ducation social groups and achievment

Social class- teacher expectations

becker

• researched 60 chicago high school students and found that the w/c student is the furthest away from the ideal pupil and therefore will be negatively labelled

Hempel-Jorgensen (2009)

• Studied one primarily WC school and one primarily MC school. In the WC school, teachers reported discipline as a major problem, and labelled the ideal pupil as quiet, passive, and obedient. In the MC school, where discipline was less of an issue, the ideal pupil was labelled in terms of personality and academic ability, rather than behaviour.

dunne and gazeley

schools label working class parents as uninterested and put their children in foundation tier exams

w/c schools normalize underachievement

schools consistently produce w/c underachivement due to the labelling and assumptions made by teachers

Rist (1970) - Labelling in primary schools.

used home background and appearance to place in separate groups on different tables.

The 'Tigers' were the fast learning group- mainly m/c and of clean, neat appearance- seated closest to her and had greatest encouragement.

The 'Cardinals' and 'Clowns'- mainly w/c- were seated further away, given lower level books to read and fewer chances to show their ability.

A03 FSM

-fsm students accounted for 40% of all permanent exclusions

- permanent exclusion rate for pupils eligible for FSM is 0.12 around 4 times higher than for those not eligible which is 0.3

Gillbron and Youdell

A to C economy

boderline C/D have the most benefit to schools and so more effort is put into them

especially since schools are judged by progress 8 scores.

social class - material deprivation

Flaherty

• nearly 90% of all failing schools are located in deprived areas and main reason for missing school is money related

• money problems in the family are a significant factor in younger children's non-attendance at school

Emily Tanner et al (2003)

• Found that the cost of items such as transport, uniforms, books, computers, calculators, sports and music and art equipment places a heavy burden on poor families.

• free school is expensive

Housing

Harker (2006)- found that w/c has less space to learn and play and due to less time outdoors, they are more likely to face health hazards and have mental health issues

Shelter- poor housing conditions have a damaging impact on childrens learning as children living in overcrowded or damp accomodation are more likely to miss school

A03: 31.1% of Pakistani live in the most deprived 10% of neighborhoods whilst only 7.6 % of Indians do

diet and health

mariyn howard 2001- w/c children have lower intake of vitamins minerals and nutirents

Richard Wilkinson (1996)- argues that the lower the social class, the higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders- all have an effect in children's education. and this is due to w/c diet being high in salt and sugar

J.W.B Douglas (1964)

cultural dep

m/c parents are more interested in their child's intellectual development because they spend more time interested in school by visiting the school more often and contact teachers.

m/c more likely to engage with their child during primary socialisation

Bernstein and Young

culural dep

Middle class mothers are more likely to buy educational toys, books and activities that encourage reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development.

Language

Bereiter and Engelmann (1966)- Claim that language used in lower class homes is deficient. They describe lower class families as communicating by gestures, single words or disjointed phrases.

Basil Bernstein (1971)- Restricted code belonging to w/c as meaning is implicit and short and elaborated code belonged to m/c as meanings are explicit and clear

scholars for parental attitudes and values

Douglas- Working class parents place less value on education

Hyman- w/c valued their subcultural beliefs more than education and created a 'self imposed barrier'

Feinstein (1998)- found that working class parents' lack of interest in their child's education was main reason for children's underachievement

Sugarman

Working class subculture has four key barriers: fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, and present-time orientation

Blackstone and Mortimore

1. working class parents do not lack interest in child's education but rather does not have time to attend parents evening due to long working hours.

2. working class parents are put off by the middle class atmosphere schools give off.

direct critism of cultural deprivaiton

Keddie

Myth of cultural deprivation

- victim-blaming

- ethnic minority children are culturally diff, not culturally deprived

• A03 : 80% of chinese students not on FSM and 73% on FSM are getting grades 5 and above in maths and gcse . 61% of Asian not on FSM and 44% n FSM

- they underachieve because school are ethnocentric

Bordieu (1984)

argues that cultural and material factors both contribute to educational achievement

the m/c habitus places more value on the following kinds of activities and so m/c kids more likely to be exposed compare to w/c children

Gerwitz (parental choice)

Privileged, use cultural capital to influence

Semi- WC but want best for kids

Disconnected- unaware of system always WC

Giborm and youdell proper

Teachers would give haraher sanctions to black people and would often see black students as having behavioural problems

they would often ignore Asian problems

ethnocentric curriculum

Troyna and Williams (1986)- Ethnocentric curriculum gives priority to white culture and the english language

David- Describes the national curriculm as 'specifically british curriculum' and ignores non European languages

Ball- Little Englandism- british curriculum ignores culture and diversity and the achievements of BAME pupils

Mirza (1992)

3 types of teacher racism as she studied ambitious black girls who faced teacher racism and found that racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious from the kinds of advice they gave them about careers and option choices. mu

much of the girls time at chool was spent avoiding effects of the teachers negative attitudes fuch as not asking for help, participating etc

A03: gypsy and roman traveller exclusion rate was highest at 0.39 and Black carribean was 0.25

1. colour blind- didnt acknowledge or stop racism

2. the liberal chauvinists- not inherently racist but saw ethnic minorities as inferior and discouraged ambition

3. overt racists- would label and pick on EM students

A03 : in a 2015 poll of 450 BAME teachers 62% stated that they did not believe that BAME students were being treated fairly

Sewell

variety of boys responses

examines the responses and strategies black pupils adopt to cope with racism.  Teachers had a stereotype of ‘black machismo’, which sees all black boys as rebellious, anti-authority and anti-school.

• found that there were four responses

  1. rebels

  2. conformists

  3. retreatists

  4. innovators

Fuller: rejecting negative labels

The girls were high achievers in school where most black girls were placed in low streams. The girls channelled their anger about being labelled negatively into the pursuit of educational success. They worked hard, but did not conform elsewhere, showing a lack of concern about school routines and remaining friends with black girls in lower streams. These girls were able to reject the labels and remain determined to succeed. So therefore, they forced a pro-school subculture to ensure that they succeeded.

A03 for material deprivation by ethnicity

Joseph Rowntree foundation- EM were ore likely to work in a low paying job with barriers to promotion

The Swann report- socio economic factors were a key factor in Afro carribean underachievement

the highest percentage of people from 16-64 who were economically inactive were pakistani and Bangladeshi at 38%

cultural factors by ethnicity

Bordieu - some cultures place greater importance into education and some do not.

Madood

• Asian families have high cultural capital because

  1. they place high values on education

  2. they see education as a way to change their social status and gains social mobility

  3. they have intergenerational knowledge and values

A03 and eval for Madood

• according to the migration observatory by the Uni of Oxford, 36% of Pakistanis and other south Asians are overqualified for their job

• Basit 2013 : supports madood and argues that education is seen as capital that would transform the lives of the younger gen

  • ‘ migrants and their children always have aspirations of upward social mobility’

chinese students getting grade 5 or above FSM to none : 81% and 86%

Asian students getting grade 5 or above FSM to none : 57% to 64%

Language barriers of Ethnic minorities

Driver and Bollard: argued that if a 4yr old cant speak any English, by age 16 they would have completely caught up

Swann report : also found that language did not affect progress for later generations

Sewell

family structures

• found that AC carribeans tend to be single parent families which leads to these families experienciing low income and poverty

• young boys dont have a positive role model and often attracted to anti school s/c

• Sewell founded a programme ‘generating genius’ where he supports young pupils from EM backgrounds work with RG universities working with scientists for 2 weeks.

• He found these students all do well in GCSE’s and then go into RG universities including Oxbridge due to positive roles models and opening their aspirations

attainment and progress by gender

% english and maths above grade 5 or above: 46.4% of girls and 39.7% of boys

average progress 8 score : 0.23 girls and -0.27 Boys

rise in feminism contribting to female acheivemnent

rise in feminism contribting to female acheivemnent

studied womens magazine between 1970s and now

• A03 : iin couples with children, in 1975 45% of both parents worked and in 2015 aprroximately 63% did

Webb et al (2008)

- number of women in employment went up from 47% in 1959 to 70% in 2007

- pay gap between men and women has fallen from 30% to 17% since 1975

- more and more women are breaking through the 'glass ceiling effect'

Sharpe

In 70's, girls wanted a husband and a family. In the 90's, girls wanted a career showing that there is changing ambitions for girls

Concluded that, due to increased employment opportunities, females have become extremely ambitious & aim for ‘high professions’ such as doctors & solicitors.

A03 for subject choice

In 2000 38% alevel mathematicians were girls, it was 40% in 2010

eval of Sharpe

Diana rey- W/c girls havw limited opportunities for ambittions and job opportunities and so choose to be a housewife

Biggart- WC girls are more likely to face precarious position in labour market so see motherhood as only option

French and French (1993)

Internal-Teacher's attention

• Found that boys get more attention overall because of misbehaving and requiring discipline

Francis

Teachers more likely to sanction boys more harshly than girls

Spender (1980)

When boys asked questions they were respected, when girls asked questions they were criticised for being unladylike and assertive

A03 for teacher attention

Myhill- female passivity is taught through girls obedience, causes greater gender inequality as they are less likely to take leadership roles

Swannn- Boys more likely to dominate class discussions.

Gorard - GCSE and coursework

Girls do better in coursework exams as their attention span remains over time.

 found that the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975-1989, until it increased sharply. This was the year in which GCSE was introduced, brining with it coursework as a major part of nearly all subjects. So he concluded that the gender gap in achievement is a product of changed system of assessment rather than any more general failing of boys

• Girls do better in linear exams as their attention span remains over time

eval for Gorard

• Elwood - gorard is outdated as coursework doesnt exist for all subjects. additonally, coursework is only worth a small amount of ending grade

• bleach- - found that girls prefer long form prose compared to boys as boys prefer short non fiction books

Ring rose

Moral panic about failing boys

Mitsos and Browne

Girls more successful in coursework as they are more conscientious and better organised.

analysis of curriuclum

- exams are linear after coalition gov in 2010 which favours people who are tidy

GIST/WISE

- girls into science and tech

- women into science and engineering

boaler

Sees the impact of equal opportunities policies as a key reason for the changes in girls' achievement. as barriers removed and schools become more meritocratic for females

Coffey and Delamont

higher positions in schools are still male dominated.

- schools are competitive, hierarchical and authoritarian whcih reflects the male attitude in the workplace

A03: DofE (2022) - The teaching workforce of England is consistently predominantly female; 75.5% as at November 2021 (2021/22), up from 74.4% in 2010/11. Male teachers are more likely to work in secondary schools than nurseries and primary schools

Edwards and David (2000)

- says that parents allow boys to be boisteorus and boys have trouble sitting still and concentrating

- argues that primary socialisation of boys have direct impact to male achievement and that boys are more influenced by their peers who have 'macho' values

burns and bracey

- girls have great presentation and care and they are more likely to read and have a higher reading age

schemes for boys

- reading champions scheme to encourage boys reading

- dads and sons- gets fathers to read to their sons

- playing for success- used sport to encourage reading and achievement.

Mitsos and Browne, Crisis of masculinity

- boys demotivated and have lack of ambition

Globalisation and the decline of traditional men's jobs

- 'crisis in masculity' due to the closure of traditional manufacturing factories closed. men do not have traditional masculine jobs to aim for.

employment rate from 16-64

- female :72.2%

-male:78.1%

jackson

- interviews in 8 schools and found that work and trying hard is 'uncool' to boys

Tony Sewell

school has become 'femininised' and don't cater for boys needs

- school discourages male traits such as compeititon and leadership

male primary teachers

- only 16% of primary school teachers are male

- summary of 603 children show how 51% of boys believe that they are better behaved with a male teacher

- 42% say they work harder

Reed

found that there were two types of language teachers used for discipline

1. A disciplinarian discourse

2. A liberal discourse:

both male and female teachers adopted the masculine discourse to control pupils behaviour.  Which shows that gender of the teacher should not have much effect on the behaviour of boys within the classroom. 

epstein

- laddish subcultures

- says there is a culture where 'real boys' dont work and they are more focused on peer groups

- boys who worked hard were called 'swots'

epstein eval

francis s/c- laddish subcultures are growing and boys afraid of being swots as masculintiy was valued highly

ringrose- anti feminists have contributed to moral panic as its been sensationalised

lobban

-Gender stereotyping in children's books which has a direct impact of subject choice

A02 for Lobban

normann- dressed differently

Byrne- - boys encouraged to be tough whilst girls taught to be ladylike

oakley- - canalisation results in girls more likely to choose expressive subjects whilst boys pick a more instrumental subject

• a03: for Candidates sitting A level exams in 2012 and 2014 Boys were more likely than girls to study Maths, Computing, and Physics. In computing, for every girl, there were over 11 boys.

• DFE 2019 : female pupils were less likely to rank a STEM-related subject first for enjoyment: 32% compared to 59% of males

eval : best- - gender sterotyping still existed in books

skelton

students would associate a subject with a certain gender

A02/A03 for Skelton

paetcher- Pupils see sport in the male gender domain, so girls who are sporty have to cope with the image that contradicts conventional female stereotype, being labelled as lesbian' or 'butch'.

dewar- Male students call sporty girls 'butch' or 'lesbians'

colley

- changing of content in the curriculum can alter its gender and identity as music which was once seen as a traditionally feminine subject was becoming more popular with boys

A03 : By 2014, the masculinsation of music had developed to such an extent that it became a more popular option among boys than it was girls. In 2001, boys made up , 47% of AS entries, . In 2014, , 58% at AS,

Arnot et al

- Girls prefer talk that are open ended and realistic rather than abstract whereas boys like commentary style answers and clear questions. These tasks are more likely to be mathematical and science based where there is memorizing and a correct answer whereas girls choose Humanities where it is more debating responses.

browne and ross

Gender domains are shape at a young age and cause boys and girls to choose different subjects

murphy

- boys and girls approach the same tasks in different way as girls will look for how it affects people and boys will be more interested on how it something works or is made

institute of physics

- girls in single sex schools were 2-4 times more likely ot pick physics