Education - Cultural deprivation

Question 1

Three aspects of Cultural deprivation

Answer 1

Language, Parents education & w/c subculture.

Question 2

Cultural deprivation

Answer 2

W/c families fail to socialise their children adequately.

Question 3

Language

Answer 3

The way parents communicate with their children affects cognitive development and their ability to benefit from the process of schooling.

Question 4

Hubbs-Tait et al (Language)

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Leon Feinstein (Language)

Answer 5

Found that educated parents are more likely to use language this way (challenging). By contrast, less educated parents tend to use simple descriptive statements (results in lower performance).

Also, educated parents use praise.

Question 6

Basil Bernstein (Speech codes)

Answer 6

Restricted code - used by the w/c, it has limited vocabulary. Context bound: the speaker assumes that the listener shares the same set of experiences.

Elaborated code - used by m/c, it has wider vocabulary and more complex sentences.
Context-free: the speaker does not assume that the listener shares the same set of experiences. So they use language to spell out their meaning.

Question 7

Speech code - advantage m/c, disadvantage w/c

Answer 7

Elaborated code is used by teachers, textbooks and exams. Early socialisation of elaborated code for m/c makes them feel at home at school since children are already fluent users.

w/c feel excluded.

Question 8

Basil Bernstein (Speech code) - evaluation

Answer 8

Critics - argue he is cultural deprivation theorist because he describes the w/c speech as inadequate.

However, unlike most cultural deprivation theorists, he recognises that the school - not just the home - influence children’s achievement.

He argues that w/c pupils fail not because they are culturally deprived but because schools fail to teach them elaborated code.

Question 9

Douglas (parents education)

Answer 9

W/c parents place less value on education.
Less ambitious for the children, less encouragement and took less interest in their education.

Result: children have lower levels of motivation and achievement.

Question 10

Parenting style

Answer 10

Educated - consistent discipline and high expectations.

Less educated - harsh and inconsistent discipline. This prevents learning independence and self-control.

Question 11

Parents educational behaviours

Answer 11

Educated - more aware of what’s needed to assist their child’s educational progress. As a result, they engage in activities, such as: reading, painting and drawing, etc. Also, better relationships with teachers.

Question 12

Use of income

Answer 12

Better educated parents have higher incomes and also spend their income in ways that promotes their children’s educational success.

Question 13

Bernstein and Young (use of income)

Answer 13

m/c mothers are more likely to buy educational toys, books and activities that encourage reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development. They are buy more nutritious foods.

w/c lack these resources and this means children from such homes start school without the intellectual skills needed to progress.

Question 14

Subculture

Answer 14

A group whose attitudes and values differ from those of the mainstream culture.

Question 15

Barry Sugarman (w/c subculture)
4 key features

Answer 15

Fatalism
Collectivism
Immediate gratification
Present-time orientation

Question 16

Fatalism

Answer 16

‘whatever will be, will be’

m/c contrast - you can change your position through your own efforts.

Question 17

Collectivism

Answer 17

Valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual.

m/c contrast - an individual should not be held back by a group.

Question 18

Immediate gratification

Answer 18

Seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future.

m/c contrast - emphasise deferred gratification, sacrifices now for greater rewards later.

Question 19

Present-time orientation

Answer 19

Present as more important than the future.

m/c contrast - has future-time orientation that sees planning for the future as important.

Question 20

Sugarman (w/c subculture, why it exists?)

Answer 20

M/c have secure careers, this encourages ambition and long term planning.

Contrast w/c - less secure and earnings peak at an early age.

Question 21

Compensatory education

Answer 21

Aim to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.

Question 22

Nell Keddie (myth of cultural deprivation)

Answer 22

She sees it as a victim blaming solution. She dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on the cultural deprived homes. She points out that a child cannot be deprived of its own culture and argues that w/c children are culturally different, not culturally deprived. They fail because they are put at a disadvantage by an education system that is dominated by the m/c.

Question 23

Troyna and Williams (myth of cultural deprivation)

Answer 23

Argue that the problem is not the child’s language but the schools attitudes towards it. Teachers have a ‘speech hierarchy’.