Class differences in achievement

Class differences in achievement

1. External Factors

   • Cultural Deprivation
     • Intellectual Development; the development of thinking and reasoning skills such as the ability to solve problems and use ideas and concepts.
       • Many working class homes lack the books, educational toys and activities that would stimulate a child's intellectual developments. Douglas found that working class pupils scored lower on tests of ability than middle class pupils. He argues that this is because working class pupils are less likely to support their child's intellectual development through reading books to them or other educational activities at home.
     • Language; Bereiter and Engelmann highlight the importance of language in education. They claim that lower class homes language is deficient. Therefore, as a result their children fail to achieve in school.
       • Bernstein; RESTRICTED CODE; used by the working class pupils. There is limited vocabulary and is based on the use of short, unfinished and grammatically simple sentences. ELABORATED CODE; used by the middle class pupils. There is a wider range of vocabulary and is based on longer, more grammatically more complex sentences.
         • This gives an advantage to the middle class pupils as this is the language used in schools, so they almost feel like their at "home", whereas the working class pupils feel left out and tend to fail in schools.
     • Attitudes and Values; Cultural deprivation theorists argue that parents' values play a vital role in their child's education.
       • Douglas found that working class parents placed less value on education, were less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education. They visited schools less often and were less likely to discuss their children's achievements and progression. As a result, their children had lower levels of achievement motivation.
         • Feinstein; he found that working class parents' lack of interest was the main reason for their children's underachievement and was more even more important than their financial hardship or factors within school. He argues that middle class children are more successful as their parents provide them with the necessary motivation, discipline and support.
       • Barry Sugarman
         • Present-time orientation
         • Immediate gratifaction
         • Collectivism
         • Fatalism
     • Compensatory Education; a policy designed to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas. Compensatory education programmes aim to intervene early in socialisation process to compensate children for the deprivation they experience at home.
       • Operation Head Start in the United States, a multi-billion dollar scheme of pre-school education in poorer areas introduced in the 1960s.
     • The myth of cultural deprivation? Keddie (1973) describes cultural deprivation as a 'myth' and sees it as a victim - blaming explanation. She dismisses the idea that the failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived home background. They cannot be culturally deprived but they're culturally different.
   • Material Deprivation
     • STATISTICS: - 2006, only 33% of children receiving free school means gained five or more GCSEs at A*-C, as against 61% of pupils not receiving free school meals. - Nearly 90% of failing school are located in deprived areas. - According to Flaherty (2004), money problems in the family were a significant factor in younger children's non-attendance at school.
     • Housing
     • Diet and Health
     • Financial support and the costs of education

2. Internal Factors