EDUCATION
CLASS DIFFERENCE IN ACHIEVEMENT
EXTERNAL FACTORS
The Centre for Longitudinal studies -
They found that children at the age of 3 middle-class children were a whole year ahead of their working-class counterparts in development
Cultural Deprivation
Language
The language used at home influences a child's intellectual development.
More complex language helps consolidate a child's understanding
Cultural deprivation theorists believe that middle-class children are exposed to more complex language than working-class children
Bernstein (Speech Codes) -
Speech codes are what lead to differences in educational attainment between the working class and middle class
The Restricted Code - is used by working-class students and contains grammatical errors, simple short sentenced and is description based
The Elaborated Code - Is used by middle-class students and contains wider vocabulary, more complex longer sentences and is analytical.
EVALUATION OF BERNSTEIN
Bernstein places blame on working-class families for the differences in attainment
Fails to realise the diversity of speech
Labov - Restricted speech codes aren't less complex, they are just different
Parents Education
Douglas (Lack Of Parental Interest) -
Middle class parents are more likely to have achieved higher levels of qualifications, This means:
Parenting Style - Middle-class parents are more likely to emphasise discipline and high expectations.
Parent' Educational Behaviours - Middle-class parents are more likely to read to their children, help with work and attend events such as parents evening
More Income- Middle-class parents earn more because of their education and higher income is correlated to higher educational achievement for students
Use Of Income - Middle-class parents are more likely to spend their income in ways that benefit their child's education
Working-Class Subcultures
Sugarman (Subculture) -
There are 3 main factors that contribute to underachievement
Immediate Gratification - Working-class value instant rewards
Fatalism - Believing that no matter what they do they wont be successful
Low value on education - instead valuing alternatives, e.g. sporting achievement
Material Deprivation
Douglas (The Home And The School) -
Material deprivation has a cumulative effect on education
Poverty stricken households have poorer living standards and therefore mold and damp in homes can cause illness amongst working-class families.
Overcrowding is also a issue for large families who live in unsatisfacotry accomidtion; less privacy and quiet for studying.
1/3 of free school meal children get 5 A-C GCSES
Howard (Diet) -
Students from poorer homes have a worse diet, this can lead to more absences and illness which cause their attendance to be low and them to miss out on education
Bull (Cost Of Free Schooling) -
Students from poorer backgrounds may be unable to access things such as textbooks, trips, equipment and transporting therefore are put at a disadvantage in spite of free education
Smith and Noble(Poverty Penalty) -
working-class have a 'barrier to learning' which makes them unable to access things such as tuition and private schools
Halsey -
Education fails to provide equal opportunity for all children, children from working-class are often less successful than middle-class in the education system
Cultural Capital
Bourdieu -
Material and cultural deprivation are not separate and are interlinked.
Cultural Capital - Refers to an individual's social assets i.e middle-class families may go to plays or the opera which are valued in a middle-class habitus
habitus - the way society favours certain individuals i.e school is a middle-class habitus
INTERNAL FACTORS
Labelling
Becker -
Teachers idea of an 'ideal pupil' match the labels that they give to middle-class students
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy -
This is the concept that students become what they are labelled
those labelled as achievers achieve and those who are labelled slackers do not achieve
EVALUATION
- It's too deterministic
- If it were true wouldn't all teachers label their students as 'intelligent'
- Teachers would argue they have a sense of professionalism and don't label students
Streaming and Setting -
Schools often enforce the labels through 'streams' or 'sets'. These separate students dependent on their labels
those labelled as smarter (commonly the middle class) are put in higher sets which offer better educational enviroments
Student Subcultures
Labelling theory can cause students who are labelled as 'thick' to see themselves unable to achieve in education. Therefore creates an anti-school subculture forms as they understand achievement amongst peers can be created by doing not what the teacher asks
Class Identities
Archer -
The middle-class habitus of the school causes a symbolic attack on working-class students as it devalues who you are
Working class students create 'nike identities' through the use of branded goods to gain symbolic capital
Educational Policy
Educational Policies can be seen to effect achievement in education due to social class both positively and negatively
Marketisation -
The marketisation of schools can be seen to negatively impact the working-class's achievement in school as middle-class families are granted more choice in the market
Cream-Skimming -
The marketisation of schools has allowed schools to pick the high-achieving students that cost less to teach to join their schools, this negatively effects the working class as they cost more to teach despite their lower grades
Silt-shifting
Schools can offload students with learning disabilities and high cost in favour of achieving children who cost less
Pupil Premium -
Pupil premium can be seen to improve the lives of working-class students through educational policy as it removes part of the cost of schooling from low income households
Tripartite system
Evaluation -
Created class differences as those in grammar schools and higher levels of education tended to be middle-class
Aims
Student's education is selected by their ability
Every student across England and wales has equal access to education
New Labour -
Focused on creating equal opportunity between students of all backgrounds through the head start scheme
Ethnic Differences in Education
Lawson and Garrod -
defines ethnic groups as people who share common history, customs and identity, as well as language( in most cases). They will also see themselves as a unit
Cultural Deprivation
Language
Bereiter and Engelman -
Claimed that the language spoken by low income black households is inadequate for academic success
Evaluation -
Labov - Black speech is perfectly logical
Baker-bell - This theory is anti-black linguistic and labels black speech code as inferior
Demie and Mclean -
Language was not the main reason for difference in attainment for Caribbean students with low expectations and stereotyping by the teachers coming out on top.
Attitudes and Values
Cultural deprivation theorists would argue that some cultures socialise their children into a sub-culture that isn't valued by the education system; e.g. being too deterministic
Platt and Parsons
Children from Ethnic minorities were more likely to aspire for higher paying jobs than their white counterparts
Archer et al -
Ethnic minority students identified racism as the main barrier to their success
Family Structure and Parental Support
Black Families
Driver -
Evaluates Moynihan by stating how caribbean families are not dysfunctional and a lone mother provides girls with a strong independent role model
Asian Families
Sewell -
Indian and Chinese Pupil's benefit from supporting families
Asian Work Ethic
Lupton -
The model of adult authority mirrors how schools operate. Therefore parents are more likely to support school behaviour policies
Moynihan -
Argues that because many black families are headed by a lone mother they have no male role model to inspire achievement
Cultural Deprivation is a spiral
White Families
There is overgeneralisations of asian achievement - different cultures achieve different things
Mculloch -
more ethnic minority students aspired to go to university than white students
Compensatory Education
Aiming Higher Scheme
increasing the number of ethnic groups in higher education
Archer -
Emphasise of fixing low aspirations in ethnic minorities
Keddie -
Cultural deprivation is victim blaming - ethnic minorities are culturally different, not culturally deprived in a white ethnocentric environment
Lupton -
White-middle class males are more likely to cause behavioural problems
Critical Race Theory -
The institution of school is racist and an white ethnocentric environment
Rocket
middle-class black families supplement their children's learning with their economic and cultural capital
Raz -
cultural deprivation is a political distraction
Material Deprivation
Palmer -
1/2 of all children from ethnic backgrounds live in low income households (1/4 white children)
Minorirty ethnic groups are 3x as likely to be homeless
and 2x as likely to be unemployed
Many families live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wages
Purdah in muslim cultures prevents woman from working outside the home
Speech/ Foreign qualifications may not be recongised by UK employers
Asylum seekers may be unable to work
Racial Discrimination in the labour and housing market
CRITICISM
Indian and Chinese pupils who are materially deprived are still more likely to achieve
86% of Chinese girls who received free school meals achieved 5 or more higher grade GCSEs compared to 65% of white girls who did not have free school meals
Modood -
effects of low income were much less for other ethnic groups than white
Racism In Wider Society
Mason -
Discrimination continues as an experience of Britain's ethnic minority citizens
Rex -
Racial discrimination leads to social exclusion - this worsens poverty faced by ethnic minorities
Wood -
experimented with job applications and showed a bias towards white applicants with the same qualifications
Internal Factors
Gillborn and Mirza -
Black children were the highest achievers in primary school, yet worse in GCSE level
Labelling and streaming
Black pupils and Discipline
Gillborn and Youdell -
"racialised expectations" mean that teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils for the same behaviour as white pupils.
Concluded that many conflicts are due to the sterotypes held by teachers in schools rather than their actual behaviour
Bourne -
Black boys are seen as a threat and negatively labelled - and therefore punishments such as exclusion lead to low academic success
Olser -
Black students are more likely to suffer from unrecorded forms of exclusions such as internal exclusions
Interactionalists -
Interactionalists focus on the labels applied to children of different ethnic backgrounds by teachers.
Teachers often see black and Asian students as being far from the "ideal student:
Foster -
teachers stereotyping of black pupils as badly behaved means they will be put in lower sets, rather than basing it off students with similar ability which fulfils a self-fulfilling prophecy of under achievement
Wright -
Teachers hold ethnocentric British views and believed that Asians were marginalised for different cultures and were seen to have a poor grasp of English
Archer (3 identities of pupils) -
Ideal pupil - White, middle class. heterosexual
Pathologized pupil - Asian, deserving poor, oppressed sexuality. Culture Bound. Overachiever
Demonised Pupil - Black or white working class, hypersexualised. Seen as culturally deprived underachiever
Archer and Francis -
Chinese pupils have a negative positive stereotype as they are seen as never being able to fulfil the role of an ideal pupil despite what they achieve
Institutional racism
Troyna and Williams -
Individual Racism -
results from the prejudiced views of individual teachers and others
Institutionalised Racism - Discrimination that is built into the operations of institutions
Roithmayr -
Institutional Racism is a locked in inequality in society that becomes self-perpetuating
Gillborn -
Racism is so deep rooted that it is practically a feature of the education system
Marketisation and segregation
Gillborn -
Marketisation allows schools to select pupils, this allows negative stereotypes to influence admissions
Moore and Davenport -
American research show how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination
Commission for Racial Equality -
Racism in school admissions is still in Britain
Ethnocentric Curriculum
David -
Languages, Literature and music are all specifically British
Ball -
National curriculum ignores ethnic diversity and tries to create a mythical age of empire and glory
assessment
Gillborn
Assessments are rigged to validate the dominant culture
Gifted and Talented (Gillborn) - White pupils were 5x as likely to get invited to the program than black African pupils
Tikly et al -
Black pupils were more likely than white pupils to be entered for lower tier GCSEs
EVALUATION -
Why do Indian and Chinese pupils over achieve?
Sewell would argue that we need to focus on external issues
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT
External Factors
Changing Ambitions
Rise of Feminism has lead to more girls wanting to achieve higher in society, therefore education has become a priority for them to achieve. These ambitions have been made more realistic by the equal pay act etc
Sharpe -
Girls priorities changed from love and marriage in the 1970s to career and independence in the 1990s
Evaluation -
Does not explain why girls do better than boys - or does it? do girls hgave more ambition
Changing Families
Increase in divorce rate -
woman are able to feel more independent
Female headed lone parent families - provide a strong role model for girls
Woman are having less children and are staying single - this gives woman an opportunity to focus on their careers
Changing Employment
Equal pay act
sex discrimination act
Internal Factors
Equal Opportunity Policy
GIST (Girls Into Science and Technology) aim to encourage girls into STEM careers
National curriculum - Equalised opportunities by making girls and boys now having to study the majority of the same studies.
Education is now more meritocratic as girls have equal opportunities
Role Models
There are now more female teachers and head teachers in school than before. This provides a pro-education role model for girls
Coursework
Mitos and Browne -
believed that girls do better than boys in course work because they are more conscientious and organised
Gorad -
Found the gender gap in achievement increased when coursework based GCSEs were introduced
Teachers Attention
Francis -
Boys received more attention as they are disciplined more, therefore picked on and provided with lower expectations
link to labelling
French and French -
Boys and girls receive equal attention for academic reasons. However boys attracted more attention due to their misbehaviour
Swann -
Boys are dominant in class discussions whereas girls are better at listening and cooperating. Teachers give girls more encouragement
- link to labelling
Selection and League Tables
Due to girls being seen as the more able students they get recruited to the better schools, meaning they have a better education and achieve more
Boys underachievement
Feminisation of Schools
Sewell
Boys have begun failing at school due to 'feminisation', schools don't focus on traditional masculine traits like competition and leadership
Lack of Male role models due to disproportionally female teachers 1 in 6 teachers at primary school are male, this shows how a male role model isn't provided at an early age
Laddish Subcultures
Francis -
Boys are scared of being labelled 'smart' by their peers as it threatens their masculinity
Working Class subcultures value Manuel work rather than academic success
Epstein -
Pro-school working class boys were subject to harassment and given labels by their peers
Globalisation -
Globalisation has led to heavy industry jobs being relocated to developing countries, this has created a crisis of identity amongst males
Literacy
Parents spend less time reading with their sons because it is seen as a feminine activity
Boys interests do not encourage communication skills, whereas bedroom culture of girls does
Evaluation -
However, the majority of headteachers and senior staff are disproportionally male
Gender, Identity and Subject Choice
1% of vocational construction apprentices are taken up by girls.
Post-16 education - More choices lead to bigger gender differences
National Cirriculum - Non-core subects see a difference in gender signups
Early socialistion
From and early age boys and girls are dressed differently and given different toys to play with.
Byrne -
Teachers encourage boys to be tough, whereas they expect girl to stay quiet and helpful
Murphy and Elwood -
Boys read information books whilst girls read stories
Peer pressure plays a factor as boys often opt out of music; girls opt out of sport out of fear of peer judgement
Gender Domains
Browne and Ross -
When given an open ended task boys designed battle ships whilst girls designed cruise ships
Gender domains are activities that are seen as distinctively male or female i.e cooking being a female activity
Gender differences in subjects can be explained as subjects such as science have more male teachers, and the textbooks show more male examples and images which leads to a subliminal connection between the gender and subject
Some careers are Gendered, this means that they tend to be dominated by one gender e.g. girls dominate nursing, men dominate construction
Gender Identity and schooling
Connell -
Connell argues that schools reproduce 'hegemonic masculinity' - the dominance of heterosexual masculinity and suppression of female and queer identities
Feminists believe that schools reproduce the patriarchy through their practices and experiences
Lees -
Girls were called 'slags' by boys when deemed sexually able but there is no male equivalent
Mac and Ghalil -
Anti-school subcultures of working class boys used verbal abuse to reinforce their masculine identities
Boys boast about their sexual exploits whereas girls get called slags for their own
Haywood, Mac and Ghalil -
Male teachers enforce gender identities through saying boys are 'acting like girls' or ignoring boys verbal abuse of girls
Max and ghalill The male gaze is a form of social control where boys objectify woman through looking them up and down, boys may be labelled as 'gay' if not partaking which is another form of social control
The Role Of Education In Society
Functionalism
Durkheim -
Education promotes social solidarity and binds students together through shared norms and values, common history and social rituals.
Prepares students for work and equips them with individual skills that are needed in society
i.e. Obedience to authority
Parsons -
School's act as a bridge between family and society as they act as an agent of secondary socialisation.
Teaches universal values and gives everyone equal chance through meritocracy
Parson believes in ideas of meritocracy:
Individual Achievement - Everyone achieves their own status through their own effort and ability
Equal opportunity - Everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential
Exams - Every student is provided with the same questions, therefore they believe they have equal chances to succeed
National curriculum - Every student is taught the same topics
Evaluation -
Durkheim and parsons fail to explain how all roles are fulfilled in society - if everyone is given an equal chance why do some fail and do the least desirable jobs in society
Davis and Moore -
Role Allocation - A meritocratic education system allows for everyone to compete for the same qualification, however those who achieve more are allocated the more complex and desirable jobs
Evaluation -
Are the jobs with the biggest rewards always the most complex?
Woman and Ethnic minority students often get the worse jobs - therefore are they lazy?
Marxism
Althusser -
Ideological State Apparatus The parts of society that 'brainwash' you to believe in capitalist ides such as meritocracy
2 functions:
- Reproduction - The next generation of workings is reproduced through failing students from working class backgrounds i.e. Grade Boundaries change every year to ensure failures.
- Legitimation - By making lies such as 'meritocracy' appear as true, people blame failure on the individual rather than the capitalist system.
Evaluation -
Willis - discovered students rebelling in school through the laddish subculture, this is an example of how students are not being brainwashed. Counter-school subcultures challenge the myth of meritocracy
Althusser would argue that these small rebellious groups keep the system alive and hide the real factors of the ISA
Bowles and Gintis -
Correspondence Principle
Bowles and Gintis believe that school prepares students for work and that school mirrors the workplace in several ways
This happens due to the 'hidden curriculum' which is lessons you aren't taught directly but are implicit in school e.g. Uniform, working by the bell.
The Myth Of Meritocracy -
Bowles and Gintis believe that success is not based on hard work and talent as functionalists would say. It is based on class background
Role Allocation -
Bowles and Gintis agree with functionalists that education is there to allocate roles to people
However, their research showed the best grades go to the most obedient students, obedience is valued in capitalist society
New Right
Marketisation
Neoliberalism(Economic Doctrine) -
Neo-liberalism is very similar to the new right and they share ideas on how education should be run
They both think schools work best in a free market environment, where schools act like businesses for their consumers (students)
introduced in the UK by Thatcher
Similarities between functionalism and NR -
- Believe some are naturally more talented than others
- Believe education should be meritocratic and based on competition
- Education prepares students for work
- Education socialises people to shared values
Chubb and Moe -
Chubb and Moe argue that a government cannot run a successful education system as it is essentially the same for everyone. The new right believe that individuals and communities have specific needs that can't be tailored to by a state ran system
The new right believe that state run schools are not accountable to students and parents. Schools get poor results do not have to change, therefore there is a lower standard of education that leads to a less qualified workforce
Private schools are the answer because it solves the problems of accountability they outline in state schools. Chubb and Moe specifically believe that each family should be given a voucher that they 'spend' at which ever private school they like
The New Right believe in National identity, the schools should promote 'britishness' and teach positive elements of British history. They also therefore oppose multiculturalism as it fails to promote a single shared value
Evaluation -
Gerwitz and Ball - Believe marketisation only benefits the middle class as they have the material and resources to receive the benefits
The new right contradict themselves by favouring parent choice, but wanting the state to decide a national curriculum
They ignore real cause of low results i.e. poverty
Education Policy
Tripartite System 1944 -
Students were allocated into 3 types of schools based on the results at the 11+ test
Grammar School: Academic Curriculum
Secondary Modern: Practical Curriculum
Technical Schools - Technical schools that teach mechanics and other technical subjects
EVALUATION
- Reproduces class inequality
- Gender inequality as girls achieve higher marks
- Secondary moderns are seen as second class
Comprehensive System -
Aimed to overcome class divide by giving more opportunities to everyone
Abolishes 11+ exams, secondary modern and grammar schools
was not successful as there is 160 grammar schools have 500 secondary modern schools in existence
EVALUATION:
Marxism: Promotes inequality by labelling and denying WC opportunities
Ford: "social exclusion due to streaming"
Compensatory Education:
Tackle the problems of cultural deprivation through providing additional resources
Surestart(2010) -
3,500 centres created with the aim to help parents with the physical and intellectual development of babies
Operation Headstart -
Multi billion dollar scheme that sought to improve educational skills and instil motivation. Created sesame street to transmit educational value
WISE -
Doubled number of female engineers to 18%
League Tables -
Parents are provided with necessary information to make a choice.
Schools with poor league table positions can't be selective, take less WC and remain unattractive
Formula Funding -
More successful schools get more funding
Bartlett
Gillborn and Youdell -
A-C Economy - Schools rationalise their time and resources to concentrate on pupils who are able to et 5 gcses or above.
Globalisation
PISA -
The way that schools are assessed on an international level. They have a standardised test on maths, reading and science
Raising standards for teachers
Teacher training has been expanded on in the UK to ensure that the UK charts higher on The PISA rankings
Rishi Sunak's new policy to introduce maths as a core subject until 18 will set it inline with other developed nations on the global stage
ESOL -
ESOLis a training program that easily allows native English speakers to enter the global market to teach English
Free Schools -
Inspired by Scandinavian school systems to push the UK towards the Scandinavian countries
Academies -
Based loosely on the American charter school system as our policies of marketisation began to mirror that of Americas
Oversees Projects -
The growth of free trade and neoliberal marketisation has allowed for UK based trusts and universities to hold campuses and programs
Criticisms
PISA -
Only focuses on limited subjects
The finnish system -
Market values do not favour every system such as the finnish system which involves high spending and teacher autonomy
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