External Factors - Cultural deprivation

Question 1

what does cultural deprivation link to and why

Answer 1

Cultural Deprivation links to primary socialisation as class differences in achievement appear very early in life

Question 2

what study shows that CD links to socialisation

Answer 2

A nationwide study by the Center for Longitudinal Studies found that by the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to one year behind those from more privileged homes and the gap widens with age

Question 3

what do CD theorists conclude about the nationwide study that shows the link between socialisation

Answer 3

They argue that most of us begin to acquire the basic values and skills that are needed for educational success through primary socialisation in the family and that many W/C families fail to socialise their children adequately which leads to them being culturally deprived

Question 4

what is cultural deprivation in a nut shell

Answer 4

Lacking the cultural equipment needed to do well at school which leads to underachievement.

Question 5

who is culturally deprived

Answer 5

The working class

Question 6

what are the main aspects of cultural deprivation

Answer 6

Parents education
W/C Subculture
Language

Question 7

parental attitude to education

Answer 7

Cultural deprivation theorists argue that parents attitudes to education are a key factor affecting children’s achievement

Question 8

key sociologists for parental attitude to education

Answer 8

Douglas
Goodman and Greeg
Bernstein and Young

Question 9

Douglas’s study on parental attitude to education

Answer 9

A major early study by Douglas concluded that working-class parents placed less value on education, they were less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and had less interest overall in their children’s education. They visit schools less and do not discuss progress with teachers as a result their children had lower levels of motivation and achievement.

Question 10

Goodman and Gregg’s study on parental attitude to education

Answer 10

They found that parental involvement in their children’s schooling was the single most important factor that affect their children’s achievement

Question 11

Bernstein and young’s study on parental attitude to education

Answer 11

According to Bernstein and Young, while WC parents show less interest, MC parents show interest in different ways as they are most likely to buy educational toys and books for their children to encourage reasoning skills and intellectual development, which gives them a head start at school over W/C students whose parents are less likely to afford such - can be used in MD

Question 12

language codes

Answer 12

Language is an essential part of the process of education and how parents communicated with their children affects their intellectual development and their ability to benefit from schooling

Question 13

key sociologists for language codes

Answer 13

Berieter and Engelman
Bernstein

Question 14

berieter and engelman - language codes

Answer 14

They argue that the language used in W/C homes is deficient as a result they fail to develop the necessary language skills for educational success, this acts as a barrier at school, w/c children might struggle with reading and writing

Question 15

Bernstein - language codes

Answer 15

He identified two types of speech codes
Restricted Code - used by the working class, it contains limited vocabulary, short and often unfinished grammatically simple sentences,
Elaborate code - used by the MC - wider vocabulary, long grammatically complex sentences

Question 16

what does the difference in speech codes mean for social class differences

Answer 16

These differences in speech code give middle-class children an advantage at school and put W/c children at a disadvantage. This is because the elaborated code is the language used by teachers, textbooks and exams. Early socialisation into the elaborated code means that M/C children are already fluent users of the code when they start school and so they are more likely to succeed, while WC students have a disadvantage as they can’t access or understand what is going on in the classroom

Question 17

what is a subculture

Answer 17

A subculture is a group whose attitudes and values differ from those of the mainstream culture

Question 18

key sociologist for WC subculture

Answer 18

Sugarman

Question 19

sugarman - WC subculture

Answer 19

Sugarman argues that the WC have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society and this is why their children fail at school. He argues that the WC has four key features that act as a barrier to educational success. These values are learnt through primary socialisation and by the time w/c children have started school they have been internalised and this results in them underachieving at school

Question 20

four key features of the WC subculture identified by Sugarman with meaning

Answer 20

Fatalism - a belief in fate, whatever will be will be and there is nothing you can do to change your status
Collectivism - valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual, even if that means being held back by group loyalties
Immediate gratification - Seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices for the future, the opposite of deferred gratification, whereby the MC are prepared to make sacrifices now for greater rewards in the future
Present time Orientation - Seeing the present as more important than the future and not having any long-term goals

Question 21

what is the main way of solving cultural deprivation

Answer 21

Compensatory education

Question 22

what is compensatory education

Answer 22

Policies which aim to tackle the problems 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 may experiences at home

Question 23

examples of compensatory education

Answer 23

Operation Sure Start in the UK was introduced by the New Labour Government made to tackle poverty
Operation Head Start in America - a multi-million dollar scheme of preschool education in poorer areas introduced in the 1960s, it included parenting skill classes and home visits by educational psychologists

Question 24

evaluation of CD - keddie

Answer 24

Keddie describes Cultural Deprivation as a myth and sees it as victim blaming. She argues that a child cannot be deprived of its own culture and the WC are simply culturally different not deprived. They fail because they are put at a disadvantage by discrimination from the MC-dominated education system. She argues that rather than seeing WC culture as deficient, schools should challenge their anti-wc prejudice and work with it

Question 25

evaluation of CD - wider society

Answer 25

It ignores inequalities built into the education system and wider society which are to blame for underachievement - teacher labelling, material deprivation etc

Question 26

evaluation of CD - language

Answer 26

Troyna and Williams argue that the problem is not the child’s language but the school’s attitude towards it. Teachers have a speech hierarchy and they label MC speech the highest

Question 27

evaluation of CD - parental interest

Answer 27

Critics reject the view that W/C parents are not interested in their children’s education. According to Evans, most want their children to do well at school because they know that it would lead to a better job. According to Blackstone and Mortimore, WC parents attend fewer parents evening because they work longer or because they are put off by schools MC habitus, not because of lack of interests

Question 28

criticisms of compensatory education

Answer 28

Some argue that it is a smokescreen concealing the cause of underachievement. Social inequality and poverty is the real problem