PED 9C
SECTION 1
The School and Society
Section Intended Learning Outcome (SILO)
Establish a comprehensive analysis of society as a context for developing
and establishing school.
CHAPTER 1
Society as Foundation of Schools and Schooling
SOCIOLOGY AND EDUCATION
Education is a lifelong learning process, which needs thorough attention on
how education policies work and affect those who are being educated. It has
many questions that could only be answered by a sociologist who
understands education.
Sociologists are mistaken to be people who could tell what is right from
wrong or what is good from the bad. They are actually more into determining
possible outcomes of actions, how things work, how policies affect others,
and more that bring about new perspectives and innovations which are very
essential in education.
Sociologists have many roles in the community. They interact with people in
a community or organization to understand each individual and when in
groups or society. They study the organizational structure of a certain society
as they look into its institutions, which include politics, economics, health,
family, religion, and education.
Schools are considered as one of the formal organizations that contribute to
the entire society, and is interrelated with other institutions such as the
family. The family directly interacts with the school and both are directly
connected with one another through the students. The association of the
family to the school has an effect on the performance and success of the
student.
The lifestyles of the people in a society are identified according to their social
stratification. Children need education, but not everyone is privileged to be
formally educated in a school setup. Some children are informally educated
at their homes by their family, sometimes with peers and other people in
their environment.
The media also has a contribution to the education of an individual. Since
society is dynamic, therefore, change is inevitable. Changes allow a person
to learn how to adjust to social differences and different groups, thus,
learning how to fit within the society.
Sociologists are very important in schools. They provide schools with
information and recommendations that may be of great help to the
educational system, from the simplest to the complex interaction between
the student and the teacher, to the interaction between the school and
society,
The role of education sociologists in the educational system of a country
helps not just the students within the school but is extended to the
professional world of the students who belong to the institutions.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
Social scientists have refined theories for a better understanding of the
structure of school institutions or of the educational system itself.
Theories
1. Functionalist
2. Conflict
3. Symbolic Interactionist
FUNCTIONALIST (structural – functionalism, consensus, or equilibrium)
Talcott Parson
Major Concepts
• Focuses on the positive functions performed by the education system such
as creating social solidarity, teaching skills necessary for work, teaching core
values, and role allocation.
• Starts with the assumption that education is an institution, to facilitate the
stability of society which emphasizes interconnectedness by focusing on how
each part is influenced by the other.
• Happens through passing on society’s culture through which a new
generation of children acquire the ‘central’ norms, values and culture of their
society.
Implication to Education
• Established relationship between schools, institutions and society which
must fulfill necessary societal functions to produce stability.
• Education needs to be systematic as a whole to avoid being non-
operational.
• School’s main function is to prepare students to acquire basic knowledge,
skills, and values for future employment.
• Basic functions of school for socialization: teaching children to become
members of society;
Teaching children to be productive members of society;
Selection and training of individuals for positions in the society, and
promoting change and innovation.
