Class Differences in Achievement

Question 1

Cultural Deprivation

Answer 1

Nationwide study ( Centre for Longitudinal Studies) found that by the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to one year behind those from more privileged homes and the gap widens with age.

Question 2

Language : Speech codes

Answer 2

Bernstein (1975) : restricted code & elaborated code

Question 3

Cultural deprivation theorists

Answer 3

Bereiter & Engelmann (1966) claim that the language used in lower class homes is deficient, as they communicate using single, disjointed phrases.

Question 4

Parents’ education

Answer 4

Douglas (1964) found that working-class parents placed less value on education, giving them less encouragement and interest. They also visited schools less being less likely to discuss progress with teachers

Question 5

Use of income

Answer 5

Bernstein & Young (1967) found that middle class mothers are more likely to buy educational toys & books. Working-class homes would lack in these resources meaning children would star school without the skills needed to progress.

Question 6

Working class subcultures

Answer 6

Sugarmann (1970)
Fatalism ( whatever will be, will be)

Collectivism ( value being apart of a group rather than succeding individually)

Immediate gratification ( seeking pleasure now than later)

present time orientation (seeing present as more important than future)

Question 7

Compensatory education

Answer 7

The programs aim to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.

Question 8

Poverty & underachievement in school

Answer 8

According to the DfE (2012), barely a third of pupils eligible for free school meals would achieve five or more GSCEs at A*—C, as against nearly two-thirds of other pupils.

Question 9

Housing

Answer 9

overcrowding means less room for educational activities, there are also greater risk of accidents.

Question 10

Diet & Health

Answer 10

Howard (2001) notes that poor nutiriton affects health, for example weakening the immune system and lowering children’s energy levels results in more absence in schools.

Question 11

Behavioural problems

Answer 11

Wilkinson (1996) among ten-year-olds, the lower the social class, the higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety, and conduct disorders that hurt a child’s education.

Question 12

Costs of education

Answer 12

Tanner et al (2003) found that cost of items such as transport, uniforms, books, computers, calculators places a heavy burden on poor families.

Question 13

Fear of debt

Answer 13

An increase in tuition fees from 2012 to a maximum of £9,000 per year, may mean that the increased debt burden will deter even more working-class students from applying to university. For example, according to UCAS, the number of applicants fell by 8.6% in 2012 compared with the previous year.

Question 14

Cultural Capital ( knowledge, attitudes of the middle class)

Answer 14

Bourdieu (1984) argues that through the socialisation of the middle class, children acquire the ability to grasp abstract ideas, meaning they are more likely to develop an understanding of what the educational system may require for success. Giving them an advantage at school.

Question 15

Educational & Economical capital

Answer 15

Bourdieu argues that middle-class children with cultural capital are better equipped to meet the demands of the school, by the parents converting their economic capital into educational capital by sending children to private schools.

Question 16

Selection by mortgage

Answer 16

Campos’ (2003) study shows middle-class parents are more likely to afford a house in the catchment area of a school that is placed highly in the exam league tables, excluding working class families

Question 17

Labelling

Answer 17

Becker (1941)

Question 18

Labelling in schools

Answer 18

Dunne & Gazeley (2008) argue that schools persistently produce working-class underachievement because of the labels and assumptions of teachers. Interviews in 9 state schools found that teachers normalised the underachievement of working-class pupils , as they labeled working class parents as uninterested in their children’s education

Question 19

The self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 19

Rosenthal & Jacobson (1986) self - fulfilling prophecy.

Question 20

Streaming

Answer 20

Becker shows that teachers do not usually see working-class children as ideal pupils. They tend to see them as lacking ability and have low expectations of them. As a result, working-class children are more likely to find themselves put in a lower-stream

Question 21

A - to C economy

Answer 21

Gillborn & Youdell (2001) showed how teachers were less likely to see working-class pupils as having the ability and they were placed in lower streams which lowered the opportunity. The a to C economy was a system in schools in which schools focused their time, effort on giving a grade boost

Question 22

Educational Triage

Answer 22

The A-to-C economy produced an educational triage, & schools catergoried pupils into three types.
1. those who pass anyway and can be left to get on with it.
2. those with potential, who would be helped to get a grade C
3. hopeless cases, doomed to fail.

Question 23

Differentiation & Polarisation

Answer 23

Lacey’s (1970)
1. Differentiation teachers categorizing pupils according to how they see their ability such as streaming
2. Polarisation is the process of pupils responding to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite ‘poles’ or extremes.

Question 24

Abolishing Streaming

Answer 24

Ball (1981) found that when schools abolished banding, the basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed, and the influence of the anti-school subculture declined.

Question 25

Pupil Responses

Answer 25

Woods (1979)
Ingratiation - being the teachers’ pet
Ritualism - staying out of trouble
Retreatism - daydreaming
Rebellion - rejection of school

Question 26

Symbolic capital & Violence

Answer 26

Bourdieu calls this witholding of symbolic capital ‘ symbolic violence’ by defining the working class and their tastes and lifestyles as inferior, symbolic violence reproduces the class structure and keeps them in ‘their place’ this causes a clash between working class pupils’ habitus and the school’s middle-class habitus.

Question 27

Archer - Pupil class Identity

Answer 27

Working-class pupils found that to be educationally successful, they would have to present themselves in a different way which they then experienced ‘ losing yourself’

Question 28

Nike Identities

Answer 28

This symbolic violence led to them seeking alternative ways of creating self-worth through wearing Nike as of way of ‘being me’ without them they would feel inauthentic

Question 29

Archer - Nike Identities

Answer 29

Archer argues that the school’s middle-class habitus stigmatizes working class pupils’ identities and Nike styles play a part in working-class pupils’ rejection of higher education which they saw as unrealistic and undesirable.

Question 30

Self-Exclusion

Answer 30

Evans (2009) studied a group of 21 working-class girls from a south London comprehensive studying for their A-levels. Evans found that they were reluctant to apply to elite universities such as Oxbridge as they felt as if they wouldn’t fit in. Bourdieu believes that working class people think of places like Oxbridge as a place not for them and this comes from their habitus, excluding themselves from elite universities.