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| Question | Answer |
| Althusser (Neo-Marxist) | disagrees with functionalist view that the main function of education is the transmission of common values. He argues rather that it is an ideological state apparatus (ISA) which maintains, legitimises and reproduce class inequalities in wealth and power, generation by generation, disguising capitalist values as common values. Done through the hidden curriculum, so working class learn to accept failure and inequality uncritically. |
| Bourdieu (1977) | called the means by which the working classes are effectively duped into accepting their failure and limited social mobility as justified, "symbolic violence". Their cultural attributes are rejected because the education system is defined by, and for, the middle classes who, in turn, succeed by default rather than greater ability. |
| Bowles and Gintis (1976) | Correspondence theory - they argue that education serves to reproduce directly the capitalist relations of production (the hierarchy or workers from the boss down) with the appropriate skills and attributes. Education ensures that workers will unquestioningly adapt to the needs of the system. The theory suggests that what goes on in school corresponds directly to the world of work. They note that this isn't based just on ability, but positive attitudes and fitting in, explaining why middle class pupils do better whatever their ability. This is disguised through myth of meritocracy whereby the individual blames themselves and not the system. |
| Criticisms of Bowles and Gintis - Reynolds (1984) - Brown (1997) - Paul Willis (1977) | Mainly criticized for not being directly correspondent with the workplace. Reynolds - notes the curriculum doesn't seem to be designed to teach specific skills and points out the survival of liberal humanities-based subjects and lack of emphasis on science and applied knowledge, suggesting a lack of this 'correspondence'. Brown - points out how modern businesses require shared creativity teamwork, however exams which encourage competition discourages the development of these schools. Paul Willis - showed that working-class 'lads' learned to behave at school in ways quite at odds with capitalism's supposed need for a docile workforce. He does however support the principle of reproducing the relations of production by demonstrating a similar outlook to the workers in the factories they were likely to end up in. The boys accepted the inevitability of their failure and developed strategies (having a 'laff') to deal with boring of school and consequently the jobs they were destined for. |
| Butler and Hamnetta (2007) | Large-scale study of over a million secondary school pupils showed that a school's performance directly corresponds to the number of middle class pupils that attend it, as evidenced by their postcode. |
| Smith and Noble (1995) (material deprivation) | Studied the effects of poverty on schooling and listed the 'barriers of learning' which can result from low income: - as a result of not being able to afford school uniforms, school trips, transport, materials and textbooks, children can become isolated, bullied and stigmatized, leading to them falling behind. - low income reduces likliness of having a computer, internet, a desk, educational toys and books, space to work and a comfortable and well heated home. - marketisation of schools means that schools in more affluent areas will be better resourced, leaving disadvantaged children are left with the increasingly unpopular schools concentrated in a less affluent area. |
| Reay et al. (2005) | many working class students intended to apply for the university closest to them as they felt they could not afford travel costs and accommodation away from home, despite be academically able to attend. Only 32% of working class pupils intended to move out, compared with 70% of middle-class students. Furthermore when at university, those from a poorer background suffered academically due to material disadvantages. |
| Excellence in Cities - aims to improve education of children in the inner cities by providing a number of measures... | - better resourcing schools to enable them to specialize in particular vocational areas - provide mentors to reduce the number of students excluded - special provision for those in danger of being excluded - other resources to encourage gifted and talented students to stay in education post 16, especially those from families who hadn't been to university themselves |
| Melanie Phillips | Criticizing the comprehensive system bua rguing that working-class educational underachievement arises as a result teachers being too willing to blame poverty when the real reason is poor teaching and parenting. Her and Murray further argue that the increase in children's rights introduced by liberal policy makers has led to parents taking less responsibility for the parenting process and students taking less responsibility for themselves, further undermining educational achievement |
| Cultural Deprivation example | The 11+ test was criticized for middle class bias. Being able to unscramble an anagram (ZOMRAT) to form the name of a famous composer (MOZART) may be easier for a child familier with anagrams (because their parents do crosswords) and classical composers (from seeing their names on CDs at home). Much now dated research into language has indentified class differences in spoken and written language which disadvantage working class children. The middle class succeed not because of greater intelligence but because they used the preferred way of communicating. |
| Alice Sullivan (2001) Test on Bourdeiu's theory of Cultural Capital | Carried out a survey on children approaching leaving-school age in four schools in England and received data from 465 pupils. Class of children determined by the occupation of the parent in the highest-status job. Cultural Capital measured by looking at the parents' educational qualifications. They were asked about what books they read, what television they watched, music, if they played a musical instrument, attendance at art galleries, theatre and concerts. Also tested on their knowledge of cultural figures and vocab. She found that they were more likely to be successful in their GCSEs if they read more complex fiction and watched tv programmes such as arts, science and current affairs documentaries. Attendance at cultural events had no significant effect, so these should not be considered aspects of cultural capital. She found a strong correlation between the pupils' cultural capital and their parents' which in turn was closely linked with social class. |
| Ball et al. (1994) | Showed how middle-class parents are able to use their cultural capital to play the system so as to ensure that their children are accepted. For example making a good impression with the head teachers and knowing how to mount an appeal if their application was rejected. |
| Becker (1971) | Interactionist theory - showed how teachers perceive the 'ideal pupil' to be one who conforms to mddle class standards of behaviour, and middle class teachers are more likely to see this as evidence of commitment to study, and working-class demeanour as evidence of indiscipline, lower ability and motivation. |
| Ball (1981) | Study of 'Beachside Comprehensive' - pupils were put into three 'bands' on the basis of information about their ability given by primary schools: Band 1 - mostly pupils from non-manual backgrounds Band 2 - pupils were socially mixed Band 3 - pupils from manual backgrounds. Ball argues that the students started school eager to learn but due to teacher attitudes and expectations, band 1 'warmed to education' whilst bands 2 and 3 'cooled down' and underachieved. |
| Neo-Marxist Ramsay (hidden curriculum) | claimed that knowledge is being used as a form of social control, and that behid the facade of Maths and English, there is a hidden curriculum to keep working class and ethnic minority children in their place. He argues that in part, truancy is a protest against this pressure. |
| Gillborn and Mirza (2000) | Said that class is the most significant factor influencing educational attainment - has twice the effect of ethnicity and five times the effects of gender. |
| What did a recent report commissioned for the DfES say about black pupils? | - they're significantly more likely to be permanently excluded and are routinely punished more harshly - 1.5 times as likely as White british pupils to be identified with behaviour-related special needs - are disproportionately put in bottom sets - due to behaviour not ability (they outperfored White pupils in entry tests..) - much less likely than the average to be identified as gifted and talented. |
| Despite indications that ethnic minorities are less likely to achieve in school, what groups are still doing very well in the education system? | Indian, Chinese and African-Asian due to a strong sense of self-improvement and many of them coming from professional backgrounds where there are appropriate role models, support and material advantages. Their culture is perceived more positively than African-Caribbean males, showing diversity within these ethnic groups in terms of how they are perceived by teachers |
| Strand (2007) | focused on two ethnic groups of particular interest as both vary considerably in terms of progress throughout the first 4 years of secondary school, relative to their White peers. Indian pupils widen the gap by achieving significantly better whereas African-Caribbean pupils do so by making much less progress. Strand suggests the Indian pupils' progress could be down to: - high parental and pupil aspirations -undertaking high levels of homework -low levels of truanting/exclusion -high resource provision at home - high parental monitoring of their children's whereabouts. |
| Ball (2002) | shows how the ethnic minority parents are at a disadvantage when trying to get their children into better schools, as they may not have much experience of the Education system and may notbe able to negotiate it. |
| Gewirtz (2002) | identifies further socially exclusive practices to the education system such as the creation of complex application forms requiring high levels of literacy and often only available in English. |
| Sewell, O'Donnell and Sharpe | In response to teacher's labels, racism and poor economic prospects, Black males construct a form of masculinity that earns respect from peers and females. This macho response may have little relevance for males in general with the decline in manual work and increasing opportunities within the service sector. This behaviour is still a way of highlighting their masculinity, however, and alternative attributes of success. |
| Tony Sewell (1996) | claimed that many teachers were fearful of Black boys in school, the result of socialisation into stereotypical assumptions. |
| Connolly (1998) | found in an investigation of 5 to 6 year olds in a multi-ethnic, inner-city primary school that some negative stereotypes are not just confined to boys. Like Black boys, girls were perceived by teachers as potentially disruptive but likely to be good at sports. They tended to 'underplay the Black girls' educational achievements and focus on their social behaviour'. They were likely to be disciplined and punished, even if it didn't seem justified. |
| Wright (1992) | While few would argue that teachers display overt racism, Wright found considerable discrimination in the classroom. She observed the Asian and African-Caribbean children in primary schools and found that teachers paid Asian pupils less attention, involving them in less discussion and using simplistic language, assuming they had a poor command of English. They also openly showed disapproval of their culture,customs and traditions. They made no effort to pronounce names properly leading to embarrassment, leading to them feeling less positive towards school and also caused other pupils to disrespect their culture. Teachers did still have high expectations in terms of academic success, however. |
| Modood (2003) | Highlights how overt racism cannot be a complete explanation for ethnic group differences - he argues 'if racism leads to the victim being turned of school and dropping out, why do Asian men and women have such high staying-on rates and make academic progress?' - highlights the importance of skepticism with regard to generalised explanations. |
| Coard (1971) | showed how the content of the curriculum ignores Black people, as the people who are acclaimed tend to be White, while Black culture, music and art are largely ignored. He argued that this can lead to low self-esteem. This has been criticised however by the Swann Report (1985) which found that despite feeling discriminated against, they still had been able to main an extremely positive self-image |
| Gillborn (2002) | argues that schools are institutionally racist as teachers interpret policy in a way that disadvantages Black pupils. For example, settings, schemes for gifted and talented, vocational schemes all underrate the abilities of Black children, relegating them to low-ability groups and entry for low-tier exams. |
| Gillborn and Youdell (1999) | The increased marketisation of schools has led to an 'A to C economy' - they say this creates a rationing of education whereby teachers are forced to fous on those in danger of not realising their potential for an above C grade.Thus they neglect no-hopers and high achievers, leaving them to their own devices |
| Gillborn and Gipps (1996) | Problems with categorization - they argue that terms such as 'White' 'Black' and 'Asian' and 'other' actually prevent any real understanding of differences in achievement. Postmodernists go further - they argue that the increasingly diverse nature of contemporary societies makes it impossible to explain educational achievement (or anything else) in terms of broad categories such as class and ethnicity, and that generalizations made from these do more harm than good. |
| Sue Sharpe | In a survey (1976), she discovered that girls' priorities were 'love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs and careers, more or less in that order'. When repeated in 1994, these had changed to 'job, career, and being able to support themselves', showing a change in female expectations which could impact on how they view education. |
| Weiner (1995) | argued that teachers ahve more forcefully challenged stereotypes since the 80s and many sexist images have been removed from learning materials. |
| Beck and Abraham | Both found that women continue to be presented as passive or in a narrow range of often domestic jobs whilst men are shown as active, running a business or investing |
| Burns and Bracey (2001) | Showed that many boys believe school work should be done at school and unlike girls are not prepared to draft and redraft assignments, possibly explaining the recent emergence of a gender gap in achievement. |
| Hannan (2000) | shows that gilrs spend their leisure time differently from boys. Whereas boys relate to thier peers by doing and being active, girls relate to one another by talking, putting them at an advantage because school is essentially a language experience - most subjects require good English and comprehension skills. They are also happy to help each other. |
| Kirby (2000) | suggests that communicative play through organised social games has been replaced with tv, dvd and computer games, and a decrease in family time and discussions have reduced opportunities for boys to catch up with girls in terms of language development, and computer games don't help with this |
| Mac an Ghaill (1994) | suggest that working class boys are experiencing a 'crisis of masculinity'. They are socialised into seeing their future male identity interms of having a job and being the 'breadwinner'. However the decline of the manufacturing industry and the rise in long-term unemployment make it increasingly unlikely that males will occupy these roles. Changing female roles are also posing a threat to masculine roles, and working class boys may perceive this in a way that influences their motivation and attitude. (e.g seeing no point in school and finding other ways of achieving a sense of masculinity) |
| Francis (2000) | boys are no longer likely to consider themselves more able than girls, as was the case in the 70s and 80s. He also notes that boys are more likely to have unrealistic career aspirations that are less likely to require academic success (e.g. professional footballer) whereas girls' ambitions tend to require qualifications, hence a commitment to school work. |
| Francis and Skelton (2005) | noted to discourses for boys: -boys themselves are the barrier. The so called 'problems with boys' discourse suggests that boys are to blame for their own underachievement. They get involved in troublesome behaviour. - they finally recognise a more sympathetic view - the boys are insecure and have low self-esteem. THey suggest that while the underachieving boy may appear tough on the outside, seeking to impress and boost his self-image, on the inside it's a different story. Schools need to be sensitive to this and provide opportunities for boys like this to improve their sense of worth. |
| Osler (2006) | highlights one key area which the Report identifies as a priority for action, namely 'reducing school exclusions among boys and certain ethnic minorities.' She notes that the current focus on boys' exclusion is masking a serious problem of exclusion and underachievement among girls, which is increasing at a faster rate then that of boys. |
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