Cultural deprivation

• Cultural deprivation


  Where a pupil lacks the basic 'cultural equipment' gained through primary socialisation-language, self-discipline and skills
• Cultural deprivation theorists

  • They argue that working-class families fail to socialise their children properly, so they end up culturally deprived
• This means many working-class pupils lack the cultural equipment to do well at school, so they underachieve
• Aspects of cultural deprivation

  • Language
  • Parent's education
  • Working-class subculture
• Cultural deprivation is a myth - it's just a victim-blaming explanation that ignores working-class failure being down to an education dominated by middle-class values
• The teacher's speech hierarchy of middle-class speech, working-class speech and black speech is the problem, not the pupil's language
• The idea that working-class parents don't take an interest in education is rejected, and it's said that work hours prevent them from engaging in events like parents' evening
• Elaborated code


  Language used in school (teachers, textbooks, exams) that is seen as the 'correct' way to write/speak and gives all the essential skills for education such as analysis, reasoning, clearly expressing thoughts
• Restricted code


  Language used in working-class homes that has limited vocabulary, short and grammatically simple sentences, predictable speech involving single words or gestures, and is context-bound
• Working-class children don't fail because they're culturally deprived, but because school fails to teach them the elaborated code
• Parents' attitudes to education


  Can affect a child's achievement in school
• Working-class parents placed less value on education, making them less ambitious for their children, taking less interest in their education and giving less encouragement
• Parents' own education is the most important factor that affects students' achievement
• Educated parents


  • Emphasise consistent discipline and high expectations of children, which supports achievement by encouraging active learning and exploration
• Less educated parents


  • Use harsh/inconsistent discipline, emphasis on 'behaving yourself' and doing as you're told, which prevents children from learning independence and self-control, leading to poor motivation and problems interacting with teachers
• Educated parents


  • Are more aware of what their child needs to help their educational progress, so they engage in behaviours like reading to children, teaching letters/numbers, paint/draw, help with homework and be actively involved in schooling
• Working-class families may not know what will help their child to succeed in education, so they won't engage in activities like this, which can cause them to be less successful at school
• Better educated parents have higher incomes, which they spend on their child's educational success, as well as having the funds/knowledge about nutrition to support the child's development
• Middle-class mothers are more likely to buy educational toys, books and more, which encourages reasoning skills and stimulates intellectual development
• Working-class homes are more likely to lack these resources, so they start school with educational skills that need progress
• Parental education influences children's achievement regardless of class or income
• Working-class subculture


  Group in society whose attitudes and values differ from mainstream culture
• Large sections of the working-class have different goals, values, attitudes and beliefs from the rest of society, which is why their children underachieve/fail at school
• Working-class values


  • Fatalism (belief in fate, what will be, will be - nothing can be done to change your status), collectivism (valuing being part of a group over succeeding as an individual), immediate gratification (seek pleasure now, no making sacrifices for future rewards), present-time orientation (seeing now as more important than the future, therefore having no long-term goals/plans)
• Compensatory education


  Programmes that aim to tackle cultural deprivation by giving extra resources to schools in deprived areas and intervening early in the child's socialisation to minimise cultural deprivation as much as possible
• Compensatory education programmes


  • Sure Start & Educational Priority Areas