Explain what is meant by the ‘correspondence principle’
The correspondence principle is all the lessons that are taught to you in school but they are not directly taught. For example, simply through every day workings of the school, pupils become accustomed to accepting hierarchy and competition.

Suggest three criticisms that other sociologists may make of the functionalist view of the education system?
Functionalists see education as a process that instils the shared values of society as a while, but Marxists argue that education in capitalist society only transmits the ideology of a minority, the ruling class. The interactionist Dennis Wrong argues that functionalists have an ‘over-socialised view’ of people as mere puppets of society. Functionalists wrongly imply that pupils passively accept all they are taught and never reject the schools values. Unlike Davis and Moore, the New Right argue that the state education system fails to prepare young people adequately for work. This is because state control of education discourages efficiency, competition and choice.

Outline some of the ways in which government educational policies may have affected social class differences in educational achievement?
Marketisation brought in a change in selection policies, it brought in a funding formula that gives the school the same amount of funds for each pupil, also exam league tables that rank each school according to its exam performance and make no allowance for the level of ability of its pupils. But lastly a competition among schools to attract pupils to the school with the highest grades and make them want to do better so they get accepted into that school.

Explain what is meant by the term ‘meritocracy’?
Meritocracy means that everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve, that rewards are based on ability and effort, and that those who gain the