Education key terms
A
Anti-school subcultures - Typically the working class who feel negatively towards school, rejecting the school rules.
C
Collectivism - The working class valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as individuals (Sugarman).
Compensatory education - Government schemes to minimise inequalities, e.g. Excellence in cities.
Crisis of masculinity - As women are now taking on breadwinner roles and leading independent lives, boys are becoming uncertain of their position and role in society.
Cultural capital - How the dominant classes habitus is imposed on the education system, giving members of the dominant class an advantage (Bordieu).
Cultural deprivation - How members of the working class lack cultural capital.
Cumulative effect - How being materially deprived ‘builds up’, e.g. a low income will lead to a poor diet, to poor health, to more absences from school, to a lower educational attainment.
E
EMA - Educational Maintenance Allowance was a government scheme giving 16-19 year olds up to £30 per week to encourage children to stay in further education and reduce inequalities.
Ethnocentric curriculum - How the school system reflects the values of only one culture.
External factors - Factors that occur outside of the school, e.g. material and cultural deprivation.
F
Fatalism - A ‘what will be, will be’ perspective and a working class belief that there is nothing you can do to change your status (Sugarman).
Formula funding - A government policy to give schools a certain amount of money per pupil to improve the quality of schools.
G
GIST - Girls Into Science and Technology is a government scheme aiming to encourage girls to take up science and technology based subjects in schools.
Globalisation - The increasing interconnectedness between societies across the globe.
H
Habitus - Each social classes set of norms and values.
Hidden curriculum - Things that are taught in schools to form a passive and obedient work force, e.g. punctuality, attendance, hierarchies (Bowles and Gintis).
I
Ideological state apparatus - Transmits capitalist ideologies via structures such as the education system, religion and the family (Althusser).
Immediate gratification - The working class seek pleasure immediately rather than making sacrifices to attain future goals (Sugarman).
Internal factors - Factors that occur within the school, e.g. labelling, streaming and subcultures.
L
Labelling - Giving someone a label based on a stereotype and treating them accordingly.
Laddish behaviour - Boys acting loud, distracting and not conforming to school rules (Willis).
Ladette behaviour - Girls who now take on the same stereotypical behaviour as these ‘lads’ (Jackson).
League tables - Show the results of all schools either locally, across the country or globally.
M
Male gaze - In the classroom, boys will expect girls to act in a ‘feminine’ way, discuss their appearances and talk about them sexually. This reinforces dominant masculinity and devalues femininity (Mac and Ghaill).
Marketisation of education - Forcing competition between schools through league tables, exams and OFSTED to drive up standards (Chubb and Moe).
Material deprivation - Poverty among the working class meaning that basic resources and services are unaffordable.
Meritocratic - Everyone has equal opportunities. (Parsons)
Myth of meritocracy - Meritocracy is a myth taught to keep people compliant (Bowles and Gintis).
Myth of parentocracy - Middle class families have economic and cultural capital allowing them to send their children to better schools whilst the middle class still get left behind (Gerwitz and Ball).
P
Parentocracy - The idea that parents have the informed choice of what school to send their children.
Present-time orientation - The working class seeing present time as more important than the future so they don’t have long-term plans (Sugarman).
Pro-school subcultures - Typically the middle class who feel positively towards school and accept the school rules.
Pupil premium - Extra funding for disadvantaged pupils to reduce inequalities.
R
Role allocation - People are sorted and sifted into job roles that they are suited to (Davis and Moore).
S
Self-fulfilling prophecy - When a label given to someone so internalised and they behave the way they are expected to.
Streaming - Putting students in different teaching groups based on their perceived ability.
Speech codes - The language that someone uses based on their class; either informal (restricted) or formal (elaborated) (Bernstein).
Subcultures - A group of people with shared norms and values.
T
Tripartite system - The government policy that split schools into 3 types: grammar, technical and secondary modern.
W
WISE - Women In Science and Engineering, another government scheme to encourage girls to take on science and engineering subjects and job roles.
