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 ‘bloomers’ better and they improved by an avergae of 12.2 IQ points. Teachers had 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