material and cultural deprivation

• what is material deprivation


  this term refers poverty and lack of resources such as adequate housing which explains the w/class underachievement

  factors:

  • housing
  • financial support/cost of education
  • fear of debt
  • diet and health
• Housing

  • students in multi-family, extended or foster care homes all have the possibility of being disadvantaged within the education system
  • Cunningham and Mcdonald assumes that children's housing needs are an essential part of academic success as a safe and healthy environment
  • Lanus - children in overcrowded homes had a lower probability of completing school
• financial support and cost of education


  lack of financial support means that children from poorer families have a restriction on equipment and experiences such as trips - can lead to stigmatisation from peers

  e.g EMA, Pupil Premium and free school meals

  • David Bull - calls the many different costs within schools 'costs of free schooling' - Tanner found that this can be quite a burden on poorer families
  • Flaherty - found money problems in the family link to students non-attendance to school
• fear of debt


  the increase in tuition fees to £9k a year has caused more w/class students to deter from choosing university as more of a burden

  • Callender and Jackson - found w/class students are 5 times less likely to apply for university than the more debt tolerant students
  • Diana Reay - found w/class students are more likely to apply to local universities so they could live at home and save on travel
• diet and health


  a good diet is necessary for a child to concentrate and have good educational achievement - they will have more energy

  • Wilkinson - among ten year olds, the lower the social class, the higher the rate hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders
  • Banden and Machin - found that children in low income families participate in externalising behaviour such as fighting and tantrums > disrupting their education
  • Howard - people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals
• what is cultural deprivation


  this is the theory that many w/class children are inadequately socialised and therefore lack the 'right' culture needed for educational success - lack the basic values, attitudes and skills
• Parental attitudes


  this is essential for educational success

  • Douglas - w/class parents place less value on education, were less ambitious, gave less encouragement and took less interest in their childs education
  • Feinstein - w/class parents lack of interest was the main reason for their underachievement
• Sugarman - parental attitudes and values


  w/class - more fatalistic approach, want immediate gratification, more present-time orientated

  m/class - more optimistic, concerned with deferred gratification, emphasis on future planning
• Bernstein - Language

  • Elaborated code - m/class, more grammatically complex, context free
  • Restricted code - w/class, more simple sentences, context bound
• Bordieu - cultural capital


  this refer to the knowledge, attitudes, values, language, tastes and abilities of the m/class

  • middle class culture is favoured by education system
  • links to Gerwitz ideas on the 3 types of parents
• ways to tackle cultural deprivation

  • compensatory education - these are programmes that aim to provide extra resources to schools in deprived areas - intervene in early socialisation

  examples:

  • Operation Head Start was an organisation that used shows like Sesame Street as a way to fill in the gaps caused by cultural deprivation - this was found to be effective
• ways to tackle material deprivation

  • free school meals
  • vouchers from food shops
  • working with parents
• Criticisms of CD

  • Keddie - cultural deprivation is a myth and a victim blaming explanation - w/class are culturally different not deprived - should be challenging anti-w/class prejudice
  • Blackstone and Mortimore - argue w/class parents are interested in their children's education despite not attending as many parents evenings - this is due to them usually working more longer hours than regular
• Criticisms of MD

  • too deterministic - it's not strictly the only reason for a poor educational success
  • other factors may be more impactful e.g cultural deprivation, race, gender