Instead they believed that marketisation will produce schools to run more efficiently like a business therefore schools will have to compete against each other to attract the consumers, by showing them what they want to see- such as outstanding success in exams. There have been many polices introduced to promote marketisation such as: league tables, open enrolment, formula funding and educational vouchers. On the other hand despite the benefits of marketisation, critics argued that it has increased inequalities within social class, gender and ethnicity. Ways in which marketisation reproduced and legitimises inequality is through league tables and funding. Publishing schools exams results in league tables ensure that the school has to achieve phenomenal results if they want to attract likes of the consumers.
The New Right also believes that a successful school will gather sufficient momentum to build on its successes. They also see the major role of education is the development of skills and knowledge required to compete in the outside market. They believe that schools should be managed in the same way as businesses However, some theorists such as Chubb and Moe would argue that American state education has failed and they make the case for opening it up to new marker forces of supply and demand. They claim that disadvantaged groups (lower classes, ethnic minorities ect) have been badly served by state education due to the failure to create equal opportunity. Theyâd argue that state education is inefficient because it fails to produce pupils with the skills needed by the economy and
EMA are paid weekly to students that come from low income background. This move was invented in order to give equal opportunities to materially and culturally deprived family back grounds so that their achievement levels improve within the academic. Other policy such as Compensatory education policies (CEP’s) was introduced by Tony Blair in 1997 and was aimed to extend the academic period among school children from the age of 16 to the age of 18. This policy was aimed to reduce the socio-economic disadvantages which could include restricting equal educational opportunities from students from culturally deprived background originally focusing on working class children in UK. There are two arguments within the educational system;
The study found that the counsellor judged pupils largely on their social class; this therefore put them at a disadvantage as middle-class students were placed on higher level courses. The self-fulfilling prophecy is another internal factor that can be linked to social class differences in achievement. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it being made. Some sociologists argue that labelling can effect pupil’s achievement by creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. This can be seen in a study of a primary school by Rosenthal and Jacobson.
This research shows that education influences the representations of meritocracy at both micro and macro levels. From an individual point of view, it has been established that people with higher degree and lower degree tend to perceive more often their society as meritocratic (“U” curve effect of education on representations), and that more educated people defend more the importance of diplomas than the others. In addition to this relative effect of diploma, it has been evidenced, at a more macrosocial level, that the school system organization and development also has an effect on the representations of meritocracy: the educational stock of a country, measured by the percent of persons attending tertiary education, increases the justification of social inequality, while the percent of social science students decreases it. The French case has been specifically examined. In France, the criticism of diplomas seems to derive from its incapacity, according to students, to reflect one's competencies or merits.
Outline the functionalist perspective on the role of education Sociological functionalist have identified education as a crucial part of the socialisation process as it transmits and reinforces society’s norms and values, prepares children for adult roles and selects young people in terms of their abilities for crucial roles. This essay outlines Durkheim’s, Parsons and Davis and Moore’s perspective on how education creates an impact on the structure of society. Durkheim’s perspective on the role that education had on society was that it shapes an individual and prepares them for the ‘real world’; beyond their comfort zone. He argued that, in complex industrial societies, schools serve a function which cannot be provided by the individuals’ family nor their peer group. For us, school is a miniature version of society as it provides us with skills that we need once we enter work or when starting a family also, the experience prepares us for interacting with members of society and the rules that society has.
One of the most striking features of Education in the United Kingdom is the difference in the level of achievement between pupils from different social classes. It would seem that social class background has a powerful influence on a child's chances of success in the education system. Middle class children on average do perform better than working class children and the gap only widens as the children get older. In this essay I will look at the different theories put forward by sociologists as to what extent educational achievement is determined by a person's social class. Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) was a French sociologist and is known as one of the Founding Fathers of the discipline.
Home School verse Public Education Throughout this essay, I will explore the structural differences, socialization qualities and standardize testing measures between students that are home schooled verse those engaged in the public education system. In my opinion, students benefit more from the socialization and standardize testing requirements associated with a public school education. Although some of the research associated with this topic dictates that home schooled children are capable of performing at a higher level, we all could agree that the social qualities and opportunities public education provide help to develop personalities and character with students of all ages. The first aspect I want to explore concerns the amount of assignments and testing requirements associated with these two models. In the home school spectrum, there is no definitive answer to this question.
Iacovou (2008) found that eldest children do better educationally than later-born children, because first-born children benefit from parents’ undivided resource in the early age. Iacovou (2008) examined the relationship between birth order and educational attainment measured at ages 7, 11, 16, and 23, with particular care taken to separate the
Academically successful students will have more employment opportunities than those with less education. Thus, academic success may mean the difference between working at a job merely “because it pays the rent” and working at a job that one enjoys (Rentner & Kober, 2001, p. 15). Research also shows that people who are academically successful • are more stable in their employment; • are more likely to have health insurance; • are less dependent on public assistance; • are less likely to engage in criminal activity; • are more active as citizens and charitable volunteers; and • are more healthy (National Alliance of Business, Inc., 1998). According to Ruby Payne in her book , A Framework for Understanding Poverty, low achievement can be closely correlated with low socioeconomic status. Poverty can be related to academic achievement in the United States.