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//AS Sociology - Education > Class Differences in Achievement > Flashcards

Class Differences in Achievement Flashcards

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1
Q

What percentage of Britain’s children attend private school?
Extra Information

A

7%

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2
Q

What percentage of entrants to Oxford and Cambridge come from private schools?
Extra Information

A

50%

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3
Q

Define internal factors.

A

These are factors within schools and the education system, such as interactions between pupils and teachers, and inequalities between schools.

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4
Q

Define external factors.

A

These are factors outside the education system, such as the influence of home and family background and wider society.

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5
Q 
Give examples of external factors of class differences in achievement.
Point
A

Cultural Deprivation
Material Deprivation
Cultural Capital

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6
Q 
Give examples of internal factors of class differences in education.
Point
A

Labelling > Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
A*-C Economy > Marketisation
Subcultures
Streaming

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7
Q

What are the three main aspects of cultural deprivation?

External Factors - Point

A

Language
Parents Education
Working-Class Subculture

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8
Q

What is Keddies’ criticism of the cultural deprivation theory?
External Factors - Evaluation

A

Keddie - dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived backgrounds. They fail because they are put at a disadvantage by an education system that is dominated by middle class values.

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9
Q

Define material deprivation.

External Factors - Point

A

Material Deprivation refers to poverty and a lack of material necessities such as adequate housing and income.

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10
Q 
According to cultural deprivation theorists, why do working class children underachieve in education? 
External Factors - Point
A

Because their families fail to socialise them properly. They lack the cultural equipment needed to do well at school so they underachieve.

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11
Q

How does language affect educational achievement?

External Factors - Cultural Deprivation - Evidence

A 
Bernstein identifies two different types of speech codes. 
The restricted code - mostly used by working class parents. They use simple sentences and gestures. 
The elaborate code -  mostly used by the middle class. They use grammatically complex sentences,and a wider vocabulary.
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12
Q

How does the parent’s’ education affect the child’s educational achievement?
External Factors - Cultural Deprivation - Evidence

A

Bernstein found that middle class mothers were more likely to buy their children educational toys and books to stimulate intellectual development. Working class mothers are less likely to do this and therefore their children start school without the intellectual skills required to progress.

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13
Q 
How does working class subculture affect educational achievement?  
External Factors - Cultural Deprivation - Evidence
A

Sugarman introduces 4 concepts related to working class subculture.
Fatalism - a belief in fate
Collectivism - valuing being part of a group rather than succedding as an individual.
Immediate Gratification - seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices to get rewards in the future.
Present-Time Orientation - seeing the present as more important the future.

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14
Q

How can housing affect educational achievement?

External Factors - Material Deprivation - Explanation

A

Housing can affect young children directly and indirectly. An example of a direct affect is overcrowding. This means that a child might to have enough room to complete their homework or sleep. An indirect affect is the child’s health. Cold or damp housing can lead to ill health.

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15
Q

How can diet and health affect educational achievement?

External Factors - Material Deprivation - Evidence

A

Howard notes that children from poorer homes may have a lack of vitamins, minerals and energy. This leads to ill health and therefore results in time off school, thus affecting educational achievement.

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16
Q

How can financial support and the cost of education affect educational achievement?
External Factors - Material Deprivation - Evidence

A

David Bull refers to a lack of equipment and missing out on educational experiences as the ‘cost of free schooling’.

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17
Q

How can fear of debt affect educational achievement?

External Factors - Material Deprivation - Evidence

A

Callender and Jackson found that working class students were more debt averse - that is, they saw debt negatively and as something to be avoided. They also saw more costs than benefits in going to university.

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18
Q 
Who views material deprivation as a more important factor of class differences in education? 
Conclusion
A

Mortimore and Whitty argue that material inequalities have the greatest affect on achievement. As a result of this Robinson argues that tackling child poverty would be the most effective way to boost achievement.

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19
Q 
Who view views cultural deprivation as a more important factor of class differences in education? 
Conclusion
A

The fact that there are children from poorer families who do succeed suggest that material deprivation is only part of the explanation.

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20
Q

How are the three capitals linked?

External Factors - Cultural Capital - Explanation

A

Cultural capital is the knowledge and values that each family passes onto their child. However if a family has economic capital they can turn this into educational capital by sending their children to a private school or hiring a tutor. Bourdieu views middle class culture as a capital because, like wealth, it gives an advantage to those who possess it.

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21
Q

Define labelling.

Internal Factors - Labelling - Point

A

To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them.

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22
Q 
According to Hempel and Jorgenson, how do teachers define the 'ideal pupil' in a middle class school? 
Internal Factors - Labelling - Evidence
A

The ideal pupil is defined in terms of personality and academic ability, rather than as being a ‘non-misbehaving’ pupil,

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23
Q 
According to Hempel and Jorgenson, how do teachers define the 'ideal pupil' in a working class school? 
Internal Factors - Labelling - Evidence
A

The ideal pupil is defined as quiet, passive and obedient. The children were defined in terms of their behaviour rather than their ability.

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24
Q

Summarise the effects of labelling in secondary schools as found by Dunne and Gazeley.
Internal Factors - Labelling - Evidence

A

They found that ‘schools persistently produce working-class underachievement’ because of labelling and assumptions of teachers.

25
Q

Summarise Rist’s findings about labelling in primary schools.
Internal Factors - Labelling - Evidence

A

He found that teachers used information about the child’s home background and appearance to place them in separate groups, seating each group at a different table.

26
Q

What are the three stages of the self-fulfilling prophecy?

Internal Factors - Point

A

The teacher labels the pupil.
The teacher treats the pupil accordingly, acting as if the prediction is already true.
The pupil internalises the teacher’s expectation, which becomes part of their self-image, and they live up to this expectation.

27
Q

Briefly summarise Rosenthal and Jacobson’s study.

Internal Factors - Self fulfilling prophecy - Evidence

A

They went to a primary school in California and told teachers that they had a new IQ test that would prove which children would ‘spurt’ ahead. The test in fact did no such thing and they picked random names out of a hat. Teachers then began to treat these pupils differently and they did achieve higher than other pupils at the end of the year due to being favoured by teachers.

28
Q

Define streaming.

Internal Factors - Point

A

Streaming involves separating children into different ability groups of classes called streams.

29
Q

Which pupils are most likely to be placed in lower streams?

Internal Factors - Streaming - Extra Information

A

Working class.

30
Q

Why is it hard for pupils to move to a higher stream?

Internal factors - Streaming - Explanation

A

Because teachers have ‘locked’ them to these low standards.

31
Q

What evidence does Douglas give to show that streaming affects educational achievement?
Internal Factors - Streaming - Evidence

A

He found that children placed in a lower stream at age 8 had suffered a decline in their IQ score by the age 11.

32
Q

Explain what Gillborn and Youdell mean by the A* to C economy.
Internal Factors - Point

A

This is a system in which schools focus their time, effort and resources on those pupils they see as having potential to get at least 5 Cs and so boost the school’s league table position.

33
Q

Define triage.

Extra Information

A

Sorting.

34
Q

Which three ‘types’ do schools categorise pupils into?

Internal Factors - A*-C Economy - Evidence

A

Those who will pass anyway and can be left to get on with it.
Those with potential, who will be helped to get a grade C or better.
Hopeless cases, those who are doomed to fail.

35
Q

Define differentiation.

Internal Factors - Subcultures - Point

A

The process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and/or behaviour.

36
Q

Define polarisation.

Internal Factors - Subcultures - Point

A

The process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite ‘poles’ or extremes. These being the pro-school or anti-school subcultures.

37
Q

Define pro-school subculture.

Internal Factors - Subcultures - Point

A

Pupils placed in high streams who tend to remain committed to the values of the school.

38
Q

Define anti-school subcultures.

Internal Factors - Subcultres - Point

A

Those placed in low streams suffer a loss of self esteem: the school has undermined their self-worth by placing them in a position of inferior status.

39
Q

Define the following concepts used by Woods.
Ingratiation
Ritualism
Retreatism
Rebellion
Internal Factors - Subcultures - Differentiation - Evidence

A

Ingratiation - the ‘teacher’s pet’.
Ritualism - going through the motions and staying out of trouble.
Retreatism - daydreaming and mucking about.
Rebellion - outright rejection of everything the school stands for.

40
Q

State two criticisms of the labelling theory.

Internal Factors - Labelling - Evaluation

A

Marxists criticise the labelling theory for ignoring the wider structures of power within which labelling takes place. It tends to blame teachers for labelling pupils but fails to explain why they do so.

41
Q

Define habitus.

Extra Information

A

‘Dispositions’ or learned, taken-for-granted ways of thinking, being an acting that are shared by a particular social class.

42
Q

Why does the school’s habitus disadvantage working class pupils?

A

The middle class have the power to define its habitus as superior and to impose it on the education system. As a result, the education system puts higher value on middle class tastes, preferences and so on.

43
Q

Define symbolic capital.

A

Because schools have a middle class habitus, pupils who have been socialised at home into middle-class tastes and preferences gain symbolic capital or status and recognition from the school and are deemed of worth or value.

44
Q

Define symbolic violence.

A

By defining the working class and their tastes and lifestyles and inferior, symbolic violences reproduces the class structure and keeps the lower classes in their place.

45
Q

According to Archer, how do working class pupils view education?

A

They found that to be successful that would have to change they way they talked and presented themselves.

46
Q

Why do some working class pupils need to create a ‘Nike’ identity?

A

They used it as an alternative way of creating self-worth, status and value. They did this by wearing branded clothing such as Nike.

47
Q

How does a ‘Nike’ identity create conflict with the school?

A

It conflicted with the school’s dress code. People seen wearing these kinds of clothes ran the risk of being labelled as rebels.

48
Q

According to Archer, why do some working class pupils reject the idea of higher education?

A

It may be unrealistic.

It was undesirable to their preferred lifestyle of habitus.

49
Q

According to Evans, which universities are working class pupils more likely to go to?

A

Ones closer to home. They were reluctant to apply for universities such as Oxford because they felt a sense of hidden barriers and a fear of not fitting in.

50
Q

What choice do working class pupils have to make if they wish to achieve in education?

A

Maintaining working class identities or abandoning them and conforming to the middle class habitus of education in order to succeed.

51
Q

What is Tryona and Williams’ criticism of the cultural deprivation theory?

A

Troyna and Williams - argue that the child’s language is not the problem, it is the child’s attitude towards it. Teachers have ‘speech hierarchy’: they label middle class the highest, the middle class and finally black speech.

52
Q

What is Blackstone and Mortimore’s criticism of the cultural deprivation theory?

A

Blackstone and Mortimore - reject the view that working class parents are not interested in their child’s education, they just work longer or less regular hours or feel as though they do not fit into the middle class atmosphere of a school.

53
Q

What are the different types of material deprivation?

A

Housing
Diet and Health
Fear of Debt
Financial Support

54
Q

What are the three different types of capital?

A

Cultural
Economic
Educational

55
Q

Define Cultural Deprivation.

A

The basic, values, attitudes and skills needed for educational success that we learn through primary socialisation. Some children are not taught these and therefore are culturally deprived. Most of the time these children are working class.

56
Q

Define Cultural Capital.

A

The social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech and dress, etc.).

57
Q

Which sociologists studied labelling?

A

Hempel and Jorgensen
Dunne
Rist

58
Q

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?

A

When a student is labelled by a teacher, they internalise it and then prove the teacher right.

59
Q

Define marketisation.

A

The exposure of an industry or service to market forces.

//AS Sociology - Education (7 decks)

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