Problems in Education

doi:10.1017/9781108656184.029

Chapter 28 - Problems in Education

from Part IV - Problems of Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 March 2018

Peter A. J. Stevens ,

Marios Vryonides and

A. Gary Dworkin

Edited by

A. Javier Treviño

Show author details

A. Javier Treviño: Affiliation:
Wheaton College, Massachusetts

Book contents

Get access

Summary

This chapter focuses on three contemporary social problems in education that have received considerable attention from sociologists and educational researchers: educational inequalities between social classes and between ethnic/racial groups and the social impact of the accountability movement in education. These three themes are concerned with how education reproduces social inequalities in society, often through procedures, structures, and the unintended actions of parents, teachers, school staff, and educational policy makers. The findings show that research on these topics is exceptionally rich in terms of theoretical and methodological approaches and debates. Furthermore, although most of the studies have been conducted in Anglo-Saxon countries, increasingly more research is carried out in different countries. This is a promising development, as theories about educational inequality are necessarily context specific, given that educational systems and their social conditions vary widely across national and regional contexts.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems , pp. 513 - 530

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108656184.029 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Amrein, A. L., and Berliner, D. C.. 2002. High-stakes testing, uncertainty, and student learning. Education Policy Analysis Archives 10(18). http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n18.Google Scholar

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). 2010–12. NAPLAN test incidents reports. www.acara.edu.au/news_media/publications/publications.html.Google Scholar

Awasom, Lawrence C. 2009. Teachers and teaching in Africa. In International Handbook of Research on Teachers and Teaching, edited by Saha, L. J. and Dworkin, A. G., 573–603. New York: Springer Science + Business.Google Scholar

Ball, S. J. 1981. Beachside Comprehensive: A Case-Study of Secondary Schooling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Ball, S. J. 2003. Class Strategies and the Education Market: The Middle Classes and Social Advantage. London: Routledge.CrossRef Google Scholar

Ball, S. J. 2006. Ethics, self-interest and the market form in education. In Education Policy and Social Class: The Selected Works of Stephen J. Ball, edited by Ball, S. J., 81–95. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Ball, S. J., Boweand, V., and Gewirtz, S.. 1995. Circuits of schooling: A sociological exploration of parental choice of school in social class contexts. The Sociological Review 43(1):52–78.Google Scholar

Ball, S. J., Macrae, S., and Maguire, M.. 1998. Race, space and the further education market. Race, Ethnicity and Education 1(2):171–89.Google Scholar

Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., and Macrae, S.. 2000. Choice, Pathways and Transitions Post-16. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Ball, S. J., and Vincent, C. 1998. “I heard it on the grapevine”: “Hot” knowledge and school choice. British Journal of Sociology of Education 9(3):377–400.CrossRef Google Scholar

Baron, S., Field, J., and Schuller, T.. 2000. Social Capital: Critical Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Berliner, D. C., and Biddle, B. J.. 1995. The Manufactured Crisis: Myth, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.Google Scholar

Booher-Jennings, J. 2005. Below the bubble: Educational triage and the Texas Accountability System. American Educational Research Journal 42(2):231–68.Google Scholar

Booher-Jennings, J., and Beveridge, A. 2007. Gains, strains, gaming, and results: The prevalence and impact of elective and defacto test exemption in the Houston Independent School District. In No Child Left Behind and the Reduction of the Achievement Gap: Sociological Perspectives on Federal Education Policy, edited by Sadovnik, A. R., O'Day, J. A., Bohrnstedt, G. W., and Borman, K. M., 77–95. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Bourdieu, P. 1977. Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. In Power and Ideology in Education, edited by Karabel, J. and Halsey, A. H.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Bourdieu, P. 1986. The forms of capital. In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, edited by Richardson, J. G., 241–60. New York: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar

Bourdieu, P. 1990. The Logic of Practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

Bryk, A. S., and Schneider, B.. 2002. Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement. Rose Series in Sociology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar

Carey, K. 2007. The Pangloss index: How states game the No Child Left Behind Act. Education Sector. www.educationsector.org/.Google Scholar

Carnoy, M., and Rothstein, R.. 2013. What Do International Tests Really Show about U.S. Student Performance? Economic Policy Institute, January 28. www.epi.org/publication/us-student-performance-testing/.Google Scholar

Chubb, J. E., and Loveless, T., eds. 2002. Bridging the Achievement Gap. Washington, DC: The Brookings Press.Google Scholar

Coleman, J. S. 1988. Social capital and the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology 94:S95–S120.Google Scholar

Connolly, P. 2006. Summary statistics, educational achievement gaps and the ecological fallacy. Oxford Review of Education 32(2):235–52.CrossRef Google Scholar

Crul, M. 2000. De Sleutel tot Succes: Over Hulp, Keuzes en Kansen in de Schoolloopbanen van Turkse en Marokkaanse Jongeren van de Tweede Generatie. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis.Google Scholar

Dagevos, J., and Gijsberts, M., eds. 2007. Jaarrapport Integratie 2007. The Hague: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.Google Scholar

De Graaf, N. D., De Graaf, P. M., and Kraaykamp, G.. 2000. Parental educational capital and educational attainment in the Netherlands: A refinement of the cultural capital perspective. Sociology of Education 73:92–111.CrossRef Google Scholar

DFES. 2006. Ethnicity and education: The evidence on minority ethnic pupils aged 5–16. Nottingham, UK: Department of Education and Skills.Google Scholar

Di Maggio, P., and Mohr, J.. 1985. Cultural capital, educational attainment and marital selection. American Journal of Sociology 90:231–57.Google Scholar

Du Bois-Reymond, M. 1998. “I don't want to commit myself yet”: Young people's life concepts. Journal of Youth Studies 1(1):63–79.CrossRef Google Scholar

Duggan, M. 2009. School accountability in the Western Australia public sector: Perceptions of leaders in the field. MA thesis, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G. 1997. Coping with reform, the intermix of teacher morale, teacher burnout, and teacher accountability. In International Handbook of Teachers and Teaching, edited by Biddle, B. J., Good, T. L., and Goodson, I. F., 459–98. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G. 2005. The No Child Left Behind Act: Accountability, high-stakes testing, and roles for sociologists. Sociology Education 78(April):170–74.CrossRef Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G. 2008. School accountability and the standards-based reform movement: Some unanticipated consequences of education policies. International Journal of Contemporary Sociology 45(October):11–31.Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G. 2009. Teacher burnout and teacher resilience: Assessing the impacts of the school accountability movement. In New International Handbook of Teachers and Teaching, edited by Saha, L. J. and Dworkin, A. G., 491–509. New York: Springer.Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G., and Tobe, P. F.. 2012. Politics and education in the United States. In The Politics of Education: The Challenge of Multiculturalism, edited by Kassimeris, C. and Vryonides, M., 74–95. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G., and Tobe, P. F.. 2014. The effects of standards based school accountability on teacher burnout and trust relationships: A longitudinal analysis. In Trust Relationships and School Life, edited by Forsyth, P., Van Maele, D., and Van Hotte, M., 121–43. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G., and Tobe, P. F.. 2015. Does school accountability alter teacher trust and promote burnout? In School and Society: A Sociological Approach, 5th ed., edited by Ballantine, J. H. and Spade, J. Z., 183–92. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar

Dworkin, A. G., and Turley, R. L.. 2014. Educational inequality in the United States. In Palgrave Handbook of Racial and Ethnic Inequalities in Education, edited by Stevens, Peter and Dworkin, Anthony Gary, 559–607. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.Google Scholar

Epstein, J. L. 2005. Attainable goals? The spirit and letter of the No Child Left Behind Act on parental involvement. Sociology of Education 78(April):179–82.CrossRef Google Scholar

Figlio, D., and Loeb, S.. School accountability. In Handbook in Economics: Economics of Education, vol. 3, edited by Hanushek, Eric A., Machin, Stephen, and Woessman, Ludger, 383–421. Netherlands: Elsevier.Google Scholar

Gewirtz, S., Ball, S. J., and Bowe, R.. 1995. Market, Choice and Equity in Education. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar

Gillborn, D. 2008. Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy? London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Gordon, M. M. 1978. Human Nature, Class, and Ethnicity. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Green, A., and Vryonides, M.. 2005. Ideological tensions in the educational practices of Cypriot parents. British Journal of Sociology of Education 26(3):327–42.Google Scholar

Haney, W. 2000. The myth of the Texas miracle in education. Education Policy Analysis Archives 8(41). http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n41.Google Scholar

Hasley, A. H., Heath, A. F., and Ridge, J. M.. 1980. Origins and Destinations. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar

Hatcher, R. 1998. Class differentiation in education: Rational choices? British Journal of Sociology of Education 19:5–24.Google Scholar

Heubert, J. P., and Hauser, R. M.. 1999. High Stakes: Testing for Tracking, Promotion, and Graduation. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar

Hodkinson, P., Sparkes, A. C., and Hodkinson, H. 1996. Triumphs and Tears: Young People, Markets and the Transition from School to Work. London: David Fulton.Google Scholar

Ingersoll, R. M. 2005. The problem of underqualified teachers: A sociological perspective. Sociology of Education 78(April):175–78.Google Scholar

Ireson, J., and Hallam, S.. 2001. Ability Grouping in Education. London: Paul Chapman.Google Scholar

Kalmijn, M., and Kraaykamp, G.. 1996. Race, cultural capital, and schooling: An analysis of trends in the United States. Sociology of Education 69:22–34.Google Scholar

Karen, D. 2005. No Child Left Behind? Sociology ignored! Sociology of Education 78(April):165–69.CrossRef Google Scholar

KatsilIis, J., and Richard, R. 1990. Cultural capital, student achievement, and educational reproduction: The case of Greece. American Sociological Review 55:270–79.Google Scholar

Lamb, S. 1989. Cultural consumption and the educational plans of Australian secondary school students. Sociology of Education 62:95–108.Google Scholar

Lamont, M., and Lareau, A.. 1988. Cultural capital: Allusions, gaps and glissandos in recent theoretical development. Sociological Theory 6:153–68.Google Scholar

Lareau, A., and Mcnamara, E. Horvat 1999. Moments of social inclusion and exclusion: Race, class, and cultural capital in family-school relationships. Sociology of Education 72(January):37–53.Google Scholar

Loveless, T. 2013. Is PISA fundamentally flawed? TES, July 26.Google Scholar

Madaus, G., and Russell, M.. 2010–11. Paradoxes of high-stakes testing. Journal of Education 190(1/2):21–30.CrossRef Google Scholar

McNeil, L. 2000. Contradictions of School Reform: Education Costs of Standardized Testing. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

McNeil, L., and Valenzuela, A.. 2001. The harmful impact of the TAAS system of testing in Texas: Beneath the accountability rhetoric. In Raising Standards or Raising Barriers: Inequality and High-Stakes Testing in Public Education, edited by Orfield, G. and Kornhaber, M. L., 127–50. New York: Century Foundation Books.Google Scholar

Nichols, S. L., and Berliner, D. C.. 2007. Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.Google Scholar

Orfield, G., and Kornhaber, M. L., eds. 2001. Raising Standards or Raising Barriers: Inequality and High-Stakes Testing in Public Education. New York: Century Foundation Books.Google Scholar

Pigozzi, M. J. 2006. What is the quality of education? A UNESCO perspective. In Cross-National Studies of the Quality of Education: Planning Their Design and Managing Their Impact, edited by Ross, K. N. and Genevois, I. J., 39–50. Paris: UNESCO. www.unesco.org/iiep.Google Scholar

Putnam, R. D. 1993. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Putnam, R. D. 1995. Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. Journal of Democracy 61:65–78.Google Scholar

Putnam, R. D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar

Reay, D., David, M., and Ball, S.. 2005. Degrees of Choice: Social Class, Race and Gender in Higher Education. Stoke-on-Trent, UK: Trentham Books.Google Scholar

Raey, D. 2006. The zombie stalking English schools: Social class and educational inequality. British Journal of Educational Studies 54(3):288–307.Google Scholar

Rollock, N. 2007. Why black girls don't matter: Deconstructing gendered and racialised discourses of academic success in an inner city school. British Journal of Learning Support 4:197–202.Google Scholar

Sadovnik, A., O'Day, J. A., Bohrnstedt, G. W., and Borman, K. M.. 2007. No Child Left Behind and the Reduction of the Achievement Gap. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Sayer, A. 2005. The Moral Significance of Class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Shain, F. 2000. The Schooling and Identity of Asian Girls. Stoke-on-Trent, UK: Trenham Books.Google Scholar

Shavit, Y., and Blossfeld, H. P.. 1993. Persistent Inequality, Changing Educational Attainment in Thirteen Countries. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar

Shavit, Y., and Walter, M.. 1998. From School to Work: A Comparative Study of Educational Qualifications and Occupational Destinations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Skeggs, B. 2004. Class, Self, Culture. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Snyder, T. D., and Dillow, S. A.. 2011. Digest of Education Statistics 2010. Washington, DC: National Centre for Education Statistics Institute of Education Services.Google Scholar

Stanton-Salazar, R., and Dornbusch, S.. 1995. Social capital and the reproduction of inequality: Information networks among Mexican-origin high-school students. Sociology of Education 68:116–35.Google Scholar

Stevens, P. A. J. 2007. Researching race/ethnicity and educational inequality in English secondary schools: A critical review of the research literature between 1980 and 2005. Review of Educational Research 77(2):147–85.Google Scholar

Stevens, P. A. J. 2008. Exploring pupils' perceptions of teacher racism in their context: A case study of Turkish and Belgian vocational education pupils in a Belgian school. British Journal of Sociology of Education 29(2):175–87.Google Scholar

Stevens, P. A. J., and Crozier, G.. 2014. England. In The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education, edited by Stevens, P. A. J. and Dworkin, G., 259–307. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar

Stevens, P. A. J., Crul, M., Slootman, M. W., Clycq, N., Timmerman, C., and Van Houtte, M.. 2014. The Netherlands. In The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education, edited by Stevens, P. A. J. and Dworkin, G., 519–88. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar

Stevens, P. A. J., and Dworkin, G., eds. 2014. The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar

Stevens, P. A. J., and Vermeersch, H.. 2010. Streaming in Flemish secondary schools: Exploring teachers' perceptions of and adaptations to students in different streams. Oxford Review of Education 36(3):267–84.Google Scholar

Stewart, W. 2013. Is PISA fundamentally flawed? TES, July 26.Google Scholar

Thatcher, M. 1978. TV interview. Granada World in Action, January 27. http://margaretthatcher.org/doucment/102777.Google Scholar

Theodorou, E. 2014. Constructing the “other”: Politics and policies of intercultural education in Cyprus. In Empires, Post-Coloniality and Interculturality: New Challenges for Comparative Education, edited by Vega, L., 251–72. Rotterdam: Sense.Google Scholar

Toenjes, L. A., Dworkin, A. G., Lorence, J., and Hill, A. N.. 2002. High-stakes testing, accountability, and student achievement in Texas and Houston. In Bridging the Achievement Gap, edited by Chubb, J. E. and Loveless, T., 109–30. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar

Tomlinson, S. 1983. Ethnic Minorities in British Schools: A Review of the Literature 1960–1982. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar

Van Den Bergh, L., Denessen, E., and Hornstra, L.. 2010. The implicit prejudiced attitudes of teachers: Relations to teacher expectations and the ethnic achievement gap. American Educational Research Journal 47:497–527.Google Scholar

Van Praag, L., Stevens, P. A. J., and Van Houtte, M.. 2015. Defining success in education: Exploring the frames of reference used by different voluntary migrant groups in Belgium. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 49:1–12.Google Scholar

Vryonides, M. 2007. Capital, habitus and horizons for social action in education: Examples from empirical research. International Journal of Contemporary Sociology 44(2):189–200.Google Scholar

Vryonides, M., and Gouvias, D.. 2012. Parents’ aspirations for their children's educational and occupational prospects in Greece: The role of social class. International Journal of Educational Research 53:319–29.Google Scholar

Whitty, G., Power, S., and Halpin, D.. 1998. Devolution and Choice in Education: The School, the State and the Market. Philadelphia: Open University Press.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.