Class difference in educational achievement (external factors)

Cultural deprivation

Argues that disadvantaged students underachieve as they do not have the ‘right culture’.

Speech codes

Bernstein:

Restricted code:

• Used by the W/C

• Limited vocab

• Context bound - the speaker assumed the listener has had the same set of experiences.

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Elaborated code:

• Used by the M/C

• Wider vocab

• Context free - the speaker does not assume the listener has had the same set of experiences, so they use this language to spell it out for them

Evaluation:

• The school fails to teach the elaborated code - not just because they are culturally deprived.

• School naturally teaches the elaborated code to children.

This is used within textbooks, exams and teachers - which gives M/C students an advantage as they are able to understand these sources and succeed as they feel ‘at home.

This gives W/C students a disadvantage as they feel excluded and will be less successful.

Bernstein argues that W/C students also fail as schools fail to teach them how to use the elaborated code.

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Solution:

• Compensating education programmes can provide extra resources for schools + communities in deprived areas + intervene early in the socialisation process.

Parents’ education

Douglas:

W/C parents are more likely to place less value on education, resulting in:

• less ambition for their children

• less encouragement

• less interest in their education

• visiting schools less often (e.g not attending parent evenings + not discussing child's progress with teachers)

↳ overall, less parental investment

W/C parents pushes harsh, inconsistent discipline → preventing the child from learning independence + self control → leads to poor motivation.

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M/C parents are opposite usually - being more engaged with their child’s education + attending parent evenings.

W/C Subcultural values

Sugarman:

There are attitudes and values that differ from mainstream culture:

• Fatalism - nothing can be done to change your status

• Collectivism - more value being in a groups that succeeding as an individual

• Immediate gratification - pleasure in the present and sacrificing rewards in the future

• Present-time orientation - seeing the present as more important than the future → not having long term goals or plans.

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These differences in values are due to:

• M/C jobs encouraging ambition, long term planning + willingness to invest time + effort.

• W/C jobs being less secure + no career structure where individuals can advance.

Evaluation

Keddie:

• Sees it as a ‘victim-blaming’ explanation.

• W/C children are culturally different - not deprived → they fail as they are put at a disadvantage by the dominated, M/C valued education system.

e.g - teachers have a ‘speech hierarchy’ - placing M/C speech as the highest + W/C speech → Black speech

• W/C parents may not have time to show up for their child’s education due to working long, irregular hours or are put off by the M/C atmosphere

• W/C parents want to help their child’s education, but do not have the knowledge + education to do so.

Material deprivation

Refers to poverty and a lack of material necessities - such as adequate housing and income.

Housing

Direct effects:

• Overcrowding → less room for educational activities, nowhere to do homework + disrupted sleep from sharing beds / bedrooms.

• Lack of safe play + exploration with families living in temporary B&B’s → having to move frequently → constant change of school + education.

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Indirect effects:

• Overcrowding → risk to health → impacts showing up for education.

• Cold / damp housing → ill health → risk to health → impacts showing up for education.

Diet and health

• The lower the social class, the higher the rates of hyper activity, anxiety and conduct disorders → negative effects on child’s education

• Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins + minerals → poor nutrition → weakens immune system + lowers children’s energy levels → more absences from school due to illness + difficulty concentrating in class.

Financial support and the costs of education

Fear of debt - W/C students are deterred from going to university due to there being more costs than benefits - with W/C students being 5 times less likely to apply than M/C students.

W/C students could apply to local universities but have less opportunity to go to the top universities

When they do go to university, they may have to work a part-time job to fund their studies - so there is less time spent on their education.

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Unable to afford equipment - equipment being needed to support their education, such as transport, uniform, books etc, being expensive.

This can place a heavy burden on families - children may have to work to support their families and themselves.

Children may have to have hand-me-downs that are cheaper but unfashionable - this could lead to bullying, stigmatisation + isolation (leads to why people who are eligible for FSM do not take them).

Cultural capital

Bourdieu:

Argues that both cultural + material factors contribute to educational achievement + are interrelated.

1) Each class has its own cultural framework - the habitus (what is good + bad taste in leisure activities - like TV programmes).

2) Exposure to the M/C habitus creates cultural capital (way of life)

3) This gives an advantage to the person who possesses it.

4) Through their socialisation, M/C children have the ability to grasp, analyse + express abstract ideas.

5) They can develop intellectual interests + an understanding of what the education system requires for success

6) This gives them an advantage where these abilities + interests are highly valued + rewarded with qualifications

7) The education system focuses and transmits the dominant M/C culture and devalues the culture of the W/C as they see it as inferior (e.g restricted code + immediate gratification)

8) Many W/C pupils get the message that education is not meant for them.

9) This leads to exam failure due to a lack of cultural capital.

3 things that make up cultural capital

Embodied - through socialisation overtime

Institutionalised - degrees, status, position

Objectified - brands that we envy

Educational and economic capital

Bourdieu argues that educational, economic + cultural capital can be connected into one another.

• Wealthy parents can convert their economic capital into educational capital by sending their children to private schools + paying their tuition.

• M/C parents can afford a home in a catchment area of a school that is highly placed in the exam league tables.

• ‘Selection by mortgage’ drives up the cost of houses near successful schools - excluding the W/C.

Evaluation

Pros:

• Does not see W/C children as inferior nor blames them for their failure

• Links both inside + outside school factors

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Cons:

• Schools do provide extra resources for W/C children