Social class and achievement Flashcards
Why is the data regarding social class and achievement collected by gov’t difficult to operationalise?
What useful measure is used that is tested on household income?
In 2014 what % of students not eligible for FSM got 5 GCSEs A*-C compared to those eligible?
Why might this even understate the difference?
-This is because the data collected is not specifically linked to social class.
-Free school meals.
-60% for pupils not eligible. 33% for students eligible.
-This might understate the difference because more of the first group took on the challenging ‘EBacc’ subjects.
What did Callender and Jackson find working class students were regarding the economic management of their education?
Why are they criticised?
-Debt averse. They saw more costs than benefits in going to university(e.g. tuition fees) and this influenced their decisions. When at university they receive less financial support from their families.
-Callender and Jackson are criticised for not recognising the availability of scholarships and student finance for students in education.
What is material deprivation?Explain.
What does research show poor diet impacts?
What are working class students more likely to have?
What can children from wealthier backgrounds afford giving them an advantage?
-The inability to purchase necessary resources.
-Some pupils do not have sufficient food, heating, educational resources.
-Research shows that poor diet and undernourishment impacts educational achievement;poor attendance(caused by poor health) also has this impact.
-Part time jobs this takes up study time.
-Students from wealthier backgrounds can afford private tuition.
Alongside material deprivation what did Hyman and Sugarman argue students can be?
What do they argue about working class parents?
How did Douglas support this?
-Hyman and Sugarman argued that pupils can be culturally deprived.
-They argue that working class parents are less interested in social mobility.
-Douglas supported this by arguing that working class parents were less interested in school and pushed children to focus on goals outside of education.
What did Sugarman write about regarding ambitions of young people? Why does this affect class achievement?
What are the 4 values identified by Sugarman?
Who criticises Sugarman?
-Sugarman wrote about immediate and deferred gratification.
-He argued middle class children understood deferred gratification and that if they stayed in education they would ultimately get more out of it, whereas working class children wanted to get out of school asap and start earning.
-4 values: Immediate gratification, fatalism, collectivism, present time orientation.
-Keddie argues students cannot be culturally deprived and only culturally different.
What two concepts does neo-marxist Pierre Bourdieu present alternatively to cultural deprivation theorists?
What do his concepts recognise?
Why does it explain the differences in class achievement?
How does social capital advantage middle class pupils?
Who completed a quantitative analysis of Pierre Bourdieu’s argument?
How did he conduct his study?
What did he conclude?
-Concepts of Cultural capital and habitus.
-These concepts recognise cultural differences between social classes but not the idea that one is superior to the other.
-Although none is superior middle class culture coincides with the culture of schools and teachers so proves beneficial.
-Social capital is important because it allows middle class pupils to succeed because of who they know.
-Sullivan conducted quantitative analysis to find out which of the above variables affected GCSE results and found that those who read more widely and read more complex fiction and those who watched arts, science and current affairs programmes achieved better GCSE results.
-Found that students’ cultural capital was strongly correlated with that of their parents, which in turn was correlated with their social class background.
What in school factors cause a difference in achievement relating to social class?
-Labelling(working class pupils being labelled unintelligent;middle class pupils labelled as idea pupils and both leading to a self fulfilling prophecy).
-Anti-school subcultures(working class pupils more likely to form and join anti-school subcultures which do not value educational achievement).
-Different language codes-Fernstein and Bernstein.
Who talks about the link between poor health and working class education?
How can this affect their education?
-Howard.
-Young people that come from poor housing accommodation have lower intakes of energy and minerals and this can affect their health and can weaken their immune system.
-Lack of energy causes a lack of concentration in lessons.
-May affect attendance etc.
What did Sharpe argue about the difference in relations between working class pupils and teachers/ middle class pupils and teachers?
-Middle class appeared ready to learn and got attention from teachers.
-Working class appeared less willing to learn and got less attention from teachers.
