Class differences in education

• Social class


  Determined by parental occupation
• Middle class


  Parents work in non-manual professional occupations, often referred to as "white-collar" jobs
• Working class


  Parents engage in more manual occupations, often referred to as "blue-collar" jobs
• Children from middle class backgrounds generally achieve more in education than those from working-class backgrounds
• Reasons for the achievement gap


  • Middle class parents can afford private schooling
  • 90% of privately educated students go to university
  • Privately educated make up over half of Oxford and Cambridge entrance
• The majority of education in the UK is in the state education sector
• Cultural deprivation


  Theory that working class families do not adequately socialize their children, leading to lack of values, attitudes, and skills needed for educational success
• Cultural deprivation theory


  • Working class homes lack books, educational toys, and activities to stimulate children
  • Working class parents do not read to their children as much as middle class parents
  • Working class mothers spend less time choosing stimulating toys compared to middle class mothers
• Restricted code


  Language used by working class, consisting of gestures, single words, and disjointed phrases
• Elaborated code


  Language used by middle class, more erudite, verbose, and analytical
• Teachers, textbooks, and exams tend to use the elaborated code, putting working class students at a disadvantage
• Fatalism


  Belief that one's fate is predetermined and cannot be changed
• Collectivism


  Placing the group before the individual, the opposite of individualism
• Immediate gratification


  Desire for pleasure now rather than working for greater rewards later
• Present time orientation


  Living in the moment, not planning for the future
• Cultural deprivation theorists argue that working class values and socialization do not prepare children for educational and career success, unlike middle class children
• Compensatory education policies


  • Operation Head Start in the US
  • Education Action Zones in the UK
  • Sure Start in the 2000s
• Kiddy argues that cultural deprivation is a myth and working class children are just culturally different, not deprived
• Joyner and Williams argue that the education system is biased towards white middle class speech codes, seeing other speech patterns as inferior
• Blackstone and Mortimer argue that the education system is not designed to fit the needs of working class parents
• Ethnocentric


  Focuses on middle-class values, if you're working class you have different values so being measured against middle-class values might be unfair
• We need to change the way the education system works to value working-class values and working-class attitudes
• Speech hierarchy


  White middle class speech codes and patterns seen as the most desirable, all other speech codes and patterns seen as inferior
• Children are ignored or even punished if they use non-middle class speech codes at school
• Working-class parents are frozen out of the education system that isn't designed to fit their needs
• Reasons working-class parents struggle to engage with the education system


  • They work long shifts that change regularly
  • Parent evenings/school visits conflict with their work hours
• Material deprivation


  Poverty and lack of material necessities
• Poverty and educational underachievement


  Are closely linked
• How material deprivation affects educational achievement


  • Poor housing conditions (no space to study, sharing bedrooms, poor ventilation)
  • Poor health and diet (leading to illness and tiredness)
• Hidden costs of education


  Costs beyond just tuition that parents have to pay (uniform, equipment, technology, trips)
• Fear of debt puts many working-class students off attending university
• Only 33% of children in receipt of free school meals achieve 5 good GCSEs
• 90% of failing schools are in deprived areas, a third of persistent truants leave school with no qualifications
• Cultural capital


  Cultural and material factors that contribute to educational achievement
• How middle-class cultural capital gives an advantage


  • Middle-class parents teach norms, values, and how to engage with the education system
  • Middle-class children gain familiarity with 'high culture' (literature, art, history, etc.)
  • Middle-class children have more opportunities for culturally enriching experiences (museums, holidays, hobbies)
• Marketisation and parental choice


  System that aims to empower parents to choose schools for their children
• Labeling


  Attaching a meaning or definition to someone
• Types of parents making school choices

  • Privileged skilled choosers (middle class)
  • Disconnected local choosers (working class)
  • Semi-skilled choosers (ambitious working class)
• Teachers' labeling of students


  • Based on stereotyped assumptions
  • Judging pupils against the image of an ideal pupil
• Marketisation has generally benefited middle-class parents and children more than working-class parents and children