AQA Sociology Functions of Education

By the time we are 16 years old, how long is it estimated a student has spent in education?

• 20,000 hours

• 15,000 hours

• 12,000 hours

• 17,500 hours

Functionalists see education as important for building social ... through a value consensus.

Who saw education as an important link between the family and the wider world?

• Durkheim

• Weber

• Marx

• Parsons

Durkheim believed that we live in a ... society, where everyone achieves their positions through skills and qualifications.

What are the key parts of Functionalist Correspondence Principle?

• Education develops human capital.

• Education helps individuals to improve themselves.

• Education builds a trained workforce.

• Education benefits the economy.

Do you agree with the Functionalist idea of meritocracy, where everyone has equal opportunity and can work their way to success (Davis and Moore)?

• Yes

• No

Give one weakness of the functionalist view of education.

What other perspective (popularised by Thatcher) is linked to Functionalism?

• Feminism

• Marxism

• New Right

• Interactionism

Which theorists proposed that Education should be concerned with training the workforce, and that it should be run on meritocratic lines - fair and open competition? Only the most talented should be recruited into the best and most important jobs. Education should socialise children into collective values and responsible citizenship.

• Bowles and Gintis

• McRobbie and Frith

• Chubb and Moe

• Rosenthal and Jacobson

Which of these is NOT an aim of New Right policy?

• Wider parental choice.

• Reducing inequality.

• More competition between schools.

• Limiting the role of the State.