Social Class Differences In Education Flashcards
What are the 4 internal factors affecting social class achievement in education?
Labelling and the self full filing prophecy
Setting and streaming
Unequal access to classroom knowledge
Pupil subcultures
“Wider” educational polices
What are the 4 external factors affecting social class achievement in education?
Material deprivation
Culture attitudes, beliefs and views
Socio-linguistic
Cultural capital
Material deprivation- what does Douglas say about lower income families?
Lower income families disadvantaged in education for many reasons e.g
Overcrowded home
Poor diets
Low income
Taking up part time job
Poverty stricken areas
Material deprivation- what did webbs study find out?
2006, only 33% of children recieving free school meals gained 5 or more A_C grades
Exclusion + truancy more likely amongst W/C
Material deprivation- what is Bulls “hidden cost of education?
Free schooling never really free. E.g- revision books, school uniform and trips
Material deprivation- what did tanner say about low income families?
Financial burden on low income families leads to children being stigmatised and bullied
Cultural capital- what does cultural deprivation mean?
Suggests that W/C lack the necessary views attitudes and knowledge and support necessary for educational success
Cultural capital- M/C have high cultural capital, what does this mean?
M/C are the dominant social group and get to dictate what counts as the “right kind of knowledge” attitudes and views. Becasue society based on M/C culture they have high cultural capital
Cultural capital- what does Douglas say about W/C parents?
W/C parents less likely to take interest in their child’s educational success compared to M/C parents
Cultural capital- what does Hyman and Sugarman say about different class subcultures?
Takes idea that W/C and M/C have different values by suggesting that amongst W/C there is particular subculture that places no value on educational ideals
Cultural capital- what are Hyman and Sugarmans 4 subcultures within the W/C?
Fatalism
Collectivism
Immediate gratification
Present time orientation
Cultural capital- what are Hymans and sugarmans 4 M/C subcultures?
Optimism/desire
Individualism
Deferred gratification
Future orientation
Cultural capital- what do Hyman and Sugar-man say reinforces there W/C subcultures?
Lack of job security
Lack of influence in their work
Low wages
Lack of employment opportunities
Socio-linguistics m- what does Bernstein say about different class language?
W/C and M/C use different language codes. W/C code is “deficient” in terms of education and it thus contributes to W/C failure
What are the 2 codes Bernstein describes the different language classes use?
W/C- restricted code
M/C-elaborated code
Socio-linguistics- what is included in Bernsteins restricted code?
Limited vocabulary
Grammatically simple
Gesticulations
Context bound
Particularistic
Socio-linguistics- what is included in Bernstein’s elaborated code?
Large vocabulary
Grammatically complex
Fully elaborative
Abstract
Universal
Cultural capital- who does Bernstein say the culture of education gives an inbuilt advantage to?
M/C have inbuilt advantage. Argues that each social class possesses its own cultural frame work known as a Habitus
Cultural capital- what does Bernstein’s Habitus mean?
Each social class has a Habitus which contains ideas about what is good/bad taste, knowledge attitudes and so on.
The dominant group get to impose their habitus onto society
Cultural capital- what does Bourdieu say about the reproduction of class inequality?
M/C- High cultural capital and economic capital and thus high educational capital meaning they succeed
Therefore the opposite for W/C
Cultural capital- what did Sullivan discover about GCSE students?
GCSE students who read complex fiction and serious documentaries + who had graduate parents developed wider vocabularies and achieved higher than other students- these students tended to be from M/C families
Cultural capital- what does Gerwitz say about the marketisation of education and M/C parents?
Marketisation of education promoted parental choice to child’s schooling- introduced by 1988 education reform act
Parents level of cultural capital and economic capital lead to major class differences in choices parents have when choosing school for their children
How does Whitty say that the marketisation of education has failed the working class?
Marketisation not led to more oppurtinties for W/C children.
Instead allowed M/C to use the knowledge and wealth even more effectively
How does Blackstone and Mortimore criticise this view and support the myth of cultural deprivation?
W/C parents not disinterested in child’s education. Often unable to attend parents evenings e.g because of work
What are the 4 internal factors affecting social class achievement ?
Labelling+ self fulfilling prophecy
Setting and streaming
Unequal access to classroom knowledge
Pupil subculture
“Wider” educational policies
Labelling-what did Beckers study of labelling in secondary school conduct?
Interviewed 60 teachers, teachers stereotyped pupils based on appearance conduct and work
Teachers saw M/C close to stereotype of “ideal pupil” and W/C furthest away from ideal pupil
Labelling- what is Hargreaves’s halo effect?
Labelling leads to certain students being given imaginary halos which stay with them throughout their educational career, further interaction with teachers are based on these halos
What was Rist’s study?
Studied American kindergarten 3 groups, teacher labelled fast learners as “tigers” seated them near to teacher + showed more encouragement- tended to be M/C background
“Cardinals” and “clowns” seated further away, given low level reading books- W/C background
What did Rist’s study conclude?
Labelling begins very start of child’s “educational career”
Found that teachers used information about pupils home background to place pupils in separate groups
Unequal access to classroom knowledge- what does Keddie say about teachers distributing knowledge?
Teachers don’t distribute knowledge evenly in classroom, more likely to give high ability students “high status knowledge” and vice versa for low ability students
Unequal access to classroom knowledge - what are the 4 characteristics of work that Keddie believes is given to low ability groups?
Descriptive
Common sense
Basic
Dumbed down
Unequal aces to classroom knowledge- what are the 4 characteristics of work that Keddie believes is given to top ability groups?
Abstract
Theoretical
Detailed
Full curriculum
Labelling- what is the self fulfilling prophecy ?
1) teacher labels pupil and makes assumptions in relation to label
2) teachers interacts to student based on label and assumption
3) pupil internalises label and becomes part of their self concept
Labelling- what was Rosenthall and Jacobsons study on the self fulfilling propechy?
Told school they had a test to identify high ability students, teachers believed this
Pupils tested and R+J randomly selected 20% of them and told school they were top ability
Year later, 47% of these pupils made significant progress compared to remaining 53%
Labelling- What did Rosethall and Jacobsons study on the self fulfilling prophecy conclude?
Suggested that teachers interacted with high ability students differently and conveyed their high expectations on to them
These pupils internalised these views and performed better
Pupil subcultures-how does Lacey say subculture are formed?
Differentiation- teachers categorise/ “differentiate”
Between pupils according to stereotypes about ability, appearance etc
Polarisation- -way that pupils respond to differentiation - moving towards 2 extremes
Pupil subcultures- what are Lacey’s 2 extremes that polarisation leads to ?
Pro school subculture
Anti school subculture
What are characteristics of Lacey’s “pro school subculture”?
Associated with M/C
Positive stereotypes
“Halos”
High status knowledge and more attention
Warmed up
Pupil subculture- what she characteristics of Lacey’s “anti school subculture”?
Associated with W/C
Negative stereotypes
No “halos” low status knowledge and less attention
Cooled down
