decline in
attainment of many african-caribbean
boys during secondary education.

swell (1997) black masculinities and
schooling
Talks of ’teacher socialisation’ whereby
teachers are socialised into making
assumptions about their pupils, which are
racially stereotypical and thus caused
major problems in the school.

schooling
Seen as strong in being able to analyse
the values of boys and their subsequent
behaviour and attitude towards the
school and authority.

schooling
Explains some of the reasons why black
students were disciplined far more than other
groups because of the process of teacher
socialisation and the resultant reaction of
the pupils.

and schooling
Is criticised for using the term black to
describe african-caribbean children,
a term that is now considered racist.

and schooling
Criticised for neglecting to sufficiently
study the structure of the school and
the staff, and their role in the culture
he was studying.

Next workshop is on 25 April.
prelim exam including nab on crime and
deviance.

Education

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