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Social Class Differences in Achievement - Coggle Diagram
Social Class Differences in Achievement
External Factors
Material Deprivation
Definition - Refers to poverty and a lack of material necessities such as adequate housing and income.
Marilyn Howard and Diets
Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. This poor nutrition can affect health.
Poor diets could weaken children's immune systems or lower their energy levels.
Children with poorer diets are more likely to have lower attendance in school (due to illness) and have more of a difficulty concentrating in class.
Children from poorer homes are also more likely to have emotional or behavioural issues.
Richard Wilkinson - among ten year olds, the lower the social class, the higher the arte of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders. These can all have a negative effect on children's achievement.
What does external factors mean?
Definition - factors outside the school, such as their home or family background.
Speech Code
Basil Bernstein
Restricted code
is mostly used by the working-class - limited vocabulary, short often unfinished, grammatically simple sentences.
Elaborate code
is mostly middle-class - challenges and child's cognitive thinking, parents using this code will often ask their children "why?" or "what do you think?"
These differences in speech codes give middle-class children the advantage.
The elaborate code provides middle-class students with beneficial critical thinking skills.
Teachers often speak using a an elaborate code.
Middle-class students feel at home and are more likely to succeed.
Criticism
Bernstein is often regarded as a cultural deprivation theorist because he describes working-class speech as inadequate. But he recognises the school (not just the home) has an influence on children's achievement.
Parent's Education
Douglas
Found that working class parents placed less value on education and as a result of this, working-class parents didn't encourage their children very much meaning that the children had low levels of motivation that led to underachieving in school.
Leon Feinstein
Argues that parent's own education is the most important factor affecting children's achievement. Since middle-class parents tend to be better educated, they can better socialise their children so they achieve.
For example middle-class parents would typically be more punctual when attending parent evenings.
Bernstein and Young
They argue that better educated, middle-class parents have more money to spend on educational tools - such as books and educational toys.
Working-class subculture
Barry Sugarman
Identified the 4 features of working-class subculture and how they can contribute to working-class underachievement.
Fatalism
- having a mentality that you can't change your status.
Collectivism
- valuing being a part of a group, rather than succeeding as an individual.
Immediate Gratification
- the act of demanding pleasure now rather than waiting for better quality rewards later.
Present-time Orientation
- viewing the present as more important than the future, therefore struggling to form long-term goals.
Internal Factors
What does internal factors mean?
Definition - Factors within schools and the education system, such as interactions between pupils and teachers.
Labelling
What does labelling mean?
Definition - To label someone is to attach a meaning/definition to them. E.g a teacher may label a pupil as bright, or a troublemaker.
Howard Becker
Carried out an interactionist study on labelling. 60 Chicago high school teachers were interviewed, teachers judged pupils based on how closely they fitted to the image of the "ideal pupil."
Middle-class pupils were found to be closest to the idea of the "ideal pupil" and working-class pupils were found to be furthest away.
Dunne and Gazeley
argue that schools persistently produce working-class underachievement as a result of labelling and assumptions made by teachers.
Jorgensen
She found that different teachers may have different ideas of an 'ideal pupil' .1. In Aspen, largely working class primary school the ideal pupil was defined as 'quiet and obedient'. They were defined in terms of their behaviour and not ability. 2. In the middle class Rowan primary school the ideal pupil was defined in terms of academic ability.
The self-fulfilling prophecy
Definition - A process that refers to when other peoples expectations influence our own sense of self, therefore causing the labels to become true.
Step 1:
The teacher labels a pupil, and on the basis of this label, makes predictions about them.
Step 2:
The teacher treats the pupil accordingly, acting as if the predictions are already true.
Step 3:
The pupil internalises the teacher's expectation, which becomes part of their self image. So they actually become the label the teacher believed them to be in the first place.
Teacher's Expectations
Rosenthal and Jacobson
They show the self-fulfilling prophecy at work. They told an American school they had a new IQ test that'd identify pupils who'd 'spurt' ahead. The researchers tested all the pupils but picked 20% at random and said to the teachers these students are 'spurters'. The researchers found that these students gained more attention in order to do well.
Streaming
Definition - Streaming involves separating children into different ability classes called 'classes'.
Becker
shows that teachers don't usually see working class children as ideal pupils. They tend to see them lacking ability and so have low expectations of them. Due to this, working class pupils are more likely to find themselves in lower streams.
Gillborn and Youdell
found that teachers are less likely to see working class Black pupils as having ability. And so, these pupils are more likely to be placed in lower streams. And, as a result they miss the opportunity to gain good grades which widens the class gap in achievement.
They also argue that the A - C economy produces educational triage. Schools then categorise pupils into three types.
1
those who'll pass anyway and don't need any help.
2
those with potential, and will be given help in order to pass.
3
hopeless cases who are going to fail anyway and so don't get help.
Pupil subcultures
Definition - A pupil subculture is a group of pupils who share similar values and behaviours.
How do pupil subcultures develop?
1: Differentiation
the process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability. Streaming is a form of differentiation as it sorts pupils into different classes.
2: Polarisation
the process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite 'poles' or extremes.
