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1) Education teaches the skills needed in work and by the economy.
2) Education sifts and sorts people for the appropriate jobs. This is called the allocation function.
3) Education plays a part in secondary socialisation, passing on core values.

Durkheim said that education passes on norms and values in order to integrate individuals into society.
Education helps to create social order based on cohesion and value consensus.

Parsons describes school as a bridge between the family and adult roles of society. Schools pass on a universal value of achievement. Parsons says that education selects children into appropriate roles because it's meritocratic. He agrees with Durkheim that education helps to make people agree about norms and values.

Davis & Moore(1945) say that every society sorts it's members into different positions. They think that there are rules for how education does this - called "principles of stratification". They believe that there has to be a system of unequal rewards (more money or status) to motivate people to train for the top positions.

1) Education prepares children for the world of work by giving them skills and values they'll need.
2)Education jusitifies inequality.
3) Education passes on ruling class ideology that supports capitalism.

The Neo-Marxist Althusser sees education as part of the "idelogical state apparatus". In other words, it's a tool of capitalism which is used to pass on the belief that society is fair. Althusser thinks education produces a docile and obedient workforce.

Bowles & Gintis (1976) say that there is a close link between school and work. They say that there's a correspondence between pupil experiences of school and adult work:
- Pupils are taught to accept the hierarchy at school. Work also has a hierarchy.
- Pupils are motivated by grades to do boring work. Workers are rewarded with pay to do boring work.
- The school day is broken into small units. So is the work day.
- At school and work subservience(following the rules) is rewarded.
B&G say that the 'hidden curriculum' (things like being on time for lessons and doing your homework) prepares people for work. They also say that meritocracy is a myth which is used to blame individuals for not succeeding.

Willis (1977) says that education doesn't turn out an obedient workforce. Some kids form an anti-school subculture and cope with school and then adult work by mucking about.

Bordieu used the concept of cultural capital (language, skills, knowledge and attitudes) to explain how the middle class get into the top positions.

Illich (1971) believes that education has four functions;
1) Education looks after kids during the day.
2) Education sorts pupils into job roles
3) Education passes on dominant values.
4) Education helps people learn skills and knowledge.
The problem for Illich is that schools don't create equality or develop creativity. Illich wants to "deschool society". He wants everyone to have access to education throughout their lives according to what they need.

1) Evidence of differential achievement in terms of class, gender and ethnicity suggests that education is not meritocratic.
2) "Who you know' is still more important than "what you know" in some parts of society. So the allocation function isn't working properly.
3) It can be argued that the education system doesn't prepare people adequately for work. For example, the lack of engineering graduates indicates education is failing to produce employers and the economy needs.
4) Functionalism doesn't look at how education may serve the interest of particular groups in terms of ideology and values. It doesn't explain conflict.

1) Marxism assumes people are passive victims. It exaggerates how much working class students are socialised into obedience. Willis showed how students actually resist authority.
2) Most people are aware of the inequality in education. Most people don't believe that society is fair.

1) Both functionalism and Marxism look at the big picture - institutions and the whole structure of society. They tend to ignore social interaction - with the exception of Willis. Both say education has a huge impact on the individual and that there's a close link with the economy and work.
2) The biggest difference is how they see inequality. Marxists say education helps to maintain inequality and make people accept inequality. Functionalists say education passes on the value of meritocracy and lets people better themselves.

1) Some feminists argue that the hidden curriculum unofficially reinforces gender differences.
2) There re still gender differences in subject choice in schools. Gender stereotyping may still exist.
3) Girls are not outperforming boys at school - but boys still demand more attention from the teacher.
4) Men seem to dominate the top positions in schools and even more so in universities.
Liberal feminists want equal success for both sexes.
Radical feminists believe men are a bad influence and want female-centred education for girls.
Marxist feminists want to consider gender inequalities combined with inequalities of class and ethnicity.

Negative Labelling of students can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Negative labelling can mean students get put into lower streams or bands.

Becker and Keddie argue that teachers tend to evaluate pupis in terms of an ideal student, by looking at appearance, personality, speech and social class.

Ball found that the pupils in the top bands were from higher social classes. Teachers had higher expectations of them and they were taught in different ways. Keddie found that teachers allowed pupils in the top streams access to higher levels of knowledge. Working class students didn't get this knowledge.

As a response to negative labelling and frustration with low status, pupils may form anti-school subcultures. Hargreaves found that those in the bottom streams were more likely to be non-conformist. Woods responded by saying that there are lots of different reactions to school, but non-conformist reactions were more likely to come from working class students.

These explantation are useful when looking at day-to-day experiences in schools. The problem is that they don't explain how factors outside of school can influence achievement. (reduced validity) don't look at external factors.
Labelling theory is also too deterministic - it says that once you're negatively labelled that's it, you're more likely to fail. This isn't always the case.

In 1997, - the Joseph Rowntree Foundation classified one in ten children as poor - which was defined as being in a family that couldn't afford at least three things other families took for granted.

Hasley found that the most important factor preventing working class students staying on at school was a lack of financial support.

Douglas found that children in unsatisfactory living conditions didn't do very well in ability tests compared to kids from comfortable backgrounds.

Douglas thought the levels of parental interest was he most important factor in affecting achievement. For example, middle class parents are more likely to visit schools for open evenings. Bear in mind though that working class parents may not go to open evenings because they work inconvenient shifts not because they aren't interested.

Some sociologists say that working class kids don't have the knowledge and values that help achievement. Museum visits, books and parental knowledge of education may help middle class pupils to succeed. Some styles of parenting emphasise the importance of education more than others.

Some sociologists say that working class kids don't have the knowledge and values that help achievement. Museum visits, books and parental knowledge of education may help middle cla

These explantation are useful when looking at day-to-day experiences in schools. The problem is that they don't explain how factors outside of school can influence achievement. (reduced validity) don't look at external factors.
Labelling theory i

1) Marxism assumes people are passive victims. It exaggerates how much working class students are socialised into obedience. Willi