Education Differences in educational achievement by social class

Question 1

What are material out of school factors that can affect educational achievement?

Answer 1

→ Smith and Noble (1995) - “Barriers to learning”:

• Isolation and stigmatising that can come from no access to uniforms, trips and equipment.
• No equipment → will fall behind in learning.
• Low incomes lead to little room in the home to to learn and access resources through the internet.
• Marketisation of schools has led to high price houses near “good” schools
• Older students require extra work or have to care for younger siblings.

→ Washbrook and Waldfogel (2010) : 31% of the difference in scores of five year olds in vocab tests can be explained by material disadvantage. E.G. less books in the house / not read to.

→ Hirsch (2007) - “variety of advantages for the better off”:

• Structured out of school activities.
• Out of school activities lead to confidence, life skills, cultural literacy and specific cultural literacy that links into the school curriculum.
• More space and home and overall more likely to benefit from the specific privilege of Private Education.

Question 2

What are cultural out of school factors that can affect educational achievement?

Answer 2

• Cultural deprivation theory is the view that different classes have different cultures and these differences lead to cultural differences in the chance for success.

→ Sugarman (1970)

• Instant gratification vs. delayed gratification.
• Fatalism of the working class means they do not believe they can improve their prospects through hard work.
• Collectivist mindset in the working class vs. an individualistic mindset of the middle class.

→ Lockwood (1966) -Middle class is likely to buy into the mantra of meritocracy whereas the working class is more likely to think it’s all down to luck.

→Feinstein (2003) and Goodman and Gregg (2010)

• The quality of mother / child time.
• How often children are read to.
• Attitudes to the education system of the parent.
• The extent of positive behaviour vs. negative behaviour.

→ Bernstein (1972)

• Speech shapes educational achievement.
• Restricted codes vs. Elaborated codes which are used in schooling and professional settings.

Question 3

What action has been taken to try and improve the quality of education provided to students from predominantly working class areas?

Answer 3

• Emphasis on OFSTED to improve failing schools, particularly in working class areas.
• The Academisation of schools began with failing schools being taken over by businesses and school leaders with new, even draconian measures, to improve standards.
• ‘the knowledge turn’ has been a particular pedagogical approach used with the purpose of raising the cultural literacy and therefore achievement of the working class.
• OFSTEDs outstanding grading now focuses on the quality and breadth of a curriculum and the extra-curricular offerings of a school. This tacitly reflects the findings of:

→ Sullivan (2001)

Reading complex fiction and watching TV such as arts, science, current affairs and documentaries has an impact on achievement.

Question 4

Why can working class students in predominantly rich areas still be “left behind”?

Answer 4

• Traditionally, because of the A-C economy in the way schools are graded it has been easier for schools with a higher middle class uptake to appear to be succeeding.
• The move to judging schools on A8 and P8 scores has adjusted this somewhat. A good case study is Chipping Norton School.

Question 5

What do interactionists claim about how social class background affects the way teachers label pupils?

Answer 5

→ Hargreaves, Hester and Mellor (1975)

• Pupils’ appearance, how they respond to discipline, how likeable they are and personality can lead teachers to group them into “good” or “bad”. Subsequent behaviour can then be labelled either good or bad behaviour and the nuance is taken away.
• Middle Class behaviour is more likely to reflect the teacher “ideal” of how a student should be.

Question 6

What did Hargreaves, Hestor and Mellor (1975) conclude about the negative impact labelling can have on the progress of pupils in education?

Answer 6

• A pupil’s course of action will change based on a “prophecy” of events.

Question 7

What were the findings of the Rosenthal and Jackson (1968) study on teacher expectation and its impact?

Answer 7

• After giving false information to primary teachers in the USA about the IQ of pupils. Researchers found that pupils who were “told” they had a higher IQ / were believed to have a higher IQ did better.

Question 8

What are the conclusions of the research into streaming and setting?

Answer 8

→ Ball (1981)

• Working class children were more likely to be in lower sets even if of the same attainment data than their middle class peers.

→ Hallam (2009)

• Children in higher sets have a higher sense of esteem.

→ Dunne et. al (2011)

• Students in receipt of FSM likely to be in lower sets.

→ Willis (1977)

• Setting and streaming doesn’t matter. Willis found there were pronounced class divisions in school and students from unskilled backgrounds were hostile towards the middle-class children.

Question 9

What is the Marxist argument regarding elaborated and restricted codes / cultural capital?

Answer 9

→ Bernstein (1972)

• Speech shapes educational achievement. Restricted codes vs. Elaborated codes which are used in schooling and professional settings.
• A fundamental problem for the working class is that the education system operates in terms of the culture of the middle and upper classes.

→ Bourdieu (1984)

• The possession or lack of possession of different types of capital shapes your opportunity in society.

→ Evans (2007)

• Middle-class mothers were able to give their children a head start using their cultural capital.

→ Ball et al. (2004)

• Middle-class parents can use their cultural capital to “play” the system.