Class differences in achievement (EXTERNAL)

Question 1

Hubbs-Tait et al

Answer 1

Found that where parents use language that challenges their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities, cognitive performance improves.

Question 2

Feinstein

Answer 2

Found that educated parents were more likely to use language that challenged their children.
Argues that parents’ own education is the most important factor affecting children’s achievement.

Question 3

Bereiter and Engelmann

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Bernstein

Answer 4

Identifies differences between working class and middle class language that influence achievement; restricted code and elaborated code

Question 5

Douglas

Answer 5

Found that working class parents placed less value on education. As a result, they were less ambitious for their children, gave less encouragement and took less interest in their education. Visited schools less often.

Question 6

Bernstein and Young

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Sugarman

Answer 7

Argues that working class subculture has four key features that act as a barrier to educational achievement: fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, present-time orientation.

Question 8

Keddie

Answer 8

Describes cultural deprivation as a myth and sees it as a victim blaming explanation. Culturally different not culturally deprived.

Question 9

Troyna and Williams

Answer 9

Argues that the problem is not the child’s language but the school’s attitude towards it.

Question 10

Blackstone and Mortimore

Answer 10

Working class parents attend fewer parents’ evenings, not because of lack of interest, but because they work longer or less regular hours or are put off by the school’s middle-class atmosphere.

Question 11

Howard

Answer 11

Notes that young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals which affects health by weakening the immune system and lowering children’s energy levels. = more absences

Question 12

Wilkinson

Answer 12

Among ten year olds, the lower the social class, the higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders all of which are likely to have a negative effect on the child’s education.

Question 13

Blanden and Machin

Answer 13

Found that children from low income families were more likely to engage in externalising behaviour (such as fighting and temper tantrums), which are likely to disrupt their schooling.

Question 14

Bull

Answer 14

“costs of free schooling” where students lack financial support and have to do without equipment and miss out on experiences that would enhance their educational achievement.

Question 15

Tanner et al

Answer 15

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 16

Smith and Noble

Answer 16

Add that poverty acts as a barrier to learning in other ways, such as inability to afford private schooling or tuition, and poorer quality local schools.

Question 17

Callender and Jackson

Answer 17

Found that working class students are more debt averse - they saw debt negatively, as something to be avoided. They also saw more costs than benefits of going to university.

Question 18

Reay

Answer 18

Found that working class students were more likely to apply to local universities so they could live at home and save on ravel costs, but that this gave them less opportunity to go to the highest status universities. They were also more likely to work part time to fund their studies, making it more difficult for them to fain higher class degrees.

Question 19

Robinson

Answer 19

Argues that tackling child poverty would be the most effective way to boost achievement as material inequalities have the greatest effect on achievement.

Question 20

Bourdieu

Answer 20

Three types of capital: cultural and material factors are interrelated.

• educational capital
• economic capital
• cultural capital

Question 21

Leech and Campos

Answer 21

Study of Coventry shows, middle class parents are also more likely to be able to afford a house in the catchment area of a school that is highly placed in the exam league tables. This has become known as selection by mortgage because it drives up the cost of houses near to successful schools and excludes working class families.

Question 22

Sullivan

Answer 22

Used questionnaires to conduct a survey of pupils in four schools. Asked them about a range of activities, such as reading and TV viewing habits and whether they visited museums and theaters. Tested their vocabulary and knowledge of cultural figures.