Social Class And Educational Achievement

Question 1

Social class differences: External Factors
Cultural Deprivation - Language
Bernstein - Speech codes

Answer 1

He identified two types of speech codes
Restricted codes (used by w/c)
They have limited vocabulary, short unfinished sentences,monosyllabic words, context bound, grammatically simple sentences
Elaborate codes (used by m/c) 
They have a wide range of vocabulary, longer grammatically complex sentences, polysyllabic words, context-free, abstract ideas can be communicated

Question 2

Differences in speech codes give m/c students an advantage as..

Answer 2

Can understand textbooks and educational resources easily
Can express their ideas in a ‘correct’ written manner in an exams
Can understand the words spoken by m/c teachers
M/c children hear elaborate code from parents so feel ‘at home’ in the classroom

Question 3

What did Hubbs-Tait find about language?

Answer 3

Found parents used language to challenge children to evaluate their own understanding ,their cognitive theory improved

Question 4

What did Bereiter and Engelmann find about language?

Answer 4

Found w/c families often communicated with gestures or single words and disjointed sentences

Question 5

Evaluation of Bernstein

Answer 5

Many members of m/c don’t speak fluently and have varying degrees of the elaborate code; its over generalised to say that all members of w/c or m/c speak in particular ways
Labov argued the w/c language system wasn’t inferior, the speech was more direct and to the point and didn’t contain unnecessary detail

Question 6

Cultural deprivation: Parenting

Douglas

Answer 6

Found w/c parents placed less value on education and didn’t have high expectations for their children in gaining qualifications
W/c parents wouldn’t give their encouragement, visiting school less for evenings/events or talk about child’s progress
Their child therefore didn’t value school as highly as m/c children who were encouraged more by their parents

Question 7

Cultural deprivation: Parenting

Feinstein

Answer 7

Believed parents own education is the most important factor influencing achievement as more advantaged in how they socialise children

Question 8

Feinstein pt 2

Found the m/c parents were..

Answer 8

More consistent in their discipline
Encouraging active learning and exploration
More likely to spend time w/child + read to them
Better in their relationships w/schools
More likely to take child on educational activities
More likely to purchase educational toys/books
Better able to support their child’s educational progress through helping them read and write
Parents from w/c backgrounds were more likely to be opposite to those above

Question 9

Cultural deprivation: Subculture

Sugarman and w/c

Answer 9

Time orientation: Present time orientation (focus is upon here and now)
Gratification/reward: Immediate reward and satisfaction (e.g. Wages)
Collectivism Vs Individualism: Collective action (success is through standing together)
Attitude to luck: Fatalistic (chances are based on luck)

Question 10

Cultural deprivation: Subculture

Sugarman and m/c

Answer 10

Time orientation: Future time orientation (think ahead and plan for future)
Gratification/reward: Deferred reward (delayed reward and satisfaction e.g. Qualifications)
Collectivism Vs Individualism: Individualistic action (success is through acting individually e.g. Study)
Attitudes to luck: Make your own luck and chances in life
He argues children internalise these values + goals depending their social class which can lead them to succeed/fail at school

Question 11

Compensatory Education Policies

Answer 11

These have been implemented to try to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation in deprived areas and schools
E.g. Operation Head Start, Sesame Street and Education Action Zones

Question 12

What is Material Deprivation?

Answer 12

Refers to the lack of basic necessities such as an adequate diet, housing, clothing and money to buy things
Poverty is often linked to educational underachievement

Question 13

Material deprivation info/statistics

Answer 13

In 2012, only 1/3 students eligible for free school meals achieved 5 A*-C GCSE grades compared to 2/3 who weren’t entitled to the meals
Around 90% of ‘failing’ schools are in deprived areas
Children from poorer homes are more likely to truant and be excluded from schools
-> 1/3 students who persistently truant leave school with no qualifications

Question 14

Material deprivation

Smith and Noble - list ‘barriers to learning’

Answer 14

Students who can’t afford school uniforms, trips, transport to and from are often bullied and made to feel isolated by peers - so they won’t attend school
Families are unable to afford to send their child to private schools or pay for additional tuition
Families unable to purchase/rent homes in areas w/desirable schools as they can’t afford the costs
Older students from deprived families are likely to have part-time job or care for young so less focus on school
Low income families unlikely to have access to internet and house being poorly heated - illness

Question 15

What does Cultural Capital mean?

Answer 15

Refers to the tasks, language, values and knowledge of the middle classes

Question 16

Cultural Capital: Bourdieu

Uses capital to explain why m/c are more likely to achieve in education

Answer 16

Argues through socialisation, m/c children develop skills oh how to analyse and discuss abstract ideas and have more interest in issues discussed in education system
Argues w/c suffer from a cultural deficit as their lack of cultural capital leads to exam failure as their own culture being devalued and ignored by school
Those w/cultural capital tend ti have wealth which can be transformed into education e.g. Extra tuition

Question 17

Cultural capital: Leech and Campos

Answer 17

Found m/c parents were more able to move location to get into ‘better’ schools as they can afford the more expensive housing prices
-> called Selection By Mortgage

Question 18

Cultural Capital evaluation

Answer 18

It ignores processes within schools like teacher labelling and existence of student anti-school subcultures
They fail to address the impact of material deprivation and disadvantage that students can force due to poverty and lack of ability to make educational purchases

Question 19

Social Class Differences: Internal Factors

Labelling

Answer 19

Refers to attaching an identity/meaning to somebody and basing your behaviour towards them on this
Teachers are believed by some to label students on factors other than IQ, but on a stereotypical assumptions
These can lead to a ‘halo effect’ where the formed impression of a student influences all future interactions between them
Interpretivists methods are used e.g. Observations

Question 20

Labelling: Dunne and Gazeley

Answer 20

Similar behaviour in 2nd school w/teachers
W/c failure was ‘normalised’ and seemed unconcerned as they felt they couldn’t do anything
M/c failure was seen as a concern and something they could help with
Believed w/c parents - disinterested in child’s education unlike m/c parents
Set extension work for under-performing m/c students but not w/c students
Underestimated potential of w/c, if they did well this was seen as ‘over-achieving’

Question 21

What is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Answer 21

Label given to a student which can impact on their self-concept
The student internalises the teacher’s expectations and this becomes a part of their self-concept
They then believe this label so they act accordingly and make the label a reality

Question 22

What does Streaming and Setting mean?

Answer 22

Streaming: refers to placing students into different ability groups where they’re taught separately from other students for all subjects
Setting: refers to placing students into different ability groups where they are taught separately from others for specific subjects

Question 23

Streaming and Setting: Becker

Answer 23

Found following the label applied to the students from teacher, w/c students tended to be placed in lower band streams whilst m/c students were placed in higher ones
Once streamed, it’s very difficult to move ‘stream’ as the ‘halo effect’ can influence teachers expectations of their ability and behaviour

Question 24

Streaming and Setting: Gillbourn and Youdell

Answer 24

Found teachers use stereotypical nations of ability + social class of a student did’ve an impact
W/c and black students were placed in lower streams and exam papers
Found schools wanted ‘A-C economy’ - focused to get student to achieve this to raise school profile
-> ‘educational triage’ meant schools sorted students into 3 types:
1. Those who would pass
2. Those who could get 5 GCSEs but need support
3. Those not able to achieve no matter what

Question 25

Student subcultures: Lacey

Answer 25

Argued subcultures form due to:
1. Differentiation: students are categorised according to perceived ability + streamed differently
2. Polarisation: they respond to stream put in by moving to an extreme type of behaviour
He found despite solving the problem of a lack of status within schools for w/c lads who were part of anti-school subculture didn’t mean it was a SFP of educational failure

Question 26

Student Subcultures: Willis

Answer 26

Study w/12 lads who formed anti-school subculture. They’re from w/c background, hostile to more conformist students, usually m/c students names ‘earoles’
They saw little point in skills+knowledge taught @school as they’re expecting to continue into manual labouring work and didn’t respect teachers
They were streamed+labelled
Show importantly how not all students passively accept authority or m/c values of school

Question 27

Pupils' class identities and the school
Archer: Habitus meaning and why

Answer 27

Refers to the learned ways of thinking and acting that are learnt and shared by a different social class
Argues both habitus of w/c and m/c are equal but the m/c have the power to make this superior and can impose it on all students in the education system

Question 28

Pupils' class identities and the school
Archer

Answer 28

Claims m/c have ‘symbolic capital’ as their tastes are given a superior status in education system whereas w/c culture is devalued and seen as inferior, they’re kept in their place by ‘symbolic violence’ e.g. Language, exclusion from school for wearing certain types of clothing - w/c students felt that the best way to improve educationally was to change the way they presented themselves.
Brands was a way of constructing identity e.g Nike - illustrated w/c students rejecting higher education

Question 29

Archer pt 2

Answer 29

They believed further education wasn’t for them and they wouldn’t ‘fit in’ as it was for rich and clever people -unrealistic
Wouldn’t suit their lifestyle as they didn’t want to live on student loan, wouldn’t support them enough to help fit in w/street styles -undesirable
W/c investment in ‘Nike’ identities weren’t only a cause of their marginalisation by schools but preference for a different lifestyle
These perceptions can b seen in w/c students attitudes to uni which can limit their chances as they were reluctant to go to oxbridge/elite uni’s fearing not feeling in and didn’t want to move away from home as attached to local area

Question 30

Examples of internal and external factors interconnecting

Answer 30

1. Poverty (external) can lead to bullying as students can’t afford new uniforms/certain pieces of equipment (internal) - truancy ->failure
2. Students may speak in restricted code (external) resulting in a teacher labelling them as less intelligent (internal) producing underachievement