Education

1
Education

• Educational expansion
• Theories of education
• Educational inequalities

2
Importance of Education in Society

• Education is considered critical to economic
  development
• Socialization

3
Changes in Education

• Education is formal learning in institutions that
  provide learning activities and credentials
• Informal learning activities arranged and
  undertaken by individuals to acquire new
  knowledge

4

• Todays students
• Are exposed to diverse subjects and projects to
  choose from
• Are personally, stylistically, and culturally
  varied
• Have access to extensive learning and community
  resources

5
Educational Expansion

• Educational expansion accelerated after World War
  II

6

• Importance of formal education and credentials in
  Canada today is supported by
• Expansion of educational opportunities and
  requirements
• Increasing educational attainment among the
  Canadian-born
• Selection of highly educated immigrants

7

• In 19th- and early 20th-century Canada, schools
  in smaller communities and rural areas remained
  uncertain and irregular
• Pupil attendance was sporadic
• Lack of funds
• Inability to attract qualified teachers

8
20th-century Educational System in Canada

• Centralization
• Enabled by transportation
• Expansion due to the baby boom
• Increased number of students completing high
  school

9

• Increased emphasis on post-secondary education
• Community college system introduced in the 1960s
  and 70s

10
Education in the Learning Society

• Education is central to the new economy
• The new economy relies on rapidly changing
  information technologies and scientific
  advancements
• This demands that employees
• Have capacities to employ new technologies
• Have a capacity for lifelong learning
• Can apply their knowledge to emergent situations

11

• Globalization and competition across national
  settings emphasize formal training and lifelong
  learning
• Many nations have educational advancement
  policies
• It is believed that education fosters
• Economic growth
• Non-economic benefits (e.g., improved health,
  ability to use skills in all areas of life,
  intrinsic desire to learn)

12
Theories of Education

• Structural functionalism
• Human capital theory
• Symbolic interactioism and microsociology
• Conflict theory
• Feminist theories

13
Structural Functionalism

• In complex societies, education takes over
  functions previously fulfilled by family,
  community, and religious organization
• Education fulfills two functions (Parsons)
• Allocation of individuals to occupations and
  social positions
• Socialization into values of competition, merit,
  and instrumentality, which are necessary for
  adult roles

14

• It assumes consensus about values taught, and
  legitimacy of credentials to determine entry into
  specialized labour force

15
Human Capital Theory

• A human being is an input into production, and it
  contributes to economic productivity and
  development
• Human capital can be enhanced by investment in
  education
• Structural functionalism (including human capital
  theory) cannot account for inequalities in
  educational opportunities, outcomes, and benefits

16
Symbolic Interactionism and Microsociology

• Examines education as a process composed of
  social relationships and negotiations among
  teachers, students, and parents
• Critique
• Classroom dynamics cannot be understood without
  reference to broader social factors

17

• British new sociology of education integrates
  micro- and macrosociological approach
• Research questions
• How are knowledge and education socially
  constructed?
• Power and control in schools and classrooms?

18
Conflict Theory

• Education is a device for allocating individuals
  to unequal economic positions
• Inequality depends on
• Hierarchical division of labour
• Degree of monopolization of economical sectors
• Power of occupational groups to limit the supply
  or increase monetary return for their services

19

• Credentials serve to screen applicants by general
  attributes, not skills demanded by the job
• Technological developments do not increase skill
  requirements for most jobs
• Schools function as warehouses
• Delay entry into labour force
• Dissipate dissatisfaction with absence of good
  jobs

20

• Education systems promise of equal opportunity
  is unrealistic, because of
• Unequal access to schooling
• Unequal ability to influence educational policy
• Differential capacity to convert education into
  labour market and social advantage

21
Feminist Theories

• Traditional gender divisions and stereotypes are
  perpetuated by
• Classroom activities
• Language
• Treatment by teachers
• Subject choice
• Educational participation rates and attainments
  of women in Canada now exceed those of men,
  except at the highest level

22

• Feminization of teaching in the 19th century
• Women dominate primary-school teaching
• Men dominate upper grades and post-secondary
  teaching

23
Current Research

• Critical pedagogy draws on conflict and feminist
  theories
• Focus domination and power in schooling
• Bourdieu education contributes to the transfer
  of power and privilege
• Educational procedures are advantageous for some
  groups, and not to others
• Groups compete for educational access and
  credentials

24
Educational Participants

• Sociologists are interested in the increasing
  diversity of students and teachers, and in the
  barriers and opportunities they encounter

25

• Hidden curriculum unwritten understandings about
  order, discipline, power, and other aspects of
  social life
• Common educational practices can have unequal
  consequences because of silencing and the banking
  model of education

26
Educational Policy in Canada

• Axelrod Canada is an educational patchwork
• Provincial and territorial governments set
  educational guidelines
• Specific details are left to local school boards
• Since 90s, public education spending has dropped
• Spending in selected priority areas has
  increased, leaving other areas further
  under-funded
• Increased reliance on private and individual
  funding

27
Role of the Government in Canadian Education

• Neo-conservatives advocate the operation of
  governments services, including education, on
  market principles
• The quality of education is measured by
• Standardized test scores
• Parental choice
• Public accountability

28

• This view disregards community participation, and
  represents interests of a narrow group
• Quality, accountability, and choice are conceived
  in a narrow and quantifiable way
• This view has been successful as the government
  tries to limit expenditures

29
Education, Work, and Family

• Difficulties influencing schooling
• Family breakdown
• Economic crises
• Child-care difficulties

30

• Family, work, and community responsibilities
  encroach on parents and students ability to
  support learning
• Tensions from other areas of life spill over into
  violence at school

31
Education and New Technologies

• Advantages
• Draw on material or interact with people globally
• Remote schools gain varied learning resources
• Why new technologies may not live up to their
  promise
• Digital divide

32
Digital Divide
33
Education and Social Inequality Structures

• Strong gender differences in fields of study
• Rising educational levels of women
• Do not translate fully into labour market
  positions and income
• Educational differences among racial and ethnic
  groups have been diminishing
• This is due partly to immigration policies

34

• Aboriginal people, those from working-class
  backgrounds, francophones within Quebec, and the
  disabled, continue to face strong disadvantages
  relative to other groups
• Educational levels of Aboriginal people are well
  below national levels
• Many treaties include access to formal education

35

• Residential schools for Aboriginal children
• Parents educational level and household income
  are strong predictors of the likelihood that the
  child will attend postsecondary education