Class and achievement - EXTERNAL Factors

Question 1

Explain what external factors are and list some

Answer 1

External factors are those factors outside the education system which influence the educational achievement of pupils such as the influence of home, family and wider society.
They include:
Material deprivation
Cultural deprivation
Cultural capital

Question 2

What is used as a measure of child poverty?

Answer 2

Whether children have free school meals is often used as a measure of child poverty.

Question 3

What are W/C values and what are M/C ones?

Answer 3

Working class:
Immediate gratification

Present time orientation

Fatalism

Collectivism

Middle class:
Deferred gratification

Planning for the future

Taking control

Individualism

Question 4

Define and explain material deprevation

Answer 4

Material deprivation refers to living in poverty and lacking material necessities such as housing and income.
Housing:
Overcrowded living conditions, temporary accommodation and cold or damp living conditions.
Health:
Ill health – Howard – poorer families have a lower intake of vitamins and minerals. This affects energy levels + their performance. Can lead to frequent absences due to illness.
Emotional problems – Wilkinson – among 10 year olds – lower the social class, higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety + behavioural disorders. Can lead to exclusion from lessons + consequent underachievement.
Finances:
Lack of money. Many students take on part time jobs which reduces the amount of time they have for studying.

Question 5

Define and explain cultural deprivation

Answer 5

Cultural deprivation refers to the lack of values, skills and attitudes needed for educational achievement such as language, self-discipline and reasoning skills.

Intellectual development:
Refers to development of reasoning + thinking skills.
Douglas – m/c parents help develop their children’s intellect by reading to them, providing educational activities at home, providing toys that encourage thinking + reasoning skills.
Gives m/c class children an advantage in education as they start school equipped with reasoning skills.

Language:
Bernstein – argues here are 2 speech codes – the restricted + elaborate.
Restricted code - used by the w/c, is limited in vocab, uses short, unfinished + grammatically simple sentences, is descriptive + context-bound – speaker assumes listener is familiar w/ topic.
Elaborated code - used by the m/c, has wide vocab + consists of longer, grammatically correct sentences, is context free – speaker assumes listener isn’t familiar w/ topic so explains meaning in detail.
Elaborated code =used by teachers, textbooks and exams. As w/c children are not familiar with the elaborated code when they start school, it puts them at a disadvantage. On the other hand, m/c children are socialised into using the elaborated code and so feel comfortable at school.

Attitudes and values:
Douglas – due to w/c subcultural values, w/c parents lack interest in education, are less ambitious for their children+ take less interest in children’s education, illustrated by their infrequent visits to school/contact w/ teachers.
W/c parents =less interested in children’s education bc of the w/c subculture which gives them different values to mainstream values. W/c parents’ values =passed onto their children, so children themselves lack interest in education. Leads to educational underachievement.
Sugarman - w/c subcultural values:
Fatalism
Collectivism
Immediate gratification– living for today.

Question 6

Explain the idea of Compensatory education

Answer 6

Is a government policy designed to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas. It aims to compensate w/c children for their lack of knowledge, skills and experiences necessary for educational success.
Example – Operation Head Start – USA, 1960s, provided enrichment for the most disadvantaged pre-school children to given them a better start in life. It aimed to improve parenting skills, create nursery school places, etc.
In the UK, in the 1960s, the government set up Education Priority Areas as part of Head Start. More recently, Education Action Zones and Sure Start have been introduced for the same purpose – to work with parents to promote physical, intellectual and social development of children.

Question 7

What are the criticisms of cultural deprivation?

Answer 7

Keddie claims that cultural deprivation is a myth because w/c children are culturally different rather than deprived. Schools should stop seeing w/c culture as deficient and instead build on its strengths and challenge teachers’ prejudice against the w/c.

Bernstein can be criticised because he implies that the restricted code is inferior to the elaborated code.

Question 8

Define and explain what Cultural capital is

Answer 8

Cultural capital is a term used to refer to knowledge, language, attitudes, values, tastes, abilities and experiences held by the middle class. 
It is passed from parents to children through the process of socialisation. Bourdieu called this cultural reproduction. 
Give m/c children advantage in education bc abilities, knowledge, experiences they have = highly valued + rewarded at school. W/c children lack cultural capital which leads to educational failure. So, the education system is not neutral as it favours + transmits the dominant, middle class culture.

Question 9

What are other types of Capital Bourdieu highlighted?

Answer 9

Economic capital - a term used to refer to material wealth.

Educational capital - a term used to refer to educational qualifications.

Bourdieu argued that cultural, educational and economic capital can be converted into one another.

Question 10

What is some evidence for Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital?

Answer 10

Gewirtz studied the extent to which parents use their cultural, educational and economic capital to select schools.Her study provides evidence for Bernstein’s cultural capital theory. The research included interviews with teachers and parents in 14 London schools.

Findings: 3 types of school choosers
1) Privileged type
Professional M/C parents that use own economic, educational + cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children. Have cultural capital – know how education works + how to go about getting a place for their child at best schools. Have economic capital – can afford travel costs to best schools/ even move home to be in the catchment area of the good schools.

2)Semi-skilled type
Working class parents with ambitions for their children.
However, they lack cultural, educational and economic capital so find it difficult to understand how the education system works.
They tend to rely on other people’s opinions about schools when making their choice.

3)Disconnected- local type
W/c parents lacking cultural, educational + economic capital. This limits choices. Lack cultural capital – are unfamiliar w/ admissions procedures, pay more attention to school’s facilities than to league tables. Lack economic capital – so can’t afford cost of travel to better schools. Children end up going to the nearest comprehensive school.