Education

• Independent schools (private)

  • smaller classes
  • fee paying - better resources
  • ethos of school - high focus on exam grades, achievement, leadership skills
  • proves education isn't meritocratic - parents pay for higher quality results
• State school

  • free
  • intake is socially mixed - range of social classes
  • bigger class sizes - limits budget for resources
  • may provide a route for social mobility for working class children
• free schools

  • much more freedom in curriculum
  • example - Summerhill school - no uniform, relaxed approach to lessons, students pick their own actives
• de-schooling

  • idea that mainstream school limits children and damages them
  • illich (1995) agrees that schools repress children and promote conformity. Believes schools should be abolished and replaced with places where pupils can decide what they want to learn
• material deprivation

  • poor housing, lack of study resources and overcrowding can negatively affect achievement
  • middle class children have access to tutors, study guides and usually their own bedroom to work in
• parental values

  • middle class parents usually value eduction more than working class due to their own positive experiences at school
• cultural deprivation

  • the sub-culture of some low income groups (underclass) does not provide their children with rich educational experiences like family visits to museums or libraries
• cultural capital

  • middle class parents hold cultural capital - they know how to revise, how to find resources and how the education system works. They are also better equipped to help with homework
• Streaming and Setting

  • in streaming, students are allocated to a class based on their ability
  • research suggests streaming is linked to social class - middle class students more likely to be put in higher sets
  • streaming can negatively impact progress - teachers give less challenging work an have lower expectations of pupils in lower sets
• achievement and ethnicity

  • generally, Chinese and Indian pupils do better in GCSEs than Black Caribbean, while White working class boys achieve the lowest grades
• External factors

  • material deprivation (Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean families face deprivation than other ethnic groups)
  • cultural factors - Eg some are disadvantaged by parents not speaking the language, some ethnicities value education higher than other groups
  • parental values - some cultures have stricter parenting styles - Eg Chinese parents have very high academic expectations of their children
• Internal factors

  • they type of school attended us important - quality of teaching and resources matter - if school provides adequate teaching, there’s a less of a gap in achievement
  • teacher labelling
  • ethnocentric curriculum - biased towards white European students
  • institutional racism
• achievement and gender Boys used to get higher results than girls, but by the 1980s girl of overtake boys in GCSE and A-level results
• why do boys under achieve?

  • feminisation of primary schooling – majority of primary school teachers a woman and there are not enough male role models to reduce the ‘Laddish‘ and silly behaviours amongst boys
  • Schools are too suited to girls and not boys, for example classroom behaviour are better suited to girls due to them being socialised as quiet, complying and liking writing
• crisis of masculinity

  • may see the traditional identity of breadwinner as under threat and losing their role in society. This can impact the motivation and self-esteem at school. Boys can also feel pressure to not ‘try hard’ in front of their friends. Peer pressure can lead to boys gaining status amongst friends for receiving detentions.