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Topic 4 of 8 · Form 5

Education

Rapid expansion after 1980; the Education Act; the Heritage-Based Curriculum emphasising skills, heritage and Unhu/Ubuntu; continuous assessment learning activities (CALA); challenges of funding, teacher shortages and inequality.

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  1. PDFEducation – Sociology notes (ZIMSEC A Level)47.2 KB

Functions and perspectives

  • Functionalist (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore): education transmits values, creates social solidarity, sifts and sorts by merit (meritocracy).
  • Marxist (Althusser, Bowles and Gintis): education reproduces class inequality through ideology and the hidden curriculum (correspondence principle).
  • Interactionist: labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy, teacher expectations (Becker; Rosenthal and Jacobson).
  • Feminist: gender stereotyping in subject choice and curriculum.

Differential achievement

  • Social class: material deprivation (fees, uniforms, books, distance to school, internet access), cultural capital (Bourdieu), and speech codes (Bernstein).
  • Gender: girls' improved performance in many contexts; barriers such as early marriage, pregnancy and domestic work.
  • Rural–urban differences: resources, qualified teachers, ICT access.

Education in Zimbabwe

Rapid expansion after 1980; the Education Act; the Heritage-Based Curriculum emphasising skills, heritage and Unhu/Ubuntu; continuous assessment learning activities (CALA); challenges of funding, teacher shortages and inequality.

Education and development

Human capital theory: education increases productivity and economic growth. Critics point to graduate unemployment and brain drain.

Exam tip: Evaluate meritocracy using evidence of class and rural–urban inequality in results.

Check yourself

  1. What is the hidden curriculum?
  2. Explain cultural capital.
  3. What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Show answers
  1. The informal lessons schools teach through routines and rules (e.g. obedience, punctuality, acceptance of hierarchy).
  2. The knowledge, attitudes and tastes of the middle class that give their children advantages in education (Bourdieu).
  3. When a label given to a pupil (e.g. by a teacher) leads the pupil to act in ways that make the label come true.
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