GCSE Sociology₈₁₉₂

• Different views of the role and functions of education.
• The functionalist perspective of Durkheim on education as the transmission of norms and values and Parsons on achieved status and the operation of schools on meritocratic principles.

Students should be able to:

• identify, describe and explain the functions of education including serving the needs of the economy, facilitating social mobility and fostering social cohesion
• identify and describe a variety of different types of school including primary and secondary, state and private
• describe alternative forms of educational provision including home schooling and de-schooling
• describe, compare and contrast a variety of sociological perspectives on these issues (functionalist, feminist and Marxist)
• describe the key ideas of Durkheim on education
• describe the key ideas of Parsons on education.

Different views of the correspondence principle on the relationship between education and capitalism as developed from a Marxist perspective by Bowles and Gintis.

Students should be able to:

• describe the key ideas of Bowles and Gintis on education and capitalism
• describe, compare and contrast a variety of alternative sociological perspectives on the correspondence principle.

• Factors affecting educational achievement.
• The work of Halsey on class-based inequalities and Ball on parental choice and competition between schools.

Students should be able to:

• identify, describe and explain various factors affecting educational achievement including class, gender and ethnicity
• describe, compare and contrast a variety of sociological perspectives on these issues (functionalist, feminist and Marxist)
• describe the key ideas of Halsey on class-based inequalities
• describe the key ideas of Ball on parental choice and competition between schools.

• Processes within schools affecting educational achievement.
• The work of Ball on teacher expectations and Willis on the creation of counter school cultures.

Students should be able to:

• identify, describe and explain various processes within schools affecting educational achievement including, streaming, setting, mixed ability teaching, labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy
• describe, compare and contrast a variety of sociological perspectives on these issues (interactionist, functionalist, feminist and Marxist)
• describe the key ideas of Ball on teacher expectations
• describe the key ideas of Willis on the creation of counter school cultures.