education- external -topic 1 Flashcards
chapter 2
m/c occupations
non manual, teachers, doctors
w/c occupations
manual, skilled workers such as plumbers
m/c may achieve more because ect.
- parents have a pro-school culture
- can afford a tutor
m/c pupils {achieved 5 or more a-c passes at gcse }
83%
w/c pupils {achieved 5 or more a-c passes at gcse }
44%
internal factors
factors within the school and education system. eg student and teacher
external factors
factors outside education eg. family
private schools educate 7% of the population yet
accounts for nearly half the students that go to elite universities
class differences in children’s development and achievement in early years
by the age of three children form w/c backgrounds are already a year behind
what is cultural deprivation
the basic values, attitudes and skills that are need for educational success through primary socialisation in the family. are not taught to w/c kids
three main aspects of cultural deprivation
language, parents education, w/c subculture
cultural deprivation- language theory - who’s theory ?
hubbs-tait et al
children who are socialised inadequately
underachieve, often w/c
language theory
where parents use parents use language to challenge their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities improves cognitive performances.
Educated parents are more likely to use this language this way, feinstein found that educated parents are more likely to use praise
w/c homes are less likely to use language
language codes - who’s theory
Bernstein
restricted code
it has limited vocabulary and is based on grammatically simple, often unfinished sentences. Speech is predictable and may involve only a single word or gesture. Descriptive not analytic - context bound
elaborate code
wider vocabulary and is based on longer, more grammatically correct sentences. Speech is more varied and communicates more abstract ideas, context free
how do language codes give m/c children an advantage
textbooks and exams use elaborate code. Early socialisation into the elaborate code means that m/c students are already fluent users of the code when they start school, they will feel more at home and achieve higher thus w/c will feel excluded
who does Bernstein blame
the school
parents education- who’s theory ?
douglas/feinstein
douglas parental education
working class parents placed less value on education, as a result they were less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education - they visited schools less often and were less likely to discuss progress with teacher. As a result their children had lower levels of motivation and achievement.
feinstein parental education
parents own education is the most important factor as since m/c parents tend to be more educated, they can give their children advantages by how they socialise them
parenting styles
Educated parents → emphasises constant discipline and high expectations of their children, and this supports achievement by encouraging active learning and exploration.
Less educated → harsh, inconsistent discipline that emphasises doing as you are told and behaving. This prevents the child learning independence and self control, leading to poorer motivation at school and problems interacting with the teacher
parental education behaviour
educated parents are more aware of what is needed to assist their children’s education progress.
eg. Reading to children
and are more active
bernstien and young (1967) - use of income
Bernstein and young (1967), m/c mothers are more likely to buy educational toys, books and educational activities
w/c homes are more likely to lack these resources and start school with less intellectual skills
feinstein- income and education
Better paid m/c parents tend to be better educated, feinstein notes that parental education has an influence on children’s achievement in its own right, regardless of class or income. Thus even within a given social class, better educated parents tend to have children that are more successful at school. This may explain why not all children of working class parents do equally badly, and why not all children from middle class families are equally successful
working class subculture
Large sections of the working class have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society and thai is why their children fail at school.
barry sugarman (1970)
argues that w/c subculture has four key features that acts as a barrier to achievement:
fatalism / collectivism / immediate gratification / present time orientation
fatalism
a belief in fate that whatever will be, will be and there is nothing you can do to change your status. This contrasts with middle class values, which emphasises that you can change your position through your own efforts.
collectativism
valuing being apart of a group more than succeeding as an individual. This contrasts with the middle class view that an individual should not be held back bey group loyalties.
immediate gratification
seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future, by contrast middle class values emphasise deferred gratification, making sacrifices now for greater rewards later.
present time orientation
seeing the present as more important than the future and so not having long time goals or plans. By contrast m/c cultures sees planning for the future as important
sugarman argues that
that the differences in values stem in the fact that m/c jobs are secure careers offering prospects for continuous individual advancement. This encourages planning, long term ambition, and a willingness to invest time and effort.
By contrast w/c are jobs are less secure and have career structure through which individuals can advance. There are few promotion opportunities and earnings peak at an early age
issue of parental attitudes - when researching
Parents with poor personal experiences of education may identify the researcher with the school and refuse to participate
Some parents may see questions about parental support for their child’s education as attempting to portray them as bad parents
However if the researcher can gain parental trust, they will be more willing to talk as it gives them a voice
Parents are not easily contacted except through the school, so the researcher has to depend on the heads cooperation
Another way of contacting parents is through the schools parent association- most likely to be m/c - reduce representatives
Issues such as truancy or parental support are sensitive - defensive, exaggerate
May see as useful for school relationship
Literacy or language problems with the parents may cause difficulty when articulating feelings
compensatory education aims …..
to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas. They intervene early in the socialisation process to compensate children for the deprivation they receive at home.
operation head start
A multi billion dollar scheme of pre-school education in poorer areas introduced in the 1960s. Its aim was planned enrichment of the deprived child’s environment to develop skill and install achievement motivation.
It included improving parenting skills, setting up nursery classes and home visits by educational psychologist,
Sesame street was apart of this head start programme, as a means of transmitting values, attitudes and skills for educational achievement. Eg. the importance of punctuality, numeracy and literacy.
compensatory education programmes in Britain
→education priority areas
→education action zones
→sure start
myth of cultural deprivation
deprivation is Criticised as an explanation of class differences in achievement
Nell keddie (1973): describes cultural deprivation as a myth and calls it a victim blaming explanation. She dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived home background. She points out that a child can not be deprived of its own culture and argues that working class children are simply culturally different, not deprived. They fail because they because they are put at a disadvantage by an education system that is dominated by middle class values.
Keddie argues that rather than seeing w/c subculture as deficient, schools should recognise and build on its strengths. - challenge anti-w/c prejudice
Barry troyna and jenny williams (1986): - language
argue that the problem is not the schools language but the schools attitude towards it. Teachers have a speech hierarchy- label m/c higher, then w/c speech, then black.
tessa blackstone and jo mortimore (1994) - parents and education
they attend fewer parents evening, not because they are not interested but because they work irregular or longer hours or are put off by the m/c atmosphere. Lack the knowledge and education to help their children. There is evidence that school with mainly w/c pupils have less effective systems of parent school contacts. This makes it harder to keep track of their progress.
material deprivation
refers to poverty and a lack of material necessities such as adequate housing and income.
poverty is linked to educational achievement
According to the department for education (2012 ), barely a third of pupils eligible for free school meals {a widely used measure of poverty} achieve 5 or more gcses at a*-c, including english to maths, as against nearly ⅔ of other pupils
jan flaherty (2004) - money and childrens education
money problems in the family are a significant factor in younger children’s non- attendance in schools
Exclusion and truancy are more likely from poorer families. Children excluded from school are unlikely to return to mainstream education, while ⅓ of all persistent truants leave school with no qualifications
Nearly 90% of failing schools are located in deprived areas
how does can overcrowding lead to underachievement
Overcrowding …….
Harder to study
Nowhere to do homework
Disturbed sleep
how can housing lead to underachievement
For young children especially, development can be impaired through lack of space for safe play and exploration. Parents living in temporary accommodation may have to move frequently→ constant change in schools and disrupted education.
Can also affect health and welfare, children in crowded homes run a greater risk of accidents. Cold or damp housing can also cause ill health, families in temporary accommodation suffer more psychological distress infections and accidents. May lead to more absences.
marilyn howard - diet and health
young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition affects health, like affecting the immune system and lowering energy levels, this may result in more absences due to illness and difficulty concentrating in class.
richard wilkinson (1996)
children from poorer homes are more likely to emotion or behavioral problems. According to richard wilkinson (1996), among ten year olds, the lower the social class, the higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders, all of which are likely to have a negative effect on the child’s education.
jo blenden and stephen machin (2007)
found that children from low income families were more likely to engage in externalising behaviour eg. fighting and temper tantrums, which will disrupt schooling.
sure start
aim is to work with parents to promote the physical, intellectual, social developments of babies and young children, who are disadvantaged so that they can flourish at home and school.
- improve ability to learn by encouraging high quality learning enviroments that promote early learning and improve language skills
david bull (1980)
the cost of free schooling
the costs of free schooling
- transport, uniforms, books, calculators, computors, sports, music, art
- childen may be bullied if they have hand me downs
flaherty - fsm
20% of children do not take free school meals
teresa smith and michal noble (1995 )
adds that poverty acts as a barrier to learning in other ways, such as inability to afford private schooling or tuition and poorer quality or local schools
ridge w/c children and jobs
lack of funds also means that children from low income familes often need to work. ridge found that children in poverty take on jobs such as baby sitting, cleaning and paper rounds and that this often had negative impacts on their schoolwork
EMA
financial support to poorer students staying on in education after 16 that had previously been avaliable through education maintinave allowance (EMA) was
abolished in england by the colition goverment in (2011)
fear of debt
going to university involves getting into debt to cover the cost of tuition fees, books, and living expenses.
attitudes towards debt may deter w/c students from going university.
nationwide questionnaire survey: claire callender and john jackson (2005) →
found that working class students are more debt averse - associate debts with negativity, more cost than benifit.
debt averse means that they are five times less likely to apply than the more debt tolerant students - m/c
fees have increaesd to 9,000 - deter even more w/c students
diane reay (2005) - local xxx
found that working class students were more likely to apply to local universities so that they could save on travel costs but this gave them less opportunities to go to the highest status university.
w/c students that attend uni are …
more likely to work part time jobs to fund their studied, making it more dificult for them to gain higher class degrees.
drop out rates are also higher for universities with a large proportion of poor students
the national audit office
(2002) found that w/c students spend twice as much time in paid work to reduce thier dbts as m/c students
bourdieu (1984) - theory
- capitals
cultural, cultural, economic
which class has more of the capitals
m/c
cultural capital
knowledge, attitudes, vlaues, taste and abilities
middle class culture gives them an
advantage
middle class children are socialized to
have more educational abilities ect. abstract ideas
advntaged in school
middle class because the eductional system favours m/c culture
w/c exam failure tells children that
higher education is for them
school deems what culture as inferior
w/c
capital can be xxx into one another
convertd
economic capital can be used to
send children to high achieving tuition schools
alice sulivan (2001)
pay for extra tuition.
alice sulivan (2001) → used questionnaires, to conduct a survey of 465 pupils in the school. to acess cultural capital, she asked them about a wide range of activities, such as reading and tv viewing habits. those who read complex fiction, ad watched serious tv documentaries had better vocabulary and more cultural knowledge. these children are more likely to have graduate parents, these pupils are more likely to SUCCEED in gcses.
middle class children still had the highest cultural capital, explaining the gap in achievement
