Education

What Education covers

Education is examined on Paper 1, alongside Theory and Methods. It covers what sociologists say education is for, why achievement differs by class, gender and ethnicity, what happens inside schools, and the policies that have reshaped the system since the tripartite years.

The 8 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The role and functions of educationFunctionalist and Marxist accounts of what education does for society, and the hidden curriculum.Open →
• Class differences in educational achievementMaterial and cultural deprivation, Bernstein's codes, and Bourdieu on cultural capital.Open →
• Labelling, subcultures and processes within schoolsTeacher labelling, the self-fulfilling prophecy, setting and streaming, and pupil subcultures.Open →
• Gender and educational achievementWhy girls now outperform boys, the explanations for boys' underachievement, and what feminists still say limits girls.Open →
• Ethnicity and educational achievementPatterns of achievement by ethnic group, and the cultural, material and institutional explanations for them.Open →
• Selection and marketisationThe tripartite system, comprehensives, the 1988 Act, parentocracy, and Ball on how markets reproduce inequality.Open →
• Privatisation and vocational educationAcademies, free schools, outsourcing, and the Marxist view of vocational routes.Open →
• Educational policy, equality and globalisationCompensatory education, equality of opportunity and outcome, and how global competition shapes policy.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Education further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Restricted code vs Elaborated code

  Restricted code: limited vocabulary and context-bound language, typically used by the working class. Elaborated code: wider vocabulary and context-free language, used by the middle class and in schools.

• Marketisation vs Privatisation

  Marketisation: policies introducing market forces into education, making schools compete for pupils and funding. Privatisation: the transfer of public educational assets and services to private companies.

• Cream-skimming vs Silt-shifting

  Cream-skimming: schools selecting higher-ability pupils who gain the best results and cost less to teach. Silt-shifting: schools off-loading pupils with learning difficulties who are expensive to teach.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   According to functionalists, what essential functions does education perform for society?

   Model answer

   Socialisation into shared norms and values, and creating social solidarity.

2. 2

   What did Durkheim argue was the main purpose of education in society?

   Model answer

   To transmit society's culture and shared beliefs from one generation to the next, binding individuals together.

3. 3

   In Parsons' view, what type of standards does the family use when judging children?

   Model answer

   Particularistic standards, where children are judged as individuals with unique characteristics.

4. 4

   According to Parsons, what type of standards does the school apply when judging pupils?

   Model answer

   Universalistic standards, where all pupils are judged by the same criteria regardless of who they are.

5. 5

   How does Parsons argue that school prepares children for adult life?

   Model answer

   By teaching them to be judged by universalistic standards, preparing them for achievement-based adult roles in wider society.

6. 6

   What function did Davis and Moore argue education performs in society?

   Model answer

   Role allocation—sifting and sorting individuals into appropriate positions in the occupational hierarchy based on talent and ability.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Education revision questions

What does Education cover in AQA A-Level Sociology?

8 subtopics: the role and functions of education, class differences in educational achievement, labelling, subcultures and processes within schools, gender and educational achievement, ethnicity and educational achievement, selection and marketisation, privatisation and vocational education and educational policy, equality and globalisation. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Education organised?

By the AQA 7192 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.