Paper 3 – Education
In this topic area, candidates investigate the processes of learning and education in their social context. The aim is to understand the factors affecting educational achievement and to recognise different perspectives on the role of education within wider society.
5 Education and society
Candidates will investigate the contribution of education to social order, ideological control and economic reproduction, which links to the key concept of Power, control and resistance. Candidates will examine the relationship between education and social mobility, and discuss the extent to which educational achievement is determined by wider social forces. This will stimulate thinking about the key concepts of Inequality and opportunity and Structure and human agency.
5.1 Theories about the role of education
• Functionalist views about how education contributes to value consensus and social solidarity.
• Education and role allocation.
• Marxist views about how education contributes to the maintenance of the capitalist economic system.
• Education as an instrument of ideological control and cultural reproduction.
• New Right and social democratic views on the relationship between education and the economy.
5.2 Education and social mobility
• Equal opportunity and the idea of meritocracy.
• The extent to which education systems are meritocratic today.
• The importance of education in influencing life chances, and the consequences of educational underachievement for the individual and for society.
• Evidence and arguments about the links between education and social mobility.
5.3 Influences on the curriculum
• The social construction of knowledge.
• Factors influencing the content of the curriculum, including power, status, culture, economic demands, and gender.
• Education and cultural reproduction, including the ethnocentric curriculum, the gendered curriculum, and the hidden curriculum.
• The curriculum and the concept of cultural capital.
6 Education and inequality
Candidates will consider explanations for inequalities in educational attainment relating to social class, ethnicity and gender, and continue their thinking about the key concept of Inequality and opportunity. In addition, candidates will examine cultural explanations for differences in educational attainment, which relates to the key concept of Socialisation, culture and identity.
6.1 Intelligence and educational attainment
• The difficulties in defining intelligence.
• IQ tests and the extent to which they are influenced by social factors.
• Intelligence as an influence on educational attainment.
6.2 Social class and educational attainment
• The relationship between material factors and educational attainment.
• Cultural explanations for patterns in social class and educational attainment, including parental attitudes, values, speech codes, and cultural capital.
• In-school factors, including labelling, ability grouping and pupil subcultures.
• Compensatory education programmes.
6.3 Ethnicity and educational attainment
• Racism in schools.
• Cultural explanations for patterns in ethnicity and educational attainment.
• Ethnicity and subcultures.
• The relationship between ethnicity, social class and gender.
6.4 Gender and educational attainment
• The relationship between gender socialisation and educational attainment.
• Wider social changes and gendered educational achievement, including changing female expectations and
the crisis of masculinity.
• Gender and subcultures.
• Teacher expectations and gendered behaviour in the classroom.
It expects you to know the following key terms:
compensatory education
comprehensive education
correspondence principle
counter-school culture
cultural capital
cultural reproduction
deferred/immediate gratification
deprivation – material and cultural
de-schooling
educational achievement
elaborated and restricted speech codes
equality of opportunity
ethnicity
ethnocentric curriculum
formal education
gender
gender stereotyping
gendered curriculum
hidden curriculum
ideological state apparatus
informal education
inequality
intelligence
intelligence quotient (IQ)
knowledge
labelling
language
marketisation
meritocracy
minority ethnic group
positional theory
peer group
positive discrimination
pupil sub-cultures
self-fulfilling prophecy
social class
social capital
social democratic theory
social exclusion
social inequality
social mobility
streaming
vocationalism
In this topic area, candidates investigate the processes of learning and education in their social context. The aim is to understand the factors affecting educational achievement and to recognise different perspectives on the role of education within wider society.
5 Education and society
Candidates will investigate the contribution of education to social order, ideological control and economic reproduction, which links to the key concept of Power, control and resistance. Candidates will examine the relationship between education and social mobility, and discuss the extent to which educational achievement is determined by wider social forces. This will stimulate thinking about the key concepts of Inequality and opportunity and Structure and human agency.
5.1 Theories about the role of education
• Functionalist views about how education contributes to value consensus and social solidarity.
• Education and role allocation.
• Marxist views about how education contributes to the maintenance of the capitalist economic system.
• Education as an instrument of ideological control and cultural reproduction.
• New Right and social democratic views on the relationship between education and the economy.
5.2 Education and social mobility
• Equal opportunity and the idea of meritocracy.
• The extent to which education systems are meritocratic today.
• The importance of education in influencing life chances, and the consequences of educational underachievement for the individual and for society.
• Evidence and arguments about the links between education and social mobility.
5.3 Influences on the curriculum
• The social construction of knowledge.
• Factors influencing the content of the curriculum, including power, status, culture, economic demands, and gender.
• Education and cultural reproduction, including the ethnocentric curriculum, the gendered curriculum, and the hidden curriculum.
• The curriculum and the concept of cultural capital.
6 Education and inequality
Candidates will consider explanations for inequalities in educational attainment relating to social class, ethnicity and gender, and continue their thinking about the key concept of Inequality and opportunity. In addition, candidates will examine cultural explanations for differences in educational attainment, which relates to the key concept of Socialisation, culture and identity.
6.1 Intelligence and educational attainment
• The difficulties in defining intelligence.
• IQ tests and the extent to which they are influenced by social factors.
• Intelligence as an influence on educational attainment.
6.2 Social class and educational attainment
• The relationship between material factors and educational attainment.
• Cultural explanations for patterns in social class and educational attainment, including parental attitudes, values, speech codes, and cultural capital.
• In-school factors, including labelling, ability grouping and pupil subcultures.
• Compensatory education programmes.
6.3 Ethnicity and educational attainment
• Racism in schools.
• Cultural explanations for patterns in ethnicity and educational attainment.
• Ethnicity and subcultures.
• The relationship between ethnicity, social class and gender.
6.4 Gender and educational attainment
• The relationship between gender socialisation and educational attainment.
• Wider social changes and gendered educational achievement, including changing female expectations and
the crisis of masculinity.
• Gender and subcultures.
• Teacher expectations and gendered behaviour in the classroom.
It expects you to know the following key terms:
compensatory education
comprehensive education
correspondence principle
counter-school culture
cultural capital
cultural reproduction
deferred/immediate gratification
deprivation – material and cultural
de-schooling
educational achievement
elaborated and restricted speech codes
equality of opportunity
ethnicity
ethnocentric curriculum
formal education
gender
gender stereotyping
gendered curriculum
hidden curriculum
ideological state apparatus
informal education
inequality
intelligence
intelligence quotient (IQ)
knowledge
labelling
language
marketisation
meritocracy
minority ethnic group
positional theory
peer group
positive discrimination
pupil sub-cultures
self-fulfilling prophecy
social class
social capital
social democratic theory
social exclusion
social inequality
social mobility
streaming
vocationalism