Sociology · May / June 2025 · Paper 22 · Question 2
0495
As printed in the paper
Show the answer and mark scheme
2(a)(i)[2]
Define the term value consensus. Award one mark for a partial definition, e.g. agreement. Award two marks for a clear definition, e.g. widespread, general agreement on the things that are important.
2(a)(ii)[2]
Define the term co-educational school. Award one mark for a partial definition, e.g. schools for everyone. Award two marks for a clear definition, e.g. schools that accept both male and female learners.
2(b)[2]
Give two examples of what students learn from the hidden curriculum. Award one mark for each correct example (up to a maximum of two). Possible responses:
roles (e.g. gender roles);deference to authority;hierarchies;norms and values;social expectations;social conformity;competition;importance of punctuality;sense of belonging;passivity;stereotypes;preparation for the workplace;any other reasonable response.2(c)[6]
Describe three ways education can cause gender inequalities. Award one mark for each point correctly identified (up to a maximum of three). Award one mark for each point that is developed (up to a maximum of three). Possible responses:
patriarchal culture of education – feminists believe assumptions about masculinity and femininity are built into the education system meaning that boys are prioritised, e.g. the higher status given to boys’ sport than girls’ which maintains gender inequalities;gender hierarchy and role models – everything about schools reinforces male power. Often head teachers and senior staff are males (despite females dominating the profession) so they hold and are seen to hold more power. These gendered role models are seen by pupils and hence maintain expectations and gender inequalities;access to education – globally girls are less likely to attend school than boys as males are more highly valued and seen as future breadwinners in many cultures. This maintains gender inequalities in society;gendered curriculum – feminists say the school curriculum offers a male- centred view of the world e.g. through the male authors studied in literature to images in textbooks of boys doing more interesting and active things to the focus on male achievement and experiences in history – this all helps to maintain gender inequalities;subject choice – some subjects are still only for girls (e.g. needlework) or only for boys (e.g. woodwork) and even in countries where this isn't the case, boys and girls still choose different subjects which affect life chances;peer groups – peer groups can influence attitudes towards education and the peer group may apply pressure to conform to gender expectations e.g. arranged marriages in some cultures – this can help to maintain gender inequalities;teacher expectations – these do vary culturally but teachers tend to have lower expectations of girls and are less likely to encourage them to study hard and aim for university as their future role may be seen as marriage and motherhood. Expectations for behaviour may also be different with boys being less sanctioned for shouting out and dominating classroom time – this all reflects wider societal expectations of gender and so maintains inequalities;any other reasonable response.2(d)[6]
Explain three reasons why education is not meritocratic for working class children. Award one mark for each point correctly identified (up to a maximum of three). Award one mark for each point that is developed (up to a maximum of three). Possible responses:
type of school – private schools (unaffordable to the working class) get better educational results than state schools and also offer their students better opportunities in terms of social networking, access to elite universities etc.;setting and streaming – research indicates that teachers do not set the same standards of behaviour or levels of homework for the lower sets that they do for the higher sets, this limits the chances of educational success for those students in the lower sets and streams (often working class) and so is not fair;IQ testing/selection – selection by testing has a middle class advantage;questions are often inherently class or culture biased and the higher classes can afford to hire tutors to coach their children to pass the exams, the working class cannot;
teacher expectations – these are often based on stereotypes e.g. that the working class are less bothered about doing well etc. and thus can affect how teachers treat such working class students, which is not meritocratic;labelling theory – Becker‘s ideal pupil – certain characteristics are perceived by teachers to indicate a good or a bad student (working class characteristics are associated with being naughty/uninterested in education/aspiring to manual jobs etc.) and this can affect how the working class children are treated within schools, perhaps resulting in the self-fulfilling prophecy or, for the middle class, the halo effect;Marxism – myth of meritocracy – schools simply reproduce existing inequalities meaning that success depends more on being higher class than it does on your skills and talents;life chances – regardless of educational achievement it seems that social factors e.g. Bourdieu and social capital, are still influential in determining the employment a person enters after school and therefore their salary and status. This means that schools will advantage middle class students more than working class;material factors – having money can still be influential in determining educational success as parents can buy educational resources, revision resources, hire a private tutor, purchase ICT etc. that a poorer, working class family cannot afford;cultural factors – Bourdieu – the higher classes are advantaged at school because schools are founded on middle class values and culture. Cultural capital and the elaborated code give higher classes an advantage and disadvantage the working class students;hidden curriculum – Marxism – schools teach the working class to be docile and obedient, this ensures they continue the cycle of working for the bourgeoisie without complaint – this is clearly not fair;any other reasonable response.2(e)[8]
Discuss why educational achievement differs globally. Use Table A to mark answers to this question. Possible responses:
availability of schools – schools are not readily available in all countries e.g. in Africa there are not enough schools for the child population meaning children in rural and remote communities will find it hard to travel to school and therefore may not attend or attend irregularly so impacting educational achievement;teachers – some countries lack qualified teachers and therefore it is not possible for all children to be educated. With a global crisis in teacher recruitment and retention this is likely to only get worse and the disparity of experience will therefore increase;poverty/wealth across the globe – many children will not go to school or will leave school early because their families are poor and the children are needed to work to help support them. Even when schooling is free, the hidden costs of education act as a barrier. Whereas wealthy families can buy the education they want for their children and so give them an advantage;access to education for girls – in some developing countries, boys are more likely to go to school than girls because society sees males as the future breadwinner and females as housewives and mothers. For a family with a limited income, it is therefore not seen as important to educate girls so they will not achieve like boys will;variations in class sizes – smaller class sizes typically lead to greater educational achievement as it is hard for teachers to personalise learning or deal with individual needs in large classes. In some African classrooms, for example, there may be up to 70 learners, compared to single figure class sizes in some private/international schools;norms and values – going to school and the value of educational achievement is a recent norm and so has not been firmly established in all areas of the world. If parents or communities don’t value or have experience of education then it is unlikely that it will be highly valued by the student either;access to the internet – schools globally vary in their access to digital resources and this can affect educational experiences and achievement, e.g. being unable to develop ICT skills, lack of access to digital tutors and revision;any other reasonable response.2(f)[14]
Evaluate the view that homeschooling is the best approach to education. Use Table B to mark answers to this question. Possible responses for:
protection – from bullying and/or peer pressure – these can cause great distress to children if not dealt with effectively by schools. Some parents remove their children into the homeschooling system to protect them from this;access to schools – children living in remote areas may find getting to a school very difficult and therefore being homeschooled gives them greater opportunities to receive an education;parents who travel – constant changing from one school to another can be unsettling for a child and therefore parents who travel a lot (potentially for work) may choose to homeschool their children instead to offer greater stability;illness or disability – such factors can make schools very difficult places for children to be and high rates of absence can disrupt their learning. Homeschooling is a viable alternative to protect against this for such children;dissatisfaction with the school system – it may be that parents do not want their children to be exposed to certain views or topics that are covered in the school system and therefore to protect them from this they choose to homeschool instead;school curriculum – many parents find the school curriculum impersonal and inflexible and do not believe it meets the needs of their child. Therefore they opt for homeschooling as an alternative that has more freedom and options;online possibilities – homeschooling is now inextricably linked with online learning and this allows for greater potential than ever before for a specialist, qualified and diverse educational program at home e.g. The OU or MOOC‘s;greater control – parents can have more control in homeschooling than they can in school based learning over their child’s curriculum, hours spent learning, subjects and topics of choice, learning pedagogies etc. They can choose to do the teaching themselves or to hire specialist private tutors for their children;poor teaching in schools – in schools where teaching is not good and poor discipline is rife;parents may choose homeschooling as they believe the quality of the education provided will be better;
unschooling – a form of homeschooling where children can learn at their own pace and in their own time with a focus on how to learn effectively rather than learning specific prescribed knowledge like in schools. This more flexible approach better meets the needs of the child and reduces the pressure put upon them;any other reasonable response. Possible responses against:functionalism – schools are necessary for the functions of socialisation and social control, homeschooling cannot meet this need as well as schools can;social conformity – schools are necessary to ensure children learn the need to obey authority, preparing them for the workplace (Bowles and Gintis, correspondence theory – Marxism);social skills – schools develop and nurture particular social skills such as communication and teamwork in children which are vital for success in the wider world – economic function;tolerance and acceptance of difference – schools are typically a melting pot of cultures, ethnicities, different social classes, different sexualities and disabilities – going to school therefore makes children more accepting and tolerant of difference which is essential for multi-cultural modern-day living – they wouldn’t get this through homeschooling;specialist teaching – teachers are trained professionals, specialists in their field and experts in assessment – children who do not go to school miss out on this expertise and thus may not do as well academically;facilities and resources – schools receive funding to ensure that children have access to facilities and resources, regardless of their socio- economic background e.g. ICT, software, sports, science labs etc. Homeschooled children miss out on these;extra-curricular opportunities – school based learning does not just happen in the classroom. Schools have a diverse range of clubs and trips on offer that broaden the horizons of pupils e.g. foreign language trips, cultural visits, competitive sports, arts and crafts, performing arts etc.;diversity of schools – schools are not ‘one size fits all’. There are many different types of schools available to parents to choose from to ensure their child’s needs are catered for. Homeschooling is therefore not necessary;role allocation – schools sift and sort pupils through testing and setting to ensure that the best people enter the best jobs. Homeschooling cannot be part of this process and therefore does not work, according to functionalists;vocational learning – this cannot be accessed at home as it involves the learning of practical skills linked to the employment market in colleges and in workplaces. Many believe this caters the best for non-academic learners;progressive schooling – schooling doesn’t have to be traditional e.g. Summerhill. progressive schools reject the traditional features of going to school and replace them with flexibility, decision making, lack of hierarchy, critical thinking skills, learning through doing. This may well be better than homeschooling for children in terms of ensuring they are ready for the wider world, developing social skills and encouraging teamwork and cooperation;any other reasonable response
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