Sociology - education

why do some sociologists believe underachievement happens - external factors

material deprivation (inadequate housing, food and heating),

• overcrowding- not enough room for educational activities such as reading or homwork. disturbed sleep from sharing bedrooms

• temp accomodation move frequently, different eductaional schools

• overcrowding means more room for accidents and a greater chance of getting ill. may lead to an absence from school

• poorer background kids have poorer nutrition and diet. weakened immune system and more absences from school (howard)

cultural deprivation (inadequete language skills, socialisation, inappropriate attitudes and values).

BERNSTEIN: Speech Codes - Differences in speech codes put working-class children at a disadvantage because the elaborated code is used by teachers, textbooks and exams. Early socialisation into the elaborated code means that middle-class pupils are already at an advantage.

DOUGLAS: Parents' Education - Working-class parents place less value on education; they are less ambitious for their children and give them less encouragement to participate in educational activities, such as homework. As a result of this, many working-class parents do not attend parents evening.

SUGARMANN: Working-class Subcultures - Sugarmann identifies 4 key acts that act as a barrier to educational achievement for working class pupils:

• Fatalism- there's nothing you can do to change your status

• Collectivism - valuing being part of a group more than being an individual

• Immediate gratification- seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future

• Present time orientation- seeing the present as more important than the future, therefore having no long-term goals

cultural capital gives middle class an inbuilt advantage. BOURDIEU: Middle-class children with cultural capital are better equipped to meet the demands on the school curriculum. Parents can convert the cultural capital into economic capital, for example, they can send their children to private schools.

Class differences in achievement (internal factors)

shsh

durkheim - social solidarity

believes education teaches people shared norms and values to maintain social solidarity

this is maintained in a school through

uniforms, attendance, assemblies

marxist limitation to this

schools are ideologically driven, where children are told to passively accept rules. assemblies provide false consciousness

parsons believe school is a …

bridge between family and wider society.

home teaches… whilst school teaches…

home teaches particularistic standards while school teaches unieversal ones

another word for fixed status at birth is

ascribed status which is what famillies provide

education helps children to … status

achieve. education is meritocratic

limitation to skl being meritocratic

not all students start at the same baseline, some may have disabilities/disorders. lack of parental involvement, financial issues, family problems

marxists argue that meritocracy is

a myth

parsons- schools teach us …. skills needed for future occupations and the maintenance of….

specialised, consensus

criticism of schools teaching us specialisd skills

further skills schools dont give us e.g training/degree

davis and moore

education sieves high achievers to the top. best ppl do best jobs in society

how is this shown in school

awards, certificates. exam system- competition, individual achievement and hardwork

criticism of sieving

feminists and marxists- difference on gender and race. white upper/middle class white men are often getting the top jobs in the country

who believes education is an ideological state apparatus - reproduces and justifies inequalities keeping bourgeosie in power

althusser

how does education reproduce inequality

hidden curiculum, ethnocentric, unequal access to resources

real world application

uk government made it illegal for teachers to promote anti capitalist views, education is a tool used by capitalists to promote capitalism

specialised skills - marxists

talents are predetermined and limits social mobility, based on social class labelling

criticism

overlooks those broke who make it out

feminists believe gender inequality is overlooked

why do marxists believe meritocracy is a myth

social class - better= access to more resources, higher grades and therefore jobs

real world example

90% of ofsted failing schools are in deprived areas. best teachers will avoid and therefore no specialised teaching and cant get good grades

bowles and gintis

correspondance principle- schools mirror the work environment- heirarchy among teachers. hidden curiculum - lessons taught but not specifically reffered to

bowles gintis and althusser - pupils are …. by ruling classes to be ideal workers

brainwashed

rwa - in schools

schools ‘exploit’ the time of students by interventions/detentions

passive - unquestioning inherent weakness

chomsky

schools are a filtering system - most compliant reach top of politics buisness and media, dumbos internalise failure

who criticises the idea of brainwashing

paul willis - neo marxist. many students rebel from education as a secondary agent of socialisation

bowles and gintis study limitation

not representitive of all western schools as it was only carried out on a few american high schools in 1970s

when was the education act

1944- introduced compulsary education up to 14. tri parte system of equal schools. grammar, secondary modern and technical schools. children would sit an iq test at 11 that measured their innate ability. those who passed would go to a grammar school 20%

aims of it

abolish 5 evils- ignorance, abolish inequalities within state schools, and 11+ was fair and scientific way to measure the ability a child was born with

strength

upward social mobility for those who passed the 11+ and continued to provide high quality education for those who go to grammar schools

limitation

technical colleges were too expensive to build and phased out. secondary modern and technical students were labelled as failures and not allowed to sit formal qualification, reducing WC talent. marxists were critical of elaborate code used in grammar schools as lower classes had more restrictive, and grammar schools were heavily populated by middle class students. more male places than females so they had to outcompete boys, disparity of grammar schools 12% in one area and 40% in others

comprehensive education act

1965- aimed to educate all pupils in same secondary school regardless of class, gender and ethnicity.

aims

labour government saw that tri partite system was divisive and social mobility had stalled

meritocratic ideals were more likely to occur in a comprehensive system

advantages of this

regcognises children develop at different rates and reward late bloomers with higher sets

limitations

private school education still exists for the wealthy, now inequalities within schools, not all local authorities shut down grammar schools, there are still some

new right limitations for comprehensive acr

lacked discipline, lack of parental choice in school, still failed to prepare children for work

what year was education reform act

1988

policy features

test acts as SATS to judge quality of school aged 7-11, gcses and a levels. schools performances can be measured. national curiculum, league tables + ofsted ( schools performance can be viewed publically and parents can make wise choices abt kids education)

open enrollement- children can attend any school not just their local one

aims

marketisation drives competition between schools. widere choice for parents

in 1994 how many people got an a*

2.8

in 1997 how many people got an a*

3.6

disadvantage of act

still significant disparity of gender, class and ethnicity

testing increases stress on pupils and staff

league tables and compeition is counterintiuitive, as low ability students are barred from taking exams, funnelled into easy or low status qualifications

money is spent on marketing not education provision

few places in popular schools

new labour policy aims

continue market firces agenda, w parents having more choice over school.

specialist schools that were good at one subject in particular

limitation of specialist schools

werent often specialist in the subject, instead just given extra funding to spend on that area, but it was used to improve facilities such as PE and IT

new labour city academies

improve school standards. schools were provided expert teachers and aditional funding

ran themselves independantly directly using government funding

evaluation

behaviour policies were rigourously enforced. from least sucessful to most sucessful. mossbourne community academy in hackney got all students a* - C in just 5 years

weakened power of local gov

sure start

peaked in 2010 with 3,600 and 1.8bn funding. helped educational life of kids and componsate for 18month gap in learning between working class and middle class communities.

evaluation

increased SATS scores for those who attended

middle class parents started using it as a childcare facility

education maintanance allowence

money given to students from deprived areas for attending school and having high grades

10-30 a week

gov wanted to increase higher education attendance by 50%

evaluation

meet hidden costs of education#

didnt have to be used on education

some conservative educational policies - 2010

uni tuition fees, pupil premium

uni tuition fees

marketisation polices. starting fees would increase standards and encourage weaker unis to improve. weaker unis cant charge full price for a ‘lesser service’. relates to league tables

evals of uni fees

increased the standards of uni. number of first degree unis awarded was highest ever

most providers charge full fees

marxista rgue students have been comodified with purpose of education system making profit

pupil premium

additional funding given to schools to improve attainment of disadvantaged pupils, such as care, adopted, free school meals or income support. link between educational attainment and deprivation

limitation

schools just spend it on everyday expenses. doesnt have to be spent on pupil premium stidents . parents arent aware of it and cant hold schools to account

gcses and a level reform since 2016

reduction significantly of courswork as teachers were often abusing this assessment type to get higher up on league tables and it is unclear to parents the quality of the school resit culture boosted grades

evals

exams were made more difficult so children compete for skills

teachers and pupils had to innovate ways to cheat the system if they felt they didnt have the means to pass

globalisation

increasing interconnectedness of societies. advances in traditional forms of communication but more recently the development of info such as tech

kelly on globalisation

educational policy helps us compete with international students and keep us in the G7 of richest nations by having skilled workers

gove and coalition gov

britains failing positions on PISA league tables as justification for more rigorous primary and secondary school standards and exams

reading improvements in britain- 25 in 2009 to

14 in 2018

who argues globalisation has led to commodification of students

ball

weakness of this

many british students go overseas for cheaper tuition fees than in britain. students are being treated as commodities to be brought and sold for profit. atleast 50% consider studying abroad and 14% do.

who argues that globalisation has lead to a multicultural currciulum

holborn

how is this reflected in schools

teaching of other faiths anf cultures in subjects such as r.e, outside dominant 81% white and 11% christian culture in uk

evals

increases equality which is whats valued by ofsted as groups are vulnerable

however, teaching of british values show that they are distinct from international values

an example of a internal school relationship and process

hidden curriculum- no longer hidden. we learn abt it in sociology. value is intrinstic rewards, such as exams in school. so that we are willing to stay in a workplace for money

labelling

someone in a certain way causes them to internalise beliefs and view themselves based on how others would react to them

self fuffiling prophecy

labelling someone a certain way causes them to internalise their beliefs and live up to prophecy made.

study on self fuffiling phrophecy

rosenthal and jacobson - feild experiment on elementry school. 20% were randomly selected and labelled ‘intellectual spurter’ phrophecy was fufilled. group made higher than average progress

limitation

iq tests are a poor way to measure ability. teachers werent observed in a classroom. no in depth understanding

streaming

same group for all subjects based on ability. accepted because of meritocracy.norm because of marketisation

gilbourne and youdell:

educational triage. students who fail and excel can both be ignored and students who do okay are the target of revision

limitations

lower teacher expectations for students in lower streams

difficulty removing labels as children may find it harder to move up streams

labelling and stigma - being placed in a lower group can lead students to feeling less able

the ideal pupils

refers to the student profile teachers implicitly hold in their minds, representing their expectations of a model student

Gillborn and Youdell studied 2 secondary school and found

WC pupils were seen as distruptive, ill prepared and demotivated

MC pupils were more likely to be seen as co operative, well prepared, and motivated

evals

observations and interviews give greater understanding. verstehen gives increased validity

microscale study-representitive/generalisable

subultures

shared norms, values and patterns of behaviour

lacey 1970

differentiation and polarisation. pro school - academic success and anti school subcultures- willis, alternate forms of status

material deprivation

inability to afford basic resources which can impact a childs attainment throughout school. sufficient food, heating, clothing educational resources

stats

33% of children on FSM get A*-C,

90% of failing schools are in deprived areas

middle class pupils have a reading age of 2.5years ahead of WC pupils

silt shifting

schools may off role WC students who threaten schools position on league tables

how can housing impact a childs education

childs development can be impaired due to lack of outdoor space and safe play/exploration

temporary accom may mean moving regularly, constant change of school and distrupted education

crowded homes mean greater risk of accidents.cold and damp= ill health

overcrowding means less room for educational activity, sharing bedroome tec

howard (2001)

children from poor homes often have a lower intake of minerals and vitamins. more absences from school and less focus in lessons

bull 1980

cost of education is expensive for poorer famillies. means children might miss out on experiences because they cant afford resources that might enhance it.

how many people drop out at LMU

16.6% compared to oxford at 1.5%

callander and jackson

fear of debt. working class children have an increased fear of debt and saw the costs of uni higher than the benefits. debt averse were 5x less likely to apply

what had the gov done - evals

tried to make up for this using bursaries, student loands, pupil premium and EMA

criticisms from Educational policy

bernstein

speech codes, restricted speech codes- wc middle and elaborate as upper class.

the benefits of MC is teachers speak it, textbooks written in it and they are rewarded for using it

the disadvantaged working class become alienated in the classroom. negative labelling

evals

recognises the school fails to teach students elaborated code

bernstein devalues working class speech as inadequete as it works in their own habitus

sugarman refers to 4 main aspects of working class attitudes

instant gratification, fatalism, collectivism, present time orientation

criticisms of cultural deprivation

keddie - victim blaming. working class culture is different, not deprived

working class failure is due to systematic discrimination with a middle class education environment

tronya and williams- schools fail to challenge middle class bias in terms of language bias and negative labelling

blackstone and mortimer -WC parents are often intimidated by MC school environment

cultural capital

knowledge, attitudes, tastes, abilities and language of dominant culture in society. normally MCC, which is why WCC is often devalued in education as rough and inferior

middle class parents on educational impact cultural capital

confidently research on quality of schools and read ofsted reports, move into different catchment areas, know how to help children with homework, can relate to teachers, see importance of high culture and wider learning

limitations

cultural capital can account for some educational differences. middle class do better because of their high levels of economic capital and aspirations

why do females outperform males

schools have become more feminised, coursework favours girls, more likely to be part of pro school subcultures, march of progress- more opportunities, girls are more pressured to do well in GCSEs/Alevels,

why do males underperform females

lack of male role models, more good at practical tasks, lower expectations placed upon them

what does epstein argue

poor boys discourse that blames the school environment for the failure of boys

90% of primary school teachers are girls and that means theres no positive role model for boys. teachers dont understand masculinity and they give more attention to girls. environment becomes alienating