Class differences in educational achievement (External Factors)

Class differences in educational achievement (External Factors)

1. External factors - These are the factors that are outside the education system such as family background (e.g WC OR MC)

   • Cultural Deprivation
     • Intelligence, language and values e.g self discipline, are developed through primary socialisation in the family
       • Working Class families do not socialise their children as much as Middle class
       • Intellectual development - reasoning & thinking skills, problem skills, and creativity skills (ability to use ideas and concepts)
       • I.e Help children study, give them resources, plan educational visits such as museums for further understanding and educational toys
         • Douglas : WC pupils put in lower sets, because they didn't get early intellectual development
         • Bernstein & Young : Mothers choice of toys have an influence on intellectual development
       • Language
         • Elaborated code
           • Typically used by MC: large vocabulary, full grammatical structures. (No assumptions of mutual understanding - describes and goes into depth)
             • Teachers, textbooks and exams
         • Restricted code
           • Stereotypical used by WC - Limited vocabulary, short often unfinished, grammatically simple sentences
             • Bernstein
               • Elaborated code is one of the factors that cause underachievement for WC pupils
         • Basil Bernstein
       • Attitudes & Values
         • Leon Feinstein : WC lack interest in their children and MC motivate, support and discipline their children, - be more successful
         • Herbet Hyman - Values and beliefs impose a 'self-imposed barrier' to education and career success
           • WC don't believe they can achieve higher powered jobs - Stick to manual labour early and value education little (Subcultures - WC didn't want educational success but also did not know how to get it
         • Barry Sugarman - WC subculture 4 features
           • Fatalism
             • Believe in fate - whatever happens, happens
           • Collectivism
             • Valuing being apart of a group- rather than succeeding as an individual
           • Immediate gratification
             • seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future
           • Present-time orientation
             • Present is more important (MC - future)
       • Compensatory education
         • Britain
           • Education Action Zones (1990s)
           • Sure start - aimed at pre school children and their parents (2000)
         • A policy to tackle CD and provides extra resources for schools in deprived areas
           • Operation Head Start (USA)
             • Sesame street - teach young children values and importance of numeracy, literacy, punctuality and general knowledge
   • Material Deprivation
     • Lack of material requirements and resources
       • Waldfogel and Washbrook - Crowded accommodation in low income families
         • Poor housing : More likely to have cold, dark and unclean houses
       • ill health e.g lack of vitamins, energy and minerals
         • Being ill, missing out on school- leads to underachievement
       • Lack of financial support
         • can't enhance education achievement - miss out on trips, having education books, toys and internet access at home
   • Cultural Capital
     • General knowledge, values, attitudes and language of MC
       • Bourdieu
         • MC most likely to grasp intellectual interests and understanding of what education has to require for success
         • Social Capital
           • Social network and support that people have throughout and cooperation with neighbours, and social and professional groups. (MC)
             • E.g MC may know people who can provide extra help to their children such as University tutors who can brief them on what their children should say at interviews
         • Suggests that MC cultural capital gives them an advantage. WC do not have access and under achieve
           • Not all WC underachieve in education and MC achieve
       • Gewirtz (14 london schools ) - Interviews w/ T & P , secondary data - school documents
         • Privileged-skilled choosers
           • MC - posses cultural capital, know how Education System works ( choose schools for children , as planning their future ) economic capital
         • Disconnected-local choosers
           • WC parents choices restricted due to lack of economic and cultural capital. (often do not understand the education system and less confident with decisions about school)
         • Semi-skilled choosers
           • WC parents ambitious for children educational success, but often rely on other peoples opinions as they lack cultural capital . (frustrated at their inability to get their children into schools they wished