External class difference in achievement

These are factors outside the school that impact a student’s achievement based on their social class.

refers to the lack of financial resources that limits a child’s educational success.

Key Issues:

Poor Housing:
- Overcrowding = lack of space for studying.
- Poor conditions = higher risk of illness leading to absences.
Diet and Health:
- Poor nutrition can lead to illness, fatigue, and lack of concentration.
- Howard (2001) – Working-class children are more likely to have poor diets, leading to lower energy levels in school.
Lack of Financial Support:
- Inability to afford educational resources (books, equipment, trips).
- Smith and Noble (1995) – Poverty creates barriers to learning, e.g., lack of internet access or private tuition.

impact:

Working-class students are more likely to underperform due to lack of resources.
May lead to higher dropout rates and lower participation in higher education.

Suggests that working-class children lack the norms, values, attitudes, and knowledge that promote educational success.

Key Ideas:

Language Codes (Bernstein, 1975):
- Restricted Code: Used by working-class families, limited vocabulary, context-bound, grammatically simple.
- Elaborated Code: Used by middle-class families, wider vocabulary, context-free, complex sentence structure.
- Schools and exams favour the elaborated code, disadvantaging working-class students.
Parental Attitudes (Douglas, 1964):
- Middle-class parents place higher value on education.
- They offer more encouragement and are more likely to attend parents' evenings.
Cultural Capital (Bourdieu, 1984):
- Middle-class families pass on cultural knowledge, skills, and experiences that benefit their children in education.
- Middle-class students have the ‘right’ attitudes and tastes that match the values of the education system.

💡 Impact:

Working-class students may feel out of place in middle-class-dominated schools, leading to cultural clash and underachievement.

key Ideas:

Cultural Capital: Knowledge, attitudes, and cultural experiences passed down by middle-class families.
Social Capital: Middle-class families often have social networks and connections that benefit their children’s educational success.

Impact:

Middle-class parents can navigate the education system more effectively, ensuring their children attend the best schools and access better resources.