Class differences in achievement (1) external factors

Question 1

Centre for Longitudinal Studies (2007)

Answer 1

By the age of three, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to a year behind those from more privileged homes

Question 2

Basic ‘cultural equipment’ includes…

Answer 2

Language, self-discipline and reasoning skills

Question 3

What do cultural deprivation theorists argue working-class parents do?

Answer 3

Fail to socialise their children adequately

Question 4

Three main aspects of cultural deprivation

Answer 4

Language, parent’s education and working-class subculture

Question 5

Language - Hubs-Tait et al (2002)

Answer 5

Where parents use language that challenges their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities (e.g. ‘what do you think?’), cognitive performance improves

Question 6

Language - Feinstein (2008)

Answer 6

Educated parents are more likely to challenge their children’s language understanding

Question 7

What kind of language do working-class parents use when talking to their children?

Answer 7

Simple language that only requires children to make descriptive statements (e.g. ‘what colour is the sky?’)

Question 8

Language - Fernstein found that educated parents are more likely to…

Answer 8

Use praise which encourages children to develop a sense of their own competence

Question 9

Language - Bereiter and Engelmann

Answer 9

Claim that the language used in lower-class homes is deficient. They describe lower-class families as communicated by gestures, single words or disjointed phrases

Question 10

What are Bernstein’s two types of speech code?

Answer 10

The restricted code and the elaborated code

Question 11

The restricted code

Answer 11

Typically used by the working class. It has limited vocabulary and is based on the use of short, often unfinished, grammatically simple sentences. It is descriptive not analytic

Question 12

The elaborated code

Answer 12

Typically used by the middle class. It has a wide vocabulary and is based on longer, grammatically more complex sentences. Speech is varied and communicates abstract ideas

Question 13

Why do speech codes give middle-class children an advantage at school?

Answer 13

The elaborated code is used by teachers, textbooks and exam boards

Question 14

What is Bernstein’s view on why working-class children fail to achieve at school?

Answer 14

He argues that these children fail not because they are culturally deprived, but because schools fail to teach them how to use the elaborated code

Question 15

What did Douglas (1964) find surrounding working-class parents?

Answer 15

Working-class parents placed less value on education. They were less ambitious for their children and gave them less encouragement

Question 16

According to Douglas, why did working-class children have lower levels of motivation to achieve?

Answer 16

Working-class parents gave their children little encouragement, they visited the school less often than others and were therefore less likely to discuss their child’s progress with teachers

Question 17

Parents’ education - Feinstein (2008)

Answer 17

He argues that parents’ own education is the most important factor affecting children’s achievement

Question 18

Parenting style

Answer 18

Educated parents’ parenting style emphasises consistent discipline and high expectations of their children. However, less educated parents’ style is marked as harsh or inconsistent discipline that emphasises ‘doing as you’re told’ and ‘behaving yourself’

Question 19

Parents’ educational behaviours

Answer 19

Educated parents are more aware of what is needed to assist their children’s educational progress. They are also able to get expert advice on childrearing, more successful in establishing good relationships with teachers and better at guiding their children’s interactions with school

Question 20

Use of income

Answer 20

Better educated parents are more likely to have a higher income and therefore more likely to spend this in ways that promote their child’s educational success

Question 21

Use of income - What did Bernstein and Young (1967) find?

Answer 21

Middle-class mothers are more likely to buy educational books, toys and activities that encourage reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development

Question 22

Class, income and parental education

Answer 22

Better educated parents tend to have children who are more successful at school

Question 23

Subculture

Answer 23

A group whose attitudes and values differ from those of the mainstream culture

Question 24

Sugarman (1970)

Answer 24

Working-class subculture has four key factors that act as a barrier to educational achievement

Question 25

What are the four key features that Sugarman identifies?

Answer 25

Fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, present-time orientation

Question 26

How do parents pass on their values according to cultural deprivation theorists?

Answer 26

Through primary socialisation

Question 27

What is compensatory education?

Answer 27

These programmes aim to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to school and communities in deprived areas

Question 28

What is an example of compensatory education?

Answer 28

Sesame Street was initially part of Head Start, providing a means of transmitting values, attitudes and skills needed for education success

Question 29

Keddie (1973)

Answer 29

Describes cultural deprivation as a ‘myth’ and sees it as victim-blaming explanation. She dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived home background

Question 30

Department for Education (2012)

Answer 30

Barely a third of pupils eligible for free school meals achieve five or more GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths, as against nearly two thirds of other pupils

Question 31

How can poor housing affect pupil’s achievement?

Answer 31

For young children especially, development can be impaired through lack of space for safe play and exploration. Overcrowding can have a direct effect by making it harder for the child to study and educational activities. Poor housing can also effect the child’s health and welfare, overcrowding can run the risk of accidents. Cold or damp housing can also cause ill health. Families within temporary accommodation can also cause psychological distress. These problems mean absence from school

Question 32

Howard (2001)

Answer 32

Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition affects health, for example by weakening the immune system and lowering children’s energy levels. This could result in absence from school due to illness

Question 33

Blanden and Machin (2007)

Answer 33

Children from low income families were more likely to engage in ‘externalising’ behaviour (e.g. fighting and temper tantrums), which are likely to disrupt their schooling

Question 34

Tanner et al (2003)

Answer 34

Found that the cost of items such as transport, uniforms, books, computers, calculators, and sports, music and art equipment, places a heavy burden on poor families

Question 35

Smith and Noble (1995)

Answer 35

Poverty acts as a barrier to learning in various ways also. There is an inability to afford private schooling and tuition, and poorer quality local schools

Question 36

Callender and Jackson (2005)

Answer 36

Working-class students are more debt averse. They see university as having more costs than benefits. Therefore, working-class students are less likely to go to university as they fear debt

Question 37

What impact did the increase of tuition fees in 2012 have on university applicants according to UCAS (2012)?

Answer 37

UCAS found that the number of UK applications fell by 8.6% in 2012 compared to other years

Question 38

What are the three types of capital that affect achievement according to Bourdieu (1984)?

Answer 38

Cultural capital, economic capital and educational capital

Question 39

Cultural capital

Answer 39

The knowledge, attitudes, values, language etc of the middle-class. Through socialisation, middle-class children gain the advantage of grasping and analysing abstract ideas. This gives middle-class children the advantage in school as the education system favours this middle-class culture. Whereas working-class children find that schools devalue their culture, therefore their lack of cultural capital leads to exam failure

Question 40

Educational and economic capital

Answer 40

Bourdieu argues that these types of capital can be converted into one another. Wealthier parents can convert their economic capital into educational capital by sending their children to private schools and paying for extra tuition

Question 41

Leech and Campos (2003)

Answer 41

Middle-class parents are more likely to be able to afford a house in the catchment area of a school highly placed in the exam league tables

Question 42

According to Leech and Campos (2003), what does ‘selection by mortgage’ mean?

Answer 42

Middle-class parents are able to buy a house in the catchment area of a school they desire to send their child to, this drives up the cost of houses near to successful schools and excludes working-class families

Question 43

Sullivan’s (2001) study

Answer 43

Used questionnaires to conduct a survey of 465 students, assessing their cultural capital. She asked them about the types of activities they did e.g. reading, what kind of TV shows they watched, whether they visited galleries

Question 44

What did Sullivan (2001) find in her study?

Answer 44

She found that the students who read complex fiction and watched documentaries had greater cultural capital. These pupils were more likely to be successful at GCSE. However, these students were more likely to be middle-class. She concluded that the greater resources and aspirations middle-class parents offered the bigger the class gap in achievement became