Topic 1: class differences in achievement (external factors)

• Class differences in achievement: cultural deprivation- language

  Hubbs et al - found that where parents use language that challenges their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities eg ‘ are you ready for the next step?’ Cognitive performance improved.

  • Feinstein found parents are more likely to use language in this way
  • Less educated parents tend to use language in ways that only requires children to make descriptive statements e.g. what’s the animal called? This results in lower performance?
• Class differences in achievement: cultural deprivation- language


  Cultural deprivation theorists see differences in how parents use language as linked to social class. Engleman claimed the language using lower class homes is deficient, they describe lower class families as communicating by gestures and disjointed phrases.

  • As a result, their children failed to develop necessary language skills, grow up in capable of abstract thinking and are unable to use language to explain, describe or compare
  • Because of this, they are unable to take advantage of the opportunity school offers
• Class differences in achievement: cultural deprivation- speech codes

  Bernstein identifies differences between working class and middle-class language that influence achievement

  • The restricted code- used by wc, limited vocabulary, based on the use of short unfinished grammatically simple sentences. Speech is predictable descriptive and not analytic and is context bound, the speaker assumes that the listener shares the same set of experiences
• Class differences in achievement: cultural deprivation- speech codes

  Bernstein

  • The elaborate code- used by the mc, wider vocab based on longer grammatically more complex sentence, speech is varied and context free, the speaker doesn’t assume that the listener shares the same set of experiences
  • The differences in speech code give middle-class an advantage at school and put Work in class children at a disadvantage as the elaborate code is the language used by teachers, textbooks, and exams
• Class differences in achievement: cultural deprivation- speech codes

  Bernstein views the elaborate code as a more effective tool for analysing and reasoning which are essential skills and education

  • Early socialisation into the elaborate codes mean mc children are already fluent uses of the code when they start school so they feel at home in school and are more likely to succeed
  • working class children lack the code and I likely to feel excluded and be less successful
• Class differences in achievement: cultural deprivation- speech codes criticisms

  Critics argue that Bernstein is a cultural deprivation theorist as he describes working class speech as inadequate

  • However, unlike most cultural deprivation theorist Bernstein recognises that the school (and not just the home) influence children’s achievements
  • He argues working class pupils fail not because their culturally deprived but because the school fails to teach them how to use the elaborate code
• Class differences in achievement: Cultural deprivation- parents education


  Douglas found that working class parents place less value and education as a result they were less ambitious for their kids, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education

  • They visited schools less often and were less likely to discuss the children’s progress with teachers so their children had lower levels of motivation and achievement
• Class differences in achievement: cultural dep- parents education

  feinstien argues parents own education is most important factor affecting children’s achievement, as mc parents tend to be better educated they are more able to give their kids an advantage by how they socialise them. This occurs in a number of ways:

  • Parenting style
  • Educational behaviours
  • Use of income
  • Class, income and parental education
• Cultural deprivation- parenting style

  Educated parents parenting style emphasises consistent discipline and high expectations of their children, this supports achievement by encouraging active learning and exploration

  • Less educated parents parenting style is marked by harsh or inconsistent discipline that emphasises doing as you’re told. Preventing the child from learning independence and self-control leading to poor motivation at school and problems interacting with teachers.
• Cultural deprivation- parents educational behaviours


  Educated parents are more aware of what is needed to assist their children’s educational progress

  • As a result they engage in behaviour such as reading to their children, teaching them letters, numbers and nursery rhymes, painting and drawing and helping with homework
  • Educated parents are also able to get expert advice on child rearing, more successful in establishing good relationships with teachers and better at guiding their kids interactions with school
  • They also recognise the ed value of activities such as visits to museums
• Cultural deprivation- parents use of income


  Better educated parents not only have higher incomes. They also spend their income on ways that promote their childrens ed success

  • Bernstein and young found middle-class mums by books and activities that encourage reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development
  • Working class homes are more likely to these resources meaning kids start school without the intellectual skills needed to progress
  • Educated parents understand nutrition and its importance in child development
• Cultural deprivation- class income, and parental education

  Feinstein argues parental education has an influence on kids achievement in its own right, regardless of class or income

  • Even within a social class, better educated parents tend to have children who are more successful at school
  • This makes explain why not all children of working class parents do equally badly, and why not all children from middle-class family families are equally successful
• Cultural deprivation - Working class subculture

  Cultural deprivation theories argue that lack of parental interest in their child’s education reflects the subcultural values of the working class

  • A subculture is a group whose attitudes and values differ from those of mainstream culture
  • according to cultural deprivation theorist large sections of the working class have different goals, beliefs, attitudes, and values from the rest of society. This is why their children fail at school.
• Cultural deprivation- working class subculture


  Sugarman Augie working class subculture has four key features that act as a barrier to educational achievement

  1. Fatalism- belief in fate that whatever will be will be and there is nothing you can do to change your status mc values emphasise that you can change your position through your own efforts
  2. Collectivism- value being part of a team as more important than individual success, mc argue an individual should not be held back by group loyalties
• Cultural deprivation- wc subculture

  Sugarman p2

  3) immediate gratification- seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future, middle-class argue deferred gratification, making sacrifices now for greater rewards later

  4) present time orientation- seeing the present as more important than the future and so not having long-term goals. Middle-class culture has a future time orientation that sees planning for the future as important.
• Cultural deprivation- working class subculture

  Working class children in internalise the beliefs and values of their culture through socialisation process resulting in them under achieving at school

  • Augies, these values exist as they stem from the fact that middle-class jobs are secure careers offering prospects for continuous individual advancement
  • This encourages ambition, long-term planning and a willingness to invest time and effort in gaining qualifications
  • By contrast, working class jobs are less secure and have no career structure to advance through
• Cultural deprivation- compensatory education

  Aim to tackle the problems of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas

  • Intervene early in the socialisation process to compensate children for the deprivation experience at home
  • Operation Headstart as an example of this in the US scheme for preschool education in poor areas introduced in the 1960s, aimed at planned enrichment of the deprived child environment to develop skills and instill achievement motivation
  • Aimed at improving parenting skills using nursery classes
• Cultural deprivation- compensatory education

  Sesame Street was made by operation Headstart, providing means of transmitting values, attitudes and skills needed for educational success such as the importance of punctuality and literacy

  • In Britain, there have been several compensatory education programs such as educational priority areas, education action zones and shoe start
• Cultural deprivation- the myth of cultural deprivation


  Cultural deprivation has been widely criticised as an explanation of class difference in achievement

  • keddie describes cultural deprivation as a myth and sees it as a victim blaming explanation, she dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived home background
  • keddie argues that a child cant be deprived of its own culture and argues wc children as simply culturally different not culturally deprived
  • They fail because they are put at a disadvantage by the education system that is dominated by mc values
• Cultural deprivation- the myth of cultural deprivation


  Keddie- Argues rather than seeing wc culture as deficient, school should recognise and build on its strength and should challenge teachers anti-Work class prejudices

  • troyna and Williams argued that the problem is not the child language but the schools attitude towards it. Teachers have a speech hierarchy they label middle-class speech highest followed by working class speech and finally black speech.
• Material deprivation

  Poverty is closely linked to educational underachievement eg

  • According to the department for education, barely 1/3 of peoples eligible for free school meals five or more GCSEs including English and maths against nearly 2/3 of other pupils
  • Flaherty Money problems in the family are a significant factor in the younger children’s non-attendance at school
  • Nearly 90% of failing schools are located in deprived areas
• Material deprivation- housing


  Overcrowding makes it hard to study do homework and get good sleep and leaves less room for educational activities

  • Younger kids may underdeveloped due to lack of exploration areas
  • Families living in temporary accommodation may find themselves having to move more frequently resulting in changing schools and a disrupted education
  • Poor housing can also have indirect act e.g. kids in crowded homes are at a greater risk for accidents
  • Cold or damp housing can cause ill health= more sick days
• Material deprivation- diet and health

  Howard found young wc people lack nutrition for energy leading to poor health and absences from school As they have a weak immune system or concentration issues

  • Children from poor homes are also more likely to have emotional or behavioural problems. Wilkinson Among 10-year-olds, the lower the social class, the higher rate of hyperactivity, anxiety
  • blanden and machin found children from low income. Families were more likely to engage in externalising behaviour such as fighting and temper tantrums
• Material deprivation: financial support and the cost of education

  Lack a financial support means kids from poor families have to do without equipment and miss out on experiences that would enhance their education Bull the costs of free schooling

  • tanner et al found the cost of items such as transport, uniforms, books, calculators etc place a heavy burden on poor families
  • As a result, kids have to make do with hand downs and cheaper unfashionable equipment which may result in bullying
• material deprivation- financial support and the cost of education


  flaherty, fear of stigmatisation may also help explain why 20% of those eligible for free school meals don’t use them

  • Lack of funds also means kids from low income families also need to work. Ridge found that kids in poverty take on job such as babysitting, cleaning and that this often had a negative impact on school work.
• Material deprivation- fear of debt


  Going to uni involves getting into debt to cover the cost of tuition fees, housing etc

  • Attitudes towards that made her working class students from university
  • callender and Jackson found wc were debt adverse, which outweigh their attendance and working class were five times likely to apply to uni than middle class
  • Increase intuition fees in 2012 led to a fall of applicants by 8.6% compared with previous years
• Material deprivation- fear of debt


  Working class students who do go to uni or less likely to receive financial support from their families, 81% of mc families supported kids, only 43% of wc families did

  Working class students applied to local units to save on travel and housing
• cultural capital: Bourdieu three types of capital


  Bourdieu argues, both cultural and material factors contribute to educational and achievement and are not separate but into related. He uses the concept of capital to explain why the middle-class and more successful.
• cultural capital- Bourdieu, 3 types of capital


  Cultural capital- knowledge, values, language, tastes ect of the middle-class. He sees middle-class culture as a type of capital because, like wealth, it gives an advantage to those who possess it. He argues through socialisation middle-class kids Develop it. They are more likely to develop intellectual interest and an understanding of what the education system requires for success giving them an advantage in school Were such abilities and interests are highly valued and rewarded with qualifications

  • wc culture not valued
• Cultural capital- Bourdieu, 3 types of capital

  Educational and economic capital-refers to qualifications peoples get due to economic capital as middle-class compare to get kids into better schools/equipment, go on school trips and have tutors

  • leech and campos- middle-class parents are more likely to be able to afford a house in the catchment area of a school that is highly placed in the exam league tables. This is known as selection by mortgage.
• Cultural capital- a test of buordieus ideas


  Sullivan used questionnaires to conduct a survey of 465 peoples in four schools

  • to assess their cultural capital she asked them about a range of activities such as reading and TV viewing habits and whether they visited art galleries, museums and theatres as well as testing their vocab and knowledge of cultural figures
  • She found that those who read complex fiction and watched serious TV documentaries developed a wide vocabulary and greater cultural knowledge indicating greater cultural capital
• Cultural capital- a test of bourdieus ideas 


  pupils with the greatest cultural capital were children of graduates

  • These peoples were more likely to be successful at GCSE
  • However, although successful pupils with greater cultural capital were more likely to be middle-class, Sullivan found that cultural capital only accounted for part of the class in achievement
  • Where peoples of different classes had the same level of cultural capital, middle-class people still did better