Educational Attainment - Class

Question 1

Educational Attainment - Definition

Answer 1

The results one achieves

Question 2

Educational Achievement - Defintion

Answer 2

The progress made

Question 3

Free School Meal Children (FSM) - Definition

Answer 3

Those on FSM must be in a household that earns below £16,100 (dual-earner) per annum, and they stay on this list for 6 years, and automatically come off the list at 16

Question 4

Disadvantaged Children - Defintion

Answer 4

FSM / 6 - looked after children

Question 5

The issues with measuring attainment

Answer 5

• Measurements of social class have changed over time, making comparison difficult
• Exams have changed, making attainment hard to compare
• Dependent on the qualifications included
• COVID will skew statistics

Question 6

Statistics - FSM vs Non-FSM

Answer 6

• FSM children performed worse on phonetics tests in primary school by around 14% - there is consistent difference every year (parallel line trend)
• A lower percentage of FSM children achieve a level 4 or above in the expected reading, writing and maths standards by the end of KS2 - they differed by around 17% each year, and a similar difference of around 22% remained following reform of testing
• Around 18% more MC students achieved grade 4/C or above in maths and English than FSM students
• 23% more non-FSM students attained at least 2 A-Levels compared to FSM students

These trends and patterns clearly illustrate a class affect on educational attainment.

Question 7

Social Class and Deprivation

Answer 7

Two types of Deprivation -
- Cultural deprivation - lacking the appropriate values, attitudes, language and knowledge for success
- Material deprivation - lacking access to financial resources

Factors contributing to this deprivation can be external or internal.

Question 8

Cultural Deprivation Theories - External factors (W)

Answer 8

WISE - revision acronym

1. Working class subcultures
   Evidence - Hyman (1967) and Sugarman (1970)
   - Opinion polls, Survey data and Interviews
   - Evidence/Explanation
   - Hyman argues that there are different values between the classes. W/C place less value on education and achieving a good job. They think there is less chance they will have an opportunity for advancement and less motivation to do so.
   - Sugarman identifies that W/C have different attitudes and orientations:
   1) Fatalism - accept a situation rather than trying to improve it (discourages hard work)
   2) Immediate gratification - wants instant rewards (leave school early to get a job)
   3) Collectivism - group loyalty rather than individual achievement (less likely to focus on personal success)
   - These attitudes are not supported or rewarded by the education system which can cause underachievement.

Evaluation - Data gathered from Interviews may not be valid as people give the interviewer what they want = social desirability and Hyman generalised his research which may not have been entirely applicable.

Question 9

CDT - External Factors (I)

Answer 9

2. Parental Interest in Education
   Evidence - Douglas (1964) and Feinstein (2003)
   - Douglas Longitudinal study - tested groups of students
   - Feinstein - Data from National Child Development Study/British Cohort Study
   - Douglas - Tests showed that significant differences in scores between similar ability students from different classes. W/C students were more likely to leave school early. Parental interest in education appeared to be the biggest factor in success. M/C parents visited schools more and more likely to encourage their child to stay on to sixth form.
   - Also, during primary socialisation, M/C parents gave their children more support and encouraged them to take part in activities which helped their schooling.
   - Feinstein - Supported Douglas, concluded that parental support was a significant factor in attainment.

Evaluation -
- Blackstone and Mortimer - W/C may have less time to spend with their children. Don’t like interacting with teachers.
- Data shows teacher perceptions made by M/C teachers - bias and inaccuracy

Question 10

CDT - External Factors 3 (S)

Answer 10

3. Speech Patterns
   Evidence - Bernstein (1972)
   - Interviews using picture cards
   - Speech difference explain the differences in attainment. - Restricted code (slang, shorthand speech) relies in particularistic meanings this means in exams, they are less likely to be able to express their ideas for examiners to reward.
   - Elaborated code is much more detailed and has universalistic meanings so that everyone can understand what is written. This means that they use more complex language which is rewarded by examiners.

Evaluation -
- All w/c are lumped together - there are lots of variations within these groups.
- Provides little evidence
- Interviews can be biased

Question 11

CDT - External Factors 4 (E)

Answer 11

4. Parental Education and Attitudes
   Evidence - Evans (2007)
   - Anthropological approach - participant observation
   - Most W/C parents placed high value on education because they know it will lead to a better future. However, it is the socialisation process that causes differences in attainment not values
   - M/C mothers use more formal learning type skills such as counting and speaking that can help with formal education later on.
   - W/C mothers see formal learning skills as something done by schools not at home, meaning these children are likely to start school behind their M/C peers.
   - She rejects the cultural deprivation theory

Evaluation -
- Could be subjective as she lived within the group. May want to put a positive light on the findings.

Question 12

What did Hyman say?

Answer 12

There are different values between the classes. W/C place less value on education and achieving a good job. They think there is less chance they will have an opportunity for advancement and less motivation to do so.

Question 13

What did Sugarman say?

Answer 13

W/C have different attitudes and orientations

Question 14

What did Douglas say?

Answer 14

Parental interest in education appeared to be the biggest factor in success.

Question 15

What did Bernstein say?

Answer 15

Speech difference explain the differences in attainment.

Question 16

What did Evans say?

Answer 16

Most W/C parents placed high value on education because they know it will lead to a better future. However, it is the socialisation process that causes differences in attainment not values.

Question 17

Key concepts in cultural deprivation theories

Answer 17

Fatalism - the attitude that destiny is set and cannot be changed
Immediate gratification - wanting things now
Present time orientation - focused on what is currently happening - cannot see future plans
Culture clash - conflict between two different groups
Elaborated speech codes - developed range of vocabulary
Restricted speech codes - limited use of a range of vocabulary

These theories are well explained by cultural deprivation theories, which are all useful in helping us understand differences in educational attainment in social class due to cultural deprivation - they are also reliable and valid due to a recent 2019 study which backed up the ideas of parental interest (Douglas and Feinstein), working class subcultures (Hyman and Sugarman) and parental education and attitude (Evans) with some reference to Bernstein’s ideas of speech differences. This is all evidence for the influence of culture and its interaction with financial deprivation. It confirms the reliability and relevance of the studies and theories to understanding educational attainment differences.

Question 18

Evaluation of cultural deprivation theories - weaknesses and contrasting evidence (WI)

Answer 18

1. Working class subcultures (Hyman and Sugarman)
   - If there is a culture clash with working class families and schools, maybe it is the school that needs to change. Keddie (1973) argues there is no cultural deprivation, but merely a cultural difference. Education is largely based on white-middle class culture, which disadvantages those from other backgrounds. W/C are not “deficient”, but the schools are failing to meet their needs. Thus we should focus our attention on what happens in schools and the cultural values they promote.
   - How this affects the theory ->
2. Parental interest in education (Douglas and Feinstein)
   - Many w/c parents are very concerned and ambitious for their children’s success in education. In his research, Douglas used teachers’ comments about parents’ education and the amount of time they visited schools. However, many working class parents work long hours, do shift work or have zero hours contracts where they do not get paid if they leave work. Not interacting with school may be more about financial costs than lack of interests. Reay (2009) notes that working class parents may have less confidence when interacting with schools/teachers and this is interpreted as less support.
   - How does this affect the theory ->

Question 19

Evaluation of cultural deprivation theories - weaknesses and contrasting evidence (SE)

Answer 19

3. Parental education and attitude (Evans)
   - There is some evidence that schools with mainly working class pupils have less effective systems of parent-school contact which makes it harder for parents to keep in touch with their children’s progress. This may explain more clearly why some parents do not attend parents evenings or school events rather than their level of education.
   - How does this affect the theory ->
4. Speech codes (Bernstein)
   - There is very little sociological evidence to prove that children from lower working class families use language in this way. Many argue that the interviews that have been conducted were flawed and proved little.
   - How does this affect the theory ->

Question 20

Summary of evaluation

Answer 20

The issue with each theory comes from and is based on confounding research and contrasting variables that create weaknesses in the ideas, such as the idea that the education system culture is clashing and incompatible with working class lifestyles rather than the other way round (Keddie 1973)), speech patterns have little supporting evidence and the study design may have been the primary reason for this result, the idea that working class parents face financial deprivation that affects their engagement with schools, and that their own experience may interfere with their interest and attitude to education, caused by the school system rather than the working class, who have gained their culture through mistreatment by the system (Reay 2009)

Evaluation of Cultural Capital impact -
- Reading culture proves to have more of an impact than cultural exposure activities on GCSE grades, suggesting that home activities and the culture itself of engaging in educational activities impacts attainment, but school trips etc benefit experience, and so government policy should focus less on this latter form of cultural capital

Question 21

Material Deprivation factors - statistics

Answer 21

• Around 30% of FSM students achieve 5 or more GCSE’s compared to over 60% of those who are non-FSM
• Exclusion and truancy are higher for poorer children
• Persistent absence is higher for FSM students
• Nearly 90% of ‘failing’ schools are located in deprived areas

Question 22

Material Deprivation factor 1 - impact on attainment from housing situation

Answer 22

• Douglas; Overcrowding - less room for educational activity, nowhere to do homework etc and have disturbed sleep from noise - more pronounced in lockdown with noisy households affecting online engagement
• Development can be impaired through lack of space for safe play and exploration; families living in temporary accommodation may find themselves moving more frequently, causing disrupted education
• Indirect effects - health and welfare are affected by cold and damp housing which causes ill health, and being in temporary accommodation suffers more psychological distress, infections and accidents, causing absence

Question 23

Material Deprivation factor 2 - Diet and health impact on attainment

Answer 23

• Howard (2001) - young people in poor homes have lower energy, mineral and vitamin intake leading to poor nutrition and therefore health, weakening the immune system and lowering energy levels, resulting in absence and poor concentration, resulting in issues with remembering knowledge and engaging in school
• Wilkinson (1996) - children from poor homes are more likely to have emotional or behavioural issues, with a lower social class being correlated with higher hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders in the 10 year olds studied, which is negative for education
• Blanden and Machin (2007) - found that low income children are more likely to engage in externalising behaviour like fighting due to poor mental health, which can lead to exclusion and disrupted education

Question 24

Material Deprivation factor 3 - Financial support and cost of education impact on attainment

Answer 24

• Lack of equipment, resources and ability to provide experience (like school trips that would increase cultural capital and reduce alienation) that would enhance education; Bull (1980) ‘the costs of free education’
• Tanner et al (2003) - studied an Oxford area and found that the cost of transport, books, uniforms and other elements of schooling life were a heavy burden on working class families, and such children had 2nd hand or cheaper equipment and uniforms which were unfashionable, causing isolation, stigma and bullying lowering self-esteem, making a negative school environment which would demotivate children and make them less likely to attain high grades (also due to lack of resources)
• Flaherty - fear of stigmatisation led to 20% of those eligible for FSM do not use the resources available
• Smith and Noble (1995) - poverty is a barrier to private schools, tutors and attending high quality local schools, as they are stuck in deprived areas (cycle of poverty)
• Lack of funds also mean that children from low-income families often need to work, which can negatively impact attainment and schoolwork, worsened by the removal of Education Maintenance Allowances in 2011 (EMAs) for those continuing with education post-16

Question 25

Material Deprivation Factor 4 - Fear of Debt impact on attainment

Answer 25

• Going to university involves going into debt to cover tuition fees, books and living expenses - attitudes towards debt in WC families may deter WC students from going to university - Callender and Jackson (2005) found WC students were more debt-averse, seeing more cost than benefit to university according to a nationwide survey of 2,000 prospective university students, affecting attainment of degrees and higher occupation which could remove them from a poverty cycle
• Callender and Jackson also found that debt attitude was important in deciding whether or not to even apply to university, with the most debt-averse (typically WC) being 5 times less likely to apply than debt-tolerant students (typically MC)
• Increases in tuition fees (2012) to a maximum £9,000 per year, may mean the increased debt burden will deter even more WC students applying to university according to a 2012 UCAS study which found that the number of UK applicants had decreased by 8.6% compared to 2011
• W/C students who do go to university also are likely to receive less financial support from families - National Union of Students (2010) online survey of 3,863 students found that only 43% of WC students got support from family compared to 81% of middle class students, which explains why only 30% uni students come from WC backgrounds, despite making up 50% of the population - WC gain less higher education and higher jobs

Question 26

Other material deprivation factors - finances and higher educational attainment

Answer 26

• Financial factors also affect the choice of university for WC students and their chances of success
• Reay (2005) - WC students are more likely to apply to local universities so they can live at home and save on travel costs, but this gave less opportunity to go to high status universities, and they are also more likely to work part time to fund their studies, making it harder to gain high class degrees
• Dropout rates are higher for universities with a high WC population e.g. London Metropolitan has a 16.6% dropout rate compared to Oxford’s 1.5% rate, which has 50% of their students privately educated - WC students are less likely to attain higher education because they are less likely to be able to fund it or be motivated based on their culture
• National Adult Office (2002) - working class students spend twice as much time in paid work to reduce debt than their middle class counterparts
• Peter Mortimore and Geoff Whitty (1997) argue that material deprivation have the greatest effect on achievement, and Peter Robinson (1997) argues that this proves tackling child poverty is the most effective way to boost attainment and achievement

Question 27

Concept definitions - deprivation factors

Answer 27

1. Fatalism - the attitude that destiny is set and cannot be changed
2. Immediate gratification - wanting things now
3. Present time orientation - focused on what is currently happening - cannot see future plans
4. Culture clash - conflict between two different groups
5. Elaborated speech codes - developed range of vocabulary
6. Restricted speech codes - limited use of a range of vocabulary

Question 28

Educational Social Policy and Attainment - What is compensatory education?

Answer 28

Compensatory education refers to the policies that are put in place to overcome material and/or cultural deprivation that some groups suffer, in order to ensure equality of opportunity. They aim to offset the effects of socio-economic disadvantage that may restrict the educational opportunities of children from socially deprived backgrounds

Question 29

How can we evaluate the effectiveness of social policy on educational attainment?

Answer 29

• Observing attendance changes for WC pupils
• Recording any improvements to the gap of grade attainment
• Measuring the amount of WC children who progress to higher education

Question 30

How effective have compensatory educational policies been? - Education Action Zones (EAZs)

Answer 30

Link to material or cultural deprivation?
Material deprivation

Who did it aim to help?
It aimed to help children who lived in high levels of deprivation. They aimed to help raise school standards, tackle disadvantage and increase pupil self-esteem.

How did it aim to help?
It aimed to attract sponsorship and investment from the private sector into the public school sector by bringing together a group of schools with parents, community groups and businesses. It also allowed the national curriculum to be layered to make the education more vocational as well as varying the national pay and conditions package for teachers to attract better ones to deprived areas

What were the outcomes?
It was not a great success, attracting limited sponsorship and achieving disappointing improvements and was not conceited beyond its initial 5 year term.

Question 31

How effective have compensatory educational policies been? - Educational Maintenance Allowance

Answer 31

Link to material or cultural deprivation?
Material Deprivation

Who did it aim to help?
It aimed to help teenagers from poorer families.

How did it aim to help?
Allowed them to claim up to £30 to help them stay in education, aiming to cover transport costs, food and equipment costs.

What were the outcomes?
It was scrapped recently due to the cost and being poorly targeted (cost £560m) and was replaced by a £180m bursary scheme, with some money being given as a grant to students in need and colleges and schools allocating the rest. It helped many people continue to stay in education, and some consider scrapping it a huge mistake.

Question 32

Conservative Government and Compensatory Education

Answer 32

1979-1997:
- Claimed that overall educational standards could be best improved through the extension of individual parental choice which would indirectly result in the expansion of effective schools and the contraction and possible closure of ineffective schools

Question 33

Labour Government and Compensatory Education

Answer 33

1997-2010:
- Introduced compensatory education policies such as Sure Start, EAZs, Excellence in Cities Programmes, EMAs and the Aim Higher Scheme
- These were all based less on the concept of cultural deprivation and more on improving pre-school facilities, improving the schools themselves and providing financial help and advice designed to give socially disadvantaged children a fairer chance to fulfil their ambitions

Question 34

Coalition Government and Compensatory Education

Answer 34

2010-2015:
- Cut EMAs and the Aim Higher Scheme, replacing them with alternatives and introducing Pupil Premium and the Academies Programme

Question 35

Internal Factors - Labelling

Answer 35

Becker (1971) - Labelling Theory:
- To attach a meaning or definition to a pupil, such as a teacher labelling a pupil as ‘bright’ or a ‘troublemaker’
- He interviewed 60 Chicago high school teachers
- He found that students judged as ‘good’ or ‘trustworthy’ were based on the image as an ‘ideal pupil’
- The ‘ideal pupil’ - image held by teachers of the kind of pupils they like to teach
1. Appearance
2. Pupil’s work
3. Behaviours
- Self-fulfilling prophecy - living up to the label attached
- This process of accepting the positive label is called the ‘Halo Effect’
- ‘Master Status’ - defined by the label attached

Question 36

Sociological Studies of Labelling - Dunne and Gazeley (2008)

Answer 36

• Conducted interviews in 9 English state secondary schools, finding that the underachievement of W/C pupils was normalised; they were unconcerned by it and felt there was little to be done. However, they did not believe the same of M/C pupils in the same situation academically.
• This was due to the labelling of the role of the pupil’s home backgrounds - W/C parents were believed to be less interested in their children’s education than M/C parents.
• Because of this, class differences were created in how teachers dealt with pupils perceived to be underachieving - they set extension work for underachieving middle class pupils but entered W/C pupils into easier exams and underestimated their potential. They viewed those doing well as ‘overachieving’.
• They concluded that the way teachers explained and dealt with underachievement in itself constructed class differences in levels of attainment

Question 37

Sociological Studies of Labelling - Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1965)

Answer 37

• In a study of Oak Community School (primary school in California) they inspected the self-fulfilling prophecy.
• They informed the school that they had a new test that would identify the top pupils; it was actually a standard IQ test. They randomly selected 20% of students after the testing and informed the school, falsely, that they had identified these children as ‘spurters’.
• After returning to the school a year later, they found that almost half (47%) of those identified had made significant progress, with the effect being greater in younger children.
• They suggested that the pupils were influenced by the teachers beliefs about the tests, and their interactions with students conveyed this belief, demonstrating the self-fulfilling prophecy as the teachers brought about the prediction by simply internalising it.
• The random nature of the selection also suggests that if teachers believe strongly that a student is of a certain type, they can make them that student.
• Alternatively, if teachers have low expectations of students, and this is communicated through their interactions, these children will develop a negative self-concept and they may perceive themselves as failures and adopt fatalism, fulfilling their prophecy.

Question 38

Sociological Studies of Labelling - Rist (1970)

Answer 38

• Studied American kindergartens in 1970, and found that the teachers used information about children’s home and background and appearance to place them in separate groups, seating each group at a different table.
• They therefore showed differing levels of achievement based on their perception from the teacher.
• Those who were decided by the teacher to be fast learners, labelled ‘the tigers’ tended to be middle class and of neat and clean appearance, seated at the closest table and were showed the greatest encouragement. The other two groups, labelled the ‘cardinals’ and the ‘clowns’ were seated further away.
• They were working class, given lower level books to read and fewer chances to show their abilities e.g. had to read in groups.

Question 39

What is streaming?

Answer 39

• Streaming is the separation of children into different ability groups and classes, with each ability group being taught separately from the others in all subjects.
• This has shown to increase the likelihood of a self-fulfilling prophecy occurring in the labelled students, as Becker explained that teachers do not normally see W/C students as ideal, but rather as lacking in ability and therefore they have low expectations of them.
• W/C children are therefore more likely to be placed in a lower stream, and so their labelling impacts their attainment through a negative process and teacher-student relationship.
• Once streamed, mobility between the streams is difficult, as students are locked by teacher expectations, and a self-fulfilling prophecy is created where students in low streams adopt a fatalist perspective and underachieve in line with expectations.
• Douglas’ research showed an IQ decline between ages 8-11 in those streamed lower, but has also shown M/C students in contrast benefiting more from the streaming, with those placed in higher streams having an IQ increase between the ages of 8-11.
• They are more likely to be in higher streams, reflecting the teacher image of them being the ideal pupil, and so a more positive self-concept is developed, along with more confidence, a better work ethic and as a result better attainment

Question 40

What is the ‘A-C economy?’

Answer 40

• A London study by Gillborn and Youdell (2001) showed that teachers streamed students based on their stereotypical notions about ‘ability’; this led to W/C (and black) students being labelled as low ability, being placed in lower streams and therefore attaining less being entered into low tier GCSE exams, denying them access to higher knowledge and opportunity and widening class divides in achievement.
• They linked this to the publishing of exam tables that put schools in competition with one another, and force schools to prioritise gaining a good league position to attract pupils and funding.
• This means that an ‘A-C economy’ is created in schools, a system in which schools focus their time, resources and effort on those pupils seen as having their potential to get 5 GCSEs and so boost the school’s league position.
• Because of this, lower ability students are separated early and not prioritised, and so their attainment suffers; or, they are entered into lower tiers to increase their perceived chance of success.

Question 41

What is educational triage?

Answer 41

• This process is called ‘educational triage’ by Gillborn and Youdell, and is produced by the ‘A-C economy’ which essentially means students are sorted into three types; those who will pass regardless and are left to their own devices, those with potential who are helped to get higher grades, and ‘hopeless’ cases who are doomed to fail.
• Teachers tend to use this narrow and simplistic stereotypical view of ability, and are more likely to label black or working-class students amongst the third category, ‘warehousing’ them into bottom sets, creating self-fulfilling prophecies and failure that could be preventable.
• League tables drive educational triage, which becomes a basis for streaming and false stereotypical beliefs that segregate students into positions of less knowledge, opportunity, support, attention and resources, causing lower levels of achievement and attainment in W/C pupils.
• Schools’ operation within the wider education system as part of a ‘marketisation’, as part of their policy, directly affects micro-processes that produce class gaps in achievement, policies such as exam league tables.

Question 42

What were Colin Lacey’s (1970) concepts?

Answer 42

Lacey identified two concepts to explain the development of pupil subcultures, or pupils who share similar behaviour and values as a response to labelling and in particular streaming:
1. Differentiation - this is the process of teachers categorising students according to how they perceive their ability, behaviour and attitude. Streaming is an example of this, as it categorises students into different classes, placing students deemed to be ‘more able’ into high sets, and those deemed ‘low ability’ are given an inferior status in low sets
2. Polarisation - the process in which students respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite ‘poles’ or extremes; Lacey’s study of Hightown boys’ grammar school found that streaming polarised boys into a pro-school and an anti-school culture.

Question 43

What is the pro-school subculture?

Answer 43

• Pupils placed in high streams (who are largely middle class) tend to remain committed to the values of the school
• They gain their status in the approved manner, through academic success
• Their values are those of the school, which is why they form a ‘pro-school culture’

Question 44

What is the anti-school subculture?

Answer 44

• Those placed in low streams (tend to be W/C) suffer a loss of self-esteem, as the school has undermined their self-worth by placing them in a position of inferior status
• This label of failure pushes them to search for alternative ways of gaining status, usually by inverting the schools values of hard work, obedience and punctuality according to Lacey
• These pupils form an anti-school culture, as a way to gain status among their peers, by way of activities like insulting teachers, smoking etc
• However, joining this culture, despite solving a stats issue, creates further problems of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure

Question 45

What did David Hargreaves suggest?

Answer 45

• In 1967, he found that there was a similar anti-school response to labelling and streaming in a secondary school
• Boys in these state schools were viewed as ‘triple failures’, having failed their 11+, being placed in low streams and being labelled as ‘worthless touts’
• One solution formed by the boys to solve this status problem was to seek each out and form a group within which the high status went to those who flouted the schools rules
• They therefore formed a delinquent subculture that helped to guarantee their educational failure

Question 46

What impact does abolishing streaming / banding have?

Answer 46

• Stephen Ball found in his 1981 study of a school that was abolishing banding (form of streaming) that polarisation was largely removed as students did not have the basis for subcultures to form and the influence of the anti-school culture therefore declined.
• Despite this, teachers continued to differentiate pupils and were still likely to categorise M/C students as co-operative and able.
• This positive labelling caused higher exam results, suggesting that the presence of teachers interacting with students with stereotypical labelling still existed without the streaming, causing self-fulfilling prophecies and continuing class inequality, even though the processes that obviously caused the differentiation were removed.
• This suggests the labelling divides come directly from teacher-student relationships rather than educational process or policy.

Question 47

What are other pupil responses to streaming and labelling?

Answer 47

Aside from the two subcultures, Peter Wood identified other possible responses in 1979:
- Integration: pro school conformity as in the pro school subculture, with eagerness to please teachers and win favour with them
- Ritualism: lack of interest and engagement with schooling but appearing to conform by going through the motions to avoid trouble
- Retreatism: not actively opposed to school values but indifferent to them; messing about, lack on concentration, daydreaming and indifference to exam success.
- Rebellion: outright rejection of schooling and its values and involvement in anti-school activity as the anti-school subculture.

John Furlong (1984) also observed many pupils are not committed permanently to any one response, but may move between different types of response, acting differently in lessons with different teachers.

Question 48

Definitions - Processes

Answer 48

Setting -
Students are based in different classes based on their ability for different subjects

Streaming -
Splitting pupils into several different hierarchical groups which would stay together for all lessons

Banding -
Putting pupils into broad ability bands and was often used to ensure each school in an area had pupils representing a reasonable balance of each ability level

Question 49

Differentiation and Polarisation

Answer 49

Streaming occurs -> Differentiation
- Students join a subculture, either anti-school or pro-school
- Polarisation occurs as students are viewed as either more able or less able
- Outcomes of being more able - SFP, Halo Effect, Ideal pupil and achieve
- Outcomes of being less able - SRP, Master Status, underachieve and low self-esteem

Question 50

Jo Boaler - ‘Psychological Prisons’ 2005

Answer 50

Students’ Experiences of Ability Grouping - disaffection, polarisation and the construction of failure
- Four-year longitudinal study monitoring the mathematical learning of students in six UK schools.
- The disadvantages affected students from across the spectrum of setted groups and were not restricted to students in low groups. The results of that study, that related to setting, may be summarised as follows:
- Approximately one-third of the students taught in the highest ability groups were disadvantaged by their placement in these groups because of high expectations, fast-paced lessons and pressure to succeed. This particularly affected the most able girls.
- Students from a range of groups were severely disaffected by the limits placed upon their attainment. Students reported that they gave up on mathematics when they discovered their teachers had been preparing them for examinations that gave access to only the lowest grades.
- Social class had influenced setting decisions, resulting in disproportionate numbers of working-class students being allocated to low sets (even after ‘ability’ was taken into account).
- Significant numbers of students experienced difficulties working at the pace of the particular set in which they were placed. For some students the pace was too slow, resulting in disaffection, while for others it was too fast, resulting in anxiety. Both responses led to lower levels of achievement than would have been expected, given the students’ attainment on entry to the school.

Question 51

What is habitus and identity?

Answer 51

1. Identity - how you see yourself and how others see you
2. Habitus - a key concept in understanding the interaction between pupils’ identities and the school and how this impacts on achievement
   - It refers to the ‘dispositions’ or learned, taken-for granted ways of thinking, being and acting. Shared by a particular social class (each social class has its own habitus)
   - It is essentially how a person views society and their view on what is realistic for themselves

Question 52

What is habitus? (detailed)

Answer 52

Habitus refers to the dispositions of each social class, including their taste and preference in lifestyle and consumption, outlook and their expectations on what is normal and realistic for ‘people like us’, with a habitus being formed in response to the class structure position. Although a habitus is not intrinsically better than another’s, the middle class has the power to define its habitus as superior and impose it on the education system, and so higher value is placed on middle class preferences - fashion and leisure choices
- This is linked to Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory. This places an advantage on middle class culture, with the W/C culture is considered inferior.

Question 53

What is the difference between symbolic capital and symbolic violence?

Answer 53

• Symbolic capital is the status, recognition and sense of worth we get from others who are similar to us. (middle class habitus)
• Symbolic violence is the harm done to others by defining their symbolic capital as ‘worthless’ or ‘tasteless’. (working class habitus)
• Working class students therefore experience the world of education as alien and unnatural
• Bourdieu (Marxist): habitus = the ways of thinking and acting of a particular class. In the education system:
• The middle-class habitus&raquo_space; symbolic capital
• The working-class habitus&raquo_space; symbolic violence

Question 54

What did Archer identify?

Answer 54

• Archer identified that W/C students felt that in order to be educationally successful, and would change how they talk and present themselves.
• Thus, this meant educational success meant losing themselves.
• They also feel unable to access posh, middle class spaces such as university or professional careers, which were not seen as being for the ‘likes of us’.
• Archer: Working-class students would need to change how they talked and presented themselves in order to gain symbolic capital from the school. Those who don’t are devalued and judged negatively by school – and so suffer symbolic violence.

Question 55

What is a ‘Nike’ identity?

Answer 55

• Because of the symbolic violence described by Bourdieu, W/C students seek alternative ways of creating status, self-worth and value; they do so by constructing meaningful class identities for themselves by investing heavily in styles, especially in clothing brands like Nike. (W/C students are more likely to wear Nike tracksuits than their upper class counterparts).
• Style performances are heavily influenced by peers and not conforming is ‘social suicide’, with right appearance earning symbolic capital and approval from peer groups, and brought safety from bullying, in which a lack of this style leading to feelings of inauthenticity.
• However, this led to conflict with the habitus of the school, with teachers opposing ‘street styles’ as showing bad taste or being threatening, risking being labelled as a villain.
• The middle class see the ‘Nike identities’ as tasteless, but to the W/C they are a way of generating symbolic capital and self-worth.
• To overcome the symbolic violence they face, working-class students gain self-worth though style - brand names.
• This gives a sense of ‘being me’.
• These identities are strongly gendered – specific to males or females, adopting hyper heterosexual styles.
• Must conform to these styles to get social approval/status.
• Approval from peers, but conflict with school’s habitus.

Question 56

How does the ‘Nike’ identity connect to higher education?

Answer 56

Nike styles play a part in W/C pupils rejection of higher education -
- It is seen as unrealistic - because it wasn’t for ‘people like us’ but for richer, posher, cleverer people and that they would not fit in; it was also seen as unaffordable and a risky investment
- Undesirable - because it would not suit their preferred lifestyle or habitus; they do not want to live on a student loan because they would be unable to afford the street styles that gave them identity

• According to Archer et al, working class pupils’ investment in Nike identities is a cause of their educational marginalisation by the school, but also expresses their positive preference for a particular lifestyle, with the result being self-elimination or self-exclusion from education.
• This is because they receive the message that education is not for them, but they actively choose to reject it because it does not fit their identity or way of life.

Question 57

Louise Archer - Science Capital

Answer 57

• Concentrated her longitudinal study of 10-19 year olds (surveyed around 30,000 participants) on identifying why there was a lack of people taking STEM subjects
  Identified that enjoyment, perception and parental support for these subjects was present, but there was much less interest in actually becoming a scientist; this is explained by her idea / theory of science capital - the majority of those taking STEM degrees in the UK are white / south-asian middle class males
• Science capital - inspired by Bourdieu, this concept extends on the cultural capital idea to include scientific interest along with fine art / reading etc; a so-called ‘bag’ of science capital explains that it consists of what you know, who you know scientifically, how you scientifically think and what science related activities you do
• This capital is shaped by home, school and everyday concepts; however it is not fixed as you can continue building it throughout life, and the value of it is also not fixed, as it is dependent on the context you are in
• Those who have higher science capital are more likely to engage in a scientific career and have a ‘science identity’

Question 58

Louise Archer findings

Answer 58

• 50% of those with high science capital were likely to study STEM degrees, with only 6% of those with low SC expressing the same desire
• 80% of those with high science capital expressed having a science identity (capital = identity tendencies); 3% of those with low SC said the same
• A study of 3,500 people aged 11-15 identified that only 5% had a high science capital, most likely to be a white or south asian middle class boy
• 68% of students had medium science capital, and 27% had low science capital - these trends only increase with age - by developing science capital in the education system by building on what students have already learned, we can increase the probability of them taking on STEM careers, which is economically beneficial and beneficial for social justice, increasing diversity in these careers

Question 59

The effects of labelling on a student’s experience - Ingram’s study

Answer 59

• Ingram studied two groups of W/C Catholic boys from the same deprived neighbourhood in Belfast. One group had passed their 11+ and gone to grammar school, while the other group had failed and gone to a local secondary school. The grammar school had a strongly middle class habitus of high expectations and academic achievement, with the secondary school having a habitus of low expectations of its underachieving pupils.
• She found that having a W/C identity was inseparable from belonging to a W/C locality, with the neighbourhood’s network of family and friends acting as a key part of the boy’s habitus, giving them an intense feeling of belonging - just like Archer’s study, street culture and branded sportswear were a key part of the habitus.

Question 60

The effects of labelling on a student’s experience - Ingram’s study pt2

Answer 60

• However, Ingram noted that W/C communities place great emphasis on conformity, the boys experienced a great pressure to ‘fit in’, a particular problem for the grammar school boys who experienced a tension between the habitus of their W/C neighbourhood and that of their middle-class school.
• An example of this is Callum being ridiculed by his classmates for coming to school in a tracksuit on non-uniform day, and by opting to fit in with his neighbourhood habitus he was made to feel worthless by the school’s middle class habitus.
• This is an example of symbolic violence, in which pupils are forced to abandon their ;worthless’ working class identity if they want to succeed; as the sociologist Meg Maguire (1997) wrote of her own experience of going to grammar school.

Question 61

The effects of labelling on a student’s experience - Evans’ Study

Answer 61

Evans’ studied a group of 21 W/C girls from a south London school studying for their A-Levels. She found that they were reluctant to apply to elite universities as they felt the few that did apply felt a sense of hidden barriers and of not fitting in. Many W/C people think of places like Oxbridge as being not for the likes of them, and this feeling comes from their habitus, which includes beliefs about their potential opportunities and this thinking becomes part of their identity and leads to self-exclusion.

Question 62

The link between Archer, Evans and Ingram

Answer 62

• Like Archer and Ingram, Evans found that the girl’s had a strong attachment to their locality, with only 4 of the 21 wishing to move away to study. Reay (2005) pointed out that self-exclusion narrows the options of W/C students and limits success. The studies by these sociologists show a consistent pattern of a middle-class education system devaluing the experiences and choices of W/C people as worthless and or inappropriate.
• Because of this, W/C pupils are often forced to choose between maintaining a W/C identity or abandoning them and conforming to the middle class habitus of the education system to succeed.