Education- Class and Differential Achievement

Question 1

What is class?

Answer 1

dividing groups in society by their status

Question 2

List a few things in education where working class individuals are put at a disadvantage…

Answer 2

-less likely to be found in nursery schools
-more likely to fall behind in literacy and numeracy
-most likely to be placed in lower sets
-more likely to leave school at 16
-less likely to be found in further education

Question 3

What is material deprivation and what does it mean for working class children?

Answer 3

material deprivation means that children do not have the money and resources that would give them an advantage in education.

Question 4

What things impact education as a result of material deprivation?

Answer 4

-cannot afford private education meaning there may be less facilities and bigger classes
-they cannot afford resources for home eg revision guides, access to Internet or tutors
-poor overcrowded housing means children may not have a quiet place to work and study
-poor diet as children are unable to afford food or have worse nutrition which leads to children being able to concentrate less in class or be ill more often
-the hidden costs of free education such as uniform, trips and equipment that families may struggle to afford
-cannot afford transport to better schools or move to areas in the catchment of a good school

Question 5

What are strengths and weaknesses of the material deprivation pov for class and achievement in education?

Answer 5

+has been highly influential in developing many compensatory education initiatives eg free school meals
-having a lack of money does not always influence academic achievement
-it does not take into account cultural factors such as poor teaching and poor parenting

Question 6

What is cultural deprivation?

Answer 6

cultural deprivation is the idea that the working classes do not have the language or values needed to do well in education so they are placed at a disadvantage

Question 7

Who’s theory is linguistic deprivation?

Answer 7

Bernstein

Question 8

What are the restricted codes and who does Bernstein believe speaks them?

Answer 8

shorthand and narrow vocabulary, short and broken sentences that cannot be understood our od context and slang is used often. spoken by the working classes

Question 9

What are the elaborated codes and who does Bernstein believe speaks them?

Answer 9

full sentences and wide vocabulary, very detailed, less use of slang and can be understood content free. Spoken by middle classes

Question 10

Why are working class put at a disadvantage because they speak in restricted codes and not elaborated codes?

Answer 10

education is largely delivered in elaborated codes including textbooks, assessments and revision guides are all written in elaborated codes and most teachers also speak in elaborated codes meaning working class children are put at a disadvantage

Question 11

What are some strengths and weaknesses of the linguistic deprivation theory in education?

Answer 11

+takes into account cultural factors and how they impact the school environment
+Bernstein backed his theory with evidence from the boys story board experiment
-some say it is out of date and class differences in speech patterns have declined since his research

Question 12

What experiment did Bernstein do to support linguistic deprivation? what did he discover?

Answer 12

He used a small sample of 5 year old boys from both working class and middle classes and got them to write a story based on a story board he gave them. he discovered that the working class boys wrote in more restricted codes and the middle class boys wrote in more elaborated codes and so it supported his theory.

Question 13

Give and strength and a weakness of Bernsteins experiment to support his theory of linguistic deprivation…

Answer 13

+backs up his ideas about linguistic deprivation
-small unrepresentative sample meaning it cannot be generalised as they were only males aged 5

Question 14

How does parental interest impact educational achievement for the different classes according to Douglas’s theory?

Answer 14

Middle class parents are more likely to visit children’s school and show more interest into their education unlike working classes who may have less time to show interest or it may be more difficult to visit children’s schools because of childcare and working.

Question 15

What did Sugarman believe impacted differential class achievement?

Answer 15

different attitudes of the working and middle classes and the working class subculture

Question 16

What 4 attitudes did Sugarman believe working classes had that put them at a disadvantage because of their working class subculture?

Answer 16

fatalistic- they believe in fate meaning they believe their us nothing they can do to change their status so their is no point in trying as they will fail anyway
collectivistic- they value being part of a group more than individual success
present time orientated- they see the present as more important than the future so they put in much less effort
immediate gratification- they seek pleasure now rather than making sacrifices to get bigger rewards in the future

Question 17

Give some strengths and weaknesses of cultural deprivation theory by Sugarman…

Answer 17

+it can explain why some people who are materially deprived can succeed as they are not culturally deprived
+it has been proven by the National Child Development Study that cultural deprivation theory and parent involvement was the most important factor in educational achievement
-some believe that people are not culturally deprived and they are just culturally different
-alot of working class parents are interested in their children’s education

Question 18

What is Habitus?

Answer 18

the environment you belong to (not necessarily physical)

Question 19

What is Bourdieu?

Answer 19

A Marxist

Question 20

What is culture capital?

Answer 20

cultural capital refers to the knowledge, attitudes, values, tastes and likes of the middle class.

Question 21

What is Bourdieus theory around culture capital?

Answer 21

That culture capital puts middle classes at an advantage as it is like wealth to those who possess it as education and and qualifications are based on middle class culture meaning children brought up in a middle class family are put at an advantage. Bourdieu believes working class children fail as the education system fails to accept its culture and devalues it.