Inequalities Educational Achievement Flashcards
Global disparities- Garrord
Malala Yousafzai case study
Lack of access to education for girls in certain countries due to religious factors/terrorism
Nations had key goal in education to achieve universal primary education and promote gender equality
- educational gap in attainment between rural and suburban areas
Global disparities- Education Monitoring Report
95% enrolled in pre-primary/primary school in Belarus (Europe)
20% Ethiopia
Developed vs developing countries
Global disparities- UN Gender Parity Index
Gender parity of most western countries 1
UK not in top 10 countries like China, Finland
Global disparities- UNESCO
Reasons for poorer counties having restricted opportunities for girls
Constraints within families- girls expected to take domestic role
Constraints within society- pressures of early marriages and threat of sexual harassment outside of home & cultural/religious beliefs
Benefits of education- even when disparity is equal, girls may not reap benefits (job market not always equal)
Global disparities- Filmer
Ethnicity, gender and locality impact educational opportunities
Globally, poverty is by far the most significant factor holding students back
Eg. National average students never attending school 53%, poorest children 89%
Social class- Becker
Interactionist
(Inside school factor)
Teachers see m/c students as ‘ideal’ in terms of performance, conduct, appearance, attitude & W/c as furthest from ideal
Labels applied by teachers shape nature and quality of teacher-student interaction
Unconsciously/consciously communicated these labels of ‘underachieving’ ‘deviant’ which leads to self fulfilling prophecy
Social class- Keddie
Interactionist (inside school factor)
Social class- Hargreaves
Interactionist (inside school factor)
2 streams (grouping based on ability) of boys in secondary school
- selection to streams more related to discipline/appearance (m/c values)
- more top stream boys conformed to behavioural standards then achieved well
- lower stream boys felt unable to achieve status in teacher’s eyes so turned to status from peers through anti school sub
- best teachers given to top streams (polarisation of ability groups)
Social class- Abrahams
Interactionist (inside school factor)
Interconnection of factors: setting, labelling, subcultures
Dominant class & gender ideologies of society promoted in education through subconsciously label
- teachers should be trained to recognise this labelling & setting should be stopped
Social class- Mac An Ghail
Marxist (inside school factor)
Subcultures
Studied W/c boys who followed their fathers to manual labour roles
In schools they formed a subculture ‘macho lads’ which meant they shaped their identity through ability to perform heavy manual labour work
- attitudes in education meant they did not have qualifications for new W/c jobs when de-industrialisation occurred
Social class- Willis
Marxist (Inside school factor) subcultures
12 W/c boys secondary schools called themselves ‘lads’
Formed anti school subculture which had:
- felt superior to conforming pupils
- deviance, humour
- sexism/racism
- saw manual work as superior to mental work (saw manual work was destined for them, wanted to follow their fathers)
Behaviour in school prepared for monotonous manual work
Social class- Althusser
Marxist (inside school factor)
Hidden curriculum
Education part of superstructure which is influenced by the infrastructure (economic base) so used to transfer r/c/i
Use ideological control to train students for workplace
Education is ideological state apparatus- institution used to transfer ideology
Quietly manipulates new generations into false cc (believe in meritocracy and don’t question their subordinate position)
Social class- Bowles & Gintis
Marxist- (inside school factors)
Education ensures workers will unquestioningly adapt to needs of the system ‘correspondence principle’
Eg. Headteachers show to respect hierarchy in workplace & working for rewards
Pupils who conform to r/c/i rise above those who challenge the system
Social class- Durkheim
Functionalist (inside school factors)
Education ensures people have specialised skills for the division of labour
Eg. Subject specific skills required for certain jobs
Most able person in that area has most purpose to fulfil that job
Testing helps to assess skills
Social class- Davis & Moore
Functionalist (inside school)
Education sift and sorts students feeling on grades etc into terms of ability
Those with most ability are rewarded in meritocratic society with most money for working hard
Best people fill most functionally important roles
Social class- Eysenck New R (outside factors)
IQ largely inherited- 60-80% genetically based
‘What children take out of school is proportional to what they bring into the school in terms of IQ’
Class differences in educational achievement is largely due to intelligence
Social class- Smith & Noble New R (outside school- money)
Students face financial barriers to learning due to low income
Unable to afford:
- uniform, transport, textbook
- computer, desk/area
- better resources schools are in affluent areas
- pupils more likely to work part time if parents do shift work
Social class- Raey et al New R (outside factor money)
Economic capital is needed to gain cultural capital
Lack of cultural negatively impacts attainment
Private education another way to pay into cultural capital
W/c students are more likely to have part time jobs for longer hours which reduce chances of higher grades
Over 25% private schoolers have extra tuition vs 10% state school
Social class- Callendar & Jackson New R (outside school- money)
Surveys on 2000 prospective higher education students
Those afraid of debt (generally working class) 4X less likely to apply for university
- poor feared it the most and thought of debt often stopped them applying completely
Social class- Douglas New R (outside school- parental interest)
Health, size of family affected attainment
Most significant factor was parent’s interest in their education
M/c parents more likely to encourage attainment and progression (frequent visit to school to discuss child’s progress)
M/c can enhance answers, engage in class so helps them out perform W/c
Elaborated code highly awarded in education
Social class- Bernstein New R (outside school- speech/language)
W/c only have access to restricted code
Restricted code- informal, lacks in depth descriptions, unplanned, additional information usually required to gain full meaning
M/c can use restricted and elaborated code
Elaborated code- relatively formal, educated situations, allowing creativity in expressions, range of adjectives, leads to wider description
Due to depth provided, no additional knowledge is needed prior to understand info discussed
Social class- Sugarman New R (outside school- subcultures)
Working class formed different subcultures characterised by:
- fatalism (accept manual labour is future so no attempt to change lack of academic success)
- immediate gratification (leave education with intention to go straight to manual work to get money quick rather than wait and get degree/career)
- present time orientation (focus on present rather than work, progressing for future prospects)
- collectivism (peer group culture leads to them engaging in anti-school sub. Loyal to a peer group rather than competing for achievement)
Social class- Bourdieu
Marxist (outside- cultural cap)
Education systematically biased in favour of culture of dominant social class
Devalue norms, values and knowledge of W/c
M/c children have more cultural capital
Working class cultural attributes rejected
Education system defined by and for m/c and succeed by default
Ethnic- Gillborn
Interactionist (inside- institutional)
Black male students labelled as underachievers and disproportionate amounts of black students not entered into higher tiers which caps what they can achieve in lower papers
Interaction between setting & labelling & policies that don’t tackle attainment gap
Unjustified exclusions where white pupils would face lower punishment for the same
Ethnic- Jasper
Interactionist (inside- institutional)
Self fulfilling prophecy occurs when black students live down to negative labels given by teachers
Curriculum needs to be adapted to be more relevant
Eg. Arts rewarded as well as academia
Ethnic- Crozier
Interactionist (inside- institutional)
Students explained in their own words how they were made to feel in school:
- different
- excluded
Lead to underachievement
Ethnic- Mac An Ghail
Interactionist (institutional)
Looked at relations between teachers and two anti school groups
- ‘Asian warriors’
- ‘Rasta Heads’
For Rasta heads racism was cause of underachievement rather than their own attitudes
Black youths systematically experience education in different way to white pupils due to racism and ethnocentric curriculum
Ethnic- Abbott
Interactionist (system flaws)
Stats mask the fact black boys face high exclusion rates
Learning takes place in school so must be internal factors affecting underachievement
Curriculum not inclusive enough
- black history month not focused enough
- curriculum should cover more aspects of history
Ethnic- Coard
Interactionist (internal- system flaws)
Developed idea of ethnocentric curriculum (based around one cultural view point) while ignoring others
White history and literature dominate the curriculum
Culture of ethnic minorities devalued and students demotivated
They can’t identity with course content
Ethnic- Hernstein & Jensen New R (outside- intelligence)
Claims to be able to show black people gave lower IQ than white people so they underachieve as they are less able
Ethnic- Eysenck New R (outside- intelligence)
What children take out of school is proportional to what they bring to the school in terms of IQ
Ethnic- Hendessi New R (outside- money)
Educational underachievement in Bangladeshi & Pakistani students can be put down to:
- poverty (main)
- cultural norms & values for girls
Ethnic- Sewell New R (outside- money)
Matriarchal backgrounds mean they lack money/role models
Boys turn to media for role models in rap
Involved in ‘get rich quick’ culture
Vulnerable to peer pressure- drawn into anti school sub & hypermasculine
Act out hypermasculine behaviours which don’t help their learning
Ethnic- Smith & Noble New r (outside- money)
Low income backgrounds face financial barriers to learning
Unable to afford:
- uniform, transport, textbooks
- computer, desk area
- more likely to work part time if parents do shift work
Many ethnic minorities live in deprivation
Ethnic- Driver & Ballard Cultural factors (outside- parent attitude)
British-Indian families place great value on education & push children to have high ambitions
This reflects in Indian pupils doing better than black/white groups GCSE & open opportunities to certain careers
Ethnic- Archer & Francis Cultural factors (outside- parents)
Educational success is part of Chinese culture
When boys take part in laddish behaviour they maintain commitment to school
Parents take strong role in achieving academic success
Invest time and money even when have little to spare
Critical of white patents allowing failure to develop & continually push their children & talk about future
Ethnic- Bolognani Cultural factors (outside-parents)
Students with family in Pakistan likely to take longer holidays and religious commitments result in time out of school which can lead to gaps in learning
- students miss out content
- teachers presume not fully focused
Ethnic- Modood Cultural factors (outside- language)
Ethnic minority parents face language barriers
- can’t support children’s homework
- 1/2 Pakistani women don’t speak English
- 1/5 Pakistani men
Ethnic- Hendessi & Sewell
Can be used for which 2 theories?
New right & cultural factors
- outside of school factors
- money
Girls achieve- Mitsos & Browne
Changing attitudes
Boys underachieve
Girls disadvantaged through subject choices & life chances
Girls achieve- Sue Sharp
Changing attitudes
70s girls priorities was love, marriage, husbands then career
90s focusing more on jobs & being able to support themselves
- more confident, assertive, ambitious
Career focused meant they worked harder
Girls achieve- Francis & Skelton
Changing attitudes
Majority of pupils see future identity in career
Especially girls in m/c under pressure from parents to achieve exam success
Girls achieve- Beck
Changing attitudes
We are now in risk society- era characterised by risk and uncertainty (divorce, job loss)
- women change attitudes towards education & employment as society individualised, focus on own needs and self reliance
- women put financial independence first so work harder at school
Girls achieve- Burns & Bracey
Socialisation gender roles
Girls said to mature earlier than boys
They don’t mind putting in effort drafting, redrafting homework
-girls work harder and boys rarely catching up in secondary school anymore
Girls achieve- Oakley
Socialisation
Manipulation- eg. Dress feminine
Canalisation- gendered toys
Verbal appellations- naughty boy, good girl children identify with gender
Different activities- domestic tasks vs manual
Girls achieve- McRobbie
Socialisation
Girls more protected by parents and have less freedom
Tend to spend more time in room
- bedroom culture
- meant there was time to study and help friends with homework
Girls achieve- Arnot
Changes in job market
Growing number of female teachers and women in management in secondary education
- provides positive role models for women and being clever is not unattractive
Girls achieve/boys under - Mac an Ghail
Changes in job market
Deindustrialisation led to a crisis of masculinity in boys and men due to high unemployment
- they regard new jobs (part time office based- not manual) as feminine and therefore do not work hard in education
- girls outperform and gaps in job market
- did not gain qualifications
Girls achieve/boys under- Mitsos & Browne
Changes to job market
Girls socialisation may enhance opportunity
- culture of masculinity, peer pressure, anti school in boys
M/c: go into professions like fathers
W/c: wanted footballers or manual/lacked clear aspirations
Girls underachieve- Kelly
STEM
Science classrooms packaged for boys
- textbooks catered to boy’s interests
- teachers let boys dominate classroom
Girls discouraged from taking subject
Girls underachieve- Colley
STEM
- perception of gender roles (teacher/parent encouragement into gender appropriate subjects)
- subject preferences (girls dislike independent working in IT)
- mixed/single sex schools
All affects which subjects chosen which affected future career paths for girls
Males underachieve- Willis
Culture of masc
- displayed strong hegemonic masc
- did not value education as not needed for manual work
- reproduced working class position of their fathers
- groups that worked harder ‘earoles’ were deemed less masculine
Boys underachieve because they are under a pressure to be ‘masculine’
Boys underachieve- Sewell
Culture of masc
Black Caribbean boys lacked male role model as from matriarchal background
Turned to models from rap
‘Get rich quick’ through illegitimate work
Vulnerable to peer pressure, drawn into hyper masc anti school sub
- boys underachieve because they would rather gain status through non academic value and get money through illegitimate means
Males underachieve- Frosh et al
Culture of masc
Boys felt they risked being labelled ‘gay’ by male peers if they worked hard
- leads to acting masculine & anti school
- face homophobic taunts bc education not masc
- assert masc through heterosexuality
Males may underachieve to experience inclusion amongst peers
Males underachieve- Jackson
Culture of masc
Boys assert laddish identity to redevelop their masculinity
- laddish identities are anti school
- emphasise working hard not masc
- boys too confident so don’t feel they need to work hard
Males underachieve- Epstein
Teachers explanation
- ‘poor boys discourse’ boys are seen as victims- feminism has gone too far and system discriminated against boys
- ‘boys will be boys’ teachers claim boys have natural inclination to be clever but lazy, noisy and demanding
These both cause underachievement
Males underachieve- Francis & Skelton
Teacher explanation
- ‘problem boys discourse’ boys seen as a problem by teachers and boys play into this anti learning behaviour and contribute to their own underachievement
- ‘at risk boys discourse’ boys aren’t bad but vulnerable, socially excluded, they are confused and insecure and take refuge in hegemonic masc and resort to bravado to boost self esteem
