Social Class and Education

Question 1

How can middle class parents benefit their child’s education

Answer 1

Douglas and Feinstein - middle class parents had greater knowledge on how to ‘work the system’ in schools than working class parents. They saw this as beneficial to the success of middle class pupils.

Question 2

Material Deprivation

Answer 2

Refers to when families are unable to afford material items such as food, clothes and educational resources

Question 3

Lack of nutritious diet

Answer 3

Can affect students health, therefore resulting in them missing lessons, falling asleep or not being able to focus

Question 4

Poor living conditions

Answer 4

A lack of privacy to complete work, or overcrowding lead to lower performances at school.

Question 5

Lack of resources

Answer 5

Access to educational resources such as the internet, textbooks and suitable workspaces also stop students from deprived backgrounds to achieve highly.

Question 6

Study of social class inequality - Halsey, Heath and Ridge

Answer 6

Their study found that working class pupils were more likely to leave school at the first opportunity compared to middle class students

Question 7

Anti School subcultures

Answer 7

Some students, particularly working class boys, form hostile subcultures within school.

Question 8

Bernstein - speech codes

Answer 8

Teachers, textbooks and exams use an elaborated code, which middle class pupils use, however, working class pupils use restricted code.