Education (with MIC) Topic 1 - The Role and Function of the Education System
AQA Specification
- the role and functions of the education system, including its relationship to the economy and to class structure
The Functionalist Perspective on Education
- value consensus
- organic analogy
- macro perspective
- structural perspective
- consensus
Let's get thinking!
In pairs, write down 5 functions that the education system could have for wider society.
Think carefully and write them down clearly after discussing as you will be asked to explain!
Durkheim - Solidarity and Skills
Functionalist Sociologist Emile Durkheim identified two main functions of the education system
- Social Solidarity
- Specialist Skills
Social Solidarity
Durkheim claims that education helps to build social solidarity (meaning a sense of community and shared values) and without this solidarity society could not function. Education helps to pass one society's shared values to a younger generation, e.g. through teaching history and highlighting a country's shared culture and past.
School also prepares people for the world of work. It instils a discipline where we have to follow rules, turn up each day, complete tasks and get along with others who are not family or relatives.
Specialist Skills
Education also teaching people the specialist skills needed for the economy and working life as an adult, therefore the education system helps wider society by bringing up and training a new generation of workers with the necessary skills for the economy. Through education people get selected and steered towards certain jobs and careers - you can probably already see this in yourself and your own year group in the talents you have and the subject choices you have made.
Parsons - Meritocracy
American Sociologist Talcott Parsons builds on Durkheim's ideas - he sees schools are a place of secondary socialisation and a bridge between family life and wider society where the child learns to prepare for the world of work.
Within the family, a child's status is 'ascribed', meaning that it is fixed at birth, second son, first born, etc - within this family the child is judged by particularistic standards (rules that apply to that particular son/daughter)
In contrast, in school and wider society, we are judged by universalistic standards, meaning the same rules apply to everyone. This is particularly evident in schools where each pupil is judged against the same standards, e.g. sit the same exams, same pass mark for everyone, follow the same behaviour policy as everyone else). In this system, status is achieved rather than ascribed. To gain success we must work hard to achieve, e.g. at school we pass or fail due to our own efforts. Nothing is handed to us freely.
Parson's see school as a bridge between family life and wider society because both school and wider society are based on meritocratic principles - meaning that we success based on merit. Everyone has an equal opportunity and we succeed or fail depending on our efforts and ability.
At the core of meritocracy, Functionalists believe that society is ultimately positive and fair - they believe this is reflected in Meritocracy - where everyone is given an equal chance and all things are level and equal. But we will criticise this view later when we look at conflict perspectives.
Davis and Moore - Role Allocation
Davis and Moore agree that education helps sift and prepare people for the appropriate roles in the world of work. It does this by allowing high achievers to rise and qualify for the best, most highly skilled jobs. It would not be good to have an unqualified person as a pilot or heart surgeon.
They argue that inequality in necessary to ensure that the most talented people fill the most important, highly skilled jobs - it would be fundamentally wrong to place an unqualified person in-charge of a nuclear plant just in the interests of equality. Such a role would have to go to a qualified person who was capable of doing the job.
Thinking task!
In groups, discuss the following questions. Write down answers, thoughts and responses. We will the discuss answers together.
Can you think of any criticisms or problems based on the functionalist view of education so far?
Is school life perfect?
Is school life a harmonious, perfect time/place where you get prepared for work and everything is light, breezy and happy?
Is school/education fair? Is it really meritocratic?
Do other things happen at school that are not exclusively designed to prepare people for work?
Can be or negative things happen at school?
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1. Define the term 'meritocracy' (2 marks)
2. Outline three functions of the education system (6 marks).
3. Outline and explain two roles that education fulfils according to functionalists (10 marks)
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The New Right
Did you know that schools are placed into league tables that are published and that they compete against each other as if it was some kind of competition or Premier League standing?
Follow the link to see the Northern Ireland league tables!
Follow link for league tables in England
The New Right (also known as Neoliberal) is a political ideology loosely based on functionalist principles that emerged in the late 1979 and is heavily linked with former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
The central New Right idea is that government should not be involved (or have minimum involvement) in areas such as education, welfare and health care. They believe that people should not look to the state for help but should look after their own needs.
They believe in a free-market economy where competition between businesses and sectors raises standards - this is now extended to education.
The New Right do not share the functionalist rose tinted view that education is now meeting all the needs of society. They believe it is failing and the reason for this failure is because education is state run. They claim that schools waste money, get poor results and are not answerable to their customers.
The New Rights solution to these perceived failings in education is the Marketisation of Education! This is creating an education/school market where schools compete and the desired result of this is to improve results and better feed the needs of the economy.
While the New Right stress the importance of marketisation they do see important roles for the state in this system;
- state imposes a framework and standards on which schools compete - OFSTED
- the state seeks to ensure schools transmit a shared culture and sense of cultural heritage (link to functionalism)
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In groups discuss the following points;
1. It is fair to make schools compete against each other in terms of grades?
2. Can you think of any problems with this system?
3. Does this turn schools into businesses rather than institutions there to care for the needs of pupils?
4. Could an over-emphasis on grades be harmful?
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The Marxist Perspective on Education
Let's recap on Marxism!
- based on writings of Sociologist Karl Marx
- society is based on capitalism
- conflict perspective
- structural perspective - people's behaviour shaped by society and economic system
- ruling class exploiting working class labour to gain profits
- has inspired many movements including Communism and socialist party's/policies
Marxist's believe that the ruling class (Bourgeois) control the superstructure of society which includes all the institutions such as religion, media, government and now education. This ruling elite use education to keep society operating in their interests and they do this in a number of ways that we will now explore.
Althusser - Ideological State Apparatus
Marxist writer Althusser claimed that the state has two key elements that are used to keep the bourgeoisie (ruling class) in power - these are
- Repressive State apparatuses - these are institutions that maintain ruling class rule by force, these institutions include the police, army and courts.
- Ideological State apparatuses - these ideological factors repress the working class and maintain ruling class dominance by controlling people's ideas, thoughts and beliefs.
Education is a key part of ideological state apparatus as it reproduces class inequality in each generation. Teacher unknowingly pass ruling class ideas onto their students. It also legitimises class inequalities by instilling ideas that make people believe that inequality is inevitable and that they should accept their place in the social system without rebelling.
Bowles and Gintis
American Marxists Bowles and Gintis claim that capitalism requires a workforce and education helps to build and condition an obedient workforce that will accept their exploitation and not rebel. Bowles and Gintis claim that education produces the kind of obedient workers that capitalism requires to maintain the system of exploitation. In their study of a New York high school they found that schools rewarded personality traits that produced submissive and compliant workers, e.g. students who showed characteristics such as discipline, punctuality and obedience got higher grades. They conclude that education conditions and produces obedient workers that capitalism needs.
Bowles and Gintis go on to look at similarities between school and the work place - the correspondence principle. In schools there is a hierarchy with people at the top giving orders and dictating rules/sanctions and it is the same in the workplace where there is a boss who can hire, fire or discipline bad behaviour. Education prepares people for the workplace by making them conform to rules and making them obedient, that way, when people leave school they are ready to obey orders and accept their place within a hierarchy.
This ideas of acceptance of authority and obedience are transmitted through the hidden curriculum! The hidden curriculum refers to the range of ideas and behaviours that are learned at school but aren't directly taught through lessons. These can include acceptance of authority, acceptance of competition, submission to rules and acceptance of hard work.
The Myth of Meritocracy
Bowles and Gintis point out that while capitalist society in unequal, there is a danger that people may recognise this inequality and rebel against the unfairness. They claim that to counteract this, there is a 'myth of meritocracy' promoted in society, especially through education where people are lead to believe that society is fair, that everyone has an equal chance and that if you work hard you will achieve success.
Functionalists and the New Right believe that Meritocracy exists but Marxists do not share this belief. They claim that society is unfair and unequal and that by promoting the myth of meritocracy it stops the working class from blaming the ruling class for inequalities. Instead they blame themselves for not working hard enough and as a result they accept their lowly, exploited status. This helps the ruling class to maintain their unequal system and ultimately maintain capitalism.
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