Class differences - External factors

Cultural deprivation
1. Most of us begin to aquire the basic values, attitudes and skills that are needed for educational success through primary socialisation within the family.
2. Intellectual development
  1. Development of thinking and reasoning skills such as the ability to solve problems and use ideas and concepts.
  2. Douglas (1964) - Working class pupils score lower on testes because their parents are less likey to support the child's intellectual development through reading with them.
3. Language
  1. Restricted code - Typically used by working class, and consists of limited vocabulary and short, often unfinished, gramatically simple sentances.
  2. Elaborated code - Typically used by the middle class, and consists of wider vocabulary and longer, gramatically more complex sentances.
  3. Bernstein (1975) - Uses the two types of code to distinguishe between classes and concludes that the working-class are at a disadvantage as the elaborated code is the one used within education by teachers, textbooks and exams.
4. Attitudes and values
  1. Feinstein (1998) - Working-class parents' lack of interest in education is the main reason for their children's underachievement, more so than any financial hardships.
  2. Sugarman (1970) - Working-class subculture has 4 key features that act as barriers to educational achievement:
    1. Fatalism - Whatever will be, will be
    2. Collectivism - Valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual.
    3. Immediate gratification - Seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to reap greater rewards later on in life.
    4. Present-time orientation - The present is more important than the future, meaning lack of long term goals and plans.
    5. Due to the traditional working enviornments of the different classes.
5. Compensatory education is a policy designed to tackle the problems of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.
6. Keddie (1973) - Cultural deprivation is a MYTH! It is just an excuse, children cannot be deprived of their own culture, working-class children are simply culturally different.
Material deprivation
1. Poverty and a lack of material necessities such as adequate housing or income.
2. Nearly 90% of 'failing schools' are located in deprived areas.
3. Housing
  1. Less space to study
  2. Temporary housing (bed and breakfast) can cause disruption to home and school life.
  3. Damp can cause health risks
4. Diet and health
  1. Less nutrition means weaker immune system so more sick days
  2. Less energy so more difficult to concentrate in class
5. Financial support
  1. Make do with hand-me-downs and unfashionable equipment which could result in bulling.
  2. Have less equipment and tools to help learning
6. However some children from poor families do succeed, suggesting that material deprivation is only part of the explanation. Cultural, religious or political values of the family could play a part in enabling some poor children to achieve.
Cultural capital
1. Bourdieu (1984) - Believes in the idea that there are three types of capital:
  1. Cultural - Middle-class pupils are at an advantage due to their possession of knowledge, attitudes, values, language etc.
    1. The education system favours middle-class culture and discriminates against the working-class.
  2. Educational - Wealthier parents can convert their economic capital into educational capital by sending their children to private schools and paying for extra tuition.
  3. Economic - Being able to afford the equipment and services to boost a child's achievement.
2. Sullivan (2001) - Conducted questionnaires on pupils to discover the relationship between class, cultural capital and educational achievement.
  1. Those who had greater cultural capital were more likely to be middle-class and achieve higher in their GCSE's.
  2. However, cultural capital only accounted for part of the class difference in achievement. Where pupils of different classes had the same cultural capital, the middle-class pupils still did better. Sullivan concluded that the greater resources and aspirations of middle-class families explained the remainder of the class gap in achievement.

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Class differences - External factors

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	Created by Jasmine Clark over 9 years ago