Class differences in achievement

a) b)

External factors Internal factors

External factors
= outside education e.g. home and family as well as the wider society

1. Cultural deprivation

Language Learning self-discipline Gaining reasoning skills General socialisation Some underachievers lack cultural equipment needed to do well. Missing aspects are intellectual development,

language, attitudes and values

Intellectual development

Solving problems, reasoning and thinking skills Theorists like Bernstein and Young argue: WC homes lack books, educational toys and educational activities, hence their intellectual development is diminished when entering school.

Language

Bereiter and Engelmann argue that communication skillls in lower class families is fragmented and often uses short phrases or even just single words. Bernstein devided the speech code into:

1) the restricted code (wc) and 2) the elaborated code (mc)

Attitudes and values

Ambition or lack of Encouragement Interest per se in education Barry Sugarman found 4 features of lower class barriers to achievement: 1) fatalism = whatever will be, will be 2) collectivism = being part of group is more valued than achieving individually 3) immediate gratification = pleasure now, rather than making sacrifices to gain success 4) present-time orientation = present is more important than future. MC are more focused on future prospects
Sugarman

Nell Keddie and the myth of education

Read the abstract on the myth of cultural deprivation and answer questions 1 -3 below.

Compensatory education

Policies to help provide resources to schools and communities to tackle cultural deprivation. For example Sure Start aims to promote and provide integrated education, care, family support, health services and help with parental employment Child tax credits Free admissions to any museum in London

Material deprivation

Poverty (90% of failing schools are in deprived areas) Housing, e.g. overcrowded houses make difficult to find space for studying. Also, frequent moving can disrupt childrens learning. Diet and health (children from poorer families are more likely to suffer from emotional and behavioural problems) Financial support and education (equipment, uniforms, PE kit,..), also being teased for receiving free school meals and feeling stigmatised.

Cultural capital
Pierre Bourdieu (1984) looked at why the middle class is more successful at achieving in education: 1: cultural capital (knowledge, attitudes, values, language, manners..) 2: educational (better equipped, e.g.books) 3: economic capital (private schools or extra tuition)

Activity: Assign the following terms into Bourdieus types of capital.

Fully equipped pencil case punctuality Visit to the Natural History Museum Holiday in France Music lessons Library membership Internet access at home How can these items invert to fit cultural deprivation? E.g. fully equipped pencil case no pens or pencil, hence

attitudes and values

Sharon Gewirtz and parental choice

Looked at differences in economic and cultural capital and their relationship to class differences. She asked to what extent parents exercised their choice preferences for secondary schools.

She identified 3 types of parents:

1: privileged-skilled choosers (professional middle-class, researched choices and system well, knowledge of how to appeal, put case forward, meeting deadlines, able to pay for travel costs, if school was better but out of catchment area) 2: disconnected-local choosers (working class, lack of economic and cultural capital, difficulites understanding system, less confident, less able to manipulate, priority on safety and school facilities, limited funds restrict parents to local school despite reputation in cases)

Cultural capital

3: semi-skilled choosers (ambitious working class, still difficulties understanding educational system, often frustrated not to get children in their preferred school due to lack of knowledge)

Homework
1)

2)

Outline some of the ways in which material deprivation may affect educational achievement. (ca. 500 words) What are disconnected-local choosers? (ca. 150 words)

Internal factors
Causes for differences in achievements within schools

Internal factors are:

Labelling The self-fulfilling prophecy Pupil subcultures Marketisation and selection policies

Labelling

Based on stereotyping rather than ability or attitude Interactionists examine labelling by looking at small-scale, face-to-face interactions between individuals

Labelling in primary schools: Ray Rist (1970) studied an American kindergarden and found that the teacher was biased towards children who she labelled as tigers (based on home background and appearance). R.Sharp and T. Green (1975) looked at a childcentered primary school and found that middle class children received more support than those from working class. Interactionists argue this is due to inequalities between social classes in wider society.

Labelling in secondary schools: H.Becker (1971) found that teachers judged pupils on an image of an ideal pupil, which was largely based on middle-class children. Lower working class children were deemed to be furthest away from that ideal and regarded as badly behaved.

Cicourel and Kitsuse (1963) showed that in higher education students were frequently offered places on the basis of their social class/race, even though the education counsellors were adamant to be neutral.
What makes the ideal pupil from a teachers point of view?

The self-fulfilling prophecy

is a prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it having been made. (Webb, R. etc) Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) introduced a new test to a school and notified teachers about spurters, which however had been picked at random. Almost half of those pupils had made significant progress. This field experiment was named Pygmalian in the

classroom.

Is more likely to occur in streamed classes/subjects. Middle class children benefit from streaming. Why?

Pupil subcultures

A group of pupils who share values and behavioural patterns. These often occur through labelling or as a consequence of streaming. Colin Lacey (1970) found two concepts which can explain how subcultures come about: 1: differentiation (streaming) 2: polarisation (pupils move towards opposite extremes as a result of streaming) High streamers belong to pro-school subculture whereas low streamers anti-school SC.
What examples of anti-school subcultural behaviour can you think of?

Criticism:

How valid are these findings today? Can small studies reflect the labelling approach accurately? Does not explain well enough why teachers are to blame for labelling pupils. Labelling is deterministic. Marxists dont blame teachers but system.

Marketisation and selection policies

Funding formula: same funds per pupil Exam league tables: ranking of schools Competition: to attract pupils

These changes have put schools under pressure in order to attract pupils and funding.

A-C economy (Gillborn and Youdell)

Schools are forced to focus on pupils who will achieve 5 grades at A to C. Gillborn & Youdell blame system. Sorting process is named after the medical procedures which need to be taken in an emergency: The Educational Triage System
Pupils

Triage

Those who will pass anyway

Borderline C/D pupilsNeed extra help

Hopeless cases

Competition and selection

Schools are aiming to attract mc pupils in order to improve/maintain ranking. (Cream-skimming, Will Bartlett) School differences in performance spiral apart. (silt-shifting, Will Bartlett)
Task: Find out what CVA is and how it works! What is PHCS CVA?