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Asses the view that the education system of Britain is meritocratic (40 marks)
One of the main understandings of the functionalist view of the education system is that it acts as a ladder of opportunity for people to achieve the best that they can, according to their ability. The best people will then go on to gain the best jobs and become the leaders of their society. This belief is known meritocracy. A meritocracy is a social system in which people’s success in life depends primarily on their talents, abilities, and effort. The idea of a meritocracy has served as in ideology through the argument that social inequality results from unequal merit rather than prejudice or discrimination.
The education system in Britain since World War 2 has operated under the main principle of providing each pupil with equal opportunities. By law all schools are expected to have equal opportunities policies. This means that all teachers must abide by the policy, and the governing board of each school should ensure that these policies are carried through, but most importantly the governors are expected to discuss the effectiveness of the equal opportunity policy at the governing body meetings. You would see this to go against the view of meritocracy and the functionalist theory.
However, schools are not all equal. In the state sector, there are many different types of schools. Some are far better funded and have very much better facilities than others. Some schools have far different facilities, more money and better trained staff than others. It is accepted that a parent's choice of school can have an impact on the quality of education that a child receives. For example people that have a well paid job that places them into higher class such as doctors and lawyers have more money to spend on there child's education, this could potentially mean they have the opportunity to send their child/children to a school with better facilities and better trained staff than a non fee paying school. This would then follow the meritocratic view, as the children of higher class have better opportunities and will there for go on to gain better jobs, than those who are from a poorer heritage and don't have as many opportunities.
The government has struggled to make British education more equal by focusing on schools. However, children only spend about 14% of their time in school. Sociologists have been concerned about the effect background can have on education. There is a long standing and well known connection between family income and examination results. Children from poorer homes tend to do less well in the education system than those from wealthy backgrounds.
Stephen Gorard and Peter Tymms (2006) said that pupils examination results and schools positions in the league tables are affected by family wealth and pupils prior ability. This relationship may be to do with factors that are beyond the control of parents; poor diet, poor health and lack of resources.
But are schools with the best examination results actually the best schools? The problem is that it is difficult to know whether schools that produce good examination results are actually the best. Schools with the best examination results tend to be single sex female, fee paying or in very wealthy areas and which select their pupils. Studies also found that positivity towards school also effected effort levels towards work, they found children from poorer homes tend to have a negative view on education system compared to wealthy children.
These studies all support the meritocratic view and that your heritage is key to your future, the more money your parents earn the wider your range in educational opportunities and also the quality of your schooling, which effectively will put you on the ladder of opportunity and send you to excellent universities and later well paid jobs.
However this theory can be tackled, Gordon Brown former prime minister did not come from a high class heritage or attend fee paying schools, but managed to climb to the top of the ladder by his own hard work, unlike David Cameron current prime minister who does have higher class heritage and did attend high quality fee paying schools. There are many example of those who can be used to criticise this theory, showing that it doesn't necessarily apply to all aspects of society.
In conclusion Britain does have an extremely meritocratic education but that is not the main factor for success in children, effort and attitudes towards school also affect the outcome of a child's success, but the merocratic view does not that take into account.