Class Differences And Achievement

Question 1

Centre for longitudinal study

Answer 1

By age of 3, people of lower class already at a years delay than children from affluent areas

Question 2

How does language contribute to cultural deprivation?

Answer 2

Parents of middle class, stimulate cognitive response by child by asking questions such as “what do you think”
Simplistic language used by WC parents = disadvantage at school

Question 3

Restricted code (Bernstein)

Answer 3

Used among WC families- descriptive only.

Question 4

Elaborated Code (Bernstein)

Answer 4

MC families- large vocabulary to explain abstract ideas

Question 5

Douglas (Sociologist)

Answer 5

WC parents place less value on Education with less encouragement

Question 6

Difference in parenting style

Answer 6

MC- consistent discipline with encouragement to education

WC- harsh and inconsistent discipline leading to no motivation to do well at school

Question 7

Sugarman (1970)

Answer 7

WC ideologies

1. Fatalism - believe in fate, no effort to get something they want
2. Collectivism - subcultures, group success over individual success
3. Immediate gratification- No sacrifices for success in future- wants direct results
4. Present-time orientation - no long term goals

Values passed onto child via primary socialisation!

Question 8

Sociologists that are against the concept of cultural deprivation- parents aren’t not interested in a child’s education but due to long work hours to provide for the family - may also be put against MC hierarchy present in schools

Answer 8

Blackstone and Mortimore (1994)

Question 9

Material deprivation

Answer 9

Lack of material due to poverty

Question 10

Material Deprivation

Answer 10

When a child is deprived of adequate materials in order to excel in schools such as household, and diet and health

Question 11

Household Deprivation

Answer 11

Overcrowding –> Disturbed sleep –> Development affected –> Sickness –> Absence from school–> Lack of applied knowledge used in exams –> Underperformance

Question 12

W/C children among 10 yrs= more hypersensitive and behavioural problems = more fights to externalise problems = disrupt schooling

Answer 12

Wilkonson - diet and health

Question 13

Material Deprivation and stigmitisation

Answer 13

20% of those eligible for free school meals do not take up offers
Lowered self-esteem due to exclusion from other students because they aren’t wearing the latest brands - wearing second hand and cheap clothes

Question 14

Material Deprivation and Social Policies

Answer 14

Raised university tuition fees - in 2012 raised to £9,000 making it very hard for students of WC to apply due to fear of debt and lack of financial support by family members

Question 15

Cultural Capital (Bourdieu)

Answer 15

middle-class knowledge, values, norms taught in primary socialisation giving those children an advantage in the educative system. 
WC culture looked down upon - symbolic violence

Question 16

Educational and Economic Capital (Bourdieu)

Answer 16

MC children have cultural capital allowing them to get best out of education - educational capital allowing them to get best jobs - economic capital

MC Parents have economic capital to be able to afford catchment areas

Question 17

Catchment areas

Answer 17

Areas of houses near schools - prices range on standards of the school.

Question 18

External Factors

Answer 18

Processes outside of school that causes class differences

Question 19

Internal Factors

Answer 19

Processes within the school that causes class differences

Question 20

Labelling

Answer 20

Attach meaning or definition to a student based on stereotypical attitudes towards child ie based on social class or ethnicity

Question 21

The normalisation of WC underachievement due to lack of encouragement by teachers to change results

Answer 21

Dunne and Gazeley

Question 22

WC seen as a disruptive student and labelled as badly behaved

MC seen as an ideal pupil and labelled positively

Answer 22

Becker

Question 23

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Answer 23

Teacher labels student, the teacher acts accordingly to label, pupil internalises treatment and accepts success or failure opportunity. The pupil becomes the label and prophecy is fulfilled

Question 24

Results from Rosenthal and Jacobsen’s study of teacher expectation of spurters in a primary school

Answer 24

random 20% chosen to be labelled as ‘spurters’ and half of those chosen had made significant improvement a year later- resulted from teacher encouragement and belief despite those chosen were completely random

Question 25

Streaming

Answer 25

Separating children into different classes/streams based on ability

Question 26

Educational Triage (Gillborn and Youdell)

Answer 26

Process in which teachers sort children into streams

1. Those who will pass always - placed in a higher stream -typically MC (can afford extra tuition)
2. Those with potential by the encouragement of teachers
3. Those who are hopeless cases - typically WC and black students - placed in lower-tier exams

Question 27

Pupil Subcultures
+
Sociologist

Answer 27

pro-school (MC) in high streams: status gained
vs
anti-school subcultures (WC) in low streams

Sociologist that discovered this concept- Lacey

Question 28

Pro-School Subculture

Answer 28

Middle Class, a status gained via academic successes, approved by teachers

Question 29

Anti-School Subculture

Answer 29

Working Class, a status gained via peers, undermined by teachers - children reject school principles

Question 30

Pupil Responses (besides labelling and streaming)

Answer 30

Ingratiation - teachers’ pet
Ritualism- staying out of trouble -following order
Retreatism - doesn’t focus in class
Rebellion- Reject everything about school.

Question 31

Symbolic Capital

Answer 31

Status from a school recognized as valuable, typically the middle-class habitus.

Question 32

Symbolic Violence

Answer 32

(Archer) Argues Middle-Class stigmatize working-class identities - disapproval of 
Bourdieu argues it is the oppression of the working class through claims that their lifestyle as inferior.

Question 33

Nike identities

Answer 33

Symbolic Violence –> symbolism through clothes such as Nike –> Conflict with dress code –> Child actively rejects school system –> anti-school subculture –> underachievement

Question 34

Habitus + Sociologist

Answer 34

Bourdieu

tastes and preferences are taken by a group - reflecting their position in society.

Question 35

Class identity, and self exclusion from University

Answer 35

As Reay Et Al, found that by limiting themselves from elite and distant universities because of prices/habitus that “it’s not for the like of us’ they subconsciously limit their successes

Question 36

Outline 3 ways in which a student may respond to labelling and streaming?

Answer 36

1. Reject School Values and join anti-school subculture due to lack of encouragement and low placement in streaming causing them to fufill label teacher placed on them which was to be typical and join anti-school subculture
2. the ingratiation student which acts as a teacher pet often gets labelled positively and gets rewards for hard efforts
3. Differentiation causes pro-school subculture where those that confine to school’s values (ideal pupil = middle class) to excel in an environment around like-minded pupils in higher streamed classes.

Question 37

Outline 3 ways in which home background factors may affect pupils’ achievement?

Answer 37

Overcrowding –> disturbed study time –> poor ventilation –> illness–> absence from school –> Educational successes declined

The elaborated code being taught allows a child to express complex ideas and understand and apply knowledge to unfamiliar situations –> allows the child to excel in school

Parents having economic capital allows them to afford a house in the catchment area of high standard school. Can also afford extra tuition for the child in order for the pupil to achieve high in school.