Education

Education is more than classrooms and exams. Sociologists ask what schools are for, who benefits, and why some groups achieve more than others.

5.1 What is education and schooling?

Formal and informal education

The official curriculum is what schools openly teach: subjects, syllabus content and testing.

The hidden curriculum is what pupils learn without being formally taught: norms and values, punctuality, conformity (obeying rules and authority), gender roles (boys steered to science, girls to care subjects) and competition. It prepares pupils for work and society.

Types of school

Alternative approaches to education

5.2 What are the roles and functions of education?

The functionalist view

Functionalists (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore) see education as beneficial for society:

• socialisation: teaches shared norms and values (value consensus), so schools act as a bridge between family and society (Parsons)
• social control: rules and discipline teach pupils to obey authority
• economic role: teaches skills needed for work (role allocation)
• selective role: sifts people by ability so the most talented do the most important jobs (meritocracy: success depends on ability and effort)
• social integration: brings people from different backgrounds together

Strengths: explains why education matters for society. Limitations: ignores inequalities (not everyone has an equal chance, so it is not truly meritocratic); assumes shared values; treats pupils as passive.

The Marxist view

Marxists (Bowles and Gintis, Bourdieu, Althusser) say education serves the capitalist class and reproduces class inequality:

• socialisation and social control as ideological control: schools teach pupils to accept hierarchy and obedience, preparing them for exploitation at work
• the correspondence principle (Bowles and Gintis): school life mirrors work: obeying orders, bells, rewards in grades like wages
• the myth of meritocracy: schools claim success is based on ability, which makes failure seem the pupil's own fault
• the hidden curriculum teaches workers to be docile
• cultural capital (Bourdieu): the knowledge, tastes and language of the middle class give their children an advantage at school

Strengths: shows links between education and class inequality. Limitations: deterministic (assumes pupils have no choice or resistance; Willis showed some working-class "lads" actively rejected school); ignores gender and ethnicity; many working-class pupils do succeed.

The feminist view

Feminists say education perpetuates gender inequality within a patriarchal culture:

• male power: men hold more senior posts in many schools, women are teachers, men head teachers (a gender hierarchy)
• role models: few female scientists in textbooks; few male primary teachers
• gender stereotyping in subject choice and the hidden curriculum
• sexual harassment in schools

Strengths: exposes hidden gender bias. Limitations: girls now outperform boys in many countries, so the picture is more complex; ignores class and ethnicity; progress has been made.

5.3 What factors help to explain differences in educational achievement and experience?

Patterns

• Social class: pupils from middle-class families on average achieve more than working-class pupils.
• Ethnicity: differences between groups (some do very well, some below average), which also vary by class and gender.
• Gender: in many countries girls outperform boys, but boys may still dominate some subjects and higher-paid careers.
• Global differences: achievement and years of schooling differ between countries.

Social class: explanations

Ethnicity: explanations

• Institutional racism: discrimination built into school policies and practices
• Ethnocentric curriculum: the curriculum reflects the culture and history of the majority group, ignoring others
• Role models: too few teachers from minority backgrounds
• Linguistic factors: pupils who speak another language at home may struggle with the language of instruction
• Cultural, material and social factors: differences in family income, parental education and expectations (some groups value education highly)
• Home/community factors
• In-school factors: anti-school sub-cultures, ethnic sub-cultures, exclusion rates
• Labelling: teachers may hold stereotypes about certain groups

Gender: explanations

• Gendered socialisation and social control: girls are encouraged to be quiet, neat and hard-working; boys more active
• Teacher expectations
• Cultural and social factors: girls' changing ambitions because of feminism and more career opportunities; boys may think study is "uncool"
• Access to education: in some countries girls are kept out of school because of poverty, early marriage or tradition
• In-school factors: gendered sub-cultures (laddish culture among boys can reject school)
• Labelling
• Feminist explanations: patriarchy shapes subject choice and careers

Global differences

Reasons include availability of schools (distance, number), cost and poverty, child labour, conflict, gender discrimination, teacher quality, government spending and access to technology.

Evaluating explanations

When you write "to what extent":

• Give the explanation, then evidence for, then limitations or an alternative.
• Class: material and cultural factors explain a lot, but not all working-class pupils fail (so individual choice, school and teachers matter).
• Ethnicity: differences are partly class differences too.
• Gender: the "girls do better" pattern needs explaining; but gaps in subject choice and pay remain.
• Global: poverty and government choices matter most, with culture and conflict.