Differences in educational achievement - social class

Waldfogel and Washbrook (2010) → conducted longitudinal study on 12,644 children and found that many were already educationally a year ‘behind’ more privileged children by the age of 3

Working class (w/c) children:

• Start school unable to read

• Placed in lower sets

• Perform less well in exams

Middle class (m/c) children:

• Do better in exams

• Stay in school longer

• Disproportionally represented in higher sets

In 2005 3% of children receiving free school meals attended one of the top 200 state schools

¾ of upper middle class children gained 5 or more GCSEs - A* - C compared to less than 1/3 of w/c students

Internal factors affecting w/c underachievement:

• Whether students are ‘warmed up’ or ‘cooled down’ →Higher stream students are ‘warmed up’ to achieve highly whereas lower stream students are often ‘cooled down’ and pushed to follow courses that require lower levels of academia

• Self-fulfilling prophecy → teachers label lower class students as lazy, underachievers, and disruptive etc. children then adopt these labels and adhere to them

• School ethos and the hidden curriculum

• The halo effect

• Teacher evaluations and stereotypes

• Resources in the school (class, size, money, equipment)

• Pupil identities and subcultures → w/cs are more likely to adopt anti-school subcultures