Education - Achievement

Class Differences in Achievement Cultural Deprivation (Topic 1 External Factors)

Bernstein:

• Speech codes - w/c children disadvantaged as elaborated code used by teachers, textbooks, exams. m/c student early socialisation into an elaborated code means an advantage

Douglas:

• Parents’ Education - w/c parents place less value on education - less ambitious for their children, less encouragement with hw, do not attend parents’ evening

Sugarmann:

• w/c subcultures: identified 4 educational achievement barriers for w/c pupils:

• Fatalism - nothing you can do to change your status

• Collectivism - valuing being part of a group more than being an individual

• Immediate gratification - seeking pleasures now rather than making sacrifices for future rewards

• Present time orientation - present more important than future, no long-term goals

Class Differences in Achievement - Material Deprivation (Topic 1 External Factors)

Housing:

• poor housing affects pupils achievement directly & indirectly

• Overcrowding means no room for educational activities like hw and reading. Means disturbed sleep from sharing bedrooms

• Families living in temp accommodation have to move often

• Overcrowded homes mean greater risk of accidents and illness - absence from school

Diet and Health:

• Youths from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals

• Poor nutrition and health means a weak immune system - more absences from school (Howard)

Class Differences in Achievement - Cultural Capital (Topic 1 External Factors)

Bourdieu:

• m/c children with cultural capital = better equipped to meet demands of school curriculum

• Parents can convert the cultural capital into economic capital e.g. private school

Class Differences in Achievement - Labelling & Effects (Topic 2 - External Factors)

Becker:

• Teachers judge and label pupils according to how closely they fit the ‘ideal pupil’

• Dampens motivation of students who did not suit the ideal pupil, due to how teachers deferred time away and were unwilling to help

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:

• Positive label = positive self-concept, motivated to work hard and improve grades

• Negative label = negative self-concept, less motivated

• Rosenthal & Jacobson - informed teachers of students who scored highly on a fake IQ test and would be quick learners. Teachers treated ‘spurts’ better and 47% of ‘spurts’ made significant improvement due to how teachers paid more attention to them by giving them more feedback

Streaming:

• Gillborn and Youdell found teachers labelled working-class students as unintelligent, resulting in them being placed in lower streams and sets

Class Differences in Achievement - Pupil Subcultures (Topic 2 - External Factors)

Pupil Subcultures:

• Lacey found 2 ways pupil subcultures developed:

• Polarisation - when pupils respond to streaming by either moving to a pro or anti school subculture

• Differentiation - form of streaming, those in higher streams gain higher status

Pupil Identities:

• Archer et al found w/c pupils invented ‘nike’ identitied = self-exclusion from education because does not fit their identity and way of life

• See it as unrealistic (for rich & clever people) and undesirable (does not suit their habitus)

Ethnic Differences In Achievement - External Factors (Topic 3)

Linguistic Skills:

• Some pupils speak diff language and informal English

• Bereiter & Engelmann state black Caribbean language is ungrammatical and disjoined so cannot convey abstract ideas

Family Structure:

• Higher rates of lone-parent families in black ethnicities

• Moynihan found many black families headed by a lone mother, leading to lower achievement of black boys as no positive male role model

Attitudes and Values:

• Some argue black pupils have a fatalistic outlook on life - want immediate gratification and limited motivation to achieve long-term term

Material Deprivation:

• Minority ethnic groups victims of racism - direct & indirect discrimination at work or in housing market so in low paid jobs, impacts children’s educational opportunities

Ethnic Differences In Achievement - Internal Factors (Topic 3)

Labelling

Black pupils:

• Gillborn and Youdell found teachers had racialised expectations of black pupils & expected more discipline problems and saw their behaviour as threatening

• Black pupils more likely than others to be punished for same behaviour as white pupils

• Fuller - high achieving black girls maintained positive self image by rejecting teachers’ stereotypes - did not seek teacher approval but valued education

• Mirza - black girls’ strategies for dealing with teacher racism still disadvantaged hem e.g. not asking for help

Asian pupils:

• Wright - Asian primary school pupils stereotyped and treated differently

• Teachers used simple language as assumed would speak poor English and became frustrated when pupils pronounced their names incorrectly

Ethnic Differences In Achievement - Internal Factors (Topic 3)

Pupil Subcultures:

• Sewell found black boys developed range of responses to teachers racist labelling

• Conformists: keen to succeed, accepted school’s goals

• Innovators: pro-education but anti-school. Valued success but not teachers’ approval

• Retreatists: disconnected from school and black subcultures outside of it

• Rebels: rejected school’s goals, conformed to stereotype of the ‘black macho lad’

The Ethnocentric Curriculum:

• Troyna and Williams - British Curriculum prioritises white culture and the English language

• Holidays in line with the Christian calendar, focus on white leaders in history