Employment and education | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: Aug 31
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 80 minutes
Employment and education A-Level Sociology revision examines two important aspects of development identified directly in the AQA specification. Employment can provide income, skills and opportunities, while education may develop human capital and influence inequalities between societies. However, neither automatically produces development. Industrialisation may undermine existing work, skilled workers may emigrate, and unequal access to education can reproduce inequality. This lesson develops trade and industrialisation [Trade and industrialisation] and global inequality [Global inequality], while preparing for health and demographic change [Health and demographic change] and gender and development [Gender and development].
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain why employment is an important aspect of development.
Examine how industrialisation and globalisation can change employment in developing societies.
Explain why education is an important aspect of development.
Analyse relationships between education, human capital, employment and global inequality.
Explain how employment and education may affect gender inequality, health and social mobility.
Evaluate the extent to which expanding employment and education necessarily produces development.
Revision Notes 📚
Employment and education A-Level Sociology revision: the core relationship
AQA explicitly identifies employment and education as aspects of development.
This means students need to go beyond simply defining employment or describing schools.
The sociological focus is on questions such as:
How does employment contribute to development?
What kinds of employment are created by development?
How does education affect economic and social development?
Who gains access to education and employment?
Can employment or education reproduce inequalities as well as reduce them?
How do these two aspects of development interact?
Employment and education are closely connected.
A simplified relationship is:
education → knowledge and skills → employment opportunities → income and economic activity → potential development
However, AQA assessment material shows that this relationship is not automatic.
For example:
educated workers may emigrate
disadvantaged groups may have restricted educational opportunities
industrialisation may reduce some traditional employment
education may reproduce rather than remove inequalities
Employment as an aspect of development
Employment matters because work can provide people with:
income
economic opportunities
skills
training
career development
Employment can also contribute to wider economic production.
For this reason, growth in employment may be taken as one sign of development.
However, simply counting jobs is not sufficient.
A sociological analysis also asks:
What kind of jobs have been created?
Are they secure?
Do they provide training?
Who gains access to them?
What existing forms of employment have been lost?
Do employment opportunities contribute to wider reductions in inequality?
Employment and industrialisation
AQA has directly examined the relationship between industrialisation and employment.
In 2024, students were asked to outline and explain two ways industrialisation may affect employment in developing countries. The mark scheme identified several possible changes.
These included:
more people working in workshops and factories
increased formal-sector employment
more opportunities for women to undertake paid work
training and career-development opportunities
social mobility
fewer people working in farming and fishing
more permanent and secure employment
a more specialised division of labour
This makes employment one of the clearest ways of examining the social consequences of trade and industrialisation [Trade and industrialisation].
Factory and workshop employment
Industrialisation may increase the number of people working in:
factories
workshops
including workplaces associated with transnational corporations.
The possible development chain is:
industrialisation → expansion of factory production → more paid employment → greater household income → potential improvement in living standards
This supports the argument that industrialisation may contribute to development.
However, the number of jobs created is only one consideration.
The quality and distribution of employment also matter.
The formal sector
AQA's 2024 mark scheme recognises increasing employment in the formal sector as a possible consequence of industrialisation.
The formal sector refers to recognised and organised economic employment rather than more informal forms of economic activity.
Movement into formal employment may contribute to development where workers gain:
more secure employment
regular economic opportunities
access to training or progression
AQA also recognises the possibility of permanent and secure employment as an employment effect of industrialisation.
Employment security and development
Employment should therefore be assessed through quality as well as quantity.
Consider two societies.
Society A creates a large number of temporary and insecure jobs.
Society B creates fewer jobs, but they provide stable employment, training and career development.
A simple employment count may suggest Society A has developed more successfully.
A broader sociological judgement may be less certain.
This illustrates the importance of examining what employment actually provides to workers.
Industrialisation and the decline of traditional employment
Industrialisation can also reduce some forms of work.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme identifies fewer people working in farming and fishing as one possible consequence.
This is important because economic development may involve changes in the structure of employment, rather than simply adding new jobs to those that already exist.
The process can be:
industrialisation → expansion of factory employment → decline in some traditional occupations → changing employment structure
For some workers this may create new opportunities.
For others it may disrupt existing livelihoods.
New employment does not mean everybody benefits
Industrialisation can therefore create winners and losers.
A society may gain factory jobs while some workers lose traditional forms of employment.
This means:
increased industrial employment ≠ universally improved employment
A strong exam answer should consider the net effect of economic transformation rather than assuming every new industry produces development for everyone.
A more specialised division of labour
AQA also identifies a more specialised division of labour as a consequence of industrialisation.
A division of labour involves different workers carrying out different specialised tasks.
Industrialisation may therefore change:
the organisation of work
the kinds of skills workers need
occupational opportunities
This shows that employment as an aspect of development concerns the nature of work, not simply the unemployment rate.
Training and career development
Industrial employment may create opportunities for:
training
career development
social mobility
All three are explicitly recognised in AQA's 2024 Global Development mark scheme.
The possible relationship is:
employment → training → increased skills → career opportunities → social mobility → development
This is especially important because it links employment directly with education.
Employment and skills
A job can contribute to development not only by providing wages but also by increasing workers' skills.
Training may make workers more productive or open access to further employment.
AQA's wider 2025 material on the labour process also identifies both:
upskilling
deskilling
as possible consequences of economic and technological change.
For Global Development, the important point is that changing employment patterns may alter the skills available within a society.
Transnational corporations and employment
Transnational corporations may be important creators of employment within developing societies.
AQA's 2024 employment mark scheme recognises TNC employment, while its broader materials identify training and employment opportunities associated with TNC activity.
This connects employment directly with transnational corporations [Transnational corporations].
A possible positive chain is:
TNC investment → new workplaces → employment → wages and training → economic opportunities → development
However, earlier lessons showed that TNC activity may also be capital intensive or affect local businesses.
Employment gains therefore need to be evaluated rather than assumed.
Globalisation and employment
Employment is also shaped by increasing global interconnectedness.
AQA's material elsewhere in Paper 2 recognises that globalisation may:
create new employment opportunities
cause employment to move between countries
increase opportunities for migration for work
create more precarious employment in some contexts
This reinforces the idea introduced in globalisation, political and economic relationships [Globalisation, political and economic relationships]:
Globalisation can redistribute employment opportunities rather than simply increasing employment everywhere.
Employment opportunities through global markets
Participation in global markets may create demand for workers.
For example:
global economic integration → new industries → increased demand for labour → employment → potential development
This can support more optimistic interpretations of globalisation and industrialisation.
However, employers may also move production between countries in response to global competition.
Therefore, the location of employment can change.
Employment and migration
AQA recognises migration for work as one way globalisation may affect people's opportunities.
Migration may provide access to employment that is unavailable in the country of origin.
This may improve:
individual income
household living standards
social mobility
However, migration also connects to a major issue in education and development: the loss of skilled workers.
Women and employment
AQA's 2024 Global Development mark scheme explicitly identifies increased opportunities for women to undertake paid work as a possible consequence of industrialisation.
The potential chain is:
industrialisation → new paid employment → women enter labour market → greater economic opportunities and independence → possible reduction in gender inequality
This makes employment directly relevant to gender and development [Gender and development].
Paid work does not automatically create gender equality
Although increased paid employment may improve women's economic opportunities, employment alone does not demonstrate complete gender equality.
AQA's wider Paper 2 material shows that women's access to employment can be influenced by:
discrimination
domestic responsibilities
differences in access to full-time work
For Global Development, the important principle is that students should distinguish:
access to employment
from
equality within employment
This becomes central in gender and development [Gender and development].
Employment and social mobility
AQA's 2024 Global Development mark scheme explicitly connects employment with opportunities for social mobility.
Social mobility refers to movement between social positions.
Employment may contribute to upward mobility where workers gain:
income
qualifications
skills
career progression
However, opportunities may not be distributed equally.
This links employment with the broader question of whether development reduces or reproduces social inequality.
Employment is an outcome and a cause of development
Employment has a two-way relationship with development.
Employment as an outcome of development
Industrialisation and economic growth may create jobs.
Employment as a cause of further development
Workers may gain:
income
skills
experience
which can contribute to further economic and social development.
The relationship can therefore be represented as:
development → employment → further development
However, this positive cycle depends on the kinds of employment created.
Education as an aspect of development
AQA also explicitly identifies education as an aspect of development.
Education matters because it may affect:
skills
employment
economic development
health
gender inequality
social mobility
global inequality
AQA tested education directly in 2023, asking how education may affect global inequalities.
Education was tested again in 2025, when students were asked how globalisation may affect education in developing countries.
It is therefore a particularly important examination area.
Education and human capital
One of the clearest links between education and development is human capital.
Human capital refers to the knowledge and skills available within a population.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme states that education can increase a developing country's human capital and help it attract foreign direct investment.
The development chain is:
education → increased knowledge and skills → greater human capital → more productive workforce → potential investment and economic development
This creates a direct connection between education and employment.
Education and a skilled workforce
The 2023 mark scheme also gives the provision of education creating a skilled workforce able to help a country compete globally as an example of a high-level answer.
Education can therefore contribute to development by increasing the skills available to employers and industries.
The relationship can be represented as:
education → skilled workforce → economic competitiveness → economic opportunities → development
This supports a modernisation interpretation of education.
Education and foreign direct investment
AQA directly recognises the argument that greater human capital may help developing societies attract foreign direct investment.
Businesses deciding where to operate may value access to skilled workers.
The potential process is:
education → skilled labour force → increased attractiveness to investors → economic activity and employment → potential development
This connects education with transnational corporations [Transnational corporations].
Education and modernisation
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises the argument that education can promote modern values, accelerating modernisation and helping reduce inequalities.
From a modernisation perspective, education does more than teach occupational skills.
It may also contribute to broader social and cultural change.
The process might be:
education → spread of values associated with modernisation → social change → economic and social development
This links education with the modernisation explanations studied in development and underdevelopment [Development and underdevelopment].
Evaluating modernisation and education
A strength of this interpretation is that education can clearly develop skills and expand opportunities.
However, the claim that education should spread particular "modern" values can be criticised.
It may assume that development requires developing societies to adopt values associated with already developed societies.
The 2025 education mark scheme provides evidence that globalisation can produce reactions against Western-style education, including rejection of schooling.
This demonstrates that cultural change through education is not automatically accepted.
Education and global inequality
AQA's 2023 question directly addressed the relationship between education and global inequalities.
The mark scheme recognised several ways education may reduce inequality:
creating a skilled workforce
increasing human capital
attracting foreign direct investment
expanding girls' education
contributing to reductions in health inequalities
increasing social mobility
This means education can potentially affect several dimensions of development simultaneously.
Education may reduce economic inequalities
Where education develops skills, a society may become better able to participate in economic activity.
The possible process is:
education → human capital → employment and productive capacity → development → narrowing economic inequality between societies
This supports the argument that educational development can contribute to reducing global inequality [Global inequality].
Education may reproduce global inequality
However, education does not automatically reduce inequality.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises that restricted access to educational opportunities may:
block social mobility
entrench global inequalities
This reverses the optimistic chain:
restricted education → limited skills and opportunities → restricted mobility and development → inequality continues
The key sociological issue is therefore access.
Access to education
It is not enough for a school system to exist.
Students should consider who can actually access educational opportunities.
AQA's mark scheme recognises that disadvantaged groups may be prevented from accessing education, perpetuating inequalities.
Therefore:
expansion of education ≠ equal educational opportunity
This is similar to the distinction between having employment and having access to secure, rewarding employment.
Education and social mobility
Education may create opportunities for social mobility.
AQA identifies restricted educational opportunities as potentially blocking mobility.
The reverse implication is:
greater educational opportunity → knowledge and qualifications → employment opportunities → possible upward mobility
However, the relationship should not be treated as guaranteed.
If employment opportunities are limited, educational qualifications may not automatically translate into upward mobility.
Education and gender inequality
One of the strongest relationships in AQA material concerns girls' education.
The 2023 mark scheme states that education for girls can help reduce global gender inequalities.
The 2025 mark scheme also recognises that the globalisation of ideas about gender equality has led to more girls attending school.
The potential chain is:
greater access to education for girls → reduced educational gender inequality → wider opportunities → possible reduction in gender inequality
This is developed in gender and development [Gender and development].
Education and health
Education can also influence health.
The 2023 mark scheme explicitly recognises that lack of education can hold back progress in reducing global health inequalities.
This means educational development can have consequences beyond employment.
The possible relationship is:
education → increased knowledge and opportunities → improved ability to address health inequalities → wider development
This prepares for health and demographic change [Health and demographic change].
Education can influence several dimensions at once
Education is therefore a particularly useful development concept because it can connect to:
Dimension | Possible relationship with education |
Employment | Education creates skills needed for work. |
Economic development | Human capital may increase productive capacity and attract investment. |
Gender | Greater access for girls may reduce gender inequalities. |
Health | Lack of education may obstruct progress in reducing health inequalities. |
Social mobility | Educational opportunities may increase mobility, while restricted access may block it. |
Global inequality | Educational development may help societies improve wider development outcomes. |
These relationships are all supported by AQA's 2023 Global Development mark scheme.
The migration of educated workers
Education may also have a less positive relationship with development.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme states that developing societies may pay to educate individuals, such as health professionals, who then emigrate and do not contribute to their home country's development.
This creates an important evaluation point.
The process is:
developing society invests in education → skilled worker qualifies → worker emigrates → skills benefit another society → development benefit to country of origin is reduced
This is sometimes described as the loss of skilled workers or human capital.
Education does not guarantee that skills remain within a society
This directly challenges the simple modernisation assumption:
more education = more development
The relationship may instead be:
more education → more skilled workers
but if:
skilled workers emigrate
then:
the original society may receive less benefit from its educational investment
This shows why employment and migration need to be considered alongside education.
Health professionals as an example
AQA specifically uses health professionals in its 2023 indicative content.
This example is particularly useful because it connects:
education
migration
employment
health
development
If trained healthcare workers leave the society that financed their education, there may be consequences for the development of healthcare as well as employment.
This makes a strong analytical example in an exam.
Education may legitimate inequality
AQA's 2023 mark scheme also provides a more critical interpretation:
education can be a way in which a ruling elite perpetuates and legitimises inequalities.
This challenges the idea that education is automatically a neutral tool for development.
Education can potentially reproduce existing power relationships.
A critical chain is:
unequal society → education reflects or legitimises existing inequalities → disadvantaged groups remain disadvantaged → inequality continues
This provides a useful sociological evaluation of optimistic modernisation accounts.
Education and power
Education therefore raises questions about:
who controls educational opportunities
which groups gain access
what ideas education transmits
whether qualifications create genuine opportunities
This brings the AQA core theme of power and stratification directly into Global Development.
A society could expand education while inequalities remain if educational opportunities are distributed unevenly.
Education and globalisation
AQA's 2025 Paper 2 directly asked:
Outline and explain two ways in which globalisation may affect education in developing countries.
This means students should understand education not just as a domestic institution but as something increasingly shaped by global relationships.
AQA's mark scheme identifies several possible effects.
Standardised curricula and teaching practices
Globalisation may lead schools in different societies to become more similar in their:
curricula
teaching practices
AQA explicitly identifies increasing standardisation as one possible effect.
The cultural relationship is:
global interconnectedness → spread of educational practices → increasing similarity between education systems
This links directly back to globalisation and cultural relationships [Globalisation and cultural relationships].
Digital technologies and education
AQA also identifies greater use of digital technologies as an effect of globalisation on education.
Digital technologies may allow educational activity to cross geographical boundaries more easily.
The 2025 mark scheme specifically refers to:
distance learning
increased use during COVID-19
as relevant examples.
For Sociology, the important issue is how global interconnectedness changes access to and delivery of education.
International examinations
AQA recognises an increase in students in developing countries taking international examinations.
This demonstrates growing standardisation and internationalisation within education.
It may connect students and education systems more closely to global standards.
However, students should avoid assuming that internationalisation necessarily improves equality.
Access to these opportunities may still vary.
Education as a right
AQA's 2025 mark scheme states that the idea of education as a right has become global, potentially contributing to greater access to education.
This provides an example of cultural globalisation influencing social development.
The chain is:
global spread of idea that education is a right → pressure for greater educational access → increased educational participation → potential development
International comparisons
Globalisation may also lead governments to compare their education systems internationally.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme recognises that international comparisons may lead governments in developing countries to spend more on education.
The possible process is:
international comparison → awareness of differences → government response → greater educational investment → potential development
Again, the final impact depends on who benefits from that investment.
Aid and education
AQA explicitly recognises aid through NGOs to support growth of education in developing countries.
This connects education directly with:
aid and development [Aid and development]
non-governmental organisations [Non-governmental organisations]
The possible chain is:
NGO aid → increased educational provision → greater access and skills → potential development
This is a good example of how Global Development topics overlap.
Globalisation and girls' education
Globalisation can spread ideas about gender equality.
The 2025 mark scheme recognises that this may contribute to more girls attending school.
This links three parts of the specification:
globalisation → education → gender development
It is especially useful for showing that development processes are interconnected rather than isolated.
Resistance to Western-style education
Globalisation does not necessarily increase educational participation.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme also recognises reaction against globalisation leading to rejection of Western-style education.
This provides an important evaluation of cultural convergence.
The possible chain is:
education perceived as Western cultural influence → resistance to globalisation → rejection of schooling → reduced educational participation
This shows that cultural relationships can shape development outcomes.
Cultural globalisation and education
Education therefore provides evidence for several possible consequences of globalisation.
Convergence
Curricula and teaching practices may become more standardised.
Expansion
Digital technologies and NGO aid may increase educational opportunities.
Equality
Global ideas about education as a right and gender equality may increase access.
Resistance
Western-style education may be rejected where it is perceived as a cultural threat.
These outcomes build on globalisation and cultural relationships [Globalisation and cultural relationships].
Employment and education reinforce one another
Employment and education should not be revised as separate lists.
There is a close relationship between them.
Education affects employment
Education may:
provide skills
increase human capital
improve access to employment
support career development
Employment affects the value of education
Educational skills may be most useful where suitable employment opportunities exist.
If there are few jobs requiring those skills, educational expansion may not produce the expected employment benefits.
The relationship is therefore conditional rather than automatic.
Education, employment and human capital
One of the clearest positive development cycles is:
education → human capital → skilled employment → economic development → greater resources for further education
This can create a reinforcing development process.
However, AQA's migration example demonstrates one way this cycle may be interrupted:
education → skilled worker → emigration → human capital lost to country of origin
Employment can create demand for education
Industrialisation may also increase the importance of education because changing forms of work require skills and training.
AQA's 2024 industrialisation mark scheme explicitly recognises:
training
career development
specialised divisions of labour
as employment consequences.
This suggests a relationship:
industrialisation → changing labour needs → demand for skills and training → greater significance of education
Education can support industrialisation
The causal relationship may also operate in reverse.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme states that education creates a skilled workforce and increases human capital.
This can support industrialisation because industries require workers with appropriate knowledge and skills.
Therefore:
education → skilled labour → industrialisation easier to sustain
while:
industrialisation → demand for skills → education becomes more important
The two processes can reinforce each other.
Modernisation theory and employment
Modernisation approaches emphasise transformation from traditional to modern economic and social arrangements.
Employment changes associated with industrialisation fit this perspective well.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme identifies movement:
towards factories and workshops
towards more specialised divisions of labour
away from farming and fishing
A modernisation theorist may interpret these changes as part of broader development.
Modernisation theory and education
Education can contribute to modernisation in two ways recognised by AQA:
by increasing human capital
by promoting modern values
The modernisation model can therefore be represented as:
education → skills and modern values → industrial employment and economic development → reduced global inequality
This provides a coherent theoretical explanation linking the two halves of the lesson.
Evaluating modernisation theory
Several AQA points challenge this optimistic interpretation.
Education may:
reproduce ruling-elite inequalities
be inaccessible to disadvantaged groups
benefit another country if skilled workers emigrate
generate resistance if associated with unwanted Westernisation
Employment may also involve:
decline of traditional occupations
unequal access to new opportunities
Therefore, modernisation identifies genuine development mechanisms but may underestimate conflict, inequality and uneven outcomes.
Dependency interpretations
Dependency theory can provide a more critical interpretation of employment and education.
The central issue is whether developing societies gain genuine capacity and independence through these changes.
For example:
education → skilled workforce → foreign investment
may appear positive.
However, a dependency perspective may ask:
Who controls the investment?
Where do skilled workers eventually work?
Does education primarily serve locally controlled development?
Does integration into global employment create dependence on outside organisations?
These questions connect this lesson with transnational corporations [Transnational corporations] and globalisation, political and economic relationships [Globalisation, political and economic relationships].
Dependency and skilled migration
The emigration of educated professionals provides a particularly useful critical argument.
A society may finance education but lose part of the resulting human capital when workers migrate.
This creates an unequal flow of skills:
developing society bears educational cost → richer or other society receives skilled worker
AQA explicitly accepts this as a way education may affect global inequalities.
Critical interpretations of education
The AQA mark scheme's reference to a ruling elite perpetuating and legitimising inequalities provides a more structural criticism of education.
Rather than simply increasing opportunity, education can contribute to the reproduction of existing inequalities.
This perspective asks:
Whose interests does education serve?
Who gains the most valuable opportunities?
Does educational expansion actually change existing power relationships?
This prevents an overly functional view of education.
Education as development versus education for development
It is useful to distinguish two ideas.
Education as development
Greater educational access is itself an improvement in people's opportunities.
Education for development
Education may contribute to other outcomes such as:
employment
economic growth
health
gender equality
AQA's specification supports both because education is explicitly an aspect of development, not merely a tool for producing economic growth.
Employment as development versus employment for development
The same distinction can be applied to employment.
Employment as development
Access to secure and rewarding work may improve people's economic opportunities directly.
Employment for development
Employment contributes to:
production
skills
economic growth
wider development
Again, employment is important both as an outcome and as a mechanism.
Employment and education as measures of development
A society's level of development cannot be understood solely through national income.
Employment and education provide wider evidence about people's opportunities.
Relevant questions include:
How many people have access to employment?
What kinds of employment are available?
Is employment secure?
Who has access to education?
Are girls and disadvantaged groups included?
Does education create meaningful opportunities?
This connects directly with the wider measurement debate in development and underdevelopment [Development and underdevelopment].
Quantity versus quality of employment
When assessing employment, distinguish:
quantity
How many jobs exist?
from:
quality
What do those jobs provide?
AQA material makes quality relevant through references to:
permanence
security
training
career development
A society could therefore experience employment growth without every job contributing equally to development.
Quantity versus quality of education
A similar distinction applies to education.
The number of students attending school does not show:
what they learn
whether opportunities are equal
whether education leads to employment
whether particular groups are excluded
whether education reproduces inequality
AQA's 2023 and 2025 materials therefore encourage analysis of both access and consequences.
Education and inequality within societies
Global inequality is not only about differences between countries.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises disadvantaged groups being prevented from accessing education.
This means a country's education system can expand while significant inequalities remain within the society.
A useful exam distinction is therefore:
national educational development
versus
equal distribution of educational opportunities
They are not necessarily the same.
Employment and inequality within societies
The same principle applies to work.
Industrialisation may create:
factory employment
training
women's employment
but not everyone necessarily gains equally.
Development should therefore be assessed through the distribution of employment opportunities, not just their existence.
Gender links employment and education
Gender provides one of the strongest connections between the two areas.
AQA recognises:
more industrial employment opportunities for women
expanding girls' education
globalisation of ideas about gender equality
A positive cycle may be:
girls gain education → skills and qualifications increase → employment opportunities expand → economic independence increases → gender inequality may decline
This prepares directly for gender and development [Gender and development].
Education and health link development areas
AQA also directly links education with health inequality.
Lack of education can hold back progress in reducing global health inequalities.
This demonstrates that the aspects of development in the specification should not be revised independently.
Instead:
education ↔ employment ↔ health ↔ gender ↔ inequality
can all interact.
Education, employment and global inequality
The relationship can work in both directions.
Reducing inequality
education → skills → employment → economic development → narrower inequality between societies
Reproducing inequality
restricted education → limited skills → limited employment → continued underdevelopment → inequality persists
Redistributing human capital
education → skilled migration → another society gains labour → home society loses part of its educational investment
A high-level answer should be able to analyse all three possibilities.
Education and aid
AQA's 2025 mark scheme recognises NGO aid as one way globalisation may support education.
This connects education to aid and development [Aid and development].
Aid may provide resources that expand educational provision.
However, as earlier lessons showed, aid itself is sociologically contested.
This means a longer analysis might ask whether educational aid:
expands local capacity
reflects local priorities
creates continuing external dependence
Education and cultural globalisation
Globalisation may standardise teaching and curricula, spread international exams and increase digital learning.
This means education can become one route through which cultural relationships between societies change.
However, resistance to Western-style education demonstrates that cultural globalisation can also provoke opposition.
This links directly with globalisation and cultural relationships [Globalisation and cultural relationships].
Employment and economic globalisation
Employment is similarly connected with the economic side of globalisation.
Industries can expand across borders, while employment opportunities may move as companies operate internationally.
The result may be:
new jobs in some developing societies
changing work structures
new skill requirements
loss of employment elsewhere
This means employment is one of the main ways people experience economic globalisation in everyday life.
Development may create employment without equality
Suppose industrialisation creates a large number of new jobs.
This may support a claim that development is taking place.
However, if:
only some groups gain access
women remain disadvantaged
training is unequally distributed
traditional workers lose livelihoods
then employment development may still reproduce inequality.
The sociological issue is therefore:
Who gains from employment growth?
Development may create education without opportunity
The equivalent problem can occur with schooling.
A society may expand educational participation.
However, if:
skilled employment is unavailable
disadvantaged groups receive fewer opportunities
educated workers leave
educational systems reproduce existing inequalities
then the development effect may be more limited than enrolment figures suggest.
Is education more important than employment?
These two aspects are so closely related that it is difficult to identify one as universally more important.
Education may create the skills needed for employment.
Employment may provide the economic opportunities that make those skills valuable.
This creates an interdependent relationship:
education without employment opportunities → skills may be underused or lost through migration
employment without education or training → shortages of the skills needed for development may remain
A balanced development strategy may therefore require both.
Does employment cause education or education cause employment?
The relationship is two-way.
Education may produce workers with skills.
At the same time, industrial and occupational change may create new demand for skills and training.
The causal model is therefore:
education → skilled employment
and:
changing employment → demand for education and training
This is useful evaluation because it prevents a simplistic one-directional explanation.
Modernisation versus critical interpretations
Modernisation interpretation | Critical interpretation |
Education increases human capital. | Educational opportunities may remain unequal. |
Education promotes values associated with modernisation. | Western-style education may be resisted. |
Education helps create a skilled workforce. | Skilled workers may emigrate. |
Industrialisation creates new employment. | Traditional employment may decline. |
Employment provides training and social mobility. | Opportunities may be unevenly distributed. |
Women's employment may increase independence. | Access to employment alone does not guarantee gender equality. |
Evaluating employment as development
A useful framework is to ask five questions.
1. How many jobs are created?
Employment growth can indicate economic opportunity.
2. What kind of jobs are they?
Consider security, permanence and skills.
3. Who gets the jobs?
Consider gender and other inequalities.
4. What jobs disappear?
Industrialisation may reduce some traditional employment.
5. What wider effects follow?
Consider:
income
social mobility
training
development
Evaluating education as development
Ask five similar questions.
1. Who gains access?
Educational expansion may still leave some groups excluded.
2. What skills are developed?
Human capital may support economic development.
3. What opportunities follow?
Does education lead to employment and mobility?
4. Who benefits from the skills?
Do educated workers remain in their country of origin?
5. Does education reduce or reproduce inequality?
Consider:
gender
health
global inequality
ruling-elite power
Building strong chains of analysis
For employment:
industrialisation → factory employment → wages and training → improved economic opportunities → potential development
For social mobility:
employment → career development → upward mobility → improved life chances → development
For education:
education → human capital → skilled workforce → foreign investment and employment → economic development
For gender:
girls' education → skills and qualifications → improved employment opportunities → reduced gender inequality
For health:
education → increased knowledge and opportunities → progress in reducing health inequality → wider development
For skilled migration:
developing country funds education → skilled professional emigrates → human capital leaves → contribution to home country's development reduced
For educational inequality:
restricted educational access → limited qualifications → reduced employment opportunities → inequality entrenched
Turning description into analysis
Weak:
Education helps development because people learn skills.
Better:
Education increases human capital by developing knowledge and skills. This can create a more skilled workforce that is better able to participate in economic activity.
Stronger:
AQA also recognises that greater human capital may attract foreign direct investment, creating employment and contributing to development. However, if skilled workers subsequently emigrate, some of the benefits of the original educational investment may be lost.
The final sentence creates evaluation.
Another example: industrial employment
Weak:
Industrialisation creates jobs.
Better:
Industrialisation may create factory and workshop employment, increasing access to paid work.
Stronger:
However, AQA also recognises that fewer people may work in traditional areas such as farming and fishing. The overall contribution to development therefore depends on whether new employment improves opportunities sufficiently to compensate for livelihoods that are lost or transformed.
Exam focus: education
Education has already been examined directly in two recent Global Development papers.
2023
Outline and explain two ways in which education may affect global inequalities.
2025
Outline and explain two ways in which globalisation may affect education in developing countries.
This means students should be prepared to apply education to:
global inequality
gender
health
human capital
migration
globalisation
rather than memorising a single essay on "education and development".
Exam focus: employment
Employment was directly assessed in Global Development in 2024:
Outline and explain two ways in which industrialisation may affect employment in developing countries.
Students therefore need to know specific employment effects of industrialisation rather than simply stating that industrialisation "creates jobs".
Useful distinctions include:
factory versus traditional employment
formal-sector employment
opportunities for women
training and career progression
occupational specialisation
Employment and education are ideal 10-mark topics
Both areas lend themselves particularly well to two developed chains.
For example, an education question could use:
human capital
gender inequality
An employment question could use:
factory employment
training and social mobility
Each point should be distinct.
Avoid two answers that are essentially variations of "people get better jobs".
Overall sociological judgement
Employment and education are major aspects of development because they influence people's opportunities and the productive capacity of societies.
AQA evidence supports several positive relationships:
industrialisation may create factory and formal-sector employment
workers may gain training and career opportunities
women may gain greater access to paid work
education may create human capital and a skilled workforce
education may attract foreign investment
girls' education may reduce gender inequality
education may contribute to reducing health inequalities
However, neither employment nor education automatically guarantees development. Industrialisation may undermine traditional work, educational opportunities may remain unequal, education may legitimate inequality, and skilled workers may emigrate.
The strongest sociological conclusion is therefore that employment and education can reinforce one another and make a substantial contribution to development, but their impact depends on the quality and distribution of opportunities and on whether the skills and economic benefits produced contribute to the wider society.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Employment | Paid work and the economic opportunities associated with participating in production. | Explain how jobs, income, training and career development may contribute to development. |
Education | The development of knowledge, skills and learning opportunities. | Analyse its effects on employment, inequality, health, gender and development. |
Human capital | The knowledge and skills available within a population. | Explain how education may create a skilled workforce and attract investment. |
Formal sector | Recognised and organised forms of employment within the economy. | Explain how industrialisation may change employment patterns. |
Division of labour | The way work is divided into different specialised tasks and occupations. | Explain changes in work associated with industrialisation. |
Social mobility | Movement between different social positions. | Explain how education, training and career development may affect people's opportunities. |
Foreign direct investment | Investment by an organisation in economic activity in another society. | Explain how a skilled workforce may attract international economic activity. |
Global inequality | Unequal resources, opportunities and development outcomes between societies. | Evaluate whether education and employment narrow or reproduce inequalities. |
Modernisation | Economic, social and cultural transformation towards a modern society. | Explain the positive role modernisation theorists may give to education and industrial employment. |
Skilled migration | Movement of workers with education or specialist skills to another society for employment. | Evaluate whether developing countries receive the full benefit of their investment in education. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: Education is a strong examination area. In 2023, most students could identify two ways education affects global inequality. Successful approaches included girls' educational disadvantage and the role of education in reducing inequalities in areas such as health.
Examiner hint: Do not drift into a general account of education. The 2023 mark scheme explicitly identifies unfocused discussion of education in general as characteristic of weaker answers. Keep every point connected to the outcome named in the question, such as global inequality.
Examiner hint: In 2025, the education question was generally answered well. Successful answers often discussed standardised Western teaching practices spreading globally and NGO aid affecting educational provision.
Examiner hint: AQA's 2025 mark scheme shows that globalisation can have contrasting effects on education. It may expand access through technology, aid or global ideas about education and gender equality, but it may also provoke rejection of Western-style education.
Examiner hint: Employment questions require specific development. In 2024, AQA expected students to explain changes such as factory employment, women's paid work, training, social mobility and changes in traditional occupations, rather than simply stating that industrialisation "creates jobs".
Examiner hint: Make the final link explicit. Across recent reports, students sometimes identify relevant processes but struggle to connect them to the precise outcome in the question. If the question asks about development or inequality, end the chain by explaining how development or inequality changes.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Treating employment as simply "having a job"
Why this is incorrect: AQA's Global Development material also considers formal employment, security, training, career development and the specialised division of labour.
How to improve: Analyse the quality and structure of employment as well as the number of jobs.
Mistake: Saying industrialisation always increases employment
Why this is incorrect: Industrialisation may create factory jobs while reducing employment in activities such as farming and fishing.
How to improve: Compare employment created with employment that is displaced or transformed.
Mistake: Assuming employment automatically means development
Why this is incorrect: The type, security and distribution of employment matter.
How to improve: Explain what the employment provides, such as wages, training, security or social mobility.
Mistake: Treating education as automatically beneficial
Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises restricted access, elite reproduction and skilled emigration as ways education may reproduce or fail to reduce inequalities.
How to improve: Always ask who gains access to education and who ultimately benefits from the skills created.
Mistake: Forgetting human capital
Why this is incorrect: Human capital is one of AQA's clearest mechanisms linking education with economic development.
How to improve: Use the chain:
education → skills → human capital → employment/investment → development
Mistake: Saying education reduces inequality without explaining how
Why this is incorrect: The examiner needs the mechanism.
How to improve: Specify the inequality. For example:
girls' education → more equal educational opportunities → wider employment opportunities → reduced gender inequality
Mistake: Ignoring skilled emigration
Why this is incorrect: AQA explicitly recognises developing societies paying to educate professionals who then emigrate.
How to improve: Use this as an evaluation of the claim that increasing education automatically benefits the home society.
Mistake: Confusing educational expansion with equal access
Why this is incorrect: A system can expand while disadvantaged groups remain excluded.
How to improve: Distinguish between more education overall and equal educational opportunity.
Mistake: Treating employment and education as separate topics
Why this is incorrect: They are closely interconnected aspects of development.
How to improve: Explain how education affects employment and how changing employment creates demand for skills and training.
Mistake: Writing a generic modernisation paragraph
Why this is incorrect: Theory only gains credit when applied to the question.
How to improve: Use modernisation to explain a precise mechanism, such as human capital, skilled employment or changing occupational structures.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
What is meant by human capital? (1 mark)
Question 2
Explain one way in which employment may contribute to development. (4 marks)
Question 3
Explain two ways in which education may affect employment opportunities in developing societies. (6 marks)
Question 4
Outline and explain two ways in which industrialisation may affect employment in developing countries. (10 marks)
Question 5
Outline and explain two ways in which education may affect global inequalities. (10 marks)
Question 6
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A
A developing society has expanded access to education and now has a larger skilled workforce. International businesses are attracted by the availability of educated workers. However, some highly trained professionals leave the country to find employment elsewhere.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which education may affect development. (10 marks)
Question 7
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B
Industrialisation creates new factory employment and opportunities for workers to receive training. It also changes existing patterns of work as fewer people remain in traditional forms of employment.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which changes in employment may affect development. (10 marks)
Question 8
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Some sociologists argue that education and employment are central to development. Education can create human capital and a skilled workforce, while industrialisation can provide paid employment, training and opportunities for social mobility.
Other sociologists point out that access to education and employment may remain unequal. Skilled workers may migrate, and economic change may undermine existing forms of work.
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the view that increasing education and employment is the most effective way to promote development. (20 marks)
Answers and mark scheme
Question 1
Answer: The knowledge and skills available within a population. (1 mark)
Award one mark for an accurate definition.
Question 2
Up to 4 marks for one developed explanation.
A strong answer might explain that employment provides workers with income, which may improve their economic opportunities and living standards. Employment may also provide training and skills that contribute to longer-term economic development.
For full marks, the answer should explain the connection with development, not simply describe employment.
Question 3
Award marks for two developed ways.
Possible answers include:
Skills
Education provides knowledge and skills that may allow individuals to gain skilled employment.
Human capital and investment
A more educated workforce increases human capital and may attract foreign direct investment, creating further employment opportunities.
Other relevant answers may include:
qualifications supporting career progression
education increasing social mobility
restricted educational access limiting employment opportunities
For higher marks, the two ways should be clearly distinct.
Question 4
A high-level answer should develop two separate employment effects.
Possible content includes:
Factory and formal-sector employment
Industrialisation may lead more people to work in workshops and factories and increase employment in the formal sector.
Training and career development
Industrial employment may provide opportunities for training, career progression and social mobility.
Other valid points include:
increased paid employment for women
fewer people working in farming and fishing
increased permanent and secure employment
more specialised division of labour
Students should explain how each change affects employment rather than giving a general account of industrialisation.
Question 5
A high-level response should develop two distinct ways.
Possible answers include:
Human capital
Education creates a skilled workforce and increases human capital. This may help developing societies compete globally and attract foreign direct investment, potentially reducing inequality between societies.
Girls' education
Greater access to education for girls may reduce global gender inequalities by increasing educational and wider opportunities.
Other relevant answers include:
lack of education restricting progress in health
education increasing social mobility
restricted educational opportunities entrenching inequality
skilled professionals emigrating
education legitimising inequalities
education spreading modern values
AQA's 2023 mark scheme explicitly recognises all of these areas.
Question 6
A strong answer should develop both item hooks.
Possible way 1: skilled workforce and investment
The item states that expanded education has created a larger skilled workforce. This increases human capital and may attract foreign direct investment. New economic activity may create employment and contribute to development.
Possible way 2: emigration of skilled professionals
The item states that highly trained professionals leave the country. The developing society may therefore pay the cost of their education while another society gains their skills. This reduces the extent to which educational investment contributes to the home country's development.
The strongest answers will recognise that education can therefore have contrasting effects.
Question 7
A strong response should use both parts of Item B.
Possible way 1: training and new employment
The item states that factory employment provides training. Workers may gain wages and skills, increasing their economic opportunities and potentially contributing to career development and social mobility.
Possible way 2: decline of traditional work
The item states that fewer people remain in traditional forms of employment. Industrialisation may therefore disrupt existing livelihoods. Development depends partly on whether the new opportunities compensate for work that has been lost.
Students could also develop the move towards formal-sector or specialised employment.
Question 8
A strong 20-mark response should focus on whether expanding education and employment provides an effective route to development.
Arguments supporting the view may include:
education increases human capital
education creates a skilled workforce
skilled workers may attract foreign direct investment
industrialisation creates factory and workshop employment
formal-sector employment may expand
workers may receive training
employment may provide career-development opportunities
employment may contribute to social mobility
women may gain additional access to paid work
girls' education may reduce gender inequality
education may contribute to reductions in health inequality
education can support modernisation
Modernisation theory may argue that:
education creates the skills required in a modern economy
education may promote modern values
industrialisation transforms employment structures
movement from traditional to industrial occupations contributes to development
education and employment can reinforce one another
Arguments challenging the view may include:
skilled workers may emigrate
a developing society may therefore lose some of the human capital it financed
educational access may remain unequal
disadvantaged groups may be excluded
education may legitimate and perpetuate ruling-elite inequalities
industrialisation may reduce traditional employment in farming or fishing
new employment opportunities may not benefit all groups equally
access to employment alone does not guarantee gender equality
Globalisation may be used to show that education itself is changing through:
standardised curricula and teaching practices
digital technologies
international examinations
NGO aid
global ideas about education as a right
gender-equality ideas increasing girls' education
resistance to Western-style education
Dependency or critical interpretations may argue that:
education and employment may be shaped by unequal global economic relationships
foreign investment does not necessarily produce independent development
the emigration of skilled workers can transfer human capital away from developing societies
educational systems may reproduce existing inequalities
Evaluation should also consider whether education and employment produce wider development in:
health
gender equality
social mobility
poverty
global inequality
For the highest marks, students should avoid treating education and employment as separate topics. The strongest answers analyse their relationship.
For example:
Education can increase human capital and create the skilled workforce needed for industrial development. Industrial expansion can then provide employment and further training. However, the relationship is weakened if skilled workers migrate or if industrialisation creates opportunities for only part of the population.
A reasoned conclusion could argue that employment and education are highly significant because they can reinforce each other and affect several dimensions of development at once. However, simply increasing the number of schools or jobs is not enough. Their contribution depends on equal access, the quality of employment, whether skills lead to meaningful opportunities and whether the benefits remain within and are widely distributed across the developing society.
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