1.1 Education - Social Class (External) Flashcards
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Language: Bernstein
identified a difference between the language that the
middle-class and working-class use.
He identified two codes:
The restricted code: typically used by the working-class. It is limited vocab and based on the use of short often unfinished grammatically simple sentences. It is context bound – it assumes the listener shares the same set of experiences
The elaborated code: typically used by the middle-class. It has wider vocab andis based on longer, grammatically more complex sentences. It is context free – the speaker does not assume the listener has shared the same experiences.
AO3: Unlike most CD theorists Bernstein does not blame home for not properly
socialising children instead he says it should be the schools responsibility to
teach students the elaborated code (Internal issue not external).
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Parents Education: Douglas
An early study by DOUGLAS (1964) found that working-class
parents placed less value on education. As a result:
* They were less ambitious for their own children
* Gave them less encouragement
* Took less interest.
* They visited schools less
* Were less likely to discuss their child’s progress with teachers.
A03: BLACKSTONE AND MORTIMORE criticise the idea that working class parents do not care about
their child’s education:
* They attend less parents evenings because they work longer hours, have more children to
look after
* They are put off by the middle class atmosphere of the school
* They want to help but lack the knowledge to do so
* Schools with mainly working class children have less effective ways of contacting home.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Parents Education: Feinstein
argues middle-class parents tend to be better educated and as such socialise
children to be more positive toward education. This happens in a number of ways:
* PARENTING STYLE Educated parents’ parenting = consistent discipline and high expectations.
Less educated parents = harsher or inconsistent with discipline
* PARENTS’ EDUCATIONAL BEHAVIOURS Educated parents engage in behaviours
such as reading, visiting educational places & foster relationships with teachers.
* USE OF INCOME Better educated parents have higher incomes that they spend on
promoting their children’s educational success e.g. educational toys.
* CLASS, INCOME AND PARENTAL EDUCATION – whilst better paid middleclass
parents tend to do better, parents education is key regardless of class and income. Even
within social class better educated parents tend to have more successful children at
school.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Subcultures: Sugarman
SUGARMAN argues that the working class have 4 key beliefs that act as barriers to educational
success, through the socialisation process working-class children internalise these beliefs and values.
FATALISM – a belief in fate, ‘whatever will be, will be’ and there is
nothing you can do to change your status.
COLLECTIVISM – value being part of a group more than
succeeding as an individual. This contrasts the middle-class view
that an individual should not be held back by the group.
IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION – seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewarded. By contrast middle-
class values emphasise deferred gratification; making sacrifices
now for greater reward later
PRESENT-TIME ORIENTATION – seeing the present as more
important than the future. Middle-class culture has future time
orientation – they see planning for the future as important.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Compensatory Education
Providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.
Operation Head Start in US – introduced in the 1960s aimed at
deprived pre-school children to develop skills and instill motivation.
It included parenting classes, setting up nursery classes and home
visits by educational psychologists.
Sesame Street was also part of this scheme – a TV show aimed at instilling educational values, attitudes and skills – e.g. numeracy, literacy and punctuality.
Compensatory education programmes in the UK have included Educational Priority Areas, Education Action Zones and Sure Start.
Sure start was a policy introduced by New Labour in 2010 – centres were set up in deprived areas and provided integrated education, care, family support, health services and support with parental employment.
However since 2011 there have been significant cuts in funding and many centres have closed. This will be discussed further when we look at the social policy topic.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Myth: Keddie
KEDDIE argues CD theory is a myth and it victim blames. She argues underachievement is not due
to having a culturally deprived background. A child cannot be deprived of its own culture instead
children are not culturally deprived but culturally different.
It should be the schools responsibility to cater to the needs of different children – children fail because the school has middle class values
Part of the issue is the schools approach to language – there is a speech hierarchy where middle class speech is seen as higher value than working speech.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Statistics
By the age of 3 working class children are up to one year behind middle class children and this gets bigger with age.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
Housing
Direct
- Overcrowding can make it hard for a child to study, also less room for homework and disturbed sleep
- Development can be impaired for
younger children who do not have the space for play and exploration - Families in temporary accommodation move more often which results in changes to schools and disruption
Indirect
- Poor housing can impact a child’s health and well being
- Children in crowded homes are at
greater risk of accidents - Cold or damp housing can lead to illness
- Children in temporary accommodation suffer more psychological stress, infections and accidents.
- These all result in absences from school.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
Diet and Health: HOWARD
Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy,
vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition means weaker immune system leading to illness and absence from school.
Children from poorer homes are also more likely to have emotional and
behavioural problems with higher rates of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
Financial Support and Cost of
Education: TANNER
- TANNER found the cost of transport, books, computers, calculators, and sports, music and
art equipment place a heavy burden on poor families. - Poorer children quite often have to do with hand me downs which can lead to those children
being stigmatised and bullied.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
Financial Support and Cost of
Education: FLAHERTY
- FLAHERTY found that the fear of stigmatisation is one of the main reasons why only 20%
of children entitled to free school meals actually take them up. - Poverty acts as a barrier to learning in other ways such as being unable to afford
private schooling or tuition. - Low income families’ lack of money meant that some children needed to take on jobs such
as cleaning, babysitting and paper rounds which often had a negative impact on their
education.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
Fear of Debt: CALLENDAR AND JACKSON
CALLENDAR & JACKSON found working-class students are more debt averse – they saw it as negative and something to avoid. They saw more costs than benefits to going to university.
The more debt averse (usually working-class) were over 5 x less likely to apply to university
The increase in tuition fees in 2012 to £9,000 meant even more working-class students were put off from applying – UCAS said that the number of applicants in 2012 dropped by 8.6%.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
Statistics
Barely 1/3 of pupils eligible for free school meals achieve 5 or more GCSEs A*-C.
Exclusion and truancy are more likely for children from poorer families.
90% of failing schools are in deprived areas.
Only 30% of Uni students are w/c and they are more likely to go local as its cheaper, limited opoortunities for high status universities.
Drop out rates higher for WC universities.
CULTURAL CAPITAL:
Bourdieu
Marxist, argues both CULTURAL and MATERIAL factors contribute to educational achievement and are separated but interrelated. He uses the concept of capital and says there are three types of capital that the middle class possess more of:
*Economic capital
*Educational capital
*Cultural capital
BOURDIEU argues educational, economic and cultural capital can be
converted into one another.
CULTURAL CAPITAL:
This term is used to refer to the knowledge, attitudes, values, language,
tastes and abilities of the middle class. He sees middle-class culture
(HABITUS) as a type of capital because like wealth it gives an advantage to
those who possess it.
HABITUS: Taken for granted ways of thinking being and acting that are shared by a particular social class. MC HABITUS INFLUENCES EDUCATION.
CULTURAL CAPITAL:
Sullivan
SULLIVAN conducted a survey using questionnaires with 465 pupils in 4 schools. To assess their capital she asked them questions about reading and TV viewing habits, and whether they visited art galleries, museums and theatres, she also tested vocab and
knowledge of cultural figures. Findings…
- Those who read complex fiction and watched serious TV documentaries had a
more developed vocab and greater knowledge of cultural figures – indicating
greater cultural capital. - The pupils with the greatest cultural capital were children of graduates and
were more likely to do well at GCSE.
But SULLIVAN found cultural capital only accounted for part of class differences in
achievement. Where pupils of different social classes had the same cultural capital
middle class pupils still did better. Sullivan states that greater resources and aspirations of
middle-class families explain the remainder of the class gap inachievement.
