education essay Flashcards
introduction
Sociologists have vastly different views and opinions, when explaining differences in educational achievement, with each perspective evaluating whether external factors such as home background, class values, and capital or internal factors such as labelling, pupil sub-cultures, and setting affect educational attainment for certain social classes and whether these factors provide an explanation for the wide social class gap in educational achievement.
first paragraph - external factor material deprivation
Firstly, it could be argued that the cause of social class differences in educational achievement is due to external factors such as material deprivation and poverty, because as stated in item B, the material circumstances of pupil’s families can affect a pupil’s progress as poverty is closely linked to educational achievement with 90% of failing schools being found in deprived areas. An example of material deprivation would be pupils lacking necessities such as stationary, warm food, a heated home, a uniform or even just a quiet place at home to study. A material factor that may cause underachievement in working class pupils is finances, which has both direct and indirect effects on their education. This is because due to these financial and material barriers, working class pupils are disadvantaged as those from poorer families must go without equipment and miss out on experiences that would enhance their learning which Bulls refer to as ‘the cost of free schooling’ as Tanner et al’s found that the costs of these school related items and transport placed heavy burdens on poor families. This clearly shows how working-class students are disadvantaged as due to the lack of resources and finance they face barriers in their learning which therefore leads to educational underachievement and contributes to the wide social class gap in educational achievement. A weakness to this theory would be that working class students are offered financial help from the government through compensatory education schemes which means that pupils do not miss opportunities as pupil premium sets aside additional funding for schools to spend on disadvantaged pupils which shows how working-class students who lack resources are helped and not hindered in the education system. However, although pupil premium may help the money is not enough and many head teachers say it does not make for cuts elsewhere or that pupil premium misses certain pupils due to data changes which shows that material deprivation is still a problem that affects educational achievement.
second paragraph - internal factor labelling
Conversely, it could be argued that the cause of social class differences in educational achievement is due to internal factors such as the process of labelling because as stated in item B, factors internal to the educational system itself may be responsible for the class differences in educational achievement. This idea is supported by interactionists who argue that schools actively create inequalities through labelling as Hargreaves et al argues that once pupils first begin school, teachers use their perception of students to label them in three main stages: speculation, elaboration and stabilisation. Becker found that classifications, judgements and evaluations of students were made against whether they were an ‘ideal pupil’ or not, which was described to be conforming, high achieving and coming from a middle class non-manual background. An example of labelling occurring would be Rist’s study of a kindergarten, where he found that a teacher labelled her pupils according to their home background and appearance by placing her students into three main categories: the tigers, cardinals and clowns. The tigers consisted of high achieving, conforming and mainly middle-class pupils whom the teacher sat closest to in class, whereas the ‘clowns’ and cardinals were ‘non-ideal’ pupils who were mainly working class who were given lower-level books, fewer chances to show their abilities and sat the furthest away from the teacher. This further shows how the act of labelling contributes to differences in educational achievement as the self-fulfilling prophecy occurs as pupils will internalises the label given by their teacher as if it were true and then actually live up to the label which completes the self-fulfilling prophecy which explains why working-class pupils are often labelled ‘underachieving’ as they internalise their label which causes them to fail at education while middle class students internalise their label and succeed. However, the labelling theory can be criticised as it is seen as deterministic and ignores the fact working class pupils have the free will to reject their label and continue to succeed regardless of their ‘label’.
third paragraph - cultural deprivation
Secondly, it could be argued that the cause of social class differences in educational achievement is due to external factors such as cultural deprivation because as stated in item B, some focus on factors outside of the school such as pupils’ families or the way in which they are socialised. Reflecting this view, cultural deprivation theorists argue that working-class families fail to socialise their children adequately which leads to their children growing up ‘culturally deprived’ as they lack the culture to succeed in the educational system and thus underachieve. An example of cultural deprivation would be a ‘book poor’ home, which refers to a household with no reading material such as no books, newspapers and children’s books or children lacking cultural experiences like travelling and visiting museums meaning they are not exposed to the cultural knowledge and opportunities that most middle-class children are exposed to. One aspect of cultural deprivation that may cause underachievement in working class pupils is language, which is highlighted in Bernstein’s sociolinguistic theory where he argues that the working class have different linguistic skills and speech codes compared to the middle class as the working class speak in restricted code that is often context-bound and simplistic whereas the middle class speak in an elaborated code that consists of complicated vocabulary and is context free. According to Bernstein, these speech codes contribute to the differences in educational achievement among social classes as the education system operates in elaborated code through the likes of textbooks, exams and teachers as it seen as more valuable and the ‘correct’ way to speak and write. This means that when working class are already under-equipped and disadvantaged when they start school as they are unable to understand or use elaborated code in the same way their middle-class peers can, leaving them to feel excluded and less successful as they have only been socialised in restricted code and have not learned how to use elaborated code. However, Tranya and Williams criticise the cultural deprivation theory that working class speech is ‘restricted’ by arguing that working class language is not the problem but school’s attitude towards it as schools fail to adapt to those who speak in different speech codes with teachers having a ‘speech hierarchy’ and schools failing to teach working class pupils how to use elaborated code.
fourth paragraph - marketisation and selection
In opposition to this view, it could be argued that the cause of social class differences in educational achievement is due to internal factors such as marketisation and selection of schools through the A-to-C economy which as stated in item B, is an internal process that occurs within schools. Reflecting this idea, Gilbourn and Youdell argue that educational differences are a result of streaming and setting that has occurred since the introduction of Thatcher’s marketisation policy to publish exam league tables which created the A-to-C economy which refers to a system in which schools would ration their time, effort and resources to concentrate on pupils who have the potential to get five or more grade Cs and so boost the schools league table position and gain more funding. Due to the competition of exam-league tables, they argue that the A*-to-C economy produces an educational triage where schools categorise students into three main categories in notions of their ability: ‘those who will pass anyway’, ‘those with potential’ and ‘hopeless cases’ as working class and black pupils are labelled as lacking ability and as ‘hopeless cases’ meaning they are segregated into lower streams are offered a different curriculum and exams. This causes differences in achievement, as middle-class pupils are deemed to pass regardless or gain A-C, while working class pupils are denied the knowledge to gain A-C as they are ignored or left to fail in lower streams which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy as teachers use stereotypical ideas of pupils to predict their ability. Additionally, Barlett argues that marketisation leads to popular schools’ cream-skimming which refers to schools selecting higher ability pupils who gain the best results and cost less to teach and silt-shifting which refers to off-loading pupils with learning difficulties who are expensive to teach and get poor results. Marketisation and Selection processes have created a polarised education system where there is a clear divide in schools’ intake and funding as popular and well-resourced schools have a large intake of middle-class pupils while unpopular, ‘failing’ and under resourced schools with mainly low achieving working class pupils at the other which further contributes to social class differences in educational achievement.
conclusion
In conclusion, whilst there are many sociological theories and perspectives that offer a good insight and explanations for social class differences in educational achievement. External factors can explain how factors outside of school such as income, housing, upbringing, parental values and capital show how social class differences in educational achievement have deep roots within the home while internal factors within the education system such as labelling, self-fulfiling prophecy, marketisation and selection can explain how social class differences in education have deep roots within the education system itself. However, it is difficult to claim that one factor is more important than the other or argue that external and internal factors are separate from each other as in reality, these factors are inter-linked. This is because whilst teachers may label pupils negatively or positively in school, it is ultimately their home background that determines their label. Similarly, whilst certain social classes may possess different cultural values, the education system openly chooses to favour those of the middle class. Therefore, social class differences in educational achievement are a result of both external and internal factors which are inter-linked and should not be looked at separately.
Cultural deprivation paragraph
Lastly, it could be argued that the cause of social class differences in educational achievement is due to external factors such as cultural deprivation and class values because as stated in item B, the way in which parents socialise their children contribute to the wide social class gap in educational attainment and achievement. This is because
