Functionalists' believe that the education system is meritocratic. This means that every pupil has an equal chance of obtaining maximum grades, and job opportunities. Unlike the Marxists, who believe that the education system favours the middle class, as well as being using an ethnocentric curriculum. (Which favours the typically, white middle class pupil)
Hope that helps =]
I got a feeling social policy is going to come up in relation to education, as it has not come up for January 2011 or June 2010 exams. Gender came up in January, but it also came up a year before that, so It might be a topic that repetitively comes up??
I am soooo screwed for the research methods though! But I know you will get marks if you state the advantages/disadvantages of research methods, so that's better than nothing!
Did anyone think that the Family paper was relatively easier than previous years? Do you think tomorrow's exam might compensate for a straight forward question on Wednesday...