Internal and external factors- social class

Social class closely linked to achievement in education- 3x more likely to get five 4-9 grades if upper class than if working class.

External factors

Material factors: things that can be bought to give an educational advantage e.g. laptop, textbook

—> diet —> housing

Cultural factors:

• cultural deprivation: lack norms, values, roles and mores that would allow someone to succeed at school

• intellectual stimulation: not providing stimulating toys/games/reading to enhance development

• language codes, Bernstein

  • w/c- restricted code: don’t provide context, just explained by the situation e.g. pass me the thingymyjig

  • u/c and m/c- elaborated code: context is provided e.g. pass me the remote so I can change the channel

    • this means they are better practiced in language need for exams

• cultual capital, Bourdieu

  • everyone has cultural capital: knowledge, skills and experience we have that allows us to get things we want in the world

  • w/c and m/c have different cultural capital e.g. m/c would know how to succesfully complain to a school to change something for their child which helps them to gain educational advantage

• parent’s values and education, Feinstein

  • parents who are better educated tend to value education more and so build positive relationships with school and see the importance of it (u/c and m/c)

  • parents who are m/c are more likely to have routines and disciplines to support learning

  • use of income: m/c parents are more likely to use money in ways that promote learning for their children e.g. buying books

working class subculture (common features of w/c people in the UK)

1. immediate gratification- w/c more likely to favour instant gratification over deferred gratification, however education is deferred gratification as it is hard work now for future reward.

2. fatalism- belief that we do not have control over our future so no point in trying in education as there will be no reward —> this makes the outcome inevitable so the belief comes true.

3. low value of education- w/c people do not value education as they do not believe they will succeed as they don’t try.

Internal factors

Stages of labelling

1. label is attatched

2. label is accepted

3. label becomes master status (takes over all other labels)

4. label becomes a self fulfilling prophecy

Labelling, Howard Becker

w/c students often labelled as badly behaved, messy, having a low reading age: this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy meaning they underperform

Labelling study, Rosenthal and Jacobson- Spurters

• in a school in the US, teachers were told that a test carried out by the researchers would unlock hidden potential in some students

• after the test some students were identified as “spurters”

• however, the test was fake and the students were chosen at random.

• it was the difference of labelling by teachers that made the difference.

The Halo effect: the impact of positive labelling where a teacher perceives everything about a student as good because they have a positive impression of them. e.g. good manners

The Ideal pupil: the perception of a perfect student is u/c or m/c NOT w/c