Class

• Bernstein

  2 types of speech code:

  Restricted - typically used by w/c, limited vocab, use of short, often unfinished, simple sentences.

  Elaborated - typically used by m/c, wider vocab, more complex.

  The elaborated code is used by the education system, advantaging m/c students who are socialised into it early.
• Douglas 


  W/c parents place less value in education. Consequently they are less ambitious for their children and offer less encouragement. Leads to children being less motivated.
• Feinstein


  Parents education is the most important factor affecting children’s achievement.
• Hubb-Tait

  Children who had parents that used challenging language had improved cognitive function.
• Sugarman


  Working-class subculture has 4 key features that act as a barrier to achievement:

  Fatalism - nothing you can do to change your status.

  Collectivism - valuing being apart of a group more than succeeding as an individual.

  Immediate gratification - seeking reward now rather than making sacrifices for future rewards.

  Present time orientation - seeing the present as more important than the future so not setting long-term goals.
• Howard

  Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition affects health, leading to more absences and difficulty concentrating.
• Wilkinson

  Among 10 year olds, the lower the class, the higher the rate of activity, anxiety and conduct disorders, all which are likely to have a negative effect on education.
• Machin & Blanden


  Found that children from low income families are more likely to engage in externalising behaviour such as tantrums which disrupt schooling.
• Tanner et al


  Study of the Oxford area found that the cost of items such as transport, uniforms, books, etc placed a heavy burden on families. As a result, poorer children may have to do with cheaper equipment.
• Flaherty


  Fear of stigmatisation may explain why 20% of those eligible for free school meals don’t take them.
• Smith & Noble

  Poverty acts as a barrier to learning. Eg inability to afford private schooling, tutors…
• Ridge

  Children in poverty take on jobs which can have negative impacts on schoolwork.
• Callender & Jackson


  W/c students are more debt averse. They see more costs than benefits of going to university. W/c more than 5x more likely to not apply for uni than m/c.
• Reay 


  W/c students more likely to apply to local unis to live at home and save money. This gives them less opportunity to do to higher status unis.
• Mortimore & Whitty


  Material inequalities have the greatest effect on achievement.
• Robinson


  Tackling child poverty would be the most effective way to boost achievement.
• Bourdieu

  M/c have:

  Economic capital - can send their children to private schools etc.

  Cultural capital - knowledge, attitudes, values, language, tastes & abilities valued by the education system.

  Educational capital - more likely to live somewhere with better schools.
• Becker 


  Based on interviews with 60 Chicago High School teachers, found that teachers judged students based on how closely they fitted the image of the ideal pupil.
• Hempel-Jorgenson

  What is considered the ideal pupil is based on the social class make up of the school.

  In a largely w/c primary school staff discipline was an issue so the ideal pupil was quiet, passive & obedient.

  In a largely m/c primary school staff discipline was less of an issue so the image of the ideal pupil was based on ability rather than behaviour.
• Rist


  An American Kindergarten placed children in groups of estimated ability.

  Fast learners (tigers) was mostly m/c.

  Slower learners (clowns) was mostly w/c. These were given lower level books and less opportunities to show their abilities.
• Dunne & Gazeley


  Schools persistently produce w/c underachievement due to labels & assumptions made by teachers.
• Rosenthal & Jacobson


  Conducted a study to show the influence of labelling & self-fulfilling prophecy on pupils’ achievement.

  Randomly chose students and told the school they had been identified as ‘spurters’. A year later, 47% of these students had made significant progress.

  This shows teachers beliefs about the child’s ability can impact their achievement.
• Gillborn & Youdell


  Teachers are less likely to see w/c students as having ability.

  W/c students are more likely to be placed in lower streams & entered into lower tier GCSEs. This denies them opportunities for educational success.

  Teachers put more effort into those they think have ability to boost their position in the league tables.

  Educational triage - schools categorise students into those who will pass anyway so they are left to themselves, those who will pass with help, and hopeless cases who are doomed to fail. Background plays a part in this categorisation.
• Lacey


  Subcultures develop through a process of differentiation (teachers categorising students) to polarisation (pupils response to this).

  Pro-school subculture - pupils placed in high streams (mainly m/c) tend to remain committed to the school’s values. Gain status through academic success.

  Anti-school subculture - pupils placed in lower streams (mainly w/c) gain status in other ways. They reject the school’s values and gain status among their peers.
• Hargreaves 


  The education system views boys in lower streams as triple failures:

  Failed 11+ exams

  Been placed in lower streams

  Labelled negatively
• Ball


  Studied a comprehensive school in the process of abolishing streaming.

  Found that when schools abolish streaming the influence of anti-school subculture declined.

  However, teachers continued to label students.
• Woods

  Responses to labelling:

  Integration - being the ‘teachers pet’.

  Ritualism - staying out of trouble.

  Retreatism - daydreaming & mucking about.

  Rebellion - outright rejection of the school’s values.
• Furlong 


  Many pupils are not committed permanently to any one response to labelling. They may move between different responses, acting differently in different lessons with different teachers.
• Archer et al


  Nike identities:

  School’s m/c habitus stigmatised w/c students identity.

  Reflecting the schools m/c habitus, teachers oppose street styles. Students who adopt street styles risk being negatively labelled.
• Ingram

  Studied w/c Catholic boys from a highly deprived neighbourhood.

  They passed their 11+ exams & had gone to grammar school. They had a strongly m/c habitus. Many of them felt tension between the habitus of their neighbourhood & school.
• Evans 


  Studied w/c girls from South London Comprehensive School & found that they were reluctant to apply for elite universities & that those who did apply felt a sense of barriers & not fitting in.