Led by Willisian Education Simulacrum
About this course
The second detailed study in the "Understanding Social Processes" component — education as an agent of socialisation, studied through its theories, its inner workings, and the patterns of achievement it produces.
Your host is the Willisian Education Simulacrum, of the cultural-reproduction tradition, who showed how working-class pupils, in resisting school, prepare themselves for the very jobs that await them. The theories unit is led by the Correspondence Education Simulacrum, the Marxist account of schooling mirroring the workplace.
Led by Correspondence Education Simulacrum
The question
What is school really for? You will study the conflict-versus-consensus debate through the functionalist theory (Durkheim on norms and values, Parsons on meritocracy), the Marxist correspondence theory (Bowles and Gintis), and the feminist critique of patriarchal schools (Becky Francis).
Outcome
You can argue the functionalist, Marxist, and feminist views of education against one another.
Sub-units
Led by Willisian Education Simulacrum
The question
How does what happens inside a school shape achievement? You will study labelling (Hargreaves), the hidden curriculum, streaming, anti-school subcultures (Willis), teacher expectations (Ball), and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Outcome
You can trace how an internal school process turns into a pupil's outcome.
Sub-units
Led by Willisian Education Simulacrum
The question
Who succeeds at school, and why? You will study the patterns of attainment by gender, class, and ethnicity, then the factors behind them — class (material factors/Halsey, school type/Ball, counter-school cultures/Willis), ethnicity (racism, curriculum, labelling), and gender (feminisation of schools, crisis of masculinity).
Outcome
You can account for a pattern of attainment by combining material, cultural, and in-school factors.
Sub-units