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2014sociologytextbook PDF
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2014sociologytextbook PDF
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In this chapter we explore the nature, role and structure of education and knowledge. First, we outline key stages in the
evolution of Australian education and the changing ideologies that shaped its development. We examine the key issues this
history raises for sociology, in particular persistent differences in educational outcomes among social classes, genders
and ethnicities. We then set out the principal ways sociological theories have explained the role of education in maintaining
and changing social inequalities. Finally, we discuss the crucial role of knowledge in contemporary societies and outline
new ways sociologists are exploring the significance of knowledge for education and society.
By the end of the chapter, you should have a better understanding of:
• the evolving nature of education in Australia
• key ideologies shaping the development of Australian education
• central issues and questions addressed by the sociology of education
• differential educational achievements of social classes, genders and ethnicities and their role in reproducing or
changing social inequalities
• strengths and limitations of different ways of analysing education, encompassing externalist, internalist and
culturalist approaches
• a range of significant sociological theories and key studies of education
• cutting-edge work rethinking the role of knowledge in education and society.
Criticisms of externalism.......................................................161
EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA: EVOLVING
STRUCTURES AND IDEOLOGIES.............................. 148 INTERNALISM: LOOKING INSIDE
Liberal humanism and the formation of modern . CLASSROOMS. ................................................................... 162
education...................................................................................149 Labelling theory and classroom practices.........................162
Social democracy and post-war educational . Gender and identity. ................................................................162
expansion...................................................................................150 The underperformance of boys.........................................163
New economism and marketisation....................................151 Ethnicities..................................................................................164
Contemporary education in Australia..................................152 Criticisms of internalism........................................................164
Why study education and knowledge? Intellectually, Additionally, education is big business. It is Australia’s third-
education was a founding area of sociology and remains a largest export industry (Bradley et al. 2008, p. 12). Since Kevin
crucial focus for research today. Sociology first emerged Rudd’s call for an ‘education revolution’ in 2007, $16.2 billion
institutionally in the late 19th century as twinned with the of government funding has been allocated to ‘Building the
study of education, which comprises more than classrooms or Education Revolution’ for school infrastructure and $2.4 billion
the training of teachers. Education is central to understanding for information and communication technologies to create
almost all the main topics and issues that sociology addresses. a ‘Digital Education Revolution’. Education is thus a crucial
As Pierre Bourdieu argues: part of the economy of industrialised societies, accounting
Far from being the kind of applied, and hence for a significant proportion of government spending and
inferior, science (only suitable for educationalists) employing a large workforce. Globally today more people are
that has ordinarily been the view of it, the sociology being taught, more people are teaching them and more money
of education lies at the foundation of a general is being spent doing so than ever before. Thus, without an
anthropology of power and legitimacy. (1996, p. 5) understanding of education, we cannot understand ourselves,
society or the modern world.
Experientially, consider how many hours of the day, days
of the week, weeks of the year, and years of your life you have
spent at school, college or university. Education is a formative
experience and when we realise that formal schooling is only EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA:
one aspect of education, its centrality to our view of the world
and sense of ourselves becomes obvious. EVOLVING STRUCTURES
Education and knowledge also form a core part of the
activities of modern life. Over the past century, educational
AND IDEOLOGIES
expansion has been meteoric. There has been a dramatic It is easy to forget that formal education as we now understand
change not only in the proportion of the planet’s population it is a relatively recent creation. A universal, compulsory
who are literate but also in the significance of formal education and formalised education system only began to emerge in
for modern societies. Indeed, since 1966 education has been Australia from the mid-19th century onwards. Since then, it
guaranteed as a basic human right by the United Nations has undergone considerable expansion, and beliefs about its
(see Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, roles and purposes have changed significantly. Understanding
Social and Cultural Rights). its current form and contemporary thinking requires placing
148
4
Non-government schools
3.5 Government schools
Number of enrolments (million)
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
01
11
96
06
11
16
21
26
31
36
41
46
51
56
61
66
71
76
81
86
91
96
01
06
91
19
20
18
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
18
Year
Source: © Commonwealth of Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Year Books, various years.
149
Social democracy and post- in university in 1939, arguing that the principal barrier
was financial hardship (McCallum 1990, p. 114). Moreover,
war educational expansion evidence showed that if measures of ability were the only
criteria, many students who later proceeded to university
In Australia compulsory education is a state rather than a
federal responsibility. However, during the post-war period would not have gained entry.
the federal government became increasingly involved in By the late 1950s a widely shared view among policymakers,
education, particularly at the tertiary level. This shift employers and academic commentators was that, of a
was related to a combination of factors encouraging rapid growing youth population, more would be qualified to enter
expansion: university, more would want to enter and, crucially, more
should be able to enter. This reflected the growing influence of
• Demographically, the post-war baby-boom generation social democratic beliefs in universalism (everyone has a right
was working its way through the education system. to be included in society), equality of opportunity (inclusion
Their entry into schools at the start of the 1950s should be on a fair and equal basis) and meritocracy (the basis
created a need for more university-trained teachers and should be merit, not inherited privilege). These ideas became
by the late 1950s this population bulge was swelling enshrined in the 1957 Murray Report as the principle that
the number of university entrants. all those qualified by ability and attainment to pursue
• Economically, state governments were finding it higher education should be able to do so. To accommodate
increasingly difficult to fund higher education. the resulting expansion, existing universities increased their
• Politically, there was a growing desire among politicians enrolments, universities of technology were converted to full
to enable more potential students to enrol in higher universities, and new universities and colleges were created. In
education. addition, the 1964 Martin Report recommended the creation
The change in political will reflected a wider shift in the of technological colleges, later called Colleges of Advanced
public sphere towards ideas of social democracy, which Education (CAEs), to tap the neglected pool of talent among
emphasised the role that education could play in social working-class children. The number of universities grew
progress. In the 1940s, critiques of Australian education by from nine in 1956 to 14 in 1966, reaching 19 in 1975, and
writers such as Norman Henderson and L. A. La Nauze had CAEs increased from 11 in 1965 to more than 100 in 1977,
argued that education was not overcoming ‘artificial’ barriers before dropping back to 70 by 1979. As Figure 5.2 shows, by
to the ‘natural’ distribution of ability, especially the effects the mid-1960s the number of students in higher education
of poverty. Henderson showed how many poor students left was accelerating. The ascendance of social democratic ideas
school at 14, while La Nauze revealed that 10 per cent of in policy thinking was thus accompanied by a greater role
the school population possessed the level of intelligence for the state in determining policy and the expansion of
required for university study but only 1 per cent was enrolled provision to enable more people to attend.
1400
1200
Number of students (’000)
1000
800
600
400
200
0
19 6
38
19 0
19 2
19 4
19 6
19 8
19 0
19 2
19 4
19 6
19 8
19 0
19 2
19 4
19 6
19 8
19 0
19 2
19 4
19 6
19 8
19 0
19 2
19 4
19 6
19 8
19 0
19 2
19 4
19 6
20 8
20 0
20 2
20 4
20 6
20 8
10
3
4
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
9
0
0
0
0
0
19
19
Year
Male Female Total
Source: © Commonwealth of Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Year Books and Historical Population Statistics, various years.
150
5
Percentage of GDP
4 Private
Government
3
0
9
54
59
64
69
74
79
84
89
94
99
04
06
4
8–
3–
8–
–
63
68
73
78
83
88
93
98
03
05
4
5
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
Year
Source: Compiled from Mathews (1968), ABS (1999c, 2002a, 2008a), Burke & Spaull (2001).
151
152
Austra
lian
Qu
ali
Certificate I
fic
a
Do
I
eI
tio
ct
at
or
ns
fic
1
al
2
rti
De
0
Fra
Ce
gr
1
ee
me
work
Mas I
ters te II
Degr ifica
ee Cert
econdary
34
89
rS
o
Cer ate
Seni
AQF
tific
egree
n>
urs D
Hono icate
of
Educatio
lo r
Bach
G ra
e
dua
ate
D i
f
erti a
te C plom
567 Cer
tific
a te IV
du
Gra
ee
gr
Advanced Diploma
Associate Degree
De
lor
Di
e
pl
ch
om
Ba
Source: Australian Qualifications Framework Council, Adelaide, 2013 AQF Second Edition January 2013 p. 19.
153
6
Students as percentage of population
0
1936
1939
1942
1945
1948
1951
1954
1957
1960
1963
1966
1969
1972
1975
1978
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
2005
2008
2010
Year
Source: © Commonwealth of Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), compiled from ABS Year Books and ABS Australian Historical Population Statistics,
various years.
social difference, such as sexuality and disability, have been education system—but has changed little in relative terms.
increasingly discussed in recent years, these ‘three giants’ So, differences in educational attainment among the classes
remain the central concerns of both research and policy have remained the same.
discussion over differences in educational participation and Taking higher education as an example, current studies
achievement. show that in Australia the student population overrepresents
higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and under
Social class represents lower SES backgrounds. These differences have
remained almost unchanged over the past two decades,
Research in Australia, the United Kingdom and the despite rapid expansion of the sector (James et al. 2004). For
United States has consistently shown correlations between example, in 2007 students from low SES backgrounds had a
social class background and educational achievement. participation rate of 15 per cent in higher education, but this
The children of parents in higher social classes are more SES group represented 25 per cent of the general population
likely to continue into post-compulsory education, achieve (see Table 5.1). In other words, for every ten students from
examination passes when at school and gain university this group who should be at university (if participation
entrance. Evidence shows that despite many policies aimed was equitable), only six are attending. In contrast, students
at changing these class differentials, expansion has not led from higher SES backgrounds are three times more likely to
to greater equality of educational experience. The average attend higher education (Bradley et al. 2008, p. 30).
level of achievement of working-class students has risen in Studies show that retention rates and pass rates for different
absolute terms—they achieve more and at higher levels of the SES groups are not dramatically different once students are
Source: Bradley et al., Review of Australian Higher Education: Final Report 2008. Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
(DIISRTE), p. 28.
154
the average boy in more subjects than vice versa (Collins CQU
et al. 2000, p. 2). The difference between the average tertiary Batchelor Institute
entrance scores of girls and boys in New South Wales rose from 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Percentage (%)
0.6 marks in 1981 to 19.4 marks in 1996 (ABS 1998a, p. 83).
This issue has increasingly attracted the attention Group of Eight Post-1988
of policymakers. In 2002 the federal government’s House of Australian Technology Network 1960s–70s universities
Representatives Standing Committee on Education and
Training presented to Parliament the findings of an inquiry
Note: Low SES is determined using a postcode methodology. Students from low SES
into the education of boys (Boys: Getting it Right) and two backgrounds are those whose permanent home address falls within the lowest 25 per
major reports were released by the federal government cent of postcodes as coded by the ABS SEIFA Index of Education and Occupation (Census
2006).
(Alloway et al. 2002; Lingard et al. 2002). By 2003 Brendan
Source: Bradley et al., Review of Australian Higher Education: Final Report
Nelson, then Minister for Education, Science and Training, 2008. Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary
could describe ‘the urgent need for action to also address the Education (DIISRTE), p. 34.
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
INTEGRATING INSIGHTS
they led to as effeminate, and celebrated manual labour or
‘graft’ as real work.
INTO EDUCATION Contrary to the claims of reproduction theories (see
p. 159–60), these ‘lads’ were not being groomed by schooling
Externalism and internalism have both been criticised for into deference to authority, obedience and docility. However,
placing too much emphasis on one dimension of education— their rejection of schooling did make them ideally suited
externalism on issues beyond education and internalism on to unskilled or semi-skilled manual labour, and the lads
practices within schools and universities. Culturalist theories continued the same kinds of attitudes and behaviours in their
have attempted to bring these two dimensions together by first jobs, attempting to gain a little freedom but without
focusing on relations between the cultures students bring to directly confronting authority. Willis argued that the
education, the cultures of different schools and the future education system does reproduce the kind of class-structured
occupational cultures into which students will go after labour force required by capitalism, but neither directly nor
education. In its more theorised forms, culturalism also intentionally. The ways working-class kids get working-
embodies a relational and structural approach: it explores class jobs are often the unintended consequences of their
the organising principles underlying family backgrounds and agency in creating a subculture of their own, one opposed
educational contexts and the degrees to which these match to the values of the education system and more aligned with
or clash. The basic idea is that different family backgrounds the masculinity of adult working-class culture. It is their
socialise young people into acting and thinking in ways that rejection of schooling rather than its acceptance that prepares
resonate to different degrees with the underlying patterns of them for their future social positions. Moreover, contrary to
educational contexts. the externalist argument that education provides ideological
justification for social inequality through inculcating beliefs
Learning to Labour—Paul in equality of opportunity, Willis showed that the lads
Willis recognised capitalist society was not meritocratic and that
they had limited chance of upward social mobility. However,
One of the most widely discussed culturalist studies of Willis emphasised that though they could see through
education is Learning to Labour by Paul Willis (1977). On notions of equality, their antipathy towards non-manual
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
SG–, SD+
SG+, SD–
Time
Source: Karl Maton, Making semantic waves: A key to cumulative knowledge-building, Linguistics and Education, 2013a, p. 14.
175
unpacking repacking
SG+, SD–
Time
Source: Karl Maton, Making semantic waves: A key to cumulative knowledge-building, Linguistics and Education, 2013a, p. 15.
of academic subjects, which students are required to do in our lives. They are also attempting to integrate the insights
assessments. Ongoing research is suggesting that students of past approaches, so that the sociology of education builds
from different social groups are more or less adept at making on the past in order to understand the future. LCT, for
such semantic waves by virtue of their socialised dispositions, example, extends and integrates ideas from Bourdieu and
and establishing ways in which teachers can be trained to Bernstein. However, there is still much to be explored and
enable more students to do so (Martin & Maton 2013). explained: educational inequalities persist and the role played
What such studies are showing is how the forms taken by by education and knowledge in modern society remains a
knowledge can shape educational experiences and outcomes. source of intense debate and discussion within contemporary
Approaches like LCT are beginning to unpick the complex sociology.
nature of knowledge and the roles it plays in all aspects of
176
177
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