3. Class differences in achievement

How much more likely is a middle class person to go to university than a working class person?

5 times

What's a cultural and material factor?

• Cultural factors are norms and values or cultural experiences which are valued in schools.

• Material factors are lack of necessities to do well in school.

Name 3 types of cultural deprivation? (External to schools)

Parents education, attitudes/values, langauge

Who's the sociologist mainly for parental education and what did he say?

Douglas said that middle class people were more likely to do A levels

• As their parents are more likely to take an active role in their education and primary socialisation by taking them to eg: museums.

• Middle class parents also have a higher cultural capital so can get their children into better schools

• They install a greater sense of deferred gratification rather than immediate

What are weaknesses of Douglas's view on parental education?

• The social landscape has changed since the 20th century as now catchment area is important

• Culturally bias

• Examples such as Alan Sugar as he came from a working class background but has doctorates in science

What did Bernstein and Young say about parental education?

Middle class parents buy toys to stimulate development in primary socialisation eg: books

Which sociologist said 4 things that hinder working class achievement in attitudes/values of the WC subculture? Name them

Barry Sugarman

• Fatalism - believe in fate and “what will be will be”

• Collectivism - succeeding in a group rather than individually

• Present time orientation - enjoying the present rather than working hard for the future

• Immediate gratification (seeking rewards now not working hard for better rewards in the future)

This is because middle class jobs offer prospects for individual advancement which encourages long-term planning → children equip these values through socialisation

What's compensatory education? Name 3

When the government put on interventions to help education

• sesame street

• Headstart

• Surestart

Describe and explain the two types of speech code? And which sociologist spoke about them?

Bernstein

• Restricted speech code is used by the working class and is context bound with a limited vocabulary

• Elaborated speech code is context free, used by the middle class and has a range of vocabulary. It's used in exams so more effective at answering the questions

• Middle class students are already fluent in the elaborated speech code so when people use it in school they don't feel excluded and uncomfortable unlike the working class

What's a positive and negative evaluation point of the two speech codes?

Pro

• Links to Bourdieu's idea of cultural capital.

  Cons

• Presents the restricted speech code as deficient

• Highest percentage of working class people went to university in 2018

• Can’t be deprived of your own culture, just don’t use the dominant one

• Surestart and headstart helped combat this

• Oversimplified

What are the three material factors? (External)

Housing, health, cost of education

What percentage of failing schools are in deprived areas? And what fraction of people who have free school meals achieve 5 GCSE's?

90%, 1/3

What did Pearce say?

Socio-economic inequalities effect academic achievement.

Name 3 reasons why housing can effect attainment according to Bull?

• Location (gangs influencing stress)

• Overcrowding (lack of sleep/time to study)

• Uncleanliness can make you ill leading to absense

How does health effect attainment? Name a sociologist

Howard said young people from poorer families have less energy so can't concentrate as much at school due to lowered intake of vitamins and minerals and so have a weaker immune system

What did David Bull say about the cost of education?

• He coined the phrase 'cost of free schooling' explaining how uniform and stationary all cost a lot discouraging poorer families from education

• Families with lower incomes may mean the children miss out on valuable educational experiences or having a tutor.

• Part time jobs may mean you lack the time/energy to study

What did Ridge say about the cost of education and how did this link to Archer?

Found that working-class children were embarrassed or excluded due to lack of proper equipment or clothes, which affected their self-esteem and participation.

• "Nike identities" meaning you skip school due to bullying - Archer

What are 4 internal factors that effect educational achievement?

Subcultures, self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming, labelling

How can streaming effect educational achievement according to Becker?

• Puts working class students generally in lower sets so limits their exposure to harder concepts because teachers don't see working class students as ideal

• Bases sets mainly off class not intellect

• Students in lower sets have a negative view about school so self-fulfilling prophecy happens and they don't do as well

What was the study for streaming in 2001 and 2004?

• In 2001 Gilborn and Youdell found teachers were more likely to put working class students in lower sets so increase the gap in attainment as they a limiting what the students learn

• In 2004 they found the A-C economy triages students into: those who will pass anyway, potential grade C and hopeless cases.

What are pros and cons for streaming?

Pros

• functionalism agrees because of role allocation (Davis and Moore)

  Cons

• Deterministic

• Creates a negative self-fulfilling prophecy

• there are policies now to stop stereotypes effecting streams eg: equality act of 2010

What's a subculture? And what did Willis find out about them?

A group of people who share similar values and behaviour patterns due to streaming/labelling determining whether they have a pro-school attitude

• Willis found working class boys adopted an anti-school approach because they see it as worthless for the manual jobs they want.

How did Lacey argue subcultures develop?

Differentiation and polarisation effects the behaviour of pupils in school

Differentiation is the way pupils are categorised and polarisation is how pupils respond either conforming or rejecting school

How did Lacey and Wood further the idea of subcultures?

• Lacey said that polarisation is too binary as some people may be pro school for some subjects but not others.

• Peter Wood added to this saying there are 4 types of subculture: ingration, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion.

What are some negative evaluation points for subcultures?

• Women are generally ignored in subcultures as they rebel in other ways eg: substance abuse

• Deterministic as some sub-cultures can be positive

• Ignores cultural factors

What's labelling and what did Becker find out about it?

When teachers attach labels to students based on their class/ethnicity/gender. Becker found teachers would treat students differently based off these labels which led to the students internalizing the labels due to self-fulfilling prophecy

What did Dunne and Gazeley find out about labelling in secondary schools?

Teachers thought achievement was based on home background so middle class parents would be more supportive.

Who's study was in a Kindergarten and what did it show?

Ray Rist found students were grouped as more and less abled based on appearance and social class

What is an evaluative point supporting labels?

Supports Rosenthal's Pygmalion effect which says if teachers expect certain students to do well, they tend to treat them more positively (e.g., more attention, encouragement). As a result, those students often perform better—meeting the teacher's expectations. Conversely, low expectations can lead to lower achievement.

What are 2 negatives of labelling? And a strength?

Pros

• Explains inequality and how initial advantages can be amplified which can be seen in real life situations.

  Cons

• Some people can find them really damaging

• Oversimplified and deterministic as it is assuming people passively accept the label

Who did the "spurters" experiment and what did it find?

• Rosenthal and Jacobson found that when they told teachers that 20% of students were interllectual spurters 47% made significant progress by the end of the year

• The effect was greater on younger people

• Showed how labels can have positive impacts and how it leads to self-fulfilling prophecy.

What's a self-fulfilling prophecy and who carried out the research for that?

When the expectations of others influence our behaviour.

• Ball's Beachside study showed how streaming effected students attitudes in lower sets and so had a negative opinion of school, tried less and were less likely to succeed.

What are some evaluation points for self fulfilling prophecy?

• Negative labels can inspire a student to try harder and prove the label wrong

• Rosenthal and Jacobson's case study showing how teachers expectations influence how students act.

• Positive labels can induce stress reducing level of performance