Education

Question 1

What is material deprivation?

Answer 1

The lack of the ability and resources to purchase goods and services that can directly and indirectly help make it easier for students to achieve success in the education system.

Question 2

Factors that can affect education

Answer 2

1.) Occupation (lack of financial income and support) - Flaherty

2.) “Hidden costs” of education (trips, school uniform and equipment) - Smith and Noble

3.) Diet and Health (can make a student physically and mentally absent, as it can affect how much they’re actually learning)
- Howard’s study

Question 3

Criticisms of material deprivation

Answer 3

-Too deterministic : automatically assumes that WC are doomed to fail

-Fails to explain why there are some WC students that still achieve well

-It can be argued that due to material/ financial circumstances, WC students may use this as motivation to work harder and get themselves out of their economic situation.

-Poor Chinese students do almost as well as rich Chinese students;

ethnicity plays a role in educational achievement as well

Question 4

What is cultural deprivation?

Answer 4

Lacking the values, beliefs, behaviour and attitudes that society regards as important for educational success

Question 5

How can cultural capital be gained?

Answer 5

-Primary socialisation

-Having access to economic capital / wealth (Bourdieu);

this can be converted to educational capital (in order to afford private schools, extra tuition etc.)

Question 6

3 categories of cultural deprivation

Answer 6

Linguistic deprivation (Language barriers)

Cognitive development (Parents’ education provided to children)

WC subcultures (values and attitudes)

Question 7

What happens as a result if parents provide their education to their children by asking complex questions?

Answer 7

They can improve their children’s cognitive performance, meaning their children can articulate their essays better
- can lead to better exam grades

Question 8

According to Bernstein, what is considered as the correct way of speaking:

Restricted or elaborated speech?

Answer 8

Elaborated speech, which is stereotypically thought of as a MC value to possess

Question 9

What does Feinstein say about parent’s education?

Answer 9

It’s the most important factor affecting their children’s achievement, as they can influence their children from early on in their cognitive developmental years

Question 10

What is a subculture?

Answer 10

Another group in society whose values deviate from the mainstream values in society

Question 11

Sugarman’s (1970) 4 key features that act as a barrier between WC and MC

Answer 11

1. Time orientation - WC live in the moment; MC plan for the future
2. Attitudes to gratification (immediate vs deferred) - WC seek immediate gratification; MC seek deferred gratification
3. Collectivism vs Individualism - WC gain success through luck or fate; MC gain success through ability and hard work
4. Attitudes to luck - WC rely on luck for social mobility; MC rely on hard work

Question 12

Criticisms to Sugarman’s 4 features that act as a barrier between WC and MC

Answer 12

Too deterministic: relies on WC conforming to these standards and not wanting to divert and change to being hardworking like the MC

Question 13

Criticisms of cultural deprivation

Answer 13

-Stigma created against WC values in education system: negative attitude and neglect of WC values

• It can be argued that WC aren’t culturally “deprived” per se, but culturally “different”.

-Class differences have declined since Bernstein’s time and research, meaning differences between MC and WC are smaller now.

-Just because the parents are culturally deprived, it does not mean that the children will be too;
the parents may want their children to achieve more in school than they did in order to be socially mobile

Question 14

How can the MC be reproduced into future generations?

Answer 14

By passing on cultural capital down to their children

Question 15

Criticisms of cultural capital

Answer 15

-It ignores the importance of internal factors (how different groups of students are treated within the schooling system)

-It may ignore the material factors

Question 16

What are the internal factors within school?

Answer 16

1.) Labelling
2.) Self-fulfilling prophecy
3.) Streaming
4.) Pupil subcultures

Question 17

Explain what labelling is

Answer 17

Attaching a meaning to a student (e.g “hardworking” or “troublemaker”)

It can be linked to their class background (with MC students seen as “ideal students”) , appearance or their work and conduct

Question 18

Following the concept of labelling, what is self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 18

This is the aftermath of labelling (when a student internalises their label) :

Labelling can have a positive or negative impact on students’ confidence levels -

This leads to them acting on their labels that were assigned to them

Question 19

Stages of self-fulfilling prophecy:

Answer 19

1.) Teacher assigns a student a label / makes predictions about them based on their label

2.) Therefore the teacher-to-pupil interaction is affected based on the prediction / label they assigned their pupil

3.) The pupil then internalises their label/predictions and it becomes a part of their self-concept (they become the label) ;

Thus fulfilling their original prophecy

Question 20

Criticisms of labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy:

Answer 20

-Can be too deterministic: students may wish to prove their teachers wrong

-Mirza studied 2 South London schools with 62 black girls (aged 15-19) - wanted to study the effects of racism on these girls’ confidence:

Mirza found that they actually rejected their labels and were determined to work hard for their educational success

Question 21

What is Streaming?

Answer 21

The act of putting students with similar abilities into the same groups/classes (basically sets)

Top sets for bright studious pupils
Bottom sets for “thick” dumb students, where education is ‘dumbed down’

Question 22

Why do schools stream?

Answer 22

-The pressure of league tables and formula funding
Thus leading them to the triage system

Question 23

What is the triage system?

Answer 23

Where schools ration their time and resources and they categorise their students by considering:

1.) Those who’ll pass anyways (less help required for them)

2.) Grade 4-5 students (help is targeted to them)

3.) Hopeless cases (more attention and resources allocated to them)

Question 24

What factors in schools may shape gender differences in subject choice?

Answer 24

• Peer group pressure: leads to girls and boys choosing subjects based on stereotypical gender identities
• Subject counselling: teachers may influence boys and girls to different subject choices in relation to their own gender stereotypes
• Learning resources (may include gender stereotypes and represent subjects to be dominated by a specific gender)
• Gender of teachers

Question 25

What is Durkheim’s (Pussio) theory on education?

Answer 25

• Education teaches specialist skills
• It creates social solidarity by getting people to communicate with those who are unfamiliar (in order to create one big body /community)

Question 26

What is a critique about Durkheim’s view on education?

Answer 26

-It can be argued that education isn’t linked to job skills as it focuses on exams

(Exam pressure and conditions may not truly reflect one’s ability)

• The ethnocentric curriculum may exclude many students from society (which doesn’t promote social solidarity)

Question 27

What is Parsons’ view on education

Answer 27

Education acts as a bridge between families and workplace:

-Teaches concepts of status and how it’s earned through hard work : teaches meritocracy

Question 28

What is a criticism of Parsons’ view on education?

Answer 28

Marxists argue that “meritocracy is a myth” as they recognise class differences and inequalities within the capitalist society

Question 29

What is Davis and Moore’s views on education?

Answer 29

Education provides the role of allocation:

-Exams put those with higher grades in the more important jobs and roles within society

Question 30

What is a critique on Davis and Moore’s view on education?

Answer 30

The fact that most high paying jobs (such as footballing and acting) are questionable in terms of their functionalism;

However those who are key workers tend to be lowly paid, yet society cannot function without them

Question 31

Which sociologist contradicts Marxists’ concept of false class consciousness that controlled WC students?

Answer 31

Paul Willis and his study of ‘macho lads’ where they made active decisions to make careers in manual labour;

They were aware of indoctrination and chose not to partake and steer straight towards manual labour

Question 32

How is there negative context put on WC students in education?

Answer 32

Through learning the Industrial Revolution:

• they are to be subservient

Question 33

How have there been more opportunities for females to succeed in the education system?

Answer 33

-Through subject initiatives like GIST (girls into science and technology)

-Through the feminisation of education

Question 34

How has the education system been feminised?

Answer 34

-Shift from individualised / traditional learning strategies to more collaborative and cooperative strategies (girls are more collaborative in nature and have better communication skills)

• Mitsos and Browne claim that with the introduction of coursework, achievement rates have increased for girls (they work harder on coursework drafts and research)

-Increase in female teachers provides role model for students (gives them more motivation as they see that education appreciates and respects feminine characteristics)

Question 35

What are the disadvantages of education being feminised?

Answer 35

Boys underachieve in comparison:

• Tony Sewell (2006) : Lack of male role models (in primary schools)

-Boys and their peer groups may reject education as it seems to feminised and not masculine enough

-Boys learn more by doing (more kinesthetic in their learning than girls) rather than just writing

Question 36

How are there still gender inequalities?

Answer 36

Men still hold higher positions in wider society and in schools (headteachers)