Case studies

eton

- independent
- boys boarding school
- one of the 100 largest charities in UK
- educated 9 PM
- international royal pupils
- fees: about 30K pounds

summerhill school

- democratic
- each member has one vote in school meetings
- pupils attend subjects they want to
- boarding and day school
- controversial

school attendance by age and residence - mali, indonesia

- mali is one of the poorest countries in the world and has major school attendance differences between students living in urban and rural areas, with people in urban areas opting for higher education
- indonesia had almost the same percentages of children attending primary and secondary school, with people in urban areas opting for higher education

education and social mobility

- 1950s and 60s britain
- increase in number of professional jobs
- sector of the economy grew
- able pupils from the working class gained qualifications and entered these professions

the UN's take on education for girls

- human right
- essential to development
- second Millenium Development Goal
- 57% of girls don't go to primary school
- educating girls has positive outcomes in improving living standards and families

gender statistics

- girls were underachieving in the UK till 1990
- they did well at the beginning and then tended to fall behind
- girls now do better than boys at GCSE level

ethnicity

- in 2012 59% of GCSE pupils got five passes
- mostly white british pupils
- chinese and indian pupils performed above the national figure
- roma and irish performed the lowest
- afro-carribeans at 50%
- pakistanis and bengalis are between 54-62%

eligibility for free school meals

- 44% of students eligible for free meals
- 36% got five C and above in their GCSES

raymond boudon

raymon boudon pointed out the importance of considering the class position when assessing costs and benefits of education

pierre bourdieu

- pierre bourdieu
- middle and upper class can use financial capital as well as cultural capital
- high cultural capital is favoured by teachers

louise archer

- louise archer
- why children with chinese backgrounds were more successful
- due to the chinese ethnic identity
- parents value education and spend time and money on it
- socialised to value education
- clear goals
- told to 'be the best'

basil bernstein

- basil bernstein
- two language codes: restricted code, elaborated code
- different classes have different exposures to types of language and have a varying profiency allowing them to do better in school and making them seem able
- switching between codes

william labov

- african american used vernacular english (AAVE)
- it had been assumed that it was a substandard form of english and punished children for using it
- their language held them back
- when william labov published his work it was found out it could be used to express complex and abstract ideas

micheal rutter

- research showing good schools make a difference to life chances
- features of the school's organisation make this difference
- social patterns of underachievement are affected by what goes on in class
- stereotypes
- interpretivist perspective

howard becker

- teachers judge pupils on non-academic factors
- this builds up a stereotype of the ideal student and influence teacher assessment and student achievement levels

rosenthal and jacobson

- self fulfilling prophecy
- a groups of students who were told were bright made better progress
- when teachers negatively label working class pupils the self-fulfilling prophecy leads to the low achievement

archer

- studied chinese pupils
- teachers had high expectations which wasn't necessarily good
- recieve little praise or effort
- expected success
- teachers gave little help when they faced difficulties as they assumed they could help themselves
- seen as geeks

tony sewell

- studied african carribean boys in a british secondary school
- anti school subculture
- rebels
- opposed to school rules, violent and aggressively masculine
- behaviour was partly a response to racism in the school

martin mac an ghaill

- group of young women from minority ethnic groups
- 'black sisters'
- critical of education despite succeeding
- rejected college authority but worked hard

valerie hey

- cliques formed among girls from the same class background
- working class girls resisted school by using attractiveness

carolyn jackson

- girls in british secondary schools behave as associated with boys and working hard is seen as uncool
- being seen as not working protected from effects of failure
- result of pressure

gardner

- suggested multiple intelligences
- e.g. emotional intelligence