Class differences in achievement - EXTERNAL Flashcards
1
Q
Explaining class differences
A
- Social class - influence on child’s chances of success in education systems.
- Better off parents can afford to send children to private schools = higher standard of education.
- Internal & external factors - internal = within schools & external = outside schools.
2
Q
Cultural deprivation
A
- Age 3 children from disadvantaged backgrounds = up to 1 year behind those from privileged homes & gap widens with age = cultural deprivation. Most of us begin to acquire basic values, attitudes & skills that are needed for educational success through primary socialisation.
- Basic cultural equipment = language, self-discipline & reasoning skills. Many wc families fail to socialise children adequately = grow up culturally deprived. Lack cultural equipment needed to do well at school & underachieve.
3
Q
Cultural deprivation - language
A
- Essential part of process of education & way parents communicate with their children affects cognitive development & ability to benefit from process of schooling.
- Hubbs-Tait et al 2002, parents use language that challenge children to evaluate own understanding/abilities.
- Less educated parents - use language in simple descriptive form.
- Feinstein - educated parents = praise kids.
CD - differences in how parents use language as linked to social class.
4
Q
Language - speech codes
A
- Bernstein 1975 - differences between wc & mc language that influence achievement.
- Restricted code - used by wc. Limited vocab & based on use of short, unfinished, grammatically simple sentences.
- Elaborated code - used by mc. Wider vocab & based on longer, grammatically more complex sentences.
- Differences in speech give mc children an advantage at school & wc a disadvantage. Elaborated code used by teachers, textbooks & exams. Early socialisation with elaborated code = mc already fluent used of code.
5
Q
Evaluation of speech codes
A
Critics - Bernstein is CD theorist because describes wc speech as inadequate. He recognises school & not just home influences kids achievement. Argues that wc pupils fail because schools fail to teach them how to use elaborated code.
6
Q
Cultural deprivation - parents’ education
A
- Parents’ attitudes to education - key factor affecting children’s achievement.
- Douglas 1964 - wc parents placed less value on education. Were less ambitious for their children & gave less encouragement & took less interest in their education. Visited schools less often & less likely to discuss their children’s progress with teachers.
- Children had lower levels of motivation & achievement.
- Feinstein 2008 - parents’ own education is most important in affecting children’s achievement.
7
Q
Parents’ education - parenting style
A
- Educated parents’ parenting style = consistent discipline & high expectations of their children & supports achievement by encouraging active learning & exploration.
- Less educated parents’ style = harsh/ inconsistent discipline. Prevents child from learning independence & self control = less motivated at school & problems with interacting with teachers.
8
Q
Parents’ education - parents’ educational behaviours
A
- Educated parents - more aware of what’s needed to assist children’s educational progress.
- Better able to get expert advice on child rearing, more successul in establishing good relations with teachers & better guiding children’s interactins with school. Parents recognice educational value of activities such as museums & libraries.
9
Q
Parents’ education - use of income
A
-Better educated parents have higher incomes & spend it in ways that promote children’s success.
- Bernstein & Young 1967 - mc mums more likely to buy educational toys, books & activities that encourage reasoning skills & stimulate intellectual development. Wc homes - lack these resources & children have no skills for school.
- Educated parents - better understanding of nutrition & its importance in child development & higher income = buy right food.
10
Q
Parents’ education - class, income & parental education
A
- M/C parents - better educated than wc parents.
- Feinstein - parental education influence on children’s achievement regardless of class or income. Even in given class - better educated parents have children are more successful at school.
- Not all children of wc do bad & mc don’t always do well.
11
Q
Cultural deprivation - working class subculture
A
- Lack of parental interest in children’s education reflects subculture values of wc.
- Sugarman 1970 - wc subculture has 4 features that act as barriers to educational achievement: fatalism - belief in fate, collectivism - valuing being part of a group, immediate gratification - seeking pleasures now & present-time orientation - seeing present as more important.
- Mc = future-time oriented.
Wc children internalise belief & values of subculture. - Differences in values - stem from mc jobs = secure careers & prospects = ambition & long-term planning
12
Q
Working class subculture - compensatory education
A
0 Tackle problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools & communities in deprived areas.
- Operation Head Start in USA - preschool education in poor areas introduced in 1960s & develop skills & instil achievement motivation - improving parenting skills, setting up nursery classes & home visits by educational psychologists.
-Sesame Street - part of Head Starts = transmitting values, attitudes & skills needed for educational success - punctuality, numeracy & literacy.
13
Q
Working class subculture - myth of cultural deprivation
A
- Keddie 1973 - cultural deprivation = myth & sees it as victim blaming explanation. Dismisses ideas that failure at school = blamed on culturally deprived home background. Child can’t be deprived of its own culture & argues that wc children are culturally different not deprived. They fail as they’re put at disadvantage by education system that’s dominated by mc values.
- Schools should recognise & build on its strengths & challenge teachers’ anti wc prejudices.
- Troyna & Williams 1986 - not child’s language but schools attitudes towards it.
- Teachers have speech hierarchy: label mc speech highest, wc speech & black speech.
14
Q
Material deprivation
A
- Main cause of underachievement. Refers to poverty & lack of material necessities such as adequate housing & income.
- E.g. According to department for education 2012, 1/3 pupils eligible for free school meals - used as measure of child poverty - achieve 5+ GCSEs at A*-C against nearly 2/3 of other pupils.
- Flaherty 2004, money problems in family = significant factor in younger children’s non-attendance at school.
- Exclusion & truancy = more likely for children in poor families. Children excluded from schools = unlikely to return to mainstream education, 1/3 persistent truants leave school with no qualifications.
- Nearly 90% of failing schools are located in deprived areas.
Link between poverty & social class - wc = low incomes.
15
Q
Material deprivation - housing
A
-Poor housing = effect pupils achievement both directly & indirectly.
- Overcrowding = direct effect, making it harder for child to study. Overcrowding = less room for educational activities, nowhere to do homework & disturbed sleep.
- Development impaired through lack of space for safe play & exploration. B&B families move more often = constant changes of schools & disrupted education.
- Poor housing = indirect effects, child’s health & welfare, crowded homes = more risks of accidents. Cold or damp housing = illnesses. Families in temporary houses = psychological distress, infections & accidents.
