Education Guide With Q - S

OCR Sociology
Education Paper 3
Revision guide
Sociology – Education Paper 3 Question plans
2018
In what ways are there differences in educational provision across the world? (10 marks)
First way
Second way
Third way
To what extent can in-school explanations account for social class differences in educational
achievement? (20 marks)
Intro
In-school 1 Not in-school 1
Critical conclusion
Assess the view that educational policies since 1988 have increased diversity and choice. (40
marks)
Intro
Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1
Critical conclusion
2017
In what ways do material factors contribute to social class inequality in education? (10 marks)
First way
Second way
Third way
To what extent are New Right views on the relationship between education and work relevant in
contemporary society? (20 marks)
Intro
New Right views relevant 1 New Right views not relevant 1
Critical conclusion
Assess out-of-school explanations of ethnic differences in educational achievement. (40

marks)
Intro
out-of-school explanation 1 In-school explanation 1
Critical conclusion
2018
First way
Second way
Third way
Intro
Critical conclusion
marks)
Intro
Critical conclusion
2018
First way
Second way
Third way
Intro
Critical conclusion
marks)
Intro
Critical conclusion
2018
First way
Second way
Third way
Intro
Critical conclusion
marks)
Intro
Critical conclusion
2018
First way
Second way
Third way
Intro
Critical conclusion
marks)
Intro
Critical conclusion
2018
First way
Second way
Third way
Intro
Critical conclusion
marks)
Intro
Critical conclusion
2018
First way
Second way
Third way
Intro
Critical conclusion
marks)
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Critical conclusion
2018
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Second way
Third way
Intro
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marks)
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Intro
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Intro
Critical conclusion
 Marxism, Functionalism, Liberal, social democratic, The New Right and Feminist views.
Role of Education in Society pp98-101: Functionalism
Functionalist view of education

Social Solidarity (Durkheim)
saw the major function of education as transmission of society’s norms and values from one
generation to the next. This is necessary in order to produce social solidarity- this is where individual
members of society feel as if they belong to a community and have national pride. Can be achieved
by students singing national anthem in assembly. In school students are taught to interact with other
members of the school community and follow a set of fixed rules; prepares child for interacting with
members of society as an adult and accepting social rules.
Focal socialising agency (Parsons)

agency of socialization which is most influential of an individual. Starts at the family, but then child
starts school and educations starts to have more of an influence. Parsons refers to education as ‘the
bridge’ between family and wider society; as it eases the transmission between the special
treatment children receive from their parents, to being expected to fully conform to norms and
values within wider society. E.g. children may not be sanctioned for misbehaving at home, but may
receive formal criminal punishment in wider society. Therefore, the school teaches children to
conform to rules, whilst understanding that they will make mistakes.
Role allocation (David and Moore)

Education system sifting and sorting people according to their abilities. Meaning that the most
talented students gain high qualifications and therefore gain the most important jobs in society,
whereas the lower ability students will leave school with few qualifications and have to perform the
low skilled, low paid jobs in society. Believed to be desirable as it ensures that we have the most able
people fulfilling the most important roles. Also deemed fair because it means that people are being
rewarded in accordance with their contribution to society because the highest paid jobs require the
hardest work. Therefore, they believe that because everyone has the equality of opportunity,
inequalities are fair and functional.
Values (Parsons)
Argues that the education system also socialises students into these two main values: Meritocracy
(you achieve your own status by the effort you put in), and equality (there is the opportunity for
everyone to succeed). These values teach individuals that everyone in society can be successful if
they work hard.
EVALUATION
 Bourdieu
Role allocation is not fair because the middle class have an advantage in education, though
cultural and economic capital
 Willis
Working class lads see that meritocracy is a myth, so turn against the schools’ culture
 Bowles and Gintis
The school prepares individuals for the work place in order to accept oppression, not to
benefit the organic analogy
 Wrong
Functionalists have an “over-socialised” view of individuals they are not puppets on a string
and do not always accept the schools’ values.
 Durkheim and Parsons were ‘armchair theorising’
they had no empirical evidence to support their view points.
Functionalism
Main functions- secondary socialisation, skills provision, role allocation and the division of labour,
consensus, equality of opportunity.
 Deterministic-education shapes us
 Socialisation- education helps to maintain society by socializing and getting people to consensus
into norms &values.
Durkheim argued that education was promoting individualism and that it could lead to social
solidarity.
 Subjects in school- citizenship helps develop loyal citizens
 Correspondence theory- qualifications reward students, like in work
 National identity- history, English and religious education
 Norms and values - one generation to the next, educating future teachers.
 Hardworking work force- may depend on disciplinary systems
 Talcott Parsons –school is a microcosm of the adult world with power relationships.
Education forms a bridge between the family and the wider society by socialising children to
adapt a meritocratic view that people are rewarded on the basis of ability and talent
Economic function –education trains us to be skilled and hardworking
Socialising function –norms and values are passed on
Hidden curriculum- picks up expectation about authority through language and movements,
expectations of teachers.
Particularistic values-parents judge their children on values just for their own children ‘best
child’
Universalistic values-applied to everyone in wider society, applicants for best job.
 Durkheim -education passes on norms and values in order to integrate individuals into society
and helps to create social order.
Unity based on shared beliefs and values- social solidarity.
Education instils shared culture and identity- history, religious studies.
Division of labour- pre-industrial work skills used to come from family members, now less likely
to follow in parents footsteps so schools need to provide specialist skills and knowledge.
 Durkheim’s work is considered to be outdated as we now live in a multicultural society so shared

values are problematic, no longer Christian values in schooling. Religious education now looks at
other faiths, and there has been the secularisation of religious, school assemblies are no longer
Christian based.
 Davis and Moore – role allocation, Education allocates people to the most appropriate job for
their talents
Skills provision- education teaches the skills requires by the modern industrial society.
Passing on society’s beliefs and culture –Its passes on key values and beliefs via socialization,
through both the national curriculum and the hidden curriculum.
This helps create social solidarity, it unites society in its morals and values.
Evaluation
- Must have social solidarity to an extent because we have shared beliefs; there isn’t that much
deviance,
- School teaches values needed for work- obedience and respect, but people are self –employed
- People from certain backgrounds can be successful but need to work harder
- Whose values? - Marxists believe that these values don’t actually benefit society but are passed
on by the ruling class; feminists would argue that these are patriarchal values that emasculate
women.
- Meritocracy- some sociologists argue that some students fail to achieve, not because of ability,
but because of social background factors .Many of the most powerful people had an advantage
getting the best jobs due to their higher social class
- Education and work – schools don’t teach job skills but place too much emphasis on academic
subjects; not on practical and social skills.
- Globalisation and common culture-role is to transmit common culture is outdated as young
people now compete for jobs in a global society, cultural diversity more than national identity,
The role of education: functionalism
[Functionalism]
Functionalists are interested in the functions of education:
 Social integration
 Socialisation
 Social placement
 Social and cultural innovation
DURKHEIM:
 wrote ‘moral education’ (1961)
 takes a structuralist, macro approach to the role of education in society
 key concept = social solidarity
 major function of education is the transmission of society’s norms and values
 without similar attitudes in people, social life would be impossible
 education, particularly the teaching of history, provides links between the individual and
society. Children will come to see that they are part of something larger than themselves,
they will develop a sense of commitment to the social group
 school makes children cooperate with other members of society besides family and friends –
it is society in miniature
 education also teaches children skills for their future role
 armchair theorist
Weaknesses:
 DURKHEIM assumes the norms and values transmitted by the education system are
those of society as a whole. (MARXISTS would argue the values transmitted are those of
the ruling class/ruling elite)
PARSONS:
 Structuralist, macro approach
 Key concepts = focal socialising agency, particularistic and universalistic standards,
ascribed/achieved status, meritocracy and role allocation
 School acts as a bridge between the family and society, preparing children for their adult
roles
 School prepares children for the transition between their particularistic standards and
ascribed status of the family, to the universalistic standards and achieve status of society
 Status is achieved on the basis of merit (meritocracy) – debateable
 Advanced, industrial society requires a highly motivated, achievement orientated workforce.
 By using the principle of differential reward for differential achievement, this value is
instilled in society
 Schools match children to occupations based on aptitude and achievement
 Armchair theorist
Weaknesses:
 Evidence that equal opportunity in education does not exist; achievement is greatly
influence by class background rather than ability
 Fails to recognize that the value of consensus may be that of the ruling elite
 WRONG: argues that functionalists have an ‘over-socialised’ view of people as puppets
of society – wrongly imply that pupils passively accept all they are taught and never
reject the schools’ values (deterministic)
DAVIS AND MOORE:

 see education as a device for selection and role allocation
 focus on the relationship between education and social inequality
 inequality is necessary to ensure that the most important roles are filled by the most
talented people
 not everyone is equally talented, so society offers higher rewards for these jobs to
encourage everyone to compete for them
 education acts as a proving ground for ability, it ‘sifts and sorts’ us according to our ability –
the most able gain the highest qualifications, giving them entry to the highest rewarding
positions
Criticisms:
 TUMIN: DAVIS&MOORE put forward a circular argument
 NEW RIGHT: the state education system fails to prepare young people adequately for
work because state control of education discourages efficiency, competition and choice
Role of Education in Society pp101-105: Marxism
Marxist view of education

Bourdieu – Capital
Cultural capital refers to knowledge, values and skills that help students succeed in education. He
argues that students who have been socialised in a middle class family will have high levels of
cultural capital, whereas students from working class families will be culturally deprived. He argues
that children who experience high culture have an advantage when accessing the curriculum. E.g.
children who read Shakespeare at home will be able to understand it more easily in English
Literature. Furthermore, students from middle class families also teach their children to value
education and prepare them with the skills that will help them achieve high grades, such as
communication skills. He also notes how ‘economic’ capital can support middle class students, e.g.
by them having additional resources, tutors or attend private school (the opposite to material
deprivation). Notes that they have ‘social’ capital. E.g. ‘old boys’ network’ refers to children from the
elite using their parent’s connections to help them apply for university/ jobs etc.
Willis – Anti-school sub-cultures

argues that working class ‘lads’ see through the smokescreen of meritocracy that tries to legitimate
inequality. Meaning that they can see that they are disadvantaged and know they have little chance
of success. So they create anti-school sub-cultures that challenge the schools dominant values.
Consequently their anti-school behaviour guarantees that they will then end up in low skilled jobs,
illustrating that challenging inequalities in a capitalist system does not benefit the ‘lads’.
Althusser – Ideological State Apparatus

Education system is part of the superstructure. Meaning that it’s something that the Bourgeoisie can
control in order to maintain capitalism. Marxists believe that the ruling class use education as an
ideological state apparatus. This is when they use an institution to transmit the norms and values
that benefit capitalism and the ruling classes. He believes that school students are socialised into
accepting capitalism in two ways: ‘Official curriculum’, teaches students that capitalism is a safe, fair
system and if we achieve poorly in exams it’s our own faults. ‘Hidden curriculum’ teaches students to
be obedient and accept authority. E.g. in schools there is a hierarchy with the Head teacher at the
top, followed by Deputy Heads, Heads of Departments, Classroom Teachers, and then students at
the very bottom. Communicates to students that an uneven distribution of power is desirable and
prepares them for the hierarchical nature of work. Values such as meritocracy that are taught in
schools teach children that if they fail it is their own fault so they do not blame the system.
Bowles and Gintis – Correspondence Theory

Schools mirrors the workplace that students will enter once they become members of the
proletariat. Purpose of this is to reinforce the false-class consciousness and ensure workers passively
accept their oppression and do not challenge the bourgeoisie’s power. Schools reflect the work place
(they ‘correspond’ to the workplace) in many ways: ‘Hierarchy’ – The different levels of status in a
school prepare workers to accept authority from above. ‘Differential treatment’ – Sixth formers may
not have to wear uniform and teachers have private areas which illustrate that those with higher
status have more privileges. ‘Sanctions for not following rules’ – Students are punished for being late
or not completing work, to teach them these are vital in the work place. ‘Structured day’ – Students’
work and break times are highly controlled, as they would be at work. Myth of meritocracy – the
idea of meritocracy is simply a myth to justify any inequalities.
EVALUATION
 Functionalists such as Durkheim would argue that values and skills that we are taught in
schools benefit all of society by creating social solidarity and a skilled workforce and
therefore not just capitalism. In addition not all subjects teach pupils to conform, subjects
such as sociology teach pupils to examine the world critically
 Some have argued that schools are actually relatively independent from the bourgeoisie
such as the government or head employers. The move to academies gives schools the power
to make their own decisions and employers often complain that students leave school not
having the desired skills for the workplace showing that the correspondence theory cannot
have occurred. However the increasing marketization of schools through league tables etc.
could show that schools are increasingly reflecting businesses
 Willis’ study has been criticized by Blackledge and Hunt who argue Willis largely ignores the
full range of subcultures within schools and most children do not fully accept or fully reject
school norms. In addition it can be seen as outdated as it is no longer possible to leave
school and gain a manual job as these have declined and even low skilled jobs require
qualifications as competition for jobs is high.
 Government have attempted over the years to close the gap caused by different levels of
capital such as top up fees, EMA, Sure Start and Pupil Premium funding.
Marxism-
 Education serves capitalist society by dividing people into social classes.
 Education serves the needs of capitalism by socialising children into the dominant ideology
(those of the ruling class); this means a more obedient workforce, thus helping capitalism.
 Apart from a few students, education ensures that the class you are born into (class of origin) is
the one you will end up in (class of destination). This means education helps lower class mobility
and therefore increases social inequality.
 Education legitimises social class inequality by persuading working class pupils to accept their
social role, and even believe they deserve purely due to the amount (or lack) of work or ability at
school, when actually things like unequal opportunities as the rich have a great effect (ascribed
status).
 Capitalism-an economic system based upon private ownership, meritocracy, inequality based
upon success, competition between businesses.
 Althusser- Neo Marxist

Education is an ideological state apparatus (media and education) to ensure conformity and
acceptance, learn through the hidden curriculum, ensures placid workers.
Used to make people believe society is fair and prepares them for later exploitation, teaches people
that capitalism is natural and we shouldn’t question it.
Grading of pupils make inequality seem fair and legitimate, people believe that if they fair it is due to
their own lack of ability/motivation.
1. Hidden curriculum- miss and sir, follow instructions unquestioningly, accept authority.
2. Alienation of school work – if bored rewarded with certificates, don’t have a say in what study,
don’t question at work.
3. Textbooks-advancement to show that capitalism is successful, look down upon non-capitalist
systems in China.
 Bowles and Gintis-

‘Myth of education – attacks meritocracy, education works against the working class.
Correspondence theory- social relationships in classes parallel that of the work place, hierarchy
through certificates and wages.
Critical awareness and creativity is discouraged, external rewards, hierarchy of teachers and pupils,
hidden curriculum.
Those who were rebellious and questioned were rewarded lower grades, middle class education
works best.
Social reproduction- inequalities are reproduced for each generation socialised to accept future
places
Bowles and Gintis-focus on hidden curriculum, but history, media and sociology allow people to view
society critically.
Willis criticise Bowles as people do not passively accept but show little respect for authority.
Working class opted out of ‘boring work’ and ended up in the ‘boring jobs’
12 working class lads study-rejected school ‘bunking off’, not helpless victims but tended to reject middle
class values.
Saw through hidden curriculum.
Counter school culture-opposite school values, no value to academic success.
‘ear oles’- those who want to learn , elaborate schemes to get out of studying , wanted to have a ‘laff’
Masculinity- earning a wage in a physical job, smoking and drinking , sexism , resistance to authority,
 Highly influential when looking at anti-school subcultures.

 Too small a sample size-not representative.
 People may pick and select between behaviours of anti-school subcultures
 Dates – it was possible in the 70’s to leave school at 16.
 Ramsay (1983) -
claimed that knowledge is being used as a form of social control and there is a hidden curriculum
to keep w/c and ethnic minorities in place.
 Bourdieu (1977) -
Symbolic violence where the w/c are effectively duped in to accepting their failure and limited
social mobility. Their cultural attributes are rejected, because the system is defined and is for
middle class who succeed by default.
The Hidden Curriculum within school, and how does it reproduce a good workforce?
– School rules; detentions, punishments and prizes, good marks etc. – you must conform to the
rules of society or be punished
– Division in male and female education, for example different uniform and subject preference
– justifies and encourages a sexual division of labour
– Punctuality ,Competition between pupils ,Pupils lack power and control – leads to an acceptance
that they will have no power in the workplace
Similarities between Marxist and Functionalist:

– Both think schools help legitimise social inequality
– Both are “macro” theories, so they look at the effect of education in the context of the rest of
society, it can determine the rest of society with beliefs, values and skills.
– Both see education serving the needs of the workplace
– Both see education as being a powerful way to influence students, i.e. social values and norms.
Criticism of Marxist and Functionalist Perspectives:

– They put too much emphasis on the role of education in forming students’ identity, and don’t
give enough credit to other things such as the family, work, media etc.
– They oversimplify schools, for example some students will be disruptive, others may truant and
this is different to the way both perspectives describe schools.
– They both place too much emphasis on the effect school has on industry, in fact the recent NVQs
etc. have been brought in because education wasn’t provided a skilled enough workforce.
Evaluation of Marxist theories–

– Gained support as explained class differences and hierarchy in education.
– Only actually a lose link between ability and education, more about social background, questions
functionalists.
– Autonomy of the education system, degree of independence, education not controlled by ruling
class, but by local education authorities.
– Employers still complain that education gives people that are too academic and lack skills
– Employers are highly critical for the low level of employability skills possessed by graduates and
school leavers.
– Changes in the workplace- theories are out of date as 21st century work place or organised
differently, growth in service sector jobs.
– Contemporary relevance of Marxists- changes in curriculum made it to match their description
more closely.
1988- Created a national curriculum that took away independence.
Marketization and commodification of education through academies and schools financed by
buisnesses.
– Failure to recognize correspondence between schools and the needs of the economy in terms of
the formal curriculum
The role of education: Marxism
 See society based on class conflict

 See education as legitimising inequality through ideology
 Education prepares children for the world of work by giving them skills and values they’ll
need
 Education justifies inequality
 Education passes on ruling class ideology that supports capitalism
ALTHUSSER:
 Education is an ideological state apparatus (ISA)
 Education’s main function is to maintain, legitimate and reproduce generation by generation,
class inequalities in wealth and power by transmitting ruling-class values disguised as common
values
 Hidden curriculum
 Two functions:
 Reproduces class inequality
 Justifies class inequalities
 State consists of two ‘apparatuses’ which both serve to keep the bourgeoisie in power
 The repressive state apparatuses (RSAs) – maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie by force
or the threat of it
 The ideological state apparatuses (ISA) – maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie by
controlling peoples idea, values and beliefs
Criticisms:
 (MORROW AND TORRES) critical modernists argues that sociologists must explain how
education reproduces and legitimises all forms of inequality, not just class and how the
different forms of inequality are inter-related
 in schools today, there are a range of policies aimed at different children to try and provide
equal opportunity
BOWLES AND GINTIS:

 Education serves to reproduce capitalist relations of production
 Education ensures that workers will unquestionably adapt to the needs of the system
 ‘correspondence theory’
 What goes on in school corresponds directly to the world of work
 Hidden curriculum
 Success is not entirely related to intellectual ability
 Pupils who conform and fit in, rise above those who display behaviour which challenges
the system
 Studied 237 New York high school students – found schools reward those with the personality
traits of a compliant worker
 Education stunts and distorts students’ development
Criticisms:
 REYNOLDS: curriculum does not seem designed to teach the skills needed by employers or
uncritical passive behaviour that makes workers easy to exploit
 Survival of liberal humanities-based subjects and limited emphasis on science
and applied knowledge suggests a lack of correspondence
 CROWN: modern businesses need shared teamwork and creativity but exam system
encourages completion and judgement
 Fail to recognise a lack of correspondence between schools and the needs of the economy
WILLIS:
 Schools reproduce the relations of production by demonstrating that the boys in the anti-
school subculture shared a similar outlook to the workers in the factories they were likely to
end up in
 w/c pupils can resist such attempts to indoctrinate them
 acts of defiance are ways of resisting school
 notes similarities between anti-school counter-culture and shop floor culture of male
manual workers
Strengths:
 triangulated his methods
 observation/participated Allowed him to obtain more
 interviews in-depth data
Criticisms:
 his study was so small-scale that we cannot generalise his findings
 interviewed boys as a group – may have had influence over each other: in groups people
tend to conform to what others say
Role of Education in Society pp105-107: Social

Democratic
Social democratic view of education

Social democrat approach heavily influenced education policies between 1944-1979. They have a
key aim of equality of opportunity for all.
Equality of opportunity- they believe in the fact if you work hard for something then you will
achieve it (meritocracy) and equality of opportunity. But they don’t not believe the current
education system offers this. Halsey argues that class inequalities persist and this means that middle
class children outperform working class children proving that there is not equality of opportunity for
all.
Wastage of ability- educational opportunities should be offered to all, not just those from middle
class backgrounds. They argue there is a significant waste of ability as there are many intelligent
working class children who are unable to reach their potential.
Education and economic growth- for a modern society to be successful tit needs a highly skilled
workforce and education is key to producing this. As a result they support government spending on
education as they see this as an investment for long tern economic benefits. This will allow British
companies to more competitive on the world stage.
EVALUATION
 Social democrats have influenced government policy for example between 1997-2010 the
Labour government heavily expanded higher education with the aim of half of school leavers
attending university to create a skilled workforce.
 Marxists would argue that social democrats do not go far enough in their recognition of
inequalities. They do not see how the education system is built for the purpose of
benefitting the rich and until they do social policies will not work
 New right criticise their policies for focusing too much on equality- inequality is inevitable
and the government should focus on raising standards for all and not closing the gap.
Role of Education in Society pp107-109: New Right

(neo-liberalist)
New right view of education

New right approach- (influenced by conservative) more of an ideology that influences government
policy. Views had a significant impact on the economic and education policies.
Reduction of state control- New right argued prior to Margaret Thatcher, government had become a
nanny state, and was controlling people lives too much. This prevented students from using their
own initiative and creativity. This then applied to schools as they believed that school were
constantly being interfered with by the local bureaucracy such as Local Education Authorities (LEAs.)
Therefore, they support schools having more authority, meaning that that schools can tailor their
education to the specific needs of the pupils.
Reduction in government spending- They believe that a lot of government money was being wasted
on unnecessary costs. They believe if you reduce the power of LEAs then spending could go more on
school resources rather than management and administrators. This would be more beneficial to the
students.
Marketisation and competition- New right approach applies theories on economics to education.
They argue that to increase profits and standards in the private sector that you have competition.
E.g. supermarkets having lower prices and deals to encourage people to shop with them. The same
would occur in the public sector and education where parents should be to choose which school
their child is sent to- not just the local school. By having a variety of schools to choose from,
competition is created, and overall standards are increased.
Vocationalism- In past education has focused on academic skills which have little relevance to the
wider world outside of school. Therefore schools should teach vocational skills-these have direct
relevance to the world of work. As a result economy would improve as the standards of workers
would be higher.
EVALUATION
 Marketisation of schools is not fair as middle class parents are more equipped to ensure
their children go the schools with the best reputation or even buy a house in a good
catchment area.
 Often parents do not have as much choice over their child’s education as many schools have
a lot of students or some schools have strict entrance policies e.g. faith schools which
removes the choice element.
 By focusing on competition and treating schools like private sector businesses some argue t
that they are now focusing too much on grades and league tables and not enough on
providing children with important life skills.
New Right –
 Branch of functionalism , political group
 Political ideology informs government policies, from USA, associated with Charles Murray, in late
1970, used by Margaret Thatcher.
 Traditional values- dislike single mothers, ethnic minorities, and people from poorer
backgrounds.
 Education should socialise pupils into shared values such as competition, and to instil a sense of
national identity.
 Want to create an education market they believe that competition between schools and the laws
of supply and demand will empower the consumers, bringing greater diversity, choice and
efficiency to schools and increasing their ability to meet the needs of pupils, parents and
employers
Free schools-2010 coalition government

 Funding from state, but free from government control, LEA have no say instead businesses and
parents do , can decide their own curriculum , don’t have to employ qualified teachers.
 Offer parents and children’s alternatives to state schools
Toby Young-set up west London free school
 provides a protected space where can try new things

 ‘development wing of education’
 Regardless of background education , most oversubscribed secondary school, more diversity
and SEN, 100% parental satisfaction,
 No attainment gap for those on free school meals.
Reduction in state control of education-
 Nanny state-controlling people’s lives too much

 Interfering government by LEAs , want removed
 Academies mark 2- can chose to become one
Reduction in government spending-
 Government expenditure was wasteful

 Reducing power of LEAs
 Academies-less money spent on support services
Marketisation and competition-
 Education has to compete on price, quality and student services to attract students in order to be
efficient.
 All educational services should have different choices in schools to compete in an education
market
Vocationalism-skills based
- Education can support economic growth

- Government put too much emphasis on academic education, little relevance to the world of
work.
- More emphasis on vocational education.
Their criticism of education system-
 LEA influence too much and create a nanny state

 Government expenditure is wasteful
 Should be more vocational courses to support economic growth and prepare people for work.
 Free schools free from government control.
Evaluation
 Education markets are biased-better for the highly educated middle class as they can move
house
 Selection by schools-some schools are oversubscribed, therefore have to adopt something to
select by, middle class have more opportunities.
 Raising Standards-GCSE and A-level pass rates have increased, but is this due to competition,
middle class is the ones for which has increased the most, has it just increased class inequalities
 Narrowing the aims of education- essentially just turned schools into exam factories, lost sight of
other reasons such as being creative and behaving co-operatively.
 Heavily influenced educational policies, the number of people leaving with GCSE’s has increased,
 Given more choice to parents about their child’s education.
 Most dominate educational policy.
 English education system is being fragmented and being taken backwards to before the 1870
education act as created more unequal provision, not being run by democratically elected
councils but ‘haphazard providers’, choices depend on where they live, some communities won’t
be able to choose.
The role of education: new right:

[[New Right]
 Believe that the state cannot meet people’s needs, and so people must meet their own needs
through the free market
 Favour the marketisation of education
 Oppose multi-cultural education that reflects the cultures of the different minority groups in
Britain
 Believe that some are more naturally talented than others
 Favour an education system run on meritocratic principles of open competition and one that
serves the needs of the economy by preparing young people for work
 Believe that education should socialise pupils into shared values, such as completion and instil a
sense of national identity
 Believe that the current education system is not achieving these goals because it is run by the
state
 Believe the state takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach – imposing uniformity and disregarding local
needs
 State education systems = unresponsive and breed inefficiency
 Schools that waste money or get poor results lead to lower standards of achievement for pupils,
a less qualified workforce and less prosperous economy
 SOLUTION = marketisation of education
 Competition between schools and the laws of supply and demand will empower
consumers, resulting in greater choice, diversity and efficiency to schools and
increasing their ability to meet the needs of pupils, parents and employers

CHUBB AND MOE:

 Argue that the American state education has failed
 Make a case of opening it up to market forces of supply and demand
 Claim that:
 Disadvantaged groups have been badly served by state education – has failed to create
opportunity
 State education is inefficient as it fails to produce pupils with skills needed by the
economy
 Private schools deliver higher quality education because, unlike state schools, they are
answerable to paying consumers (parents)
 Base their arguments of a comparison of the achievements of 60,000 low income families in
1,015 state and private high schools
 Evidence shows that pupils from low-income families consistently do about 5% better in private
schools
 Call for the introduction of a market system in state education that would put control in the
hands of consumers (parents and local communities
 Argue it would allow consumers to shape schools to meet their own needs and would
improve quality and efficiency
 Propose an end to system where schools automatically receive guaranteed funding, and instead
propose a system in which each family would be given a voucher to spend on buying education
from a school of their choice
 This would force schools to be more responsive to parents’ demands as they would have to
compete for ‘business’
Two roles for the state:

 See the state as having two important roles:
 Imposes a framework on schools, within which they have to compete (e.g. – through
Ofsted reports and league tables, parents can make informed choices between schools)
 Ensures that the schools transmit a shared culture. The national curriculum seeks to
guarantee that schools socialise pupils into a single cultural heritage
Evaluation:
 GERWITZ AND BALL: competition between schools benefits the m/c, who can use their cultural
and economic capital to gain access to more desirable schools
 MARXISTS: education imposes the culture of dominant minority ruling class, not a shared
national culture
Role of Education in Society pp110-111: Feminist
Feminist view of education

Hidden curriculum
Heaton and Lawson – Purpose of education is to socialise children into patriarchal values, through
the hidden curriculum. Meaning that girls ‘learn their place’ as inferior to boys through the informal
processes at school. E.g. boys may receive special treatment from teachers and given more
attention, which communicates to girls they are less important. Also textbooks contain stereotypical
images, which reinforce to girls that their role is to be a career and mother. This discourages them
from pursuing high powered careers. The gendered language also increases male status.
Teachers
They hold the subconscious view that male students are more able at Maths and Science subjects.
Evident in Goddard-Spear’s study when Science teachers assigned higher grades to work when they
were told it was done by a boy. Teachers pay more attention to boys because they are louder and
more disruptive, whereas they largely ignore girls because they are quieter and more likely to work
independently. Prepares girls to accept lower status in society. They reinforce gender roles by having
a protective attitude towards women. E.g. male teachers would often come into lessons to ‘rescue’
female teachers from a disruptive class, sending the message that men have more authority and
women are weak. Also, women account for 74% of the teaching workforce, but only 36% of head
teachers are female, which illustrates the glass-ceiling to children and suggests to them that women
are less capable of management roles.
Preparation for work

Female students are encouraged to pursue professions in the care sector of the economy, such as
nursing or teaching. One way that schools reproduce these gender stereotypes is though work
experience. Hamilton found that regardless of career aims, 49% of girls were placed in caring
professions and only 3% went to typical male professions. Gender socialisation from the family
impacts the subject choices that students make at school. E.g. as girls are given dolls to play with,
they are more likely to choose Health and Social Care. Prepares them for work in a care setting,
which reproduces gender stereotypes.
Double standards
At school, girls are exposed to the double-standards of sexuality that they will experience in wider
society. Arguing that male students gain status through their sexual conquests, whereas female
students are labelled ‘slags’. Female students who do not appear sexually available are also criticised
for being ‘frigid’. Therefore, girls are taught from a young age that their sexuality is controversial.
Female students experience the ‘male gaze’, the act of male students looking them up and down and
assessing their attractiveness. Reinforces male status and hegemonic masculinity and devalues
women.
EVALUTION
 Images that promote gender stereotypes have been removed from textbooks, also women’s
view on their role has changed and they prioritise their career
 Only 55% of boys achieve 5 A*-C GCSEs, compared to 65% of girls.
 The government have commission projects such as the Girls into Science and Technology
(GIST) to research how they can encourage female participation.
Feminism-
 Feminists’ say that education emasculates women and enforces patriarchy to meet the needs of
males more than females.
 Sylvia Walby-triple systems theory, patriarchy is a useful concept as ethnicity and class
complicate the idea of what it means to be female. Gender, ethnicity and class need to be
combined to discuss capitalism and patriarchy.
 Liberal Feminists- patriarchy will be ended by changes in equal opportunities and educational
policies such as the national curriculum in 1988 meaning that both genders study the same
subjects.
 Marxist Feminists- women’s role shaped by needs of the economy, education enforced
stereotypes and expectations of men and women.
 Black Feminists-experience of women depends on colour, teachers treat differently.
 Radical Feminists- women need to be freed from the negative influence and violence influenced
both physically and emotionally on women.
 Post-feminists- no single meaning to what a ‘women’ are, women can have multiple identities
such as ‘black’ and ‘homosexual’. Lack of single meaning shows that no single theory can explain
gender differences.
Heaton and Lawson –hidden curriculum is main source of gender socialisation

1) Through books- women dependent on men in children’s books, Kelly (1987) suggests that
women are even ‘invisible’ in science texts.
2) Students uncomfortable in the presence of male students in certain subjects
Culley- girls felt excluded in computing.
3) Teacher’s expectations and attitudes- many teachers possess strongly sexist ideas about certain
texts, boy move furniture.
4) Patriarchal curriculum- despite national curriculum, sports focus on boys, engendered subjects.
5) Lack of positive role models- men occupies senior roles, more female teachers than male, very
few black teachers.
This is because of gender inequalities within school which lead to inequalities in society. Feminists say
this happens in several ways:
 Gender stereotypes – reading schemes show gender differences, for example: girls are shown as
more caring and are followers, whilst boys are shown as more adventurous and stronger.
 Gendered Roles – the curriculum shows Parsons sexual division of labour, reinforcing the idea
that men should be working and women caring for the family. Feminists feel that this is
emasculating
 Gendered Language – School textbooks tend too always refer to men, for example saying “him”
and “he” rather than “she” and her”, Feminists say this makes women feel devalued.
 Lack of women in the curriculum – The national curriculum includes far less about women than
men, and Feminists say this too leads to women feeling unimportant and devalued.
 Lower university attendance for girls – traditionally less girls have attended university than boys.
This could be because teachers encourage boys to go to university more.
Evaluation of Feminists Perspective
- Feminists have helped to reduce gender inequality by exposing it in education. They have done
this through research and campaigns, women are achieving far higher than in earlier years
- Girls are now outperforming boys, this means the concern should now be that boys are
disadvantaged, making the feminist perspective less useful, a shortage of males in primary
schools
- Subjects are still engendered-science, maths, sociology and health and social care.
- Men go on to earn more money and gain best position ( glass ceilings)
- Still a lack of female role models in management positions
- 1988 education reform act-boys and girls taught same subjects
Role of Education in Society pp111-112: Liberal and
Radical
Liberal view of education
Liberal approach- they believe that education should focus on developing students into well
rounding human beings.
The curriculum- Liberals heavily criticise the national curriculum believing that a ‘one size fits all’
model is not appropriate. Schools should have the power to choose a curriculum that best fits the
needs of their pupils, and students should be consulted for their perspective on what they want to
learn. Teachers should also have more freedom over what is taught.
Assessment- Argues that SATS and unnecessary assessments should be abolished. They place
pressure on students and teachers which aren’t needed. In addition any results should not be
published in a league tables to relieve pressure.
Higher Education- liberals support higher education believing that learning should be a lifelong
process, as a result university should be mandatory for everyone, and it shouldn’t just be desirable
for some people to go to. To achieve this they support the idea of abolishing student loans and
instead paying for students to attend university.
EVALUATION
 New right heavily criticise liberal perspective arguing that giving students so much choice
would mean they would not gain the necessary skills for employment. Would also criticise
the lack of rigour in assessing schools. Without Ofsted, league tables and regular testing,
high standards of schools wouldn’t be maintained.
 Functionalists, i.e. Durkheim argue that schools should teach specialised skills needed for the
workplace. Role allocation could suggest that not all young people are intellectually capable
to attend university.
 The idea of students being paid to attend university has a huge financial implications for the
government
Liberal –
 Argue that education doesn’t prepare you for work but for the world
 Rounded individuals with a broad knowledge of many subjects.
 UK- emphasise Vocationalism for work.
 Example-Sudbury valley school and summer hill school which are made to fit the children and
run as a democracy without hierarchies
Radical –
Ivan Illich (1973)-de-schooling education, qualified teachers not the best people to undertake
education
 Learning webs-people who wanted to learn would be put in contact with people so that they
could learn in a more informal way.
 Wish to abolish schools, not replace them with a new type such as the new right, closer to
Marxism.
 Education is a means of control to accepting hierarchical and rule bound school.
Evaluation-
 More adopted for 21st century choices

 Freedom and improved social skills (classes with a variety of age group) as well as independence
and learning how to use technology.
 Influence of the child centred education movement in the 1960’s
 Impractical + difficult to get a job, haphazard approach.
 people couldn’t fulfil their roles, cannot always choose what you want to do at work.
 Ignores the direction of mainstream education.
Inequalities in education pp114-153
 Inside and Outside factors of schools, structural ,material and cultural factors ,theoretical
approaches
 Patterns and Trends of Educational Inequalities
 Social Class, Ethnicity and Gender and the relationship between these and inequalities
 Global Educational Inequalities-‘gender apartheid’, disparity in education provision.
 Social class inequalities in Education
EXTERNAL FACTORS
 Material factors- Bull argues that working class students face material deprivation as they
might lack the finances to afford the basic necessities which will help them succeed in
education. E.g. not being able to afford laptops or textbooks. Also, working class students
may live in over-crowded conditions, so they lack work space thus preventing them from
completing homework. Furthermore, working class parents cannot afford to live in the
catchment areas of the high achieving schools. This leads to a ‘post-code lottery’, where a
student’s postcode determines the quality of education they will receive.
 EVALUATION: It is difficult to determine whether differences in achievement are due to just
material factors as it is impossible to know whether they also are affected by cultural factors
as well. In addition government policies such as EMA and EiC etc. have been introduced to
try and close the gap that material factors cause.
 Middle class advantage- Bourdieu suggests that middle class parents socialise their children
into the knowledge, values and skills that lead to educational success – this is known as
cultural capital. Therefore, they have an advantage in education as the system rewards
knowledge which relates to this capital. Furthermore, he also refers to economic capital
where the middle class parents have a financial benefit which can allow them to buy extra
textbooks, tutors or attend private schools, leading to educational success.
 EVALUATION: Sullivan carried out a study into cultural capital and found that middle class
children who had the most cultural capital were more successful in terms of their GCSE
results which supports Bourdieu’s theory.
 Values- It’s suggested that working class parents do not teach their children to value
education. As a result, they are less likely to work hard and more likely to underachieve at
school. In addition, the working class parents socialise their children into the following
values:
1. Present-time orientation – The attitude that we should ‘live for today’, rather than
investing in their future by revising for exams.
2. Fatalism – The belief that their ‘fate’ has been decided and they cannot change their
situation, so they lack motivation to work hard at school.
3. Immediate gratification – The concept of seeking fulfilment instantly, rather than delaying
it for a greater reward. E.g. they would rather seek thrills by going out on a Friday night,
rather than reaping the rewards of a successful career in the future.
 EVALUATION: Evans conducted a study into working class families and found that working
class parents did want their children to succeed in school and did take interest in their child’s
education. She therefore argues that there is not cultural deprivation, just a difference in
how they bring up their children.
Social Class: External Factors-
 Home environment, family, parental working hours, positional theory (replicate parents)
,space and resources.
 Poverty- materially deprived, room, books and money , healthy diet and clothes.
 Parental interest-interest in homework, parents evening, support for child.
 Language differences- class or ethnic differences, language in schools.
 Positional theory- Boudon- class position effects how well do, lack of relatives from
professional positions.
 Cultural capital- Bourdieu- middle class rewarded by exam success, soak knowledge from
parents, teachers unintentionally reward.
Education and Social Class-

 Material factors- less money to spend on educating children, adequate school equipment,
internet, heating, food and quiet work space.
 Smith and Noble- barriers to learning
low income – fall behind due to lack of funds for uniforms , ill health effecting attendance, no
private tutors, internet access and well heated space, Marketisation
 Blanden and Gregg (2004) - relationship between income and attainment
1/3 reduction in income from national average, less likely to get any A*- C by 4%
tuition fees and lack of student rants with loans, discouraged poorer students.
 Callender +Jackson (2005) – survey of nearly 2,000 higher education students, debt aversion ,
discouraging lower incomes from uni,10% drop in those applying to uni when fees increased.
Evaluation
 Do effect but hard to know how much as material factors are similar to cultural factors.
 Department for children, schools and families- material and cultural go hand in hand, ill health
means less likely to have time to consider having higher aspirations
 Many groups manage to overcome the disadvantages of material deprivation more than others.
Cultural factors-differences in norms, values and attitudes, cultural deprivation.

 Restricted language codes-Bernstein, middle class elaborate language codes, rewards middle
class.
 Cultural Capital- education is a middle class institution, MC have relevant knowledge and values,
how to ‘play’ the system.
Cultural Deprivation –Feinstein
 Class differences have origins on background
 Used longitudinal surveys such as the British cohort study,
 Different ages for intellectual progress, class differences apparent from early on
 Quality of school material factors, parental factors in support,
Evaluation –
 Working class families see education as less important, passed to children through socialisation.
 Statistics not a valid measure of what they aim to quantify, teachers perception of interest may
not be accurate, may have had a bad experience of school.
 Evans (2007)-W/C council estate, W/C want children to do well but don’t have the formal-
learning type skills which means they less prepared for school.
 Social variation model- WC children not inferior but different.
Bernstein (1961, 1970, 1972)-

 Restricted and elaborated codes in language.
 Restricted- familiar, short hand speech, does not reply on knowledge to understand meanings,
used by working class.
 Elaborate codes= education concerned with ‘universal orders of meaning’, teachers explain
unfamiliar things using descriptive language, W/C have a disadvantage.
Evaluate-
- Huge influence, but difficult to compensate for the inequalities in wider society,
- Definitions of social classes is vague, blurred
- Based on a small amount of unrepresentative research
- Implies working class speech is inferior.
- William Labov-Is black working class speech inferior to educated middle class, more colourful and
descriptive non-standard form of English.
Bourdieu- Cultural Capital+ cultural reproduction – dominant class ideas to next generation
 Cultural capital is valuable in terms of educational terms of economic capital
 Schools are middle class for the middle class, their cultural capital is rewarded the most,
‘intangible nuances of manners and style’, music food and leisure.
 Habitus- cultural expectations for choices in life and normal reasonable behaviour.
 High culture- classical music and fine arts, working class is popular culture.
 Exists to eliminate through exams yet the working class don’t have this cultural knowledge.
 Social reproduction- higher social classes succeed, inequalities legitimised.
 Rejects cultural deprivation as this blames the working class and he blames the capitalist system.
Bourdieu Evaluation-
– Hugely influential and overcomes problems with cultural deprivation
– Shows how power and status influences what is considered to be worthwhile knowledge
Ball- Middle class able to play system to get into schools of their choice, impression with head teacher on
open days
Hind (2003) - interviews often used to exclude certain families as can’t negotiate interview.
Power et al (2003) –
 Once middle class had secured the place ‘travelling time and homework’ perceived exclusiveness
made it difficult for children to have an ‘external social life’.
 Important aspect of cultural capital is pursuit of ‘conspicuous academic achievement’ by middle
class.
Sullivan-
 Children approaching school leaving age with questionnaires in 4 schools.
 Social class on highest status job , cultural capital on qualification,
 Cultural capital of children – books they read- TV programme, museum and theatre.
 Correlation with GCSE’S – attendance had little effect , but sophisticated TV did
 The Middle class with cultural capital had the best results.
Reay (1998)-
 Interviews with mothers of 33 in two London primary schools.
 Working class mothers worked just as hard to secure success, but middle class had more
knowledge of system.
 Habitus is relevant as sees ‘Oxford’ as not for the likes of them.
 Upper class have ‘confidence ,certainty and entitlement’
 Working class don’t want social failure.
Class differences in achievement – EXTERNAL FACTORS:

 Even when compared to Middle Class children with the same IQ, working-class children are:
 Less likely to be found in nursery schools
 More likely to be poor readers when they start school
 More likely to be in low sets and streams in secondary school
 More likely to underachieve at GCSE and A Level
 Less likely to go to university
 More likely to leave school early
 More likely to be excluded and suspended
Explaining class differences:

 A popular explanation for class differences is that better off parents can send their child to
private school
 Although these schools only educate 7% of Britain’s children, nearly all (over 90%) go on
to university and account for over half of all Oxford/Cambridge students.
BUT…this does not explain difference with STATE education.
Cultural deprivation:
 A number of studies have argued that the values, attitudes and aspirations of parents have an
important effect on their children's educational success
 Cultural deprivation is the theory that many w/c and black children are inadequately
socialised and therefore lack the ‘right’ culture needed for educational success
 There are three main aspects of cultural deprivation:
 Intellectual Development
 The development of thinking an reasoning skills (e.g. – to solve problems and use
concepts)
 Cultural deprivation theorists argue that many W/C homes lack the books, educational
toys and activities that are needed to stimulate and develop intellectual skills
 DOUGLAS: W/C pupils scored lower on tests of ability than M/C pupils because their
parents were less likely to support their intellectual development through reading or
other educational activities in the home.
 BERNSTEIN AND YOUNG: M/C mothers are more likely to choose toys that encourage
thinking and reasoning skills to prepare them for school
 Language
 BEREITER AND ENGELMANN: claim that the language used in lower-class homes is
deficient: communicate by gestures, single words and disjointed phrases
 As a result, children fail to develop the necessary language skills, growing up to
be incapable of abstract thinking or use language to compare, describe and
explain. And so cannot take advantage of the opportunities that school offers.
 BERNSTEIN: two types of speech code that differ between classes. These differences in
speech code give the m/c an advantage over w/c pupils because at school, elaborated
code is used by teachers, textbooks and exams.
 Restricted code: typically used by the w/c. Limited vocabulary, and is based on
the use of short, grammatically unfinished and simple sentences. It is context-
bound.
 Elaborated code: typically used by the m/c. wider vocabulary and is based on the
use of longer, more complex sentences. Speech is more varied and
communicates abstract ideas. It is context-free.
HOWEVER: Critics argue that Bernstein is a cultural deprivation theorist because he
describes w/c speech as inadequate (does however recognise that the school, and
not just the home influences children’s achievement)
 Attitudes and values
 DOUGLAS: w/c parents placed less value on education were less ambitious for their
children and gave them less encouragement. As a result, their children had lower levels
of achievement motivation
 FEINSTEIN: w/c parents’ lack of interest was the main reason for their children’s
underachievement and was even more important that financial hardship factors within
school. – m/c children are more successful being their parents provide them with the
necessary motivation, discipline and support.
 Cultural deprivation theorists argue that lack of parental interest in their children’s
education reflects the sub cultural values of the w/c
 HYMAN: believes that the values and beliefs of lower-class subculture are a ‘self-
imposed barrier’ to educational and career success – their sub cultural beliefs and values
ensure that they neither want nor know how to get educational success
 SUGARMAN: argues that w/c children internalise the beliefs and values of their
subculture through socialisation which leads them to underachieving at school. w/c
subculture has 4 key features that act as a barrier to educational achievement:
1) Fatalism – a belief in fate
2) Collectivism – valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual
3) Immediate gratification – seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order
to get rewards in the future
4) Present-time orientation – seeing the present as more important than the future, so
have no long term goals or plans
Compensatory education:
 A policy designed to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to
schools and communities in deprives areas
 Compensatory education programmes attempt to intervene early in the socialisation process to
compensate children for the deprivation they experience at home.
 Examples:
 Operation Head Start: Multibillion dollar scheme of pre-school education in poor areas
introduces in the 1960s in the US. Its aim was ‘planned enrichment’ of the deprived child’s
environment to develop learning skills and instil achievement motivation. It included
improving parenting skills, setting up nursery classes, home visits by health visitors and
educational psychologists and intensive learning programmes
 Sure Start Programme: a British government policy introduced in 2000 aimed at pre-school
children and their parents. Its aim was to tackle poverty and social exclusion. It included the
promotion of physical, intellectual and social development of babies and young children in
order to break the cycle of disadvantage
The myth of cultural deprivation?

 The cultural deprivation theory has been widely criticised as an explanation of class differences
in achievement…
 KEDDIE: Cultural deprivation is a ‘myth’ and is a victim-blaming explanation
 Failure at school cannot be blamed on a culturally deprived background – a child cannot
be deprived of its own culture
 w/c children are simply culturally different, not culturally deprived – they fail because
they are put at a disadvantage by an education system that is dominated by m/c values
 rather than seeing w/c culture as deficient, schools should recognise and build on its
strengths and should challenge teachers’ anti-working class prejudices
 TROYNA AND WILLIAMS: problem is the schools attitude towards a child’s language – teachers
have a ‘speech hierarchy’, labelling m/c highest, w/c, then Black speech
 Some critics argue that compensatory education schemes act as a smoke screen, concealing the
real cause of under-achievement, namely social inequality and poverty – the real problem isn’t
cultural deprivation but poverty and material deprivation.
Material Deprivation:
 Material deprivation refers to poverty and a lack of material necessities such as adequate
housing and income
 Poverty is closely linked to education under-achievement:
 in 2006, only 33% of children on free school meals gained 5+ A*-C at GCSE (vs. 61% not
receiving)
 FLAHERTY: money problems in the family were a significant factor in younger children’s
non-attendance at school
 Nearly 90% of ‘failing’ schools are located in deprived areas
 Close link between poverty and social class. w/c families are much more likely to have
low incomes and inadequate housing
 Numerous factors can affect a child’s education:
 Diet and health:
 HOWARD: young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins &
minerals
 Poor nutrition affects health (e.g. – if a child has poor nutrition = weak immune system =
more absences)
 Children from poorer homes are more likely to have emotional or behaviour problems:
WILKINSON: researched 10 year olds – the lower the social class, the higher rates of
hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders (all likely to have a negative effect on
child’s education)
 Housing:
 poor housing can affect pupils’ achievement both directly and indirectly
 young children especially affected – development can be impaired through lack of
space for safe play and exploration (direct)
 families living in temporary accommodation may move more frequently, and
therefore children will change schools more often, disrupting their education (direct)
 it may affect the child’s health and welfare – crowded homes create a greater risk of
accidents and temporary accommodation may cause psychological distress,
infections and accidents, leading to more absences (indirect)
 Financial support and the costs of education:
 Lack of financial support means that children from poor families have to do without
equipment and miss out on experiences which would enhance their educational
achievement (BULL: ‘the costs of free schooling’)
 TANNER et al: cost of items such as uniform, transport and books places a heavy burden
on poor families
 as a result of this burden, children may have to do with hand-me-downs and may be
stigmatised against or bullied for this – FLAHERTY: fear of stigmatisation may help
explain why 20% of those eligible for free school meals do not take up their entitlement
 Lack of funds also means that children from low-income families also need to work –
RIDGE: found that children in poverty take on jobs such as baby sitting and this often has
a negative impact on their school work. (these financial restrictions help to explain why
many w/c pupils leave school at 16, and few go to university)
 Evidence that fear of debt deters poor students from applying to university
 Dropout rates are higher among poor students
 The National Audit Office 2002 found that w/c students spent 2 times as much time in
paid work to reduce debts as m/c students
Cultural or material factors?
 The fact that some children from poor families do succeed suggests that material deprivation is
only part of the explanation
 Cultural, religious and political values may play a part in creating and sustaining the child’s
motivation
 MORTIMORE AND WHITTY: material inequalities have a greater effect on achievement than
school factors
 ROBINSON: tackling child poverty would be the best/most effective way to boost achievement
Cultural capital:
 the knowledge, attitudes, values, language, tastes and abilities of the middle class
 BOURDIEU: cultural and material factors contribute to educational achievement and are
interrelated – uses concept of ‘capital’ to explain why the m/c are more successful…
 Cultural capital:
 Sees m/c culture as a type of capital because like wealth, it gives an advantage to those
who possess it
 Argues that through their socialisation, m/c children acquire the ability to grasp, analyse
and express abstract ideas and are more likely to develop intellectual interests and an
understanding of what is needed for success
 Gives m/c children advantages in school – these abilities are valued and rewarded with
qualifications (education system favours and transmits m/c values – w/c children find
school devalues their culture as inferior so their lack of cultural capital leads to failure.
Many w/c pupils ‘get the message’ that education is not for them, and so respond by
truanting, early leaving or not trying)
 Educational and economic capital:
 BOURDIEU: educational, economic and cultural capital can be converted into one another
(e.g. – m/c children with cultural capital are better equipped to meet demands of curriculum
and gain qualifications. Wealthier parents can convert economic capital into educational
capital, sending kids to private schools and extra tuition)
 LEECH AND CAMPOS: m/c parents are more likely to be able to afford a house in the
catchment area of a school that is highly placed in the exam league tables – ‘selection
mortgage’: drives up demand for houses near to successful schools and excludes w/c
families
 A test of Bourdieu’s ideas:
 SULLIVAN: used questionnaires to conduct a survey of 465 pupils in 4 schools, to assess their
cultural capital: asked them about a range of activities and tested their vocabulary and
knowledge of cultural figures – found that those who read complex fiction and watched
serious TV documentaries developed a wider vocab and greater cultural knowledge –
indicating greater cultural capital. (the pupils with the greatest cultural capital were children
of graduates and were more likely to be successful at GCSE)
 HOWEVER… SULLIVAN found that cultural capital only accounted for part of the class
difference in achievement: greater resources and aspirations of m/c families explain
remainder of class gap in achievement
 GERWITZ: researched whether great parental choice of school has benefitted one social
class more than the other and the impact of marketisation and parental choice on the
difference in educational achievement:
 Study of 14 London schools based on interviews with teachers and parents, and on
secondary data such as school documents
 Uses Bourdieu’s ideas to explain findings: found that differences in economic and
cultural capital lead to class differences in how far parents can exercise choice in
secondary school
 m/c families with cultural and economic capital are better placed to take advantage
of the available opportunities for a good education
 Identifies three main types of parents: privileged-skilled choosers, disconnected-local
choosers and semi-skilled choosers.
 PRIVILEGED-SKILLED CHOOSERS:
 Mainly professional m/c parents who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational
capital for their children
 Able to take full advantage of the choices open to them due to their own well-educated and confident
background
 Possessed cultural capital: knew how school admissions systems work, ‘how to approach schools,
present and mount a case, maintain pressure, make an impact and be remembered’.
 Understood the importance of putting particular school as first choice, meeting deadlines and using
appeals procedures and waiting lists to get what they wanted
 Saw choosing school as part of the process of planning their child’s future, and had the time to visit
schools and the skills to research the options available
 Economic capital also meant that they could afford to move their children around the education
system to get the best deal out of it (e.g.- travel costs)
 DISCONNECTED-LOCAL CHOOSERS:
W
 /c parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital
 Found it difficult to understand school admissions procedures
 Many attached more importance to the safety and quality of school facilities rather than league tables
or long-term ambitions
 Distance and cost of travel were major restriction on their choice of school
 Funds were limited and a place at a local comprehensive school was often the only realistic option for
their children
 SEMI-SKILLED CHOOSERS:
 Mainly w/c
INTERNAL FACTORS
 Sub-cultures- Hargeaves argues that the setting process leads onto the formation of anti-
school sub-cultures. She argues that students is in a lower set, lose self-esteem and feel that
they cannot gain status by conforming to the mainstream values of the school. As a result,
they deviate and concentrate in gaining status in the illegitimate ways valued by their anti-
school sub-culture, rather than attempting to be successful in their studies. This is because
the anti-school sub-culture offers them the validation and increased self-concept that they
desire. EVALUATION- Sub-cultures can be anti-school, but pro-
education, so the working class will not necessarily be unsuccessful in their exams as they
might put in the work to achieve good grades.
 Setting and streaming- Lacey explains how the labels that teachers attach to students based
on their social class has even further implications for their success, this is because teachers
often place working class students in lower sets because they assume they will be less able
and more disruptive, and place middle class students in higher sets because they view them
as more academically able. She also argues that this leads to ‘polarisation’ of attitudes,
because the top sets become even more ‘pro school’ and the bottom sets become even
more ‘anti-school’, so they fulfil the prophecy set by their teacher.
EVALUATION- It could be argued that setting is not based on unfair teach labels but on
assessment data and accurate teacher judgments. Also there is research into the benefits of
setting e.g. the work and resources can be tailored to the specific skills.
 Labelling- Becker argues that teachers have a mental image of what they consider to be an
‘ideal student’. Generally, teachers perceive middle class students to conform to this image
and working class students to deviate from this. Therefore, teachers label working class
students negatively; usually as ‘less able’ or as ‘troublemakers’. But, teachers label middle
class students as ‘intelligent’ and ‘hardworking’. This label then becomes a students’ master
status, meaning they are primarily viewed this way by their peers. This then leads to a self-
fulfilling prophecy, where students live up to the label.
EVALUATION- Fuller refers to the self-negating prophecy, which means students can reject
their labels. The idea of labels is too deterministic – pupils do not necessarily conform to the
labels they have been given
Internal Factors-
 Peers, pro and anti-school subcultures, catchment, school resources, teachers and self-
fulfilling prophecies
 Type of school- comprehensive or grammar
 Structure of school – mixed ability
 Leadership- well managed, black and females
 Funding- resources such as books
 Staff- are they predominantly working class , does this change cultural makeup
 Entry requirements- variety of ability or exam
 Labelling-what extent, how effect classes.
 Self-fulfilling- how become label
Teachers’ expectations and relationships-
- Fuller showed that all pupils live up to their label. Study of a group of black girls in a London
comprehensive school. Fuller 1984 found that the girls resent their negative labels and they
developed a preschool subculture rejecting their self-fulfilling prophecy
- Marxists also criticise labelling theory for ignoring wider structures of power within which
labelling takes place.
Hargreaves et al (1975)-Labelling theory
 Interview with teachers and observations within two secondary schools
 Speculation- guesses about student based on appearances
 Working hypothesis- interaction between students and teachers
 Elaboration – hypothesis tested in classroom and rejected on experience.
 Stabilisation – feels know and then interprets everything based on this
Gillborn and Youdell (2001) –

 Working class more likely to be typed negatively by teachers,
 Allocated pupils to sets based on type rather than test results, ‘common sense’
 WC- disruptive , lacking motivation and parental support
Dunne and Gazely-
 Qualitative and quantitative, 22 teachers in 9 schools.
 Teachers judge by social class, 88 pupils who were ‘underachievers’, 70% came from working
class.
 Comment positively on middle class parents, seeing working class parents as hostile.
 Working class- poor education , crime and early pregnancy.
Evaluation –
- Although not interactionist, concept still relevant
- Labelling occurs, but does the self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Fuller (1984)- small scale investigation of working class black girls, teachers had a number of
negative stereotypes, but often refused to live up to these stereotypes
- Rosenthal and Jacobson (1960) - positivist and interactionist methodology, IQ test and 20% at
random, teachers did not know these were and told to expect rapid progress and these students
did. Did not observe interactions between teachers and students but speculated.
Ability and groupings:

 1940/50- schools streamed-some ability group for all subject
 1960/70- mixed ability teaching, avoids negative labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy
 Difficult for students in lower sets to move up, even when they have more ability.
 Gilborn and Youdell- bright working class and ethnic minorities placed in lower sets, self-fulfilling
prophecy, setting disadvantages these.
 Ireson, Hallam and Hurley- 45 comprehensive schools, partial setting does not affect GCSE
attainment.
 Wiliam and Bartholomew-pupils in higher sets for maths are given some advantage.
Subcultures-
Woods (1979) - Pupil attitudes are complex
 Pupils are between conformity and rebellion, depending on lesson, you don’t need to be
confrontational to succeed, can behave well with little motivation to succeed.
 Ingratiation: being teacher’s pet
 Ritualism: going through the motions and staying out of trouble
 Retreatism: daydreaming and mucking about
 Rebellion: outright rejection of everything the school stands for.
Conformists and delinquents- Hargreaves

 Single sex secondary modern-conformist ( boys who worked hard and tried to achieve)
 Delinquent-rejected values of the school, status achieved by revelling, status frustration causing
anti-school subcultures.
Mac an Ghaill-working class male subcultures, 5 groups
 Male peer groups among year 11 working class

 Academic achievers-pro-school group ,keen to achieve top set skilled working class
 Macho lads-anti—school rejected teachers acting tough.
 New enterprises- wished to achieve success but only in vocational.
 Real Englishmen- middle class background, ‘effortless superiority’, did well, tried to pretend
that this was with little effort, and mixed attitudes towards schooling.
 Willis-‘the lords’ school culture originates from shop floor working class culture
Evaluation –
- How do gender and ethnicity also affect it, older studies neglect girls and ethnic minorities
- Can explain class differences and attainment within subcultures.
Class differences in achievement – INTERNAL FACTORS:
Labelling:
 To label someone meant to attach a meaning or definition to them, often based on
stereotyped assumptions about them
 BECKER: carried out an interactionist study of labelling based on interviews in 60 Chicago
high school teachers - found that they judged pupils according to how closely they fitted the
image of an ‘ideal pupil’. (Pupils work, conduct and appearance were key factors influencing
teachers’ judgements)
 CICOUREL AND KITSUSE: - carried out a study of educational counsellors in an American high
school - Found inconsistencies in the way the counsellors assessed students’ suitability for
courses.
 They claimed they judged students on their ability but largely judged them on the
basis of their social class or race. (m/c students were more likely to be labelled as
students with the potential to get onto the higher level courses and go to college)
 RIST: found that labelling occurs from the very start of a child's education – studied
American Kindergartens.
 The teacher used information about the child's social background and appearance to
place them in separate groups, seated at different tables.
 Fast learners were labelled as ‘tigers’, often middle-class and of neat appearance –
seated at the table nearest to her and encouraged them more
 The other two groups were labelled as ‘cardinals’ and ‘the clowns’. Seated further
away and were more likely to be w/c – these children were also given lower-level
books to read and few opportunities to demonstrate their abilities (had to read in
groups, and not as individuals)
 KEDDIE: found that both pupils and knowledge can be labelled as high or low status
 Comprehensive school classes were streamed by ability – teachers found to be
adapting their teaching to the A stream, giving them a more complex and
theoretical, high status knowledge
 The ‘less able’ C stream pupils were given a more descriptive common sense, low
status knowledge – these streams often had more w/c pupils, and this holding back
of high status knowledge therefore meant that an increase in class differences in
achievement was more likely
 GILLBORN AND YOUDELL: found that working-class and black pupils are less likely to be
believed to have ability and so are more likely to be entered into lower-tier GCSEs, and
placed in lower sets - shows how teachers use own perception of ‘ability’ to decide which
pupils have the potential to achieve 5 A*-C grades at GCSE (This denial of knowledge and
opportunity further widens the class gap in achievement)
The self-fulfilling prophecy:

 A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it having been
made
 Interactionists argue that labelling can affect pupils’ achievement by creating a self-fulfilling
prophecy
 ROSENTHAL AND JACOBSON: studied Californian primary school – told the school that they
had designed a test designed to identify those who would ‘spurt’ ahead.
 was actually a standard IQ test
 Fabricated results – picked 20% of pupils at random, telling the school that the test
had identified these students as spurters.
 Returned to the school a year later and found that 47% of those identified as
spurters had made significant progress
 They suggest that the teachers’ beliefs about the pupils have been influence by the
supposed results and had consequently resulted in teachers conveying these beliefs
through the way they interacted with the children
 This demonstrates self-fulfilling prophecy because the school accepted the prediction
that some would spurt ahead and so the teachers brought it about
 If teachers believe a pupil to be of a certain type, the can actually make the pupil into that
type
 The self-fulfilling prophecy can also produce under-achievement – if teachers have low
expectations of their students and convey these expectations, then a child may feel like a
failure, and give up trying
 Streaming can also create a self-fulfilling prophecy – students may live up to the
expectations of the teacher of whose stream they are in
 However, m/c children tend to benefit for streaming, likely to be placed in higher streams,
reflecting their teachers view of them as ideal pupils
Pupil subcultures:
 a pupil subculture is a group of people who share similar values and behaviour patterns –
they often emerge as a result of the way people have been labelled and streaming
 LACEY: uses concept of differentiation and polarisation to explain how pupil subcultures
develop:
 Differentiation – the process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they
perceive their ability, behaviour and/or attitude. Those who are deemed ‘more able’ by
the school are given high status by being placed in a high stream, whereas those who are
deemed ‘less able’ and placed in a low streams are given an inferior status
 Polarisation – the process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one
of two opposite ‘poles’ or extremes
 Pupils placed in higher streams tend to remain committed to the values of the school and
gain their status through academic success – tend to form a pro-school subculture
 LACEY found that those placed in low streams suffer a loss of self-esteem, because the
school has undermined their self-worth. Consequently, this label pushes them to find other
ways to gain status; inverting the schools values of hard work, obedience and punctuality –
form an anti-school subculture
 Joining an anti-school subculture is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy of educational
failure
 HARGREAVES: the main reason subcultures form is so that pupils who achieve little status
within the school can gain status by forming or belonging to a subculture, in which they are
valued (triple failures)
 BALL: studied Beachside comprehensive which was in the process of abolishing a type of
streaming system.
 Found that when the school abolished banding, the basis for pupils to polarise into
subcultures was largely removed and the influence of the anti-school subculture
declined (however, teachers continued to categorise pupils differently)
 Positive labelling was reflected in better exam results – suggesting that a self-fulfilling
prophecy had occurred.
 Class inequalities can continue as a result of teachers’ labelling, even without the effect
of subcultures or streaming
 Since Ball’s study, especially since the Education Reform Act 1988, there has been a trend
towards more streaming and towards a variety of types of school – this has created new
opportunities for schools and teachers to differentiate between pupils on the basis of class
ethnicity or gender and treat them unequally
 WOODS: suggests other responses apart from forming anti/pro-school subcultures include:
 Ingratiation: being the ‘teacher’s pet’
 Ritualism: going through the motions and staying out of trouble
 Retreatism: daydreaming and mucking about
 Rebellion: outright rejection of everything the school stands for
 FURLONG: pupils are not committed to any one response, they may move between different
types of responses acting differently in different lessons
 There are limitations of the labelling theory – it has been accused of determinism
 MARXISTS: -tends to blame teachers for labelling pupils, but fails to explain why they
do so -Labels are not merely the result of teachers’ individual prejudices but stem
from the fact that teachers work in a system that reproduces class divisions
Marketisation and selection policies:

 A funding formula, exam league tables and completion means that schools are under pressure to
stream and select pupils (in order to attract pupils and therefore funding they need to achieve a
good league table position)
 GILBORN AND YOUNDELL: Process of Marketisation can widen the class gap in achievement
within a school
 Exam league tables lead to ‘A-C economy’ – because of this, teachers focus time, effort
and resources on those pupils they perceive as having potential to gain A-C –
educational triage
Educational triage:
PUPILS
Educational Triage
Those who will pass anyway Borderline C/D pupils – Hopeless

cases
targeted for extra help (potential to do well)
Who gets left behind?

>teachers notions of ‘ability’ to sort pupils and usually its w/c and Black pupils who are labelled as
lacking ability
 As a result, they are labelled as ‘hopeless cases’ and are often ignored – producing a self –
fulfilling prophecy and failure
>this idea is closely linked with streaming, however they are looking at the wider picture by linking it
with marketisation
Competition and selection:
 While popular schools can afford to screen out less able or difficult pupils, unpopular schools are
obliged to take them
 Results get worse and schools become less popular
 BARTLETT: marketisation has led to popular schools ‘cream skimming’ – selecting higher ability
 ‘Silt shifting’ - off loading pupils with learning difficulties
 The right image:
 An image to attract the ‘right kind of parents’
 m/c parents respond to a traditional image
 WALFORD: researched City Technologies and found that although they intended to offer
vocational education and recruit all types of children, in practice they became attractive to
m/c parents who see them as the next best after Grammar schools
 BALL: schools have to spend more money marketing themselves to parents, often at the
expense of spending on other more needed areas
(Some argue that this has led to the polarisation of the education system)
Ethnicity and education attainment-

 GCSE-Chinese and Indian best groups , Gipsy ,Roma and Irish are worst groups
 Post 16- ethnic minorities catch-up, but not Gipsy ,white students have the lowest attainment by
19
 Higher education- on average all minorities do not do as well in degree as white, minorities tend
to go to ‘new’ UNI
 Gender and ethnicity – females do better than males in all ethnic groups in all levels- gap varies
depending on group.
 Class and ethnicity- has greater influence on white pupils, ethnic minorities overcome class
 Closing the gap- ethnic minorities start school behind white students, then catch up as they
progress.
 White British underachievement- poor white children are the biggest underachievers, nearly ½
low achievers are white W/C males entitled to free school meals
 Swann Commitee-1950’s- intelligence cannot be the reason for ethnic underachievement, it’s
more social and economic factors.
 Wright (1992) - Primary teachers ignore Asian (covert racism) pupils in class, assuming that their
English skills are poor.
 Pryce (1979) - many Afro-Caribbean parents send their children to supplementary schools run by
black communities.
Above the national average
 78% of Chinese students in 2012/2014 achieved above national average for 5 GCSE’s grades A*-c,
76% of Indians,70% of white and Asian
Below national level
 Roma /Gypsies /Irish heritage – 10 %

 55% of Pakistanis
 52% of black Caribbeans
 Chinese, Indians, Asians and white groups succeed the most
EXTERNAL FACTORS

 Language- Due to the lack of Standard English in Black families there is a major barrier to
educational success. This idea is supported by Bernstein’s idea of ‘restricted code’. Due to
the limited vocabulary that Black students may have because English being their second
language, they are less able to access the curriculum and write coherently.
EVALUATION: Mirza challenges the claim that language barriers cause Black and Pakistani
students to underachieve. He doubts this is the primary reason because Indian students
exceed the attainment of White British pupils despite their first language not always being
English.
 Material deprivation- Mason argues that ethnic minorities still experience racism in wider
society. This can affect families because institutional racism may lead to unemployment,
which will result in material deprivation. Children from families who are experiencing
poverty will not only lack the resources to succeed, but this will cause them to lose ambition
and take a fatalistic approach to education, because they believe that the material
deprivation experienced by their parents will happen for them too. It’s also suggested that
Black and Pakistani students are more likely to live in over-crowded conditions so the
students have little space to complete their homework or revision, causing them to
underachieve.
 EVALUATION: The statistics for the differences in achievement between ‘free school meals’
ethnic minorities and non FSM ethnic minorities are much smaller than between White
pupils.

 Differences in parental attitudes- 55% of Black-Caribbean families are lone-parent headed
by a woman, this causes Black boys to have a lack of discipline as they have no male father
role model, and that lack of a male role model for black boys leads them to deviant
behaviour, rather than educational success. He therefore argues that these students are
inadequately socialised and are not taught to value education. This leads them to have a
negative view of education and instead look to gain status through gang culture, fashion,
and music and anti-school values. Furthermore, it has been found that British Chinese
parents invest significantly in their child’s education. They place high value on the
importance of education, even those from working class backgrounds.
EVALUATION: Such research has been criticised for placing blame on Black families and
failing to see how racism is the real cause of inequality in education. Vincent found that
middle-class Black parents had high aspirations for their children’s education and therefore
perhaps class is a more significant factor than ethnicity.
External factors
Material factors
 Platt- ethnic minorities in the UK have higher levels of poverty and lower rates of employment
Difference in material factors between free school meal and in the white population, smaller for
minorities.
Cultural capital to overcome material disadvantages.
 Modood-ethnic minorities have more cultural capital than their occupations, suggests that
immigrants take what they can get despite their qualifications
Cultural Factors-
 Archer and Francis- aspirations of Chinese parents

Chinese students succeed the most which reflects the middle class and working class and Chinese
parents investing interest and money on child’s education
 Strand- Attitudes of white British pupils compared to ethnic minorities.
White British w/c students (both sexes) and black Caribbean working class boys had the lowest
attainment at 16 in 2008.
 Education as a way to get out of poverty,
 White working class families experience of poverty is different as they don’t see any foreseeable
change.
 Teachers’ expectations etc., low attainment black Caribbean students.
Dustman- ethnicity and language

 Children from minorities where English as a second language appear to catch up as they progress
through school, disadvantage in long run.
 EAL-struggle to read and understand exam question and will be penalised.
 Black Caribbean pupils make less progress than other ethnic groups, English is first language.
Sewell-street culture and black masculinity

 Street culture and style of black masculinity are to blame for African Caribbean boys
underachieving.
 Lack male role models as a result black boys are drawn to gang culture where they have an
aggressive form of masculinity.
 Fashion and music rather than education , doing well in school is ‘effeminate’
4 groups of black students-
 Conformists-41% used education as a route to success, rejected black street masculinity.
 Innovators- 35% anti-school, suspicious of teachers but kept out of trouble, wanted success
without system.
 Retreatists-6% ,loners ,usually special needs
 Rebels- 18% rejected school norms and values, argued racism would prevent them succeeding.
Evaluation-
- Accused of racism and blaming African Caribbeans for their own failure, diverts attention
from racism in wider society.
- Counted stereotypes, only minority were rebels.
- Cameron- can chose to perform poorly, to not undermine masculinity m school seen as
‘feminine’ and ‘gay’
- ‘Hustle culture’-quick way of making a living without commitment, cultural factors a
significant influence.
Ethnic differences in achievement – EXTERNAL FACTORS:

 All ethnic groups are improving in terms of educational attainment
 Indian students have the highest improvement figures
 There are persistent differences within ethnic groups
 Chinese girls do much better
Explaining it:
 Some sociologists look towards factors within a school whilst others look outside of the school
But be aware...
 Explaining the ethnic differences in attainment is difficult
 This is because of changes over time
 Changes at different levels of the education system – e.g. – many African boys
attainment dips during secondary education but improves after compulsory school
(higher and further education)
Cultural deprivation:
 BOWKER: lack of SE is a major barrier to progress in education and integration into wider
society. Children who do not speak English at home may be held back educationally HOWEVER
the SWANN REPORT 1985 found that language was not a major factor in under-achievement
 A lack of socialisation into values such as ambition and competiveness to achieve long-term
goals can leave some pupils (especially black children) unequipped with the right attitude
needed to succeed
 Family structure can play a heavy role in a child’s educational success
 FLEW: ethnic differences in achievement stem from cultural differences outside of the
education system
 SCRUTON: sees low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting from a failure
to embrace mainstream British culture
 Asian families
 DRIVER AND BALLARD: Asian family structures bring educational benefits because Asian
parents have more positive attitudes towards education and higher aspirations for their
child’s future – as a result, are more supportive
 LUPTON: adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools
which has a knock-on effect in school as Asian parents are more likely to be supportive of
school behaviour policies
 Some sociologists see the Asian family as an obstacle to success – KHAN describes Asian
families as ‘stress ridden’, bound by tradition and with a controlling attitude towards
children
 White working class
 A survey of state schools for the Sutton Trust (MORI 2004) found that 80% of 11-16 year old
ethnic minority pupils aspired to go to university, as against only 68% of white pupils
 Lower levels of aspiration and achievement may be the result of lack of parental support
 LUPTON: teachers reported lower levels of behaviour and discipline in white w/c schools –
teachers blamed this on lower levels of parental support and the negative attitude that
white w/c parents have towards education
 EVANS: street culture in white w/c areas can be brutal and so young people have to learn
how to withstand intimidation and intimidate others – school can become a place where the
power games that young people engage in on the street can be played out again bringing
disruption and making it hard for pupils to succeed.
 Criticisms
 DRIVER: cultural deprivation theory ignores the positive aspects of ethnicity on
achievement. Shows that black Caribbean family is far from dysfunctional and provides girls
with positive role models of strong independent women – this is why black girls tend to be
more successful than boys
 LAWRENCE: challenges PYRCE’S view that black pupils fail because their culture is weak and
they lack self-esteem/ Instead, he argues that black pupils under achieve because of racism
 KEDDIE: cultural deprivation is a victim-blaming explanation – children under achieve
because of an ethnocentric curriculum, biased in favour of white culture and against
minorities
 Critics oppose compensatory education because they see it as an attempt to impose the
dominant white culture on children who already have a coherent culture of their own
Material deprivation and class:

 Material deprivation explanations see educational failure as resulting from factors such as
substandard housing and low income
 Ethnic minorities are more likely to face these problems
 FLAHERTY: unemployment is 3 times higher for African and Bangladeshi/Pakistani people
than for whites (reflect the proportion of ethnic groups who are eligible for free school
meals)
 Inequalities are parallel to those seen in educational achievement. Class differences can explain
why Bangladeshi and Pakistani pupils tend to do worse than Indian and white pupils
 However, GILLBORN AND MIRZA argue that social class factors do not override the influence of
ethnicity – comparing pupils of the same social class but of different ethnic origin, we still find
differences in achievement
Racism in wider society:

 Some sociologists argue that poverty is the product of racism, as well as material deprivation
 REX: shows how racial discrimination leads to social exclusions and then worsens poverty faced
by ethnic minorities. (e.g. – in housing, discrimination means that minorities are more likely to
be forced into substandard accommodation than white people of the same class)
 NOON: found evidence of direct and deliberate discrimination in employment too – sent letters
to top 100 UK companies about employment opportunities, signed by two fictitious applicants
called ‘Evans’ and ‘Patel’ – the companies were more encouraging to the ‘white’ candidate in
terms of the number of replies and the helpfulness of the replies
(Helps to explain why members of ethnic minorities are more likely to face unemployment
and low pay – consequently having a negative effect on their children’s educational
prospects)
INTERNAL
 Subcultures- Mirza argues that teachers can be racist towards black students, and these
students feel that they are already disadvantaged in an ethnocentric education system and
find it difficult to relate to white, middle class teachers who negatively label them. As a
result, they turn against the school and form anti-school sub-cultures and this causes them
to underachieve. Also, Sewell suggests that one way Black male students cope with racism
within schools is by exerting their “machosim”. They become rude, disruptive and engaging
in violence, they also may result to truanting.
 EVALUATION: Mac An Ghaill found that students who felt they were victims of racism in
school did not necessarily have a negative attitude towards education. Although they may
have shown subcultural behaviour e.g. not wearing the right uniform etc. they still wanted
to achieve high marks.

 Teacher labelling- Gillborn argues that teachers label Black Caribbean boys as disruptive and
lazy, leading to them having a negative self-concept and results in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Furthermore, he argues that teachers are quicker to discipline Black students, which is
reflected in data showing that they are 4 times more likely to be excluded from schools.
Wright suggests that teachers actively leave Asian students out of class discussions because
they lack standard English. This can cause these students to question their ability and lack
confidence in asking their teacher questions.
 EVALUATION: Fuller argues there’s a sense of self-negating prophecy as the Black Caribbean
girls rejected the negative label that teachers gave them and worked harder as a result in
order to prove their teacher wrong. It’s also noted that the majority of Black students are
aware of the negative stereotypes that teachers hold of their ethnic group, so they try
harder to conform to the school’s norms and values in order to be accepted.
 Ethnocentrism in education- Coard argues that ethnic minorities are excluded from the
curriculum because it is ethnocentric. This means that it is biased towards White British
culture and presents other cultures as inferior. E.g. in History students learn about the
British Empire and the ‘master race’ in Nazi Germany, but Black history is marginally covered
and largely in the context of slavery. As a result, Black students feel the curriculum has little
relevance to their lives and does not provide them with and role models to aspire to be like.
Hatcher highlights that teachers give very low priority to dealing with racism. She argues
that they will often ignore racist comments which are made in lessons and ineffectively
tackle racist bullying.
EVALUATION: Statistical data shows that Chinese and Indian students out-perform White
students, who also experience an ethnocentric curriculum. Therefore, it is difficult to credit
Coard’s argument. Citizenship became compulsory in schools in 2002, which aims to
integrate a multi-cultural society into British values to avoid ethnic minorities feeling
marginalised.
Internal factors-
 Institutional racism- ethnic minority students are treated less favourably, unconscious and
unintended bias, not sufficient consideration of interest for minorities.
 Ethnocentric curriculum – focus on culture of white people, teaching western language, failing to
recognise other cultures.
 Multicultural education- equal status of all cultures, teaching religions.
Vincent et al- black middle class parent
 Class and ethnicity need to be considered together.
 Meet teachers, high standards and cultural capital.
 Teachers still assumed knew less and didn’t care.
Gilborn and Youdell-teachers expectations, ethnographic
 Teachers have lower expectations of ethnic minority students
 Radicalised expectations – but few are openly racist, many challenge this but school processes
operate against them.
 Blamed more than white students for disciplinary problems, more focus on controlling them then
their academic results.
 Educational triage- encourage focusing on grade, if unlikely to succeed then less priority, self-
fulfilling prophecy.
 English Baccalaureate-makes it worse ,less than half as likely to achieve these grades
Hollingsworth
 Eden hill sixth form students -smoking outside the gates, white girls and boys middle class,
teachers turned blind eye,
 Football crowd-minority ethnic boys ,black working class attributes
 Criticised rowdy black people waiting for bus, as smokers are middle class, assume they have
high attainment.
 They are exceptions to rules, but still conform to subcultures.
Mirza-teachers and black girls

 15-19 year olds in a London comprehensive
 Myth of underachievement for black women, confident in abilities but felt teachers put them
down.
 ‘colour blind’ teachers who ignored the extent of racism in schools
 Anti-racist teachers failed to understand the needs of black students patronising.
 Denied opportunities because of expectations.
Mac an Ghaill- Young, Gifted and Black
 Victims of racism are not necessarily the ones who view education negatively.
 Self-fulfilling prophecies are too simplistic, often racism makes people more determined to
succeed.
 Teachers didn’t expect them to do well m but can be just as bad for white people.
 Resistance within accommodation – band together to get good marks, resisted conforming in
dress and behaviour
Evaluation –
- Complex multi-faceted explanations are needed for students experiences
- Studies highlight schools contribution to disadvantages faced by some groups
- Limited evidence, unrepresentative,
Ethnic differences in achievement – INTERNAL FACTORS:
Labelling and teacher racism:
 Negative labels may lead teachers to treat ethnic minority pupils differently, thus putting them
at a disadvantage
 GILLBORN AND YOUDELL: teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the
same behaviour – this is the result of teachers ‘racialised expectations’ (expecting black pupils to
present more discipline problems). When students responded negatively, further conflict arose.
Much of the conflict between white teachers and black pupils stems from the racial stereotypes
teachers hold
 FOSTER: teachers’ stereotypes of black pupils as badly behaved could result in them being
placed in lower sets than other pupils of similar ability – likely to lead to lower levels of
achievement
 WRIGHT: found Asian pupils being the victim of teachers’ labelling – teachers held ethnocentric
views, seeing British culture and SE as superior – this affected how they related to the Asian
pupils, assuming they had a poor grasp on English meant they often left them out of class
discussions or used simplistic language when talking to them – making them feel marginalised
 COARD:
Pupil responses and subcultures:
 FULLER: describes how high achieving ‘untypical’ black girls did not accept the negatives
stereotypes of them, and instead channelled anger into the pursuit of educational success –
regarded their teachers as racist and as far as conforming, they only conformed as far as
schoolwork was concerned – worked conscientiously, but gave off the appearance of not doing
so.
 Sees this behaviour as a way of dealing with contradictory demands of succeeding at school
while remaining friends with black girls in lower streams and avoiding ridicule of anti-school
black boys
 Pupils may succeed even if they do not conform
 Negative labelling does not always lead to failure
 MAC an GHAILL: study of black and Asian A level students
 Students who believed had labelled them negatively did not necessarily accept the label –
how they responded depended on factors such as their ethnic group and gender and the
nature of their former schools
 Labelling does not inevitably produce a self-fulfilling prophecy
 MIRZA: racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the kind of advice
they gave them about careers and option choices
 Much of girls’ time at school was spent trying to avoid effects of teachers’ negative attitudes
– included being selective about which staff to ask for help, getting on with their own work
in lessons without taking part and not choosing certain options so as to avoid teachers with
racist attitudes
 a large majority of teachers held racist attitudes, MIRZA identifies three main types:
 The colour-blind – teachers who believe all pupils are equal but in practice allow racism
to go unchallenged
 The liberal chauvinists – teachers who believe black pupils are culturally deprived and
who have low expectations of them
 The overt racists – teachers who believe blacks are inferior and actively discriminate
against them
 Although pupils may devise strategies to try and avoid teachers’ racism, these too can limit
their opportunity
 SEWELL: in his study of a boys’ secondary school, he found that many teachers had a stereotype
of ‘black machismo’ which sees all black boys as rebellious, anti-authority and anti-school – one
effect is that black boys are more likely to be excluded
 Identifies 4 ways in which the boys responded to racist stereotyping:
1. The rebels:
 Most visible and influential group
 Small minority of black pupils
 Often excluded from school
 Rejected the goals and rules of the school – expressed this through peer group
membership – conforming to the stereotype of the ‘black macho lad’
2. The conformists:
 Largest group
 Keen to succeed
 Accepted the school’s goals and had friends from different ethnic groups
 Anxious to be stereotyped by teachers and peers
3. The retreatists:
 tiny minority of isolated individuals
 disconnected from school and black subcultures
 despised by the rebels
4. The innovators:
 Second largest group
 Pro-education, but anti-school
 Conformed as far as school work is involved
 The labelling theory shows how teachers’ stereotypes can be a cause of failure however there is
a danger of seeing this as the product of individual teacher prejudices rather than racism in
wider society and there is also a danger that assuming once a pupil is labelled, they will
automatically fall victim to the self-fulfilling prophecy and fail
The ethnocentric curriculum:

 TROYNA AND WILLIAMS: the curriculum in British schools is ethnocentric because it gives
priority to white culture and the English language
 DAVID: describes the national curriculum as a ‘specifically British’ curriculum – largely ignores
non-European languages, literature and music
 BALL: criticises the national curriculum for ignoring cultural and ethnic diversity and promoting
an attitude of ‘little Englandism’
 COARD: the ethnocentric curriculum may produce under-achievement – the image of black
people as inferior undermines black children’s self-esteem and leads to their failure
 However it is not clear what impact the ethnocentric curriculum has – STONE argues that
black children do not suffer from low self esteem
Institutional racism:
 TROYNA AND WILLIAMS: look how schools and colleges routinely discriminate against ethnic
minorities
 Institutional racism – discrimination that is built into the way institutions operate
 Individual racism that results from the prejudiced views of individuals
 Ethnocentric curriculum is a prime example on institutional racism
 HATCHER: study of school governing bodies shows how they gave low priority to race issues and
failed to deal with pupils’ racist behaviour. Also a lack of communication between school and
ethnic minority parents, meaning concerns such as language support was lacking
 Institutional racism may create an environment where ethnic minority pupils are consistently
disadvantaged by a system that disregards their needs
Selection and segregation:

 GILLBORN: marketisation has given schools greater scope to select pupils, putting some ethnic
minority pupils at a disadvantage
 Selection gives more scope for negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school
admissions
 MOORE AND DAVENPORT: study on how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, with
minority pupils failing to get into better schools. Conclude that selection leads to an ethnically
stratified education system
 These schools discriminated against ‘problem students’ – used primary school reports
to screen out pupils with language or learning difficulties and the application process
was difficult for less educated/non-English speaking parents to understand
 THE COMMISION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY (1993) identified similar biases in British education –
racism in school admissions procedures often means ethnic minority children end up in
unpopular schools
 Racist bias in interviews for school places
 Reports from primary schools that stereotype minority pupils
 However, another cause of segregation can be the result of an active choice by parents
 GERWITZ: study of ‘Gorse’ and ‘Flightpath’ schools shows – ‘Gorse’ attracted mainly
Asian intake (and so many white parents refused to consider it), whilst Asian parents
saw it as ‘safe’ and having firm discipline. ‘Flightpath’ was viewed by Asian parents as ‘a
bit rough’ with a reputation for racism
Ethnicity, class and gender:

 EVANS: when examining black children’s achievement, sociologists tend to look at their culture
and ethnicity, but rarely class. However, when examining white children’s achievement, they
look at their class rather than their culture and ethnicity – need to look at all of those things for
every child
 CONNOLLY: shows how pupils and teacher’s construct masculinity differently depending on
ethnicity
 found that teachers saw black boys as disruptive under-achievers and controlled them
by punishing them more and by channelling their energies into sport – boys responded
by seeking status in non-academic ways (e.g. football)
 teachers saw Asian pupils as passive and conformist, seen as silly/immature when they
misbehaved as opposed to threatening – both teachers and pupils saw Asian boys as
more ‘feminine’, vulnerable and in need of protection from bullying
 Both studies show that we cannot consider ethnicity in isolation from gender and class when
explaining differences in achievement
Education and Gender-

 Educational achievements for both genders have increased over the years. Until the late 1980s
girls underachieved, however since the early 1990’s girls begun to outperform boys.
 11+ exam is fixed so that girls had to achieve higher
 By O levels (GCSES) the gap is shortened and by 18 boys have taken over
GCSE
 In 2013/2014- girls achieved better than boys in all subjects except maths.
 In 1990 the gender gap of obtaining 5 A*-C at GCSE widened from 7.6% points in 1990 to 10.6%
in 2002
A levels
 In 2012/2013 the average point score per student females by the end of KS5 was 740.3 and
706.4 for males
 Males attained more top grades at A-level
Higher education
 1970 – girls only make up 1/3

 1990- proportion of females is more
 2014- nearly 58,000 more women than men being accepted to study at some UK universities.
 Lessons are engendered- girls and boys doing specific subjects
Evaluation-
 Not all boys underachieve

 White W/C girls underachieve like boys
 Gender gap has decreased
 Gender is not as significant as ethnicity (two times) and class ( 5 times)
 Feminists argue that science and technology are still male dominated. STEM
 Francis- boys dominate teachers attention through ‘laddish behaviour’
 Boys still dominate in classroom, girls less confidence.
EXTERNAL
The impact of feminism- Sharpe argues that there has been a shift in the values of young
girls. In 1978 she interviewed teenage girls about their views on family life and their career
aspirations. She found that the girls prioritised family life over a career. Sharpe repeated her study in
1994 and found that girls now placed their career ambitions in equal value with their desires to have
a family. This therefore illustrates that girls are becoming more career-focussed, which is motivating
them to achieve high grades in education. The rise of women in high profile jobs in the world of work
has meant that girls now have more positive role models. Feminism has led to legal changes that has
benefitted women e.g. the Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Pay Act means that girls believe
they should have equal opportunities to boys in education.
EVALUATION: Feminists would argue that regardless of the increasing ambition that girls have to
pursue successful careers, schools are still encouraging them to take up a career which conforms to
their gender stereotype. For example, Hamilton noted that only 3% of girls went on a work
experience placement in a traditionally male job setting.
Gender socialisation- Liberal feminists argue that the way girls are socialised by their
parents has positive effects on their educational performance. Home and Heath explains how girls
are socialised into spending time in their room reading, revising and talking, which helps them
develop the skills and knowledge that assist them in education. Contrastingly Frosh suggests that
boys are taught that being hardworking is a feminine trait and therefore avoid looking as though
they are trying in front of their peers. This idea can then become internalised and they lack the
motivation to work hard at school, causing them to underachieve.
EVALUATION: Some Liberal feminists would argue that the gender socialisation process still teaches
young girls that they should be housewives or restricted to a profession in the care sector. E.g.
Oakley would argue that through canalization, girls learn to be mothers as they are given dolls to
play with. In addition, Tuchmann argues that the media still promotes women as housewives.
Crisis in masculinity- Mac An Ghaill notes that the decline in traditional manual jobs and the
rise in the female breadwinner have led to an identity crisis for men. Men are suffering from a lack of
self-esteem because their masculine role is now redundant as females are independent. In addition,
many working class boys feel demotivated by the lack of jobs available for them upon leaving school.
Overall, the identity crisis and lack of direction that boys currently have is demotivating them and a
key factor in their educational underachievement.
EVALUATION: It could be suggested that the media are exaggerating the situation and causing
members of society to worry unnecessarily about the issue. The crisis in masculinity is contained to
the working class and there are many more important issues, such as material deprivation, that
affect their achievement than this.
Gender differences in achievement – EXTERNAL FACTORS:
 baseline tests show that 62% of girls can concentrate without supervision for 10 minutes, but
only 49% of boys can do the same
 DfES – 70% of children with SEN are boys
 Girls do better than boys at KS1-3
 At GCSE this trend continues
 At A Level, the gap is smaller but girls still outperform boys
Why do girls do better at school? Differences in

Better
classroom behaviour
motivation
Girls Different
mature attitudes to
quicker Increasing career learning
ambitions
The impact of feminism:

 Has challenges traditional stereotypes of women’s role in society
 Has had success in improving women’s right and opportunities through changes in law
 MCROBBIE: points to change in magazines (media)
 1970s = ‘traditional’ women; emphasis on the importance of marriage
 1990s = assertive, independent women
 Has helped raise expectations and self-esteem of women
Changes in the family:

 Changes since the 1970s such as an increase in divorce rates, increased cohabitation, smaller
families and increased number of lone parent families
 These changes have impacted girls’ attitudes towards education and has given girls role models
Changes in women’s employment:

 1970 Equal Pay Act – pay gap has since fallen from 30% to 17%
 1975 Sex Discrimination Act
 Proportion of women in employment has risen: 1979=47% , 2007= over 70%
 Some women breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’ – the invisible barrier to higher level jobs
 Changes have encouraged girls to see their future in terms of paid work
 Greater opportunity, better pay and role models provide an incentive for girls to gain
qualifications
Changes in ambitions of girls:

 View that changes in the family and employment are producing changes in girls’ ambitions
 SHARPE: conducted interviews with girls in the 1970s and 1990s and compared results:
show shift in how girls see themselves in the future - 1970s = low aspirations and believe
that having ambition and intelligence could be perceived as unattractive, 1990s = wanted to
be independent, priorities included being able to support themselves and getting a good
career
 FRANCIS: interviewed girls in 2001 and found that most had high aspirations, most of which
required educational qualifications
INTERNAL
Feminisation of education- Coursework was introduced to GCSEs in 1988 and the gender
gap in achievement has grown significantly since then. Therefore, Mitsos and Browne argue that girls
are more successful in education because they achieve higher grades in coursework. They argue that
this is because girls are more conscientious and have better organisation skills than boys. In addition,
schools are a predominantly female environment because 74% of teachers are women. This is
problematic for boys because they lack male role models who they can aspire to be like, whereas
girls have examples of women who have been successful in education to look up to on a daily basis.
As a result, girls are more motivated in education.
EVALUATION: Elwood notes that exams are now much more influential than coursework and it has
largely been abolished in many subjects, therefore this is reducing the gender gap. Furthermore,
Labour launched the National Literacy Strategy in 1997 to combat the literacy issues of boys.
Sub-cultures- Mac An Ghail discovered what the male identity in anti-school sub-cultures
was based on. He found that their status was gained based on their achievements in the following
three categories: Football, Fighting and F******. These are also known as the 3 Fs. Consequently, by
conforming to these values, rather than those of the mainstream school, boys had limited success in
education. It was also found that the boys knew they were disadvantaged in education and they
could see that meritocracy was a myth, As a result, they turned against the mainstream values of the
school and joined anti-school sub-cultures.
EVALUATION: Research has shown that girls also form subcultures. Jackson found that there has
been a rise in ‘ladettes’ – assertive girls who challenge traditional femininity and want status in their
peer groups. Therefore this is not just a problem which affects males.
Labelling- Swann argues that teachers label boys negatively because they dominate the
classroom. This leads to boys experiencing a self-fulfilling prophecy and underachieving in education
as a result. Conversely, girls are positively labelled by teachers, which facilitates their achievement.
Similarly, it’s argued that teachers view male students as more disruptive and are therefore quicker
to discipline them. Resulting in the students feeling negatively labelled by their teacher and them
fulfilling the prophecy.
EVALUATION: Fuller would argue that students are negatively labelled can reject this with the self-
negating prophecy, where the boys will work harder to prove the teacher wrong and achieve good
grades.
Gender differences in achievement – INTERNAL FACTORS:
Equal opportunity policies:

 The belief that boys and girls are equally capable and entitled to the same opportunities is now
part of the mainstream thinking in education and influences educational policies
 E.g. – GIST (girls into science and technology) encourage girls to pursue careers in these non-
traditional areas
 Introduction of the national curriculum in 1988 has helped remove one source of gender
inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects
 BOALER: the impact of equal opportunities is a key reason for the changes in girls achievement
through the removal of many of the barriers, also making school more meritocratic
Positive role models in schools:

 Increase in the proportion of female teachers and head teachers in recent years – in 1992, there
was 50% of women head teachers in nursery and primary schools, by 2005, there was 66% (DfES
2007)
 More female teachers has helped girls have a role model for educational achievement
 It can be argued that primary schools have been ‘feminised’ – may have an impact on how far
each gender sees schooling as part of their ‘gender domain’
GCSE and coursework:

 Some argue that changes in ways pupils are assessed has favoured girls and disadvantaged boys
 GORAD: found gender gap in achievement was constant from 1975-1989 – changed
when GCSE’s and coursework were introduced – gap in achievement is the “product of
the changed system of assessment”
 GCSE system benefits girls due to early socialisation of gender roles, meaning that they can meet
demands of GCSEs and coursework, and therefore able to achieve greater success than boys
 However, ELWOOD argues that although coursework has some influence, it is unlikely to be the
only cause of the gender gap – exams have more influence on final grades
Teacher attention:
 SPENDER: found teachers interact more with boys than girls
 However, FRENCH AND FRENCH found that the amount of attention teachers pay to boys and
girls was similar
 FRANCIS: boys do get more attention, however were disciplined more harshly and felt picked on
by teachers
 SWANN: found gender differences in communication styles. Boys dominated class discussions,
whereas girls prefer group work and are better at listening – may explain why teacher respond
more positively to girls than boys
Challenging stereotypes:
 There has been a removal of girls’ barriers to achievement as a result of the removal of gender
stereotypes from textbooks and reading schemes
 Research in the 70s and 80s found that reading schemes portrayed women mainly as
housewives and mothers
 WEINER: since the 80s, teachers have challenged such stereotypes of women, and the removal
of sexist images may have helped to raise girls’ achievement by presenting them with more
positive images of what women can do
 LOBBAN: studied 179 stories and 6 reading schemes, finding that women were nearly always
presented in traditional domestic roles
Selection and league tables:

 Girls are more favourable as they do better in exams than boys
 JACKSON: the introduction of exam league tables, which place a high value on academic
achievement, has improved opportunities for girls – high achieving girls are attractive to schools,
whereas low-achieving boys are not.
 This tends to create a self-fulfilling prophecy because girls are more likely to be recruited by
good schools, whilst boys who are seen as a risk go to low achieving schools
 SLEE: boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural
difficulties and are4 times more likely to be excluded
 As a result, boys are seen as ‘liability students’
Boys and achievement:

Boys and literacy:
 DCSF (2007) claim that the gender gap is mainly the result of boys’ poorer literacy and language
skills
 Parents spent less time reading with boys
 Boys have less of a ‘bedroom culture’ and instead engage in activities such as football
 These prevent boys from improving their language and literacy skills and so cannot meet the
demands of the education system, require for educational success
Globalisation and the decline of traditional men’s jobs:

 the decline in many ‘male’ jobs has led to an ‘identity crisis for men’ who now believe they have
little prospects and so give up trying (MITSOS AND BROWNE)
Feminisation of education:
 SEWELL: boys have fallen behind because education does not nurture ‘masculine’ traits such as
leadership – instead they celebrate qualities that are more associated with girls, putting boys at
a disadvantage
Lack of male role models:
 DfES (2007) – men only make up 16% of primary school teachers
 YOUGOV: 42% OF 8-11 Y/O boys said a male teacher made them work harder
‘Laddish’ subcultures:
 EPSTEIN: boys were ridiculed for being ‘swots’ if they were focussed on school
 FRANCIS: linked the idea of boys fearing being labelled as swots because it was a threat to their
masculinity (importance of masculinity in w/c culture = being tough and doing manual work)
Gender identity:
 Pupils’ experiences in school reinforce their gender and sexual identities.
 These experiences may all contribute to reinforcing what CONNELL calls ‘hegemonic
masculinity’ – the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity and the subordination of
female and gay identities
1. Verbal abuse:
 CONNELL: “a rich vocabulary of abuse” is one of the ways in which dominant gender and
sexual identities are reinforced
 LEES: boys called girls ‘slags’ if they appeared to be sexually available – and ‘drags’ if they
didn’t
 PAETCHER: sees name-calling as helping to shape gender identity and maintain male power
– calling pupils labels such as ‘gay’ is a way in which pupils ‘police’ each other’s sexual
identities
 PARKER: found that boys were labelled as ‘gay’ for being friendly with girls or female
teachers
 However, PAETCHER and PARKER not that these labels often bear no relation to pupils’
actual sexual behaviour, but instead function to reinforce gender norms
2. Male peer groups:

 Male peer groups use verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity
 EPSTEIN AND WILLIS: boys in anti-school subcultures often accuse boys who want to do well
of being gay or effeminate
 MAC AN GHAILL: studied Parnell School and found how peer groups reproduce a range of
different class-based masculine identities
 REDMAN AND MAC AN GHAILL: the dominant definition of masculine identity changes from
that of the macho lads in the lower school to that of the real Englishmen by sixth-form –
represents a shift away from a w/c based definition based on toughness to a m/c one based
on intellectual ability
3. Teachers and discipline:

 HAYWOOD AND MAC AN GHAILL: found that male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like
girls’ and teased them when they gained low marks in tests than girls - teacher play an
important role in reinforcing dominant definitions of gender identity
 ASKEW AND ROSS: male teachers’ behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender
identity
 Make teachers often have a protective attitude towards female colleagues, coming
into their classes to ‘rescue’ them by threatening pupils who are being disruptive
(also reinforces idea that women cannot cope alone)
4. The male gaze:

 MAC AN GHAILL: refer to the visual aspect to the way pupils control each other’s identity as
the ‘male gaze’: the way male pupils and teacher look girls up and down, seeing them as
sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance
 See the male gaze as a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual
masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued – it is a way boys can prove their
masculinity
5. Double standards:
 A double standard exists when we apply one set of moral standards to one group but a
different to another group
 LEES: Identifies a double standard of sexual morality in which boys boast about their own
sexual exploits, but call a girl a ‘slag’ if she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend or if she dresses
and speaks in a certain way
 Sexual conquest is approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by male
teachers, whereas ‘promiscuity’ among girls attracts negative labels
Examples of female, white anti school subcultures
Archer-
 Girls can form anti-school subcultures

 London comprehensives-educational success seen as irrelevant by girls and intended to leave for
retail work
 Sexualised hyper feminine identity- effort into appearance- sexually active to avoid ridicule,
stereotypical, less able academically.
Jackson-
 Academic pressure encouraging students to drop out for fear of failure

 ‘too cool for school ‘attitude
 Unconcerned about failure- appear geniuses when they do well
 ‘ladette’ culture ‘sassy’’ vs ‘good girl’
Sue Sharpe- Changing attitudes
 W/C teen girls (1970s) love, marriage, husbands and children

 1994- jobs and careers
Changes in the job market-
 1971- 2014- 53% -> 67% increase in working age women in employment
 Male employment fell ( decline in manufacturing)
 Expanse in service sector
 More feminist role models for girls
 Mac an Ghaill- crisis of masculinity
 Due to globalisation
Feminism 1960-1970
 Equal pay act 1970

 Sex discrimination act 1974
 Arnot- female teachers in secondary schools- feminist role models- dispelling fear of success that
it would make them unattractive to men.
 STEM AND GIST
 National curriculum ( 1988)
Behaviour
 Girls work harder

 Take more care
 Do more homework
 Better organised
 Spend leisure time communicating
 Enjoy reading
The future
 Girls may underachieve because of disruptive boys

 Females still make narrow choices in higher education
 Working class girls make up a significant number of underachievers.
Beck and Individualisation
 Risk society- uncertainty for women due to- we are moving into an era of second modernity in
which society is characterised by greater risk and uncertainty. Greater concern about the risks of
divorce and jobs.
 People have become more individualised, more concerned about personal needs and are self-
sufficient
 Attitudes of women –‘setting pace for change’ ,women are putting their own financial
independence first and are more aware of the risks of marriage
Socialisation and behaviour-
 Hannan (2000) – while boys relate to peers by doing, girls relate to each other by talking, starts
at an early stage, develop language skills.
 Girls mature earlier than boys- thought boys would catch up in secondary school, but they didn’t.
 Burns and Bracey (2001) – girls put more effort into homework and unlike boys are prepared to
draft and redraft assignments.
Coursework- GCSE 1988- put more emphasis on coursework, benefited girls as better organised for
deadlines, but recently been more emphasis on exams
Feminisation of education
 In 2010-General teaching council, in a quarter of primary schools there were no male teachers, in
secondary schools female teacher’s outnumbered males.
 Education now geared towards girls with males lacking positive role models.
 Skelton et al (2006) – year 3 classes and teachers, most pupils and teachers rejected the idea
that matching the gender of pupils and teachers would produce any real benefits, teachers tried
hard to cater for interests of both boys and girls.
Positive action to boost girl’s achievement- Since 1980 there has been deliberate attempts to boost
attainment such as GIST (girls into science and technology), more girls to study male dominated subjects
Concerns about boy’s achievement-
 Boys are behind girls at reading and writing by the age of 6

 At age 11 the average boy in 9 months behind girl in development of speaking skills
 White w/c boys the lowest achieving group
 Young men are much more likely to be excluded from school
 Changes in the job market- traditional male jobs under threat, new jobs in service sector suit
women’s lifestyle
 Peer groups status- some boys gain street cred from not working
 Teachers are not as critical with boys as girls, lower expectations
 Overconfident and unrealistic of their expectations
 Mac an Ghaill (1994) suggest that w/c boys are experiencing a crisis of masculinity,
moreover new jobs are part time, desk based more suited to the lifestyle of women.
 Willis -Laddish behaviour and peer group status, development of anti-school subcultures,
showed how these boys accepted educational failure and so developed anti-education
coping strategies to compensate for status frustration.
 Francis - boys are no longer likely to consider themselves more able than girls. He also notes
that boys are more likely to have career aspirations which do not require educational success
e.g. professional footballer whereas girls’ career ambitions more often require academic
success.
Why are boys not achieving??
Crisis of Masculinity-
 Mac a Ghail (1994) - decline of jobs in manufacturing industry has led to a crisis of masculinity,
working class males used to find their identity and status as wage earners performing manual
jobs that required physical strength, such jobs have decreased, uncertainty of roles, laddish
behaviour and anti-school subcultures.
Lad Culture-Willis
 1960’s-evidence of working class male anti-school subcultures

 Laddish behaviour characterising such subcultures is now more widespread among not only
working class, but also some middle class boys and even some girls.
 Laddish behaviour remains more of a problem among boys
Boys’ attitudes-
 Boys are over-confident about their own abilities, so do not work hard
 Francis (2000) – boys often have unrealistic career expectations that don’t require academic
success.
Evaluation-
 1990s there was growing concern over boys under achievement

 Gordon Brown – wasted generation of boys
 Nobody cared when girls were underachieving, both do better, but this will change,
 Coffey (2001) – moral panic, an overreaction by society to a small problem that is blown out of
proportion by the male driven media, alleged fall in educational standards and a loss of
traditionally masculine identities
 Focusing on gender alone ignores class and ethnicity.
National literacy trust-
 76% boys did not do as well, 82% schools have to develop strategies to tackle this, biological
differences.
 Home and family-girls are bought boos more likely to be made to read limited access to books
for boys.
The global ‘gender apartheid’ in education
Gender apartheid- Is the differences between boys’ and girls’ achievement in education, and how it
appears almost insignificant compared to the global trends. The global gender ‘apartheid’ in
education refers to the economic and social discrimination of one gender which prevents them from
having equal education opportunities. The general trend is that girls are significantly disadvantaged
worldwide in education and have fewer opportunities or in some cases no opportunities for
education.
The UN set out a goal as part of their Millennium Development plan to ‘eliminate gender disparity’ in
primary and secondary education by 2005 and at all levels by 2015. However this has not happened.
Current statistics show:
- In sub-Saharan Africa (Southern half) – 23% of girls from poor backgrounds complete primary
education
- In developing countries an extra year of secondary school can boost a girl’s eventual wages by 15-
25%
- A girl in Africa who receives education is 3 times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS
- Global youth literacy rates for boys are 91.9% compared to 86.8% for girls
- It is estimated that 35 million girls are currently not in education
Perspectives on gender apartheid

Some Feminists have criticised organisations such as the UN for not doing enough to prevent the
gender apartheid. Mayer argues that while they have condemned racial apartheids such as those in
South Africa, gender apartheid has largely mainly ignored. The UN have not imposed sanctions on
countries where there is a significant gender apartheid.
Russo also argues that campaigns to increase opportunities for girls in Afghanistan following the US
invasion in 2001 was simply an excuse to justify American ‘empire building’.
However it could be argued that the view of there being a ‘gender apartheid’ is based on a
modern, Western, liberal interpretation of both education and gender roles themselves. Therefore
the view that changes and sanctions need to be placed on countries where there is a gap between
genders in education could be seen as the enforcement of Western ideology.
Measuring the gender apartheid

One way to measure gender inequality in education is through illiteracy levels – in many countries
the rates are much lower amongst females. (From 1985-1994, the youth literacy rate for males was
87.7 and for females it was 78.6).
Another way that the UN measures are through the Global Parity Index (GPI) which is based on
calculations on the ratio of boys to girls enrolled at different levels of education. Equality is reached
when the Gender Parity Index is between 0.97 and 1.03. 1.00 would show gender parity. In 2013 the
UK rate for secondary education was at 1.04 showing that girls slightly outperform boys. This is in
comparison to countries such as Afghanistan with a measure of 0.51, Pakistan at 0.73 and the Ivory
Coast at 0.68.
Explanations for the global gender apartheid

UNESCO (United Nations Educational Social and Cultural Organisation) has identified a number of
reasons in poorer countries which limit girls’ opportunities in education:
- Family constraints – girls are expected to take on domestic roles instead of school such as
caring for younger siblings
- Economic costs - If a choice has to be made between sending a boy or a girl to school, the boy
will usually be given precedence
- Cultural beliefs and practices – patriarchal societies place low value on female education and
instead believe in early marriage and the low status of women
- School systems and policies – schools are not always sensitive to girls’ needs e.g. a lack of
female role models and female appropriate teaching methods and counselling
- Benefits of education – even when girls achieve equivalent qualifications to boys this does not
translate to progress in the workplace
EVALUATION
 UN statistics have been criticised as they are based on official statistics, many of which are
collected in poorer countries where surveys cannot always be trusted. Statistics do not
always show the full story – they may show that a girl is enrolled in education but it doesn’t
show what she is taught, for example is the curriculum just preparing her for domestic tasks.
 The term ‘global gender apartheid’ implies that it is a world-wide phenomenon. In reality,
there is huge variety in the provision from country to country. For example girls are
particularly disadvantaged in parts of the Middle East and the southern half of Africa but in
parts Southern Asia, there have been significant developments in education for girls.
 In some countries where developments have happened to improve girls’ education,
conservative religious groups have tried to stop these opportunities. Examples of this
include the attempted murder by the Taliban of schoolgirl Malala for campaigning for girls’
education and the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria stating they would treat
them as slaves unless all western style schools were closed down. As a result there is still a
way to go for equality in education.
 Some have also argued that by focusing on gender inequalities, this ignores other
inequalities which are more significant. For example globally primary aged children from the
poorest 20%of households are over 3 times more likely to be out of school than children
from the richest 20% of households.
The global gender apartheid

 Gender differences in the UK are relatively insignificant in comparison to other parts of the
world.
 Gender apartheid- economic and social sexual discrimination against individuals based on gender
and sex.
 Used to force individuals into subordinate positions.
 Girls and women are denied the same educational opportunities or not at all.
UN Millennium Goals-
 Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, by 2005, in all levels of education
no later than 2015.
 Among the poorest households girls are more likely to be excluded from education than boy.
 In some areas of Africa, only 23% of poor, rural girls complete their primary education (2014).
 Feminists- criticise UN for doing too little.
 Mayer (2000) - while organisations have condemned racial forms of apartheid, it has been
largely ignored and there has been a reluctance to impose sanctions.
 Russo ( 2006)- campaign to open up educational opportunities to women and girls in Afghanistan
following the invasion in 2001 , was simply an excuse to justify American ‘empire building’
 Gender apartheid is based on a modern western liberal view of education and gender roles,
based on the western inability to understand other cultures.
Measuring Gender inequalities in education-

 Level of illiteracy (reading and writing) - simple and crude method, literacy rates for females are
lower than for males.
 Gender parity index- calculation of ration of girls to boys in different levels.
 GPI should be between 0.97 and 1.03.
 Most western countries have 1.00 showing equal numbers of males and females in education.
 Each year of primary school boots a girl in a developing countries wages.
Reasons for gender inequalities-

 According to UNESCO there are a number of factors in poorer countries which restrict girl’s
opportunities for education.
 Constraints within families-in many countries girls are expected to take on domestic duties while
boys often receive preferences to do with education.
 Constraints within society- pressure for early marriage, threat of sexual harassment and violence
to girls outside their own home, and religious and cultural beliefs against educating girls.
 Policies of school systems and educational practices- school systems are not always empowering,
not sensitive to girls need and may be lack of female role models.
 Benefits of education – when girls achieve parity, this does not always lead to equal benefits of
education, especially in job markets.
Afghanistan –Fields of Bamyan

 Children help harvest potatoes, many young girls going to school for first time.
 3.2 million Girls now getting an education in Afghanistan –UNICEF
 Female literacy rate has tripled, but still lowest in the world (13%)
Still live in rural areas where poverty, conflict, and conservative attitudes keep girls and women
at home.
Evaluation –
 UN Statistics- criticised as they are based on official statistics and surveys may be unreliable.
 Literacy or enrolment statistics are not accurate – don’t tell the fill picture, may be educated
separately to boys.
 Focusing on gender inequalities in education ignores other children’s inequalities worldwide.
Poorest 20 percent of household are over 3 times more likely to be out of school.
 Disparities are also linked to place of residence, rural primary school aged children are twice as
likely to be out of school compared to their urban counterparts. Boys are often taken out of
school from an early age to work.
 Global gender apartheid suggests that it is a world-wide phenomenon, but it applies much more
too some countries than others. Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
 Conservative religious groups have attempted to close down opportunities for females’
education – Taliban Malala Yousafzai was shot on her way to school for campaigning for girls
education, Nobel peace prize.
Global disparity in education
Poverty and education
 Children in poor countries are less likely to attend school, and even if they attend school, it
may only be for a short period of time, which is different from most western countries.
Children who are in school for less than 4 yours can be defined as in education poverty
according to WIDE (World Inequality Database on Education).
 Within the poor countries the poorest children are least likely to receive an education. The
children are less likely to be taught by trained teachers e.g. Guinea, Senegal and South
Sudan less than 50% of primary school teachers are teacher trained.
 Poorer countries children are less likely to go on to secondary or higher education e.g. in
Sub-Saharan Africa the enrolment rate for higher education is 7% compared to 29%
worldwide (Western Europe). In some countries opportunities to go to university are often
for the wealthier people, with poorer children having little or no chance to access higher
education.
Ethnicity and education
 There are inequalities between ethnic groups and tribes in many countries globally. E.g. in
Thailand only 8% of children have less than 4 years of schooling. 90% of children in Myanmar
and 54% of children from hill tribes have less than 4 years of education.
 There are a lot of countries which have a significant difference in the number of children
who are not in school. E.g. Thailand the average percent of children not in primary education
is 1%, but this drastically different in countries like Myanmar where 52% of children is not in
primary education.
 A difference between ethnic groups can be seen in the number of children who complete
their secondary education. In south Africa 68% of white children completed secondary
education compared to 42% of black African, in Serbia 71% of Serbian’s complete school
compared to just 17% of Roma children.
Locality and education
 In poorer countries more schools are located in urban areas and wealthier regions. Children
in rural areas and more remote or poorer regions are often at least likely to receive an
adequate education.
 Children from urban areas are consistently more likely to attend education longer than those
form rural areas. E.g. in Ethiopia children from urban areas on average attend school for 8
and a half years compared to 2 and a half years for children from rural areas.
 For basic reading skills there is a difference in achievement between children from rural to
urban areas. In countries such as Belize, the Ivory Coast and South Africa there is around a
30% difference in the number of pupils that reach the most basic level in reading.
EVALUATION
 Deon Filmer (2007) argues that even though factors such as gender, ethnicity and locality
are important influences on educational opportunities in poorer countries, poverty is by far
the most significant factor holding many children back. In countries where not all children
complete education poverty is usually the strongest factors associated with them not
completing the academic years.
Disparity in educational provision around the world-
Poverty and education
 Less likely to attend school, or for a shorter period of time, if attend for less than 4 years
(education poverty)
the very poorest children are the least likely to receive an education.
 Less likely to be taught by trained teachers, in South Sudan less than 50 %of primary school
teachers are trained (UNESCO)
 Less likely to go to secondary education
Ethnic inequalities
 In Thailand – nationally only 8 % of children have less than 4 years of schooling.
 In Uganda 83% of children in tribes have less than 4 years of schooling , Ngaka tribe
 Variation in tribes
Locality
 More schools located in urban areas and wealthier regions
 Rural areas or poor regions, no adequate education.
Evaluation –
– Filmer (2007)-while factors such as gender, ethnicity and locality are all important, poverty is the
most significant factor holding people back.
– Where not all children complete education, poverty is usually the strongest factor associated
with non – completion.
– Niger has the highest national average percentage of children who have never been to school
( 59%) , as well as Liberia and Chad
– Chad and Somalia have the highest never attended poorest children percentage (80-90%)
– Liberia has the highest percentage never attended wealthy children (31) followed by Somalia.
– Niger has the highest percentage (80) with children spending less than 4 years in education.
Education in the Democratic Republic of Congo-

 Fighting between government and armed factions since 1994.
 Schooling depends on whether live in a conflict zone or rich or poor.
 Most of those in the capital city have been to school.
 1/3 of the poorest girls are the worst of all.
 Overlapping inequalities create larger disparities.
Education in Bangladesh-
 Made great progress in education, 2011 only 6% had never been to school.
 Country paid cash to parents whose daughters attended school, more girls in schools then boys.
 Lots of people have not completed primary education.
 High drop-out rate, difficulty acquiring quality teachers, overcrowded classrooms.
Education in Sweden-
– Attempts to make sure every child has an equal chance to succeed; making sure every child can
go to day care affordably.
– Parents pay no more than 18% for their child, paid for by government.
– A new law states all 4/5 year olds can go to day care for free, equalisation begins early.
– 12 months parental paid leave, staying at home and bonding with child, less children in child
care.
– All legal citizens with option of choosing school, regardless of area, free monthly allowance and
college fees.
Changes in the UK Education System
 Diversity of Education provision, different types of schools and educational paths
 Government Policies from 1988-vocational and work based
 New Right and Social Democratic influence on government educational policies
 Impact of politicises on competition ,diversity, choice, raised educational standards and
equality of opportunity
 How fair are the policies in relation to gender, class, and ethnicity.
How has the education system changed over time?
Not a single education system in the UK as Scotland and Ireland are separate, Wales rejected the A-Level
reforms
 Early year’s education – non –compulsive education in nurseries until 5 which may be offered
and paid for by the government.
 Primary education- compulsory education from the ages of 4/5 following the national
curriculum, often leaving when 11, although can vary dependent on middle schools.
 Secondary Education- from ages 11-16 following the national curriculum.
 Further education- compulsory education from 16-18 years old, with a diverse range of options
such as sixth form or colleges, which may focus on more vocational courses.
 Higher education- universities for degrees, 1992-pollytechnicis and colleges

Types of Schools
 Comprehensive Schools-most secondary schools, don’t select by ability
 Grammar School-entry based on 11+,ability selected
 Colleges-secondary school, government and private, national curriculum with more emphasis on
technology
 Academies-Labour government, not controlled by local authorities but by central government,
more freedom
 Free Schools-Governments and charities
 Faith Schools-1/3 of State schools are faith schools
 Specialist Schools-skills and technology, business and engineering
 SEN-Special Educational needs
 Independent –private school not controlled or funded by state, charge fees or scholarships, since
1870 state gradually assumed control.
 City Technology colleges-secondary schools focusing on technology, converted to be academies.
How does Education socialise its pupils?
 Alienation- working class children, doesn’t suite their lifestyles
 Ideological control-patriarchal or capitalist, pupils learn to respect authority
 Labelling –help determine later life chances
 Relationships of power and authority
 Cultural Reproduction-dominant societal culture
 Role allocation
 Sports-competitiveness and discipline.
Advantages of Comprehensive Education
 Opportunities remain open – A child’s achievement is not limited by their success in the 11+
test. The ability to gain good qualifications and have success in school remains possible through a
child’s school life; you are not as restricted by not getting into a Grammar school.
 “Late Bloomers” – Some students may not begin to show their true potential until after the 11+
test. However comprehensive education means students are not restricted by attainment when
they were younger.
 More students get a better education – Fewer students leave secondary school without any
qualifications
 Less “social division” – Children are given an environment where they can mix with people from
a variety of social classes, as opposed to the tripartite system where upper classes would attend
Grammar schools and the poorer children would attend Technical or Modern. This leads to less
of a divide of social classes and increased social mobility
 Less Chance of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy – Children are less likely to be “labelled” as failures and
therefore are less at risk of self-fulfilling prophecy.
 Help for the less able students – Mixed ability means that the more intelligent students can
stimulate and help less able students. Also, research has shown that mixed ability classes have no
negative effect on “high-flyers”
 More opportunity – Comprehensive schools are normally quite large, this means that the school
can teach a wider range of subjects and provide a more diverse education. Equipment and
facilities.
Criticisms of comprehensive schools

 Grammar schools taking all the brightest students – When Grammar schools are near
comprehensives they take (“Cream off”) all the brightest students. This means they aren’t true
comprehensives at all because they lack the more able students, therefore it is similar to the old
tripartite system.
 Negative effect on “High Flyers” – Mixed ability learning means brighter students are slowed
down by less able class mates
 Issues with large school sizes – The large size of most comprehensives means it is difficult for
teachers to understand and know all their students well. This can lead to discipline problems, and an
inability to notice some pupils’ talents.
986-1997 – Conservative reforms , Thatcher

Stopped helping SEN, Working Class and Ethnic minority ,widened inequalities.
R-aised standards/ gave parents choices

O- fsted, allowed to assess schools
S- ATS (7,11,14) – assess children
E- quality of opportunity and variety for economy.
L- eague Tables, increase competition and standards
Y- Youth training scheme for youth unemployment – cheap labour and no jobs after.
N- ational curriculum ( Engendered+ Ethnocentric)
STEM and GIST campaigns.
New Labour (1997-2010) –Tony Blair
Social Democratic- Social exclusion – tackle inequalities.

S- ure start- Pre-school education, help unemployed parents get back to work, only modest benefits.
E- AZ- Education Action Zones to raise motivation and attainment in inner city.
-Became EIC + boosted attainment for low income families.
E- MA, education maintenance allowance, increased amount of 16-18 in education and training.
New Right:
T- uition fees created at £1,000, increased quality of provision, working class avoid university in fear of
debt.
V- Vocational education raised to degree level (NVQ and GNVQ), still a vocational divide, and more
choices for working class.
Evaluation – Intended to reduce inequalities, only modest changes that were worsened by New Right
approaches.
Coalition policies (2010-2015) - Conservative/LibDem

F- ree Schools- independent, don’t follow state, give parents more choice.
A- cademies- everyone given opportunity to change
C- uts in spending on sure stat and EMA, creation of pupil premium for those on free school meals.
T-.uition fees to 9,000- Working class avoid university in fear of debt.
Evaluation – aimed to give more diversity and choice

-Not all academies are successes.
-Free School Meal students caught up in GCSE results.
-Middle Class can better operate systems of choice
Education policies effects on inequalities-

Social Class-
 Vocational qualifications for working class and the expansion of higher education.
Labour tried to further this, but only had marginal reductions in attainment levels.
 Competition and choice-conservative+ coalition government
sure start and EAZ show some success for poorer children, but got scrapped.
 Pupil premium and academies in areas of disadvantage also helped, also got scrapped.
Criticism of education reform:
 Marxist-need to change more than just the education system to get rid of class based inequality,
more radical changes.
 Peter Saunders-don’t need equality, some will perform better, just need equal opportunities.
 Tripartite system-no parity of esteem, segregated classes.
Gender-
 Butler act, equality for both genders, free secondary education.
 Girls into science and technology, encourages females into male dominated careers, expanding
opportunities and their curriculum.
 Expansion of higher curriculum, subjects available to both genders
 Single sex classes-maths and science, don’t have to compete, results inconclusive.
 National curriculum- girls obliged to study science up to GCSE, more boys still and there’s still an
engendered curriculum.
 GCSE’S and coursework – girls are better at working constituently and edit their work, may not
advantage as much as claimed.
 Boy attainment in writing, speaking and listening, Art.
 Although arguable reduced is this due to government policies or changes in winder society.
Ethnicity-
 Multicultural education – only given attention after 1970s, some ethnic groups perform above
average still inequalities and it’s arguable how much mixed.
 Anti-racist education –multiculturalism ignores institutional racism issues, more vigorous
opposition.
 Gilborn (2008)- neither government committed to their anti-racism .Following terrorist attacks
there is a ‘aggressive majoritarianism’ based on islamophbia.
 Academies and free schools helped deprived areas looking at ethnic minorities.
 Weekes-Bernard (2007) - emphasis on Marketisation benefits white middle class, not ethnic
minorities.
 Higher education expansion, lack of parity of esteem, still lack money due to debt aversion.
 Pupil premium/EMA – gave extra support but got scrapped after some improvement.
 English baccalaureate, ethnocentric curriculum – focusing on British culture.
Educational policy and inequality:
Marketisation and parentocracy:

 The 1988 Education Reform Act introduced by the Conservative Government under Thatcher
established the principle of marketisation in education
1. Marketisation:
 Competition between schools encouraged
 Successful schools with thrive, and those that are failing will either have to improve or face
funding cuts or closure
 ERA created an ‘education market’ by:
 Reducing direct state control over education
 Increasing both competition between schools and parental choice of school
(argue that state control leads to low standards, inefficiency and lack of choice for parents)
 DAVID: describes this phase as a ‘parentocracy’ – supporters of marketisation argue that in

an education market, power shifts away from the producers to the consumers – this
encourages diversity among schools and gives parents more choice, meets the needs of
different pupils and raises standard
 Policies include: exam league tables, Ofsted inspections, business sponsorship of schools and
formula funding
2. The reproduction of inequality:
 Critics argue that marketisation has increased inequalities between pupils
 BALL AND WHITTY: examine how marketisation reproduces and legitimises inequality – via
exam league tables and the funding formula...
 Exam league tables:
 Schools with good results attract parents, and so are in more demand
 Allows schools to be more selective, choosing only the high-achieving
 Schools with poor league table position – opposite applies. Cannot afford to be
more selective and have to take the less able – results are poorer and remain
unattractive
 Overall effect = produces unequal schools that reproduce social class
inequalities
 The funding formula:
 Schools allocated funds by formula based on how many pupils they attract
 Popular schools get more funds – can afford better quality teachers and facilities
and to be more selective = attract more able/ambitious m/c applicants
 Unpopular schools lose income and find it difficult to match the teacher and
facilities of their more successful rivals - unpopular schools fail to attract pupils
and their funding is further reduced
3. Testing:
 Allows parents to judge the quality of schools –pupils would sit national tests at the ages of
7,11 and 14 as well as GCSEs and A levels
4. The national curriculum:
 Introduced to help provide a meaningful comparison of standards
 Prescribed a range of subject that every school would have to teach
 Influence of local authorities on education was reduced
Criticisms:
 Testing can be damaging and stressful on children
 Testing may disrupt what was taught, schools would ‘teach to test’
 Very few extra places were available in popular schools – parents had little or no choice of
schools
 League tables were felt to be counterproductive – schools might not admit low achievers or
difficult pupils or enter them for exams
 Competition may force schools to spend large amount of money on marketing rather than
on the education of pupils
The myth of parentocracy:

 BALL: believes that marketisation gives the appearance of creating a ‘parentocracy’,
however it is a myth, not reality
 Claims parents have the same freedom to choose which school to send their
children to
However: GERWITZ shows m/c parents have more economic and cultural capital
and so are better able to take advantage of the choices available
For example, LEECH AND CAMPOS show what middle class parents can afford to move into the
catchment areas of more desirable schools
By disguising the fact schooling continues to reproduce class inequality in this way, the ‘myth of
parentocracy’ makes inequality in education appear to be fair and inevitable
New Labour polices since 1997:
1. Reducing inequality:
 Introduced several policies aimed specifically at reducing inequality in achievement by
targeting support on disadvantaged groups
 E.g. – designating some deprived areas as Education Action Zones and providing
them with additional resources
 E.g. – the Aim Higher programmes to raise the aspirations of groups who are under-
represented
 Also introduced policies to raise achievement and standards more generally, such as the
National Literacy Strategy – claimed these policies are of greater benefit to disadvantaged
groups and so help reduce inequality
2. Promoting diversity and choice:

 Aimed to promote greater diversity and choice
 E.g. – 2002 Blair said education needs to move into the ‘post-comprehensive’ era, replacing
the ‘one size fits all, mass production’ education system with a new one built around the
aptitudes and needs of the individual child and where power is in the hands of parents
 Labour introduced a number of policies
 E.g. – secondary schools encouraged to apply for specialist school status in particular
curriculum areas (by 2007, about 85% of secondary schools had become specialist
schools) – argued this offers parents a greater choice and raises standards of
achievement
 E.g. – promoted academies as a policy for raising achievement and plans to have 200
academies by 2010 in hope to raise the former comprehensives with poor results
3. Postmodernism and New Labour policies:
 THOMPSON: argues education becomes ‘customised’ to meet the differing needs of diverse
communities – in postmodern society, schools can break free from the ‘oppressive
uniformity’ of the old centralised ‘one size fits all’ mass education system where all schools
are expected to be the same
 USHER: contrasts modern and postmodern education:
Education in modern society Education in postmodern society

 ‘one size fits all’ mass education  Diverse and customised to individual
learners’ needs
 Controlled centrally by the state  Controlled locally by communities
 Fixed in time and place  Flexible (e.g. – distance learning via the
internet)
 Only takes place during a fixed period of the  Lifelong learning – individuals constantly
individual’s life update their skills in response to the
changing needs of the economy
 Teacher led – the learner passively absorbs  The learner is active and learns through
knowledge from the teacher their own experience
(Postmodernists relate these changes in education to changes in the economy and wider society –
especially the trend towards ‘post-Fordism’)
Strengths:
 TROWLER: policies such as increased funding of state education, raising standards and a
focus on a ‘learning society’ is evidence of Labour’s commitment to reducing educational
inequality
Criticisms of New Labour policies:
 WHITTY: sees a contradiction between Labour’s policies to tackle inequality and its
commitment to marketisation (e.g. – while EMAs may encourage w/c students to stay on
until they are 18, tuition fees for higher education may deter them from going to university)
Labours anti-inequality policies are merely ‘cosmetic’ – present a positive image without
actually reducing class inequalities
Policies relating to gender and ethnicity:

 Gender:
 Since the 1970s policies such as GIST have been introduced to reduce gender differences in
subject choice
 More recently, under the tripartite system, girls often had to achieve a higher mark than
boys in the 11+ in order to obtain a grammar school place (unlike in the 19th century when
girls were largely excluded from HE)
 Ethnicity:
 There have been policies aimed at raising the achievement of children from minority
background, and these policies have gone through several phases:
1. ASSIMULATION – policies in the 60s and 70s focussed on the need for pupils from
minority ethnic groups to assimilate into mainstream British culture as a way of raising
their achievement, especially by helping those for whose English was not their first
language (closely related to compensatory education)
However critics argue that some minority groups who are at risk of under-achieving such
as African Caribbean pupils, already speak English and that the real cause of their under-
achievement lies in poverty or racism
2. MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION (MCE) - policies through the 80s and into the 90s aimed
to promote the achievements of children from minority ethnic groups by valuing all
cultures in the school curriculum, thereby raising minority pupils’ self-esteem and
achievements
However MCE has been criticised on several grounds....
 STONE: argues that black pupils do not fail for lack of self-esteem, so MCE is
misguided
 The New Right criticise MCE for perpetuating cultural divisions – they take an
assimilationist view that education should teach a shared national culture and
identity into which minorities should be assimilated
3. SOCIAL INCLUSION – of pupils from minority ethnic groups, and policies to raise their
achievement; have been the focus since the late 1990s. Policies include:
 Detailed monitoring of exam results by ethnicity
 Amending the Race Relations Act to place a legal duty on schools to promote
racial equality
 Help for voluntary ‘Saturday schools’ in the black community
 Continued funding of English as an Additional Language programmes
However MIRZA sees little genuine change in policy – she argues that instead of tackling the
structural causes of ethnic inequality such as poverty and racism, educational policy still
takes a ‘soft’ approach that focuses on culture, behaviour and the home
 Argues that although schemes for motivational and personal development and
projects on parenting skills etc. might make a small difference, they are short-term
policies unlikely to have any lasting impact.
New Right policies

New Right policies were introduced by the Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during
her time in office between 1979 and 1990. Her policies supported the New Right ideology which had
two main aims:
 Create competition – Schools should compete against each other to be the best school,
which would lead to the “marketization of education”, because schools would promote
themselves to recruit students in the same way businesses advertise to attract customers.
 Raise standards – In an education market, schools would be forced to improve in order to
recruit students, therefore raising the standards of education across the nation.
The 1988 Education Reform Act
 National Curriculum – All students studied the same content across all comprehensive
schools.
 Testing – SATs were introduced at the end of Key Stages in order to monitor the progress of
students.
 Ofsted inspections – The standard of schools was inspected by an external agency. The
report was published, so parents could access this to inform their decision about where to
send their child.
 Local management of budget – Governors were given control of the educational budget, as
opposed to the local authorities, which gave schools more control
 Formula funding – Schools were funded based on how many students they had recruited.
This therefore encouraged schools to improve and promote themselves in order to attract
more students and gain more money.
 City Technical Colleges – These are fee-paying schools which offer vocational courses in
order to provide students with the skills that will boost our economy.
Impact of New Right policies

Education market
An education market was created because schools aimed to be the best and out-compete other
schools. They desired to perform well in order to receive an Outstanding Ofsted report and rank
highly in league tables. They also aimed to recruit as many students as possible in order to gain more
funding. Therefore, an education market was created and standards raised accordingly.
Gender
Feminists commended the introduction of the National Curriculum because they believed it would
lead to gender equality if boys and girls were studying the same subjects. However, the fact that
only 5% of CEOs are women illustrate that gender inequalities still prevail.
Greater stress
Ofsted inspections and the expectations placed on teachers in terms of facilitating high results has
caused more pressure on teachers. In addition, Palmer argues that increased testing has led to
greater stress on students and can lead to unhappiness.
Less academic pupils
The National Curriculum changes prioritised academic subjects over practical courses, so less
academic students were disadvantaged. These pupils were also less likely to gain a place in high
achieving secondary schools because the admissions team would discriminate against them based
on their KS2 SATS results, as the school’s priority was to perform highly in the league tables and
lower ability students would hinder this. Garner also argues that emphasis league tables place on
A*-C students causes lower ability students to be ignored by teachers.
New Labour policies

(EAZs) Education Action Zones 1998- aimed to improve attainment in deprived, inner city schools.
Parents, schools and businesses in these areas were given £1 million to spend on what they believed
was necessary to improve education provision e.g. homework and breakfast clubs.
(EiC) Excellence in Cities- replaced the EAZs, gave extra funds to education authorities in inner city
deprived areas, for example home computers and mentors. By 2001 around 1000 schools were part
of the programme with 1/3 of secondary students benefiting from the programme.
EVALUATION: Research has shown that the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C
GCSEs was around 11% higher in schools under the EiC programme than those not in the scheme.
This has been supported by social democrats for increasing opportunities for pupils from
disadvantaged backgrounds.
Sure Start 1999- This scheme aimed to provide pre-school children and their families from working
class backgrounds with a range of support including play centres, advice on child care and courses
for unemployed parents to help them gain employment.
EVALUATION: A report from the DfE (2010) found that families who had used the Sure Start
facilities had positive child behavior and improved parent and child relationships. However many
centres were forced to shut down and under the coalition government funding was further cut.
Academies 2000- they were designed to boost educational attainment of children living in
disadvantaged areas. Also to close the gap for working class and minority pupils. Failing schools
would be replaced by academies which were sponsored by charities or businesses that could
increase the funding available as well as have more control over the curriculum, financial spending
and intake.
EVALUATION: Academies was criticized by many politicians within the Labor party, arguing
that this was a step towards privatizing education and allowing individuals with no experience in the
education sector having significant control over schools. This could be seen by Marxists as another
way that those from the ruling classes having control and influence over the education of the
working classes.
(EMA)Education Maintenance Allowance 2004- Labor wanted to increase the number of 16-18 year
olds in education and training, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who were
suffering from high unemployment rates. EMA was introduced where students from low income
families would be given a weekly cash payment of between £10-30 (depending on exact parental
income) if they remained in education.
EVALUATION: 2004 research by Loughborough University found that staying on in education
rates improved by 5.9% for those that were eligible for EMA. However in 2010 the scheme was
scrapped by the coalition government who considered it a waste of money and simply a way of
manipulating unemployment statistics.
Higher Education reforms 1999- Labor pledged to ensure that half of school leavers would go to
university, particularly increasing the number from disadvantaged backgrounds. To fund this
increase they introduced tuition fees and replaced student grants with loans that had to be repaid.
EVALUATION: The gap between the classes and university places actually widened during
this period with an increase in students from higher income families. Tuition fees were later replaced
by top-up fees where fees increase but students did not have to pay them until after their degree
and paid back through a loan system.
ANNEX: Types of schools
Independent school
Not controlled or funded by the state (government), until 1870 all schools were independent but the
state has gradually assumed responsibility for the education of most children. Around 7% of children
attend independent schools, because they receive no government spending, however some places
offer free places or scholarships to pupils selected on ability.
City Technology School

Form of secondary school set up by the Conservative government in the 1980s. Based on a
partnership between government and private businesses and aimed to offer education based on the
Faith Schools
As state took over education these were mostly absorbed into the state system but church schools
were allowed to maintain their distinctive religious ethos. Faith schools may give preference to
children brought up within their religious faith. 1/3 of state schools in England are faith schools,
predominantly Church of England, followed by Roman Catholic, and a fewer number of Jewish,
Muslim, Sikh and Hindu faith schools.
Comprehensive School
They take children of all backgrounds and don’t select children based on their abilities.
Academies Schools
Developed by the Labour party. Not controlled by local education authorities (LEAs) but are directly
funded by the central government. Some academies are sponsored by businesses, charities, religious
groups or other educational institutions. Academies have much greater freedom to run their own
affairs including more control over their curriculum, staffing and budget.
Specialist Schools
Focused on technology, business and enterprise, engineering, mathematics, computing or science
but more recently they’ve included subjects like sports, humanities and music. They’re permitted to
select up to 10% of their intake on aptitude in their specialism.
Grammar Schools
Entry to grammar schools is based on an exam called 11+ which aims to select only the most able
and academic children.
Free Schools
Is an extension of academies developed by the coalition government. Groups of parents, educational
charities and religious groups can apply to set up entirely new schools with government funding.
Free schools have even more freedom to run their own affairs than academies and are in effect
independent schools with government funding.
Special Schools
These are schools catering for pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN), these may include severe
physical disabilities, learning difficulties and behaviour difficulties. Government have encouraged a
policy of inclusion, meaning wherever possible children with SEN should be educated in mainstream
education.

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OCR Sociology

In-school 2 Not in-school 2

In-school 3 Not in-school 3

Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

Increased diversity/choice 2 Not increased diversity/choice 2

Increased diversity/choice 3 Not increased diversity/choice 3

Increased diversity/choice 4 Not increased diversity/choice 4

New Right views relevant 2 New Right views not relevant 2

New Right views relevant 3 New Right views not relevant 3

Assess out-of-school explanations of ethnic differences in educational achievement. (40

out-of-school explanation 1 In-school explanation 1

out-of-school explanation 2 In-school explanation 2

out-of-school explanation 3 In-school explanation 3

out-of-school explanation 4 In-school explanation 4

In-school 2 Not in-school 2

In-school 3 Not in-school 3

Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

Increased diversity/choice 2 Not increased diversity/choice 2

Increased diversity/choice 3 Not increased diversity/choice 3

Increased diversity/choice 4 Not increased diversity/choice 4

In-school 2 Not in-school 2

In-school 3 Not in-school 3

Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

Increased diversity/choice 2 Not increased diversity/choice 2

Increased diversity/choice 3 Not increased diversity/choice 3

Increased diversity/choice 4 Not increased diversity/choice 4

In-school 2 Not in-school 2

In-school 3 Not in-school 3

Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

Increased diversity/choice 2 Not increased diversity/choice 2

Increased diversity/choice 3 Not increased diversity/choice 3

Increased diversity/choice 4 Not increased diversity/choice 4

In-school 2 Not in-school 2

In-school 3 Not in-school 3

Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

Increased diversity/choice 2 Not increased diversity/choice 2

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In-school 2 Not in-school 2

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In-school 2 Not in-school 2

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Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

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In-school 2 Not in-school 2

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Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

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In-school 2 Not in-school 2

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Increased diversity/choice 1 Not increased diversity/choice 1

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Increased diversity/choice 4 Not increased diversity/choice 4