4. Educational Attainment And Social Class Flashcards
What is social class
The Uk is a social class society.
Those who are born into the poorer sections of society have fewer chances of escaping these sections compared to those who are born into wealth.
Sociologists have not agreed on a definition but generally accept that people are professionals, educated and are in good jobs make up the middle classes and those who are less educated or qualified in practical skills and who work for others are in the working class.
Those who get free school meals affect the outcomes of school in terms of expected results, this is confirmed by government statistics
What is the definition of under-attainment
This refers to the average level of achievement of a group compared to another group. Children who get free school meals underachieve compared to others.
What are the causes of under-attainment among working-class pupils
- Functionalists claim that the working class fail because schools work on a meritocracy and therefore, the working class pupils must not be the best pupils
- Marxists believe that the education system exists to legitimise ruling class power, therefore, education is biased against the working class and only exist to oppress poor pupils.
- Interactionists view the schools as middle-class institutions and that teachers label working-class children as failures. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
What factors account for working class failure
- Material deprivation
- Cultural deprivation
- Cultural capital
- Cultural reproduction theory
- School organisations
- Labelling theory/self fulfilling prophecy
- Subcultures and peer groups
What is material deprivation
This refers to the lack of money to buy possessions. Poverty links with low attainment.
For example: Smith and Noble (1995) found that poor parents cant afford additional resources such as books, places to work or tutors.
Poor housing quality results in poorer children taking more sick days and have limited quiet spaces to work.
For example: Leon Feinstein (2003) suggested that poor nutrition links to under attainment- Government data suggested family stress is a significant contributor to school failure
What is cultural capital
This is a marxist theory put forward by Bourdieu in 1970s.
This is a claim that middle-class parents possess knowledge and use it to benefit their own children. For Example: How to influence school policy, How to get the best exam results, How to talk to teachers.
Working class people lack these skills and knowledge and cant support their children in the same way.
What is the cultural reproduction theory
This is a marxist theory developed by Bowles and Gintis (1976).
They suggested that schools are middle-class institutions and they pass on the norms and values of capitalist society. Therefore, schools socialise children but only to produce workers for society.
This is known as the correspondence principle. Therefore, the organisations of the school mirrors the organisation of the workplace and trains working-class children for boring work
How does school organisations link to under-attainment
Government policy and government funded research in 2014 suggests that the problem lies within schools themself.
The working class children in schools rated as outstanding are more likely to gain 5 A*-C GCSE grades than similar children in schools rated as satisfactory.
This suggests that schools should aim to recruit high quality teachers and that schools in poor areas have less funding than other regions.
They claim that teachers have low expectations of poorer pupils and argue that teachers need to improve their schools through recruiting better teachers and increasing funding and that the school day should be longer.
What are labelling theories/self-fulfilling prophecy in reference to under-attainment
Children gain identity from school and while teachers label working-class children as failures they end up fulfilling this prophecy.
Becker (1952) supported Labelling while Ball (1981) stated that schools stream children based on behaviour and not ability.
Goodacre (19986) found that working-class children tend to be under-marked by teachers and therefore, children accept their labels.
This theory is criticised by Sadia-Mirza who claim that children can reject negative labels
How do subcultures/peer groups link to under-attainment
Interactionists have worked with groups of children within schools and found that children who find it difficult to succeed on the terms that schools set, form social groups that reject the norms of the school.
These groups gain status by being bad because they are challenged by teachers.
Jackson (2002) suggested that laddish behaviour is a form of self-worth protection as a response to over-testing and over-emphasis on educational success in modern schools.
