Class differences in achievement Flashcards
What is material deprivation?
The inability to afford basic resources, like: housing,food and heating
What is cultural deprivation?
Deficiencies in home and family backgrounds, like: socialisation, language skills and inappropriate attitudes/ values.
What is cultural capital?
Knowledge, attitudes, values and lifestyles- gives MC an advantage in education
What does Bernstein say about cultural deprivation?
Speech codes- Difference puts WC (restricted code) kids at disadvantage as elaborated code is used by teachers,exams and textbooks
Early socialisation into the elaborated code means WC kids are at an advantage
What does Douglas say about cultural deprivation?
Parents education- WC parents place less value on education, less ambitious, encouraging + participating for their kids, many don’t attend parents evening
What does Sugarmann say about cultural deprivation?
4 key barriers to educational achievement for WC pupils:
- Fatalism- nothing you can do to change your status
-collectivism- valuing being part of a group more than being an individual
Immediate gratification- seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices to get future rewards
Present tie orientation- seeing the present as more important than the future, no long-term goals
Give 3 ways housing can effect pupils achievement directly and indirectly
-Overcrowding- no room for educational activities like homework/ reading, disturbed sleep from shared bedrooms
-Living in temporary accommodation- moving frequently, disturbed education
-Overcrowded homes- greater risk of accident/ getting ill, leads to absence from school.
How does bad diet and health affect a pupils achievement?
-Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals
-Poor nutrients affect health- weakened immune system results in absence from school (Howard)
What does Boudieu say about cultural capital?
MC kids with cultural capital are better equipped to meet the demands on the school curriculum
Parents can convert cultural capital into economic capital, e.g, can send kids to private schools
What does Becker say about labelling and its affects?
-Teachers judge/ label pupils according to how close they fit the ‘ideal pupil’- dampens motivation of students who did not suit the ideal pupil due to how teachers deferred their time away and were unwilling to help
What is the self- fulfilling prophecy with an e.g?
-Where teachers may make a prediction about a student that comes true.
Rosenthal + Jacobson’s study- elementary teachers told by they had identified a number of students- ‘spurters’- likely to make rapid academic progress.
-teachers were led to believe that they had been identified as a result of high IQ test scores
-Reality- ‘spurters’ selected randomly by researchers- did not display any greater ability than their classmates-
Year later- became clear that ‘spurters’ had made greater progress
What did Gillborn and Youdell say about streaming?
Found that teachers labelled WC students as unintelligent, resulting in them being placed in lower sets and streams
What did Lacey find about pupil subcultures and identities ?
Found 2 ways in which pupil subcultures developed:
.Polarisation- when pupils respond to streaming by either moving to a pro-school subculture or an anti school subculture
Differentiation- form of streaming, those placed in higher streams receive higher status
What did Archer et al find about working-class pupils?
They invest in ‘nike’ identities, leading to self-exclusion from education as it does not fit their identity + way of life
They see it as unrealistic - for richer + smarter people- seen as undesirable as it does not suit their habitus
What is one of the most significant problems when researching class differences?
The subjective definitions of class, schools do not know how much money each student has but they have FSM to make a split between less-wealthy and more-wealthy students- not ideas, best they have. Can look at results on a national level and compare groups.
What percentage of FSM students achieved 5 GCSE grades A* to C in maths and English compared to non FSM kids in 2024?
25% disadvantaged, 52% not
Around 2m children identified as being from disadvantaged backgrounds
What did the Centre for Longitudinal studies find?
-looked at children’s intellectual development
- found that by the age of 3, MC children were one whole year ahead of WC children, gap widens overtime
Language is one of the 3 components of cultural deprivation, Explain why? (external)
-language- lang used at home influences a child’s intellectual development, more complex and challenging lang helps children consolidate their understanding. e.g what makes you think that?
-Whereas basic lang fails. e.g what is that animal called?
-Cultural deprivation theorists believe MC families are more likely to use the former, + WC families the latter- restricted vs elaborated code- Bernstein
What are the criticisms of Bernstein’s language codes?
-Not all people with the restricted code really fail
-He almost ‘places blame’ on WC families. Who else could be to blame
-Can we admire the restricted code
Parent’s education is one of the components of cultural deprivation, Explain why? (external)- Douglas
Parental style- MC emphasise discipline and high expectations
education- MC more likely to read to their children, help with HW + attend parents evening
more income- MC earn more due to education- higher income is correlated to higher educational achievement for students
-Use of income- MC spend income in ways that benefit their child’s education
WC subcultures is one of the 3 components of cultural deprivation, explain why?
Immediate gratification- wanting rewards now, not later
Fatalism- believing no matter what they do, they won’t be successful
Low value on education- Instead valuing alternatives, e.g. sporting achievement
Explain 3 factors of material deprivation and how it affects educational achievement
Poor housing- Overcrowding distracts studying, disrupted sleep due to shared bedrooms, cold/ damp housing can lead to bad health- affects attendance
Diet + Health- Howard- lower intakes of vitamins and minerals, poor nutrition affects health- weak immune system/ lowers energy levels, makes it harder to concentrate
Fear of debt- Uni involves getting into debt to cover fees, may deter WC students, pupils see more costs than benefits
Explain Conservative policies since 2010
-Academies Act- Schools encouraged to leave local authority control + become academies. Funding was taken from local authority budgets + given directly to academies by central government, control over curriculum- 2017 -68%
-Free school meals- For all children in reception- year 2- reduce inequality
Pupil premium- money that schools receive for each pupil from a disadvantaged background- ofsted 2012 found it’s not always spent on those that need it
Explain 3 cultural deprivation factors
Speech codes- Bernstein, restricted code- WC, limited vocabulary
Elaborated speech code- MC, wider vocabulary, based on longer, complex sentences
Parents education- Douglas -WC place less value on education, less ambitious for child + gave them less encouragement, visited schools less often to discuss child progress. MC parents are more educated, able to socialise kids better
WC subcultures- Sugarman- Fatalism- ‘what ever will be, will be’
Immediate gratification- seeking pleasure now, not making sacrifices
Present-time orientation- Seeing present as more important, no goals
Explain 2 marketisation factors that schools do
Cream- skimming- ‘Good’ schools can be more selective, choose their own customers- high achieving MC pupils
Silt- shifting- ‘Good’ schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results + damages the schools league table position
Explain Gerwitz parental choice
Privileged- skilled choosers- mainly professional MC parents who visited economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for kids, well educated
Disconnected- local choosers- WC parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital- hard to understand school admissions procedures.
Semi-skilled choosers- mainly WC parents, ambitious for their children, lack cultural capital - difficult to make sense of education market- rely on opinions- frustrated with inability to get kids in ‘good’ schools
Outline pupil responses to labelling and streaming- Woods
Rebellion- rejection of everything the school stands for
Retreatism- Day dreaming and mucking about
Ingratiation- being ‘teachers pet’
Explain Bourdie’s 3 types of capital
Cultural capital- knowledge, attitudes, values, language of MC- gives advantage through their socialisation, likely to develop intellectual interests + ability to analyse abstract ideas
Educational and economic- Wealthier parents can convert economic capital into educational capital by sending kids to private schools- higher levels of qualifications
can convert into one another
Explain an example of labelling in primary
Rist’s- Study of American kindergarden- teachers used info about kids home backgrounds/ appearance, decided who were fast learners ‘tigers’- MC, neat appearance, seated near teacher
Other 2 groups- ‘cardinals’ + ‘clowns’- seated further away- WC, given lower level books + fewer chances to show abilities, e.g had to read as group , not individually
Explain Fuller’s study of rejecting negative labels
Study group of black girls - Year 11 London comprehensive school- high achievers in schools where most black girls were placed in lower streams, instead of accepting negative stereotypes they challenged their anger, did not seek approval of teachers - friends with lower stream black girls
Worked conscientiously, gave appearance of not doing so- had positive attitudes to school success rather than relying om approval of teachers- relied on own efforts
Outline Sewell’s variety of boy’s responses
Rebels- most visible, influential group, small minority of black pupils, often excluded from school- rejected school goals + rules
Conformists- Largest group- boys keen to succeed, accepted school’s goals + have friends from different ethnic groups. Not part of a subculture.
Retreatists- Tiny minority of isolated individuals- disconnected from both school + black subcultures, despised by Rebels
Outline internal factors that affects gender differences in achievement
Positive role models- increase in female teacher, shows women can achieve
GCSE + coursework- Mitos + Browne- girls are more successful in work, better organised, better at meeting deadlines
Teacher attention- Francis- while boys got more attention, they were disciplined more harshly + felt picked on by teachers who had low expectations of them. See boys as disruptive, responds positively more to girls
Explain why catchment area can disadvantage working-class children
Catchment areas mean children go to their local school, however, 90% of underperforming schools are in deprived areas meaning working-class children are more likely to go to a sink school.
How can a poor diet lead to the failure of a working class student?
The lack of vitamins, minerals and energy weakens their immune system, causing them to become unwell and take days off school. They miss content and so they’re unprepared for exams. Those who are in struggle to concentrate and so may act out, causing them to get kicked out of lessons.
How could the additional responsibilities that WC children may experience cause them to fail?
-May be required to help out financially and get a part-time job, may have to look after younger siblings, may be discouraged from attending university to help the family. Juggling this can cause them to fall behind.
What changes have happened in higher education over the past decade that could relate to material deprivation?
Housing: schools now provide learning facilities that students can use e.g., independent study room OR there are libraries
Diet: In 2014, the Coalition government approved the introduction of free school meals in funded schools.
Cost of Schooling: gov has implemented social policies focused on the improvement of facilities and opportunities for all students. E.g. In 2004, the government introduced ‘Education Maintenance Allowance’ to help students, this was recently replaced by bursary- replaced by the 16-19 bursary.
What are the general criticisms of material deprivation theorists
- Ignore the importance of culture
-As with all external factors, it ignores the impact of internal factors - Doesn’t the gov assist people suffering from material deprivation?
What are the criticisms of the 3 components for underachievement
Keddie- cultural deprivation a myth- WC children are culturally different not deprived
Troyna & Williams- problem is not child’s language but school’s middle class speech the highest & followed by the working class and then black speech
What is an evaluation point of teacher labelling? with an e.g
-Not all pupils who are labelled as failures fulfil the self fulfilling prophecy, some reject the label and success, e.g Fuller’s study demonstrates how pupils are able to reject or not be influenced by labels
-Seems that labels can have an effect, but the type of effect is not always predictable
What other evaluation points of teacher labelling are there?
Innate ability- functionalists claim schools are meritocratic, achievement is not dependent on labelling, but student ability
Cultural factors- cultural deprivation theorists view the influence of the home as being more important than the impact of labelling on achievement
Modern teacher training- teachers are now trained to be aware of and to avoid labelling and stereotyping pupils
Give 2 evaluations of the self-fulfilling prophecy
-Too deterministic- If true, wouldn’t all teachers just label all students as intelligent?
- Teachers would argue they have professionalism + do not label students- Interactionist approach
Explain Dunne & Gazeley’s findings from labelling in secondary schools?
- schools produce WC underachievement due to labels
- interviewed 9 teachers- found wc underachievement was normalised, felt they couldn’t do anything to change this. However, felt they could overcome the underachievement of mc students
-labelled wc parents as uninterested in child’s education but labelled mc parents as supportive
-led different treatment- setting extension work for underachieving mc pupils, but entering wc pupils for lower exams
