Social Class and Education Cartes | Quizlet

AO1 External Factors - Material Deprivation

Is the inability to afford basic resources, which can impact a pupil's educational achievement. Pupils unable to afford things like sufficient food, heating or clothing and educational resources leading to underachievement.

AO2 External Factors - Material Deprivation

1. 33% of children recieving FSM gained 5 A*-C GCSEs compared with 61% of pupils not.

2. M/c children have a reading age of 2.5 years ahead of w/c children at age 15.

3. 90% of 'falling' schools are deprived in areas.

AO3 External Factors - Material Deprivation

This may lead to silt shifting - students may off-role w/c students who threaten the school's position on league tables.

AO1 Housing

The quality of housing a pupil lives in can affect achievement in school.

AO2 Housing

E.g.

1. Child development can be impaired through lack of outdoor space for safe play and exploration.

2. Living in temporary accommodation may involve having to move frequently, resulting in constant changes in school and disrupted education. Families in temporary accommodation also suffer from more psychological distress.

3. Children in crowded homes run a greater risk of accidents. Cold and damp in accommodation can also cause ill health.

4. Overcrowding means less room for educational activities, nowhere to do homework, disturbed sleep from sharing beds/bedrooms, etc.

AO2 Howard (2001): Poverty and Poor Diet

- Children from poor homes have lower intakes of vitamins and minerals.

-This may result in more absences from school , more time missed and a lack of concentration in lessons.

AO2 Bull (1980): The Cost of Education

Lack of financial support means that children from poor families have to do without equipment and miss out on experiences that would enhance their educational achievements - the hidden costs of free education.

AO2 Oxford Dropout Rates

16.6% of students drop out of the London Metropolitan University compared to 1.5% at Oxford. Over 50% of Oxford students come from private education. This implies that rich u/c families can provide a better quality of education.

Callander and Jackson (2005): Fear of Debt

Found that w/c students are more debt adverse - saw debt negatively. Also, some saw more costs than benefits going into uni. The most debt adverse students were over 5x less likely to apply than the most debt tolerant students.

AO3 Case Studies

The govt has tried to compensate for students from low-income backgrounds with EMA in the past, bursaries today, pupil premium funding and student loans for university students.

Criticism form Education Policy.

AO1 External Factors - Cultural Deprivation - Bernstein

This is the concept that w/c families fail to primarily socialise their children adequately.

AO2 External Factors - Cultural Deprivation - Bernstein

Bernstein argues that "The speech patterns of those at the bottom of the class system are inferior." He referred to the speech codes of the w/c as restricted, whilst the m-u/c's being elaborate.

- This benefits m/c students as teachers speak it, exams are written in it, textbooks use it, and they are rewarded for using it (e.g. speaking exams).

- This disadvantages the w/c as they become alienated in the classroom. This could lead to negative labelling.

AO3 External Factors - Cultural Deprivation - Bernstein

He recognises the role of the school influencing under-achievement; the school fails to teach students how to use elaborate code.

Bernstein devalues w/c speech as inadequate when it works in their own habitus.

Define habitus

Refers to norms, values, attitudes and behaviours of a particular social group or class.

AO2 W/c Attitudes and Values

1. According to cultural deprivation theorists, large sections of the w/ces have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from mainstream society.

2. W/c children internalise the beliefs of their often-deviant subcultures and underachieve.

3.W/c jobs require less skills, are less secure, have fewer promotions with wages peaking early.

Sugarman (1970) refers to 4 main aspects of this:

1. Fatalism (e.g. L2L),

2. Collectivism,

3. Immediate gratification,

4. Present-time orientation.

AO3 Criticism of Cultural Deprivation Theory

1. Keddie: Cultural deprivation is victim blaming. W/c culture is different, not deprived.

2. W/c failure is down to the systematic discrimination within a m/c education environment.

3. Tronya and Williams: Schools fail the challenge m/c bias in terms of language bias and negative labelling.

4. Blackstone and Mortimer: W/c parents are intimidated by the m/c school environment.

5. Less w/c engagement with a school is partly attributed to irregular work patterns and shift work.

Define Capital - Bourdieu

Capital is something useful to help you achieve your goals in a particular group or society.

1. Cultural,

2. Educational,

3. Economic.

AO1 Cultural Capital - Bourdieu

Knowledge of values, attitudes, tastes, abilities and language of the dominant culture of society.

AO2 Cultural Capital - Bourdieu

M/c families have more cultural capital because they:

1. Know how to help children with homework;

2. Can relate to teachers so that they are more likely to contact the teachers with questions/ complaints;

3. Feel more confident to research which schools are the best in the area and read OFSTED reports;

4. Have the money to move to different catchment areas;

5. See the importance of high culture and wider learning (e.g. museum visits, music lessons, etc.).

AO3 Cultural Capital - Bourdieu

Cultural capital accounted for some of the class differences in attainment. Some w/c children had equal amounts of cultural capital. M/c children did better because of their higher levels of economic capital and aspirations. 7% of children in the UK are educated in private schools, receiving both the best education and educational capital.