Differences In Achievement

Question 1

What does material deprivation mean?

Answer 1

The view that as a result of a lack of financial resources in working class homes, children are deprived of materials and facilities which would enhance their educational progress

Question 2

How can housing affect a pupil’s educational achievement?

Answer 2

Overcrowding in houses can make it harder to study
Can lead to disturbed sleep from sharing bedrooms
Cold or damp housing can cause ill health leading to absence
Temporary accommodation can cause psychological distress

Question 3

How can diet and health affect a pupil’s educational achievement?

Answer 3

Howard notes that young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. This weakens the immune system and lowers energy levels
A lack of a nutritional diet leads to difficulties concentrating and more absences

Question 4

How can finances affect a pupil’s educational achievement?

Answer 4

Children from poor families have to do without equipment and miss out on experience that would enhance their education. Bull refers to this as ‘the cost of free schooling’
Working class students are more debt-averse and don’t want to risk going to university

Question 5

Critique of material deprivation

Answer 5

While material deprivation clearly plays a part in achievement, the fact that many working class children succeed shows that it is only part of the explanation
Governments have set up programmes of compensatory education in an attempt to overcome the problem

Question 6

What is sure start?

Answer 6

A programme aimed at pre-school children and families in disadvantaged areas providing home visits, play centres and financial help for childcare

Question 7

What is pupil premium?

Answer 7

Created in 2011 by the coalition government
Allocates additional funds for each poorer pupil in a school
Designed to assist their education depending on specific needs

Question 8

What is cultural deprivation?

Answer 8

The theory that working class parents don’t encourage their children to value school and to be aspirational
As a result working class children lack the ‘cultural equipment’ needed for educational success

Question 9

How can intellectual development affect a pupil’s educational success?

Answer 9

Many working class homes lack the books, educational toys and activities that would stimulate a child’s intellectual development
Middle class children are at an advantage because family and school environments positively reinforce eachother

Question 10

How can attitudes and values affect a pupil’s educational achievement?

Answer 10

The degree of parental interest shown is important as it can motivate a child to do better- can be measured through attendance to school events such as parent’s evening
School is an extension of MC values so MC children are at an advantage whereas school ethos clashes with WC values

Question 11

Why might some parents not be able to attend school events like parent’s evening?

Answer 11

Some parents may be unable to take time off work as it may result in losing money
Transport may be hard to access
Some parents might feel uncomfortable in a school setting due to their own bad experiences

Question 12

What is fatalism?

Answer 12

Belief that you can’t change how things are
Everything is predetermined and predestined

Question 13

What is activism?

Answer 13

A proactive approach where individuals are encouraged to take steps to improve their status
Middle class careers enable this through promotions

Question 14

How can language affect a pupil’s educational achievement?

Answer 14

Language used in lower class homes is deficient and as a result children fail to develop the necessary language skills required in school.
This can affect the capacity to be educated and to articulate understanding

Question 15

What are the characteristics of the restricted code?

Answer 15

People using this code assume others know what they are talking about- it’s context bound
Meaning are particular to the shared situation making it implicit
Sentences tend to be short, unfinished, grammatically incorrect and use limited adjectives

Question 16

What are the characteristics of the elaborate code?

Answer 16

Accurate delivery of process
Meaning are explicit
Richer vocabulary
Meanings are universalistic as it is context free

Question 17

Bernstein’s research

Answer 17

The elaborated code used in education is essential for success
Schools do not teach pupils how to use this code
Middle class students are already fluent in this code while working class students feel excluded

Question 18

Critique of cultural deprivation

Answer 18

Nell Keddie argues that WC children are not culturally deprived but culturally different.
WC children fail because they are put at a disadvantage by a MC value dominated education system
CD deflects attention away from the problems children face at school
A victim blaming explanation

Question 19

Troyna and Williams on CDT

Answer 19

The problem is not WC language, but school’s attitude towards it
Teachers have a ‘speech hierarchy’ where they label MC highest and WC lowest

Question 20

What is cultural capital?

Answer 20

Refers to the knowledge, attitudes, values, tastes and abilities of the middle class. Through socialisation middle class children acquire and understanding of the education system and how to succeed.

Question 21

Bourdieu on cultural capital

Answer 21

Children who possess MC culture are more likely to succeed in education as school has the same culture
The education system gives an advantage to MC children because it reproduces the class system
WC children respond by truanting, early leaving or just not trying

Question 22

What are internal factors?

Answer 22

Explanations created by interactionists who argue that a pupil’s self concept is influenced by teachers and other pupils. They claim that class differences in education are socially constructed in the classroom

Question 23

Hargreaves et al labelling process

Answer 23

1.speculation: teachers make guesses about what type of pupil they are dealing with based on enthusiasm for work, appearance and conformity
2.elaboration: teacher’s hypothesis is tested and confirmed or contradicted
3.stabilisation: teachers feel they know the student and are not surprised by their actions

Question 24

Cicourel and kitsuse on labelling

Answer 24

They conducted a study in an American High School and found that the students social class background was the most influential factor when teachers labelled students.

Question 25

Rosenthal and Jacobson on self-fulfilling prophecies

Answer 25

They conducted research in an American elementary school where they gave all children a test. They then told teachers who they thought would make rapid progress. Unknown to the teachers the children were chosen at random so the difference was only in the mind of the teacher. When they returned a year later the select group had made excellent progress in comparison with the other children

Question 26

Criticisms of interactionists theories on labelling

Answer 26

The theories on labelling have been generalised and over simplified
They assume that the same type of label is applied to a pupil by all teachers
Don’t take into account that a negative label can motivate a student to do well and prove a teacher wrong

Question 27

What is setting?

Answer 27

Whole classes of pupils are put in different groups for particular subjects

Question 28

What is streaming?

Answer 28

Involves grouping students together for all subjects

Question 29

Keddie on setting and streaming

Answer 29

She found that teachers treated higher sets/streams differently to those in lower sets/streams. Children in higher sets are expected to behave better and receive more knowledge which in turn gives them more opportunities

Question 30

Keddie on streaming and setting

Answer 30

Keddie found that students in higher sets are treated differently to students in lower sets. Students in higher sets are expected to behave better and are given more knowledge which in turn gives them greater opportunities for educational success

Question 31

Hargreaves on pupil subcultures

Answer 31

Hargreaves found that pupils in lower streams rebel against the school and develop a different set of values in opposition to the academic aims of the school. This is because they are deprived of self esteem and status by the school so they look for it in their peer groups

Question 32

Archer on pupils’ class identities

Answer 32

She found that working class pupils felt to be educationally successful they would have to change how they talk and present themselves. This symbolic violence led them to create alternative values. They do this through consuming branded clothing such as Nike to gain approval from their peers

Question 33

Impact of feminism

Answer 33

Provided more equal rights for females; helped bringing about changes in legislation and promoted equal opportunities
Raised girls expectations and standards
Encouraged girls to rethink self image and to become more aspirational, rather than only seeing there future in the stereotypical way as a mother

Question 34

Changes in employment

Answer 34

As a consequence of changes in legislation (equal pay act 1970) and changes in social attitudes, females see their futures in terms of paid work rather than in gender stereotypical ways
Girls recognise the link between qualifications and careers and understand there importance