DIFFERENTIAL EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT - Class

What did Waldfogel and Washbrook (2010) study?

In the Millenium Cohort Survey, 12,644 disadvantaged children were already a year behind by age 3.

What did Eyseneck (1971) study?

Different social classes have different IQ’s as lower classes tend to get lower grades - functionalist view.

What was Douglas (1964) study?

Parental interest is the most important factor for educational achievement, finding that the middle class encourage post-16 education most.

What was Sugarman and Hyman (1970) study?

Different social classes have different subcultural values/attitudes/lifestyles which affect academic performance.

What was Sullivan (2001) study?

Social capital helps academic achievement, and working-class lack this so get a lower quality of education e.g. don’t know the right people to get into private/grammar schools.

What did Hart and Risley (1995) study?

Children in professional families heard more words from a young age than children from working-class families.

What did Bernstein (1971) study?

Language skills are key to educational success as school relies on clear expression e.g. restricted vs elaborate code.

What did Halsey (1980) study?

Poverty has the biggest effect on educational achievement.

What did Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) study?

The realised the effect that labelling has on leading to self-fulfilling prophecies.

What did Willis (1977) study?

Working class lads creating anti-school subcultures where they would prefer to ‘have a laff’ then submit to the education system.

What did Iresom and Hallam (2009) study?

Those in higher sets have a more positive self-attitude whereas those in lower sets have a more negative self-attitude.

What is social stratification?

Where society is structured into hierarchal layers based on factors such as wealth, race, gender, occupation or educational level.

What is social class?

Divisions in society based on economic and social status.

What is social mobility?

Being able to move up or down between social classes due to changes in circumstances.

What is habitus?

Habits/behaviours/preferences of different social classes.

What is cultural capital?

The habitus being relevant to your social class e.g. the education system follows the views of the middle class, which gives them an advantage as they have the relevant skills/knowledge that they can draw from.

What is material capital?

Access to material resources such as food and heating, but also being able to afford resources for school and enriching activities.

What is social capital?

People you know who can help you to succeed.

What are internal factors that affect differential educational achievement between classes?

Labelling/Self-fulfilling Prophecies

School Subcultures

Curriculum

Setting/Streaming

How does labelling/self-fulfilling prophecies affect differential achievement?

Labelling causes negative self-fulfilling prophecies which cause the student to feel hopeless or unmotivated in the education setting e.g. working class students being look down on for being ‘scruffy’ makes them feel like they have no place in professional settings.

How do school subcultures affect differential achievement.

Anti-school subcultures can arise as a result of labelling which leads to disruptive behaviour and a lack of focus on their education.

How does the curriculum affect educational achievement?

Exams use elaborate code which gives an advantage to the upper classes which use this type of language at home, whereas working class people would use restricted code which is viewed as uneducated.

How does setting/streaming affect educational achievement?

Lower sets, which are overrepresented with working class pupils, are not taught complex concepts. This leads to a negative self image as they don’t feel like they can achieve the same as higher sets as their learning is capped.

What are external factors that affect differential educational achievement between classes?

Material deprivation

Cultural deprivation

What factors come under material deprivation?

Catchment area - poor areas have lower quality of teaching.

Poor diet - leads to illness/fatigue etc.

Part-time work - having to juggle school and work to help out at home.

Lack of resources - no access to electronics/textbooks so cannot do work to a higher level.

Inability to afford university - working-class might think university is only for middle class.

Poor housing - Makes concentration difficult and my likely to catch illness.

Travel costs - might not be able to afford bus/car so walking might make them late.

What factors come under cultural deprivation?

Habitus - middle class values are reflected in education so can relate to it better.

Subcultural values - different attitudes towards education can affect achievement.

Language - restricted code vs elaborate, school relies on clear expression.

Parental interest - not being read to etc, working-class parents less likely to see the value in education.

Parent’s education - working class parents feel intimated/self-conscious in the school environment.

Educational toys - enriching activities e.g. museums or books to help with counting/words from a young age.

Social deprivation - working class people lack higher-up connections that help with success.

What are statistics about class differences in educational achievement?

Only 1/3 of working class students get at least 5 passes at GCSE.

Only 50% of children from unskilled labour families stay in post-18 education.