CLASS- EXAM QUESTION

CLASS- EXAM QUESTION

1. Assess the claim that class differences in educational achievement are primarily the result of school factors (20)

   • INTRO
     • Close relationship between class & achievement, Class persists as a factor affecting achievement regardless of changes in educational policies, The higher a person’s class the better they achieve in Ed. The lower a person’s class the worse they achieve in Ed.More pupils are achieving generally, but the middle classes have benefitted from policies to raise achievement the most
     • MAIN
       • In-school first;
         • Labelling; Becker, the ideal pupil (polite, hardworking, academically able) is a label which fits middle class children benefits them re teacher time and expectation this is why they do well. Working class children become ‘negatively labelled’ as a consequence of this ‘ideal’ label are this affects their educational achievement adversely. Keddie supports Becker’s claim by adding that the ideal pupil will most likely be in top sets at school
           • Gillborn & Youdell (2001) argue that teachers use notions of ability which are linked to social class to type pupils. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy in the students. Working class pupils disengage and fail because they are negatively labelled whereas middle class students engage and do well because the teachers believe in them; this is evidenced by them getting positively labelled.
             • Teachers have different expectations of students which is transmitted through body language, language, work set and language used. Jacobsen & Rosenthal supported this claim through a field experiment. They found teacher expectations linked to IQ. When J&R altered scores of students the expectations changed and different students started to achieve. If working class students experience low expectations and middle class students experience high expectations then middle class pupils will do better.
               • Negative labelling and streaming can create counter or anti-school subcultures. Willis (1977) found this. Counter and anti-school subcultures cause working class students to disengage and take on different educational norms and values which can make them susceptible to failing at school. Middle class students generally form pro-school subcultures which enable them to have constructive educational values so are more likely to do achieve in education.
                 • Hargreaves & Lacey (separately!!!!!) found that middle class students are over-represented in upper sets. Students in top sets it could be argued get higher expectations from their teachers and harder work. This will raise their chance of educational achievement. Working class pupils, on the other hand are found largely in bottom sets where the opposite can be found. This will make them more likely to underachieve at school.
                   • Marketisation policies which creates competition in schools has generated an A-C economy Gillborn & Youdell argues this causes middle class students to be pushed and focused on at the expense of working class students. The focus on good results which marketisation has, ultimately views working class pupils as educational liabilities (especially working class boys). This is because it is harder to get achievement from this class. This can cause the underachievement of working class pupils
                     • HOWEVER
                       • It is not just in-school factors which can cause different class achievement in education; wider social factors and home factors should be considered
                       • It is argued by theorists such as Murray (1986), Hyman (1979) and Sugarman that the working classes place different values and emphasis on educational achievement than middle class parents. These differences equip middle class students to do better in education than working class students.
                       • Bourdieu uses the concepts of cultural capital and cultural deprivation to illustrate this. He argues that the norms & values that the middle class transmit to their children that give them an advantage in the education system whereas the norms and values that the working class transmit to their children that gives them a disadvantage in the education system. This could explain the differences in class and achievement in education
                       • Material deprivation could also affect class and attainment. The working classes are likely to be poorer than the middle classes. Poverty can cause poor health, overcrowded and unsettled housing, lack of equipment and lack of educational visits. All of these factors have also been linked to w/c underachievement in education
                       • Bernstein - speech codes – learnt at home
                         • CONCLUSION
                           • Class inequalities in education have always existed. This area of underachievement remains despite policies such as EMA, ALG and compensatory education. • Marxists argue that w/c pupils will always fail in a Capitalist society because Capitalism needs failure to generate surplus value. It could be argued that the education system does not exist to eradicate class inequality and is not meritocratic. If it is a microcosm of Capitalism then class differences in achievement are inevitable. This is demonstrated through Boudon’s positional theory.