Cultural Deprivation External Factors 2.1 Flashcards
Internal factors
Factors within social and the education system, such as interactions between pupils and teachers and inequalities between schools.
External factors
Factors outside the education system such as the influence of home and family background and wider society
Cultural deprivation
Need primary socialisation for success. This cultural equipment includes language, self discipline and reasoning skills.
3 main aspects to cultural deprivation: intellectual development, language and attitudes and values
Intellectual development
Development of thinking and reasoning skills.
Douglas found working class pupils scored lower on tests than middle class.
Bernstein and young reach similar conclusions. The way mothers think about and choose toys has an influence.
Child from homes with no educational toys would therefore start school without having developed the intellectual skills needed to progress.
Cultural deprivation theorists argue many working class homes lack books and educational toys that would stimulate a child’s intellectual development.
Language
Critics argue that bernstein is a cultural deprivation theorist because he describes working class speech as inadequate.
Middle class children get an advantage with school.
The restricted code: limited speech used by working class
The elaborated code: more advanced speech used by middle class.
Children fail to develop the necessary language skills. They are unable to take the opportunities that schools offer.
Bereiter and engelmann claim that the language used in lower class is deficient.
Attitudes and values
Hyman argues that the values and beliefs of lower class subculture area self imposed barrier to educational and career success.
A subculture is a group whose attitudes and values differ from those of the mainstream culture.
Feinstein found that working class parents lack interest.
Douglas found that working class parents values less about education less ambitious and give less encouragement .
Compensatory education
Operation head start: a multi billion dollar scheme of pre school education in poorer areas introduced in the 1960s. Included improving parenting skills, home visits by health visitors, the creation of learning programmes for deprived children.
Sesame Street: reaching young children and transmitting attitudes and values needed to educational success. These included the important of punctuality, numeracy and general knowledge .
Compensatory education in Britain: sure start a nation wide programme aimed at pre school and their parents launched in 2000. Helped improve health.
The myth of cultural deprivation
Keddies arguments: a child cannot be deprived of its own culture- argues that wc children are simply culturally different not culturally deprived. Education is middle class dominated.
Cultural deprivation theory blames the victims- the victims of the wc who were taught that was how they were going to learn.
It is the education system that is at fault- they fail because they are put at a disadvantage by an education system that is dominated by middle class values.
