Exams: Class and differential achievement

Question 1

Ray Rist ( internal )

Answer 1

Studied a us primary school class- found that the teacher used information gleaned from the children’s backgrounds to segregate them on separate tabes: tigers( neat and tidy middle class kids who she frequently praised), cardinals ( mainly working-class children), clowns( w/c children who she defined as those who could not learn)

Question 2

Ball ( internal)

Answer 2

Grouping by ability leaders to greater social class inequalities
Study of beachside comprehensive found that students were placed on bands on the basis of information provided by primary’s children. He found that w/c students were disproportionately placed in bottom streams which caused low self-esteem and apathy about education

Question 3

Keddie ( internal)

Answer 3

Examined the effects of streaming in a London comprehensive, she found that highly valued abstract knowledge was conveyed to those in the top stream because teachers regarded them as ‘bright’ enough to handle it.

Question 4

Anti-school subcultures (internal)

Answer 4

Studies by Ball found that those in bottom streams react to their percienved inferior status by forming anti-school subcultures which awards status on the basis of anti-school activity .

Question 5

Evidence for anti-school subcultures : Young

Answer 5

Conducted a survey of 3000 15 year olds in 22 Scottish schools and found evidence of w/c sunbculture called Neds who generally thought school was a waste of time. They came from deprived areas in which there was little prospect of finding work.

Question 6

Labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy (internal

0

Answer 6

Becker suggest that teachers see middle-class students as closest to the ‘ideal student’ in terms of performance. 
Working class students (especially boys) are seen as further from ideal.
Teachers interaction with students is based on these labels and results in a self fulfilling prophecy.

Question 7

Evidence of labelling: Pygmalion in the classroom by Rosenthal and Jacobson (internal)

Answer 7

Carried out a social experiment to test the validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Told teachers they used an IQ test to identify 20% of the especially bright ( was a lie- had been randomly chosen) . They responded to this by giving these students more attention and they reacted to this and worked harder.

Question 8

Bourdieu (external ) cultural capital

Answer 8

• middle class parents encourage cultural experiences
• middle class parents encourage an interest in books
• middle class parents stress the important of education
• schools value children with high cultural capital
• working class children experience a cultural deficit

Question 9

Social capital - Putnam (external)

Answer 9

Refers to membership of social networks that can bring about particular benefits- good schools etc.

If a middle-class child is denied access to the parents’ choice pf school then contacts may prove useful

Question 10

Private education: evidence

Answer 10

• according to the Sutton trust, in 2014 an average of just 11% of state school students went to the leading 24 universities in the uk compared with 38% of independent school students

Question 11

Evaluation : Rodeiro and Zanini

Answer 11

A Cambridge university study found that despite class disparities in university admissions, state school students are more likely to gain a first class degree than independent school students with similar a-level results

Question 12

Effects of poverty on schooling (external )

Answer 12

David Bull= so-called free education comes with hidden costs. Children from poor families often miss out because there is a lack of money for educational supports
Families in poverty are more likely to be located in deprived areas where 90% of schools are failing
Poor housing means overcrowding and a lack of a quiet place to study and more illness

Emily tanner found that children from poorer families are less likely to attend after school clubs because of the fees

Question 13

Evidence

Answer 13

Sutton trust found that teenagers from working class backgrounds are up to 3x less likely to attend a top uni
Only 11% of students from oxbridge come from a working class background 
Nearly 4/5 of middle class university students receive financial support from their parents compared to 2/5 of poorer students

Question 14

Language (external)

Answer 14

Bernstein - middle class parents socialise their children into an ‘elaborated speech code’. They can confidently use language that is abstract and complex. The language level is similar to teachers
Working class parents use a ‘restricted speech code’ that fails to fully convey meaning .

Question 15

Parental attitudes (external)

Answer 15

Douglas claimed that working class parents are less interested in their children’s education so their children are poorly motivated and less ambitious. He measured parental interest by counting the number of times parents visited schools for parent’s evenings.

Fernstein argued that middle-class parents are more child centred than working class parents.

Question 16

Evidence : Willis

Answer 16

Studied a group of 12 working class boys during their last 18 months of school and their first few months and work and found that: they had rejected the hidden curriculum and teacher labelling
Chose to the qualifications
Saw school as a success from having fun with mates

Question 17

Evaluation : cultural capital only advantages a child because it gets them into a good school

Answer 17

Suggests that it is the school that matters more then the school

Question 18

Evaluation : social capital theory

Answer 18

It is the contacts parents have with schools that are crucial to getting children a good education