social class differences in achievement (external factors)

Question 1

What are the three external factors for achievement?

Answer 1

cultural deprivation
material deprivation
cultural capital

Question 2

What is cultural deprivation?

Answer 2

when students lack the basic ‘cultural equipment’

Question 3

What is the basic ‘cultural equipment’?

Answer 3

language
parent’s education
subcultures

Question 4

Which sociologist talks about speech codes?

Answer 4

Bernstein

Question 5

What are the 2 speech codes and who speaks which?

Answer 5

restricted - w/c, limited and simple vocab
elaborated - m/c, wider and complex vocab

Question 6

Who is at an advantage with language in school and why?
(plus impact)

Answer 6

m/c because teachers, textbooks and exams use elaborated code
puts w/c at disadvantage and gives them less oppurtunities

Question 7

AO3 - who does Bernstein blame for the socialising of children?

Answer 7

unlike most CD theorists Bernstein doesn’t blame home life
says it is schools responsibility to teach students elaborated code
(internal not external)

Question 8

What did the sociologist Douglas find?

Answer 8

w/c parents place less value on their child’s education

Question 9

What is the impact of w/c parents not placing value on education?
(5 points)

Answer 9

less ambition for children
less encouragement
less interest
visited schools less
less likely to discuss child’s progress with teachers

Question 10

What did the sociologist Feinstein say?

Answer 10

m/c parents tend to be better educated so socialise children to be positive towards education

Question 11

How did m/c parents socialise their children to be positive towards education?
(4 points)

Answer 11

parenting style - m/c have discipline and high expectations
parent’s educational behaviours - m/c read, visit educational places, relationship with teachers
use of income - use to promote education
class, income and parental education - parents education is key as even with social classes better educated parents mean better achieving children

Question 12

What is a subculture and which sociologist talks about it?

Answer 12

a group whose attitudes and values differ from the mainstream culture

Sugarman

Question 13

What are the 4 subcultures and explain what they are?

Answer 13

fatalism - ‘what will be will be’ and can’t change
collectivism - value being in groups over individual success
immediate gratification - pleasure now instead of making sacrifices for future rewards
present time orientation - present more important than future (w/c)

Question 14

Where does Sugarman say the differences in subcultures come from?

Answer 14

m/c jobs are secure and have continuous advancements but w/c have less secure jobs and opportunities are limited

Question 15

Who internalises the beliefs and values of these subcultures?

Answer 15

w/c

Question 16

What is compensatory education?

Answer 16

aim to tackle the problems of cultural deprivation by giving extra resources in deprived areas

Question 17

Examples of compensatory education?

Answer 17

Sesame Street - TV instill educational values and skills e.g numeracy and literacy

Sure Start - policy by New Labour in 2010 where centres were set up in deprived areas to provide care, support, health services, employment for parents etc

also have Operation Head Start, education programmes etc

Question 18

What problems have there been with compensatory education?

Answer 18

since 2011, significant cuts in funding and many centres closed

Question 19

AO3 - what does sociologist Keddie say?

Answer 19

myth of cultural deprivation - it victim blames
underachievement not due to culturally deprived background but they are culturally different
children fail as school has m/c values

Question 20

AO3 - what do sociologists Blackstone and Mortimore say?

Answer 20

criticise idea w/c parents place less value on education

attend less parents evening due to longer work hours
put off by m/c atmosphere of school
want to help but lack the knowledge
schools with mainly w/c have less effective ways to contact home

Question 21

What is material deprivation?

Answer 21

poverty and lack of material necessities

Question 22

What are the 4 parts of material deprivation?

Answer 22

housing
diet and health
financial support and cost of education
fear of debt

Question 23

statistics showing w/c achieving less than m/c

Answer 23

90% failing schools in deprived areas

barely 1/3 of pupils eligible to free school meals achieve 5 or more GCSEs A*-C

Question 24

What are the direct factors of housing?

Answer 24

overcrowding - hard to study, less room and disturbed sleep
development impaired - no space to explore or play
temporary accommodation - change schools and disruption

Question 25

What are the indirect factors of housing?

Answer 25

impacts child’s health and wellbeing
crowded homes - risk of accident
cold or damp housing - leads to illness
temporary accommodation - psychological stress, infection and accident

result in absence from school

Question 26

Which sociologist talks about diet and health?

Answer 26

Howard

Question 27

What does Howard say about diet and health?

Answer 27

young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals so have weaker immune system leading to absences at school

poor children more likely to have emotional and behavioural problems with higher rates of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders

Question 28

What did the sociologist Tanner find about financial support and cost of education?

Answer 28

cost of transport, books, computers and other equipment puts a burden on poorer families

Question 29

What is stigmatisation?
(plus example)

Answer 29

fear being bullied due to being disproved

e.g poorer children having hand me downs

Question 30

What did the sociologist Flaherty find?

Answer 30

fear of stigmatisation is one of the reasons only 20% of those entitled to free school meals take them

Question 31

How is financial support and cost of education a struggle for children?

Answer 31

makes a barrier to opportunities e.g tuition and private schooling

some children have to take on jobs with negatively impacts their education

Question 32

What impact does fear of debt have for university?

Answer 32

uni involves debt, tuition fees, books, living expenses etc which puts off w/c students

Question 33

What do Calendar and Jackson say about fear of debt?

Answer 33

w/c students more debt averse so sae uni as negative and something to avoid

Question 34

statistic showing w/c are more debt averse so put off uni?

Answer 34

w/c 5x less likely to apply to uni

Question 35

Increase of tuition fees impact

Answer 35

increase to £9000 in 2012 meant more w/c put off uni
UCAS said no. applicants in 2012 dropped by 8.6%

Question 36

What % of uni students were w/c

Answer 36

only 30%

Question 37

What unis were w/c more likely to go to?
IMPACT

Answer 37

local to reduce costs

this gave limited opportunities for high status unis

Question 38

What were drop out rates?

Answer 38

higher for unis with larger amounts of w/c

Question 39

AO3 - is it mat dep or cult dep that plays a part in achievement?

Answer 39

mat dep is only part of explanation as it doesn’t cover those w/c that do succeed

cultural, religious or political values play part in sustaining motivation despite poverty

tackling child poverty is most effective way to boost achievement

Question 40

Who talks about cultural capital?

Answer 40

Bourdieu

Question 41

What are the three types of capital?

Answer 41

economic capital
educational capital
cultural capital

Question 42

What is cultural capital?

Answer 42

knowledge, attitudes, values, language, tastes and abilities of m/c
m/c have HABITUS

Question 43

What does Bernstein argue?

Answer 43

m/c able to grasp, analyse and express abstract ideas
appeals to better schools
education system has dominant m/c culture

Question 44

What is habitus?

Answer 44

taken for granted way of thinking shared by particular social class
group habitus is response to class position
m/c habitus influences education and w/c seen as inferior

Question 45

How can economic capital convert to educational capital?

Answer 45

pay for extra tuition
send child to private education
m/c more likely to afford house near better schools (selection by mortgage)

Question 46

What did Sullivan study and what did he find?

Answer 46

put Bourdieu’s ideas to the test

questionaires with 465 pupils in 4 schools
asked about TV, reading, museum visits etc

those reading complex fiction/serious TV documentaries have developed vocab and knowledge on cultural figures (more cult cap)
students with more cult cap were children of graduates and more likely to do well at GCSE

Question 47

What did Sullivan find about what cult cap accounted for?

Answer 47

only accounted for parts of class differences in achievement
where pupils with different social classes but same cult cap, m/c still did better

Sullivan says greater resources and aspirations of m/c explains class gap in achievement