Education: Internal & External Factors Affecting Achievement Flashcards
1
Q
Which sociologist talks about Speech Codes?
Briefly explain their ideas.
(External Factor)
A
Basil Beinstein
- The restricted code is the speech code used by the working class, which uses limited vocabulary and simple sentences whereas elaborated speech code is the speech code used by the middle class which uses wider vocabulary and complex sentences.
- Elaborated speech codes are the language used by teachers, textbooks and exams. It is taken as the ‘correct’ way to speak and write.
- Early socialisation into the elaborated code means that middle-class children are already fluent users of the code when they start school. Thus they feel ‘at home’ in school and are more likely to succeed.
- By contrast, working-class children lack the code in which schooling takes place, are likely to feel excluded and to be less successful.
2
Q
Which sociologist talks about Diet & Health?
Briefly explain their ideas.
(External Factor)
A
Marilyn Howard
- Working class children are unable to afford a healthy diet, resorting to junk food as it is cheaper
- Poor nutrition affects health, for example lowering children’s energy level.
- This results in problems such as difficulty concentrating in lessons due to a lack of nutrients acquired from a healthy diet.
3
Q
How can we criticise Material Deprivation?
A
- However, one criticism of this is that the government is trying to help students in deprived areas who may be suffering from material deprivation.
- For example, the Sure Start programme was launched to support children under the age of 4 living in deprived areas. With support, they ensured that these children could do well and flourish at home.
- Therefore this shows that students can do well at school, despite suffering from material deprivation due to the help that the government provides.
4
Q
What is Bourdieu’s overall argument and what is ‘capital’?
A
- He argues that both cultural and material factors contribute to educational achievement and are not separate but interrelated.
- He used capital to explain why middle class are more successful in education than the working class.
5
Q
What are the three types of capital that affect educational achievement according to Bourdieu?
A
- The three types of capital are: economic, cultural and educational.
6
Q
Well then how can educational and economic capital affect a child’s educational achievement?
(External Factor)
A
- Middle-class children with cultural capital gain educational capital because they are better equipped to meet the demands of the school curriculum and gain qualifications.
- Similarly, wealthier parents who have economic capital can covert this capital into educational capital by sending their children to private schools and pay for extra tuition, which would lead to them being advantaged in the education system.
7
Q
How does cultural capital affect educational achievement?
(External Factor)
A
Middle class parents are more likely to:
- take children to art galleries and museums (as it is within their tastes)
- historical knowledge gained on these trips can be used in subjects such as history.
- find the subject easier, more likely to engage in lessons and become more motivated.
- higher achievement in public examinations compared to working class peers.
8
Q
Which sociologist talks about how working class subculture affect educational achievement?
(External Factor)
A
Barry Sugarman
- He argues that working class culture sees the world as an insecure place. So working class children are only encouraged to seek short-term goals and immediate pleasure (immediate gratification).
- Whereas, middle class cultural values stress being aspirational, long-term planning and being willing to sacrifice immediate pleasure to reap higher rewards in the future.
- These middle class cultural values are more likely to bring about educational success, which could explain why middle class students are more likely to perform better academically than working class students.
9
Q
What would functionalists say about this?
A
Functionalists would criticise this as:
- Generalises WC pupils
- We live in a meritocracy
10
Q
Which sociologist talks about labelling?
Briefly explain their ideas.
(Internal Factors)
A
Howard Becker
- Teachers have preconceived ideas about what the ideal pupil is, matching up to those of the middle class; treating middle and working class pupils pupils differently based upon their appearance or attitudes.
- Pupils internalise this attitude.
- Negative labels are given to working class pupils.
- This leads to the self fulfilling prophecy where a person lives up to the label they have been given.
- Disengaged with education, performing worse than their middle class peers.
11
Q
How can we criticise labelling?
A
Criticism:
- Pupils don’t always follow the self fulfilling prophecy. This means if a factor such as parental attitudes is strong enough to override the label given by the teacher, they can refute the label they have been given in a self-refuting prophecy.
12
Q
Which sociologist talks about Status Frustration?
Briefly explain their ideas.
(Internal Factors)
A
Stan Cohen
- Examined working class white boys who had been failing in school.
- They had been angry that they couldn’t succeed through legitimate methods in the education system, and as a result suffered from status frustration.
- As a result, they join an anti-school subculture to get back at the education system, drifting away from their education.
- Turning to an alternative hierarchy where status is exchanged for deviance, and eventually committing non-utilitarian crimes as a result.
13
Q
How do pro-school subcultures affect educational achievement?
(Internal Factor)
A
- Pupils (mainly middle class) placed in high streams tend to remain committed to the values of the school, gaining status in an approved manner through their educational success, forming a pro school subculture, in which the values of the school are emphasised such as studying and answering a lot of questions in class.
14
Q
How do anti-school subcultures affect educational achievement?
(Internal Factor)
A
- Those placed in low streams suffer a lack of motivation and self-worth, and believe themselves to be in a position of inferior status.
- Resorting to alternative ways of gaining status, going against the school values forming an anti school subculture as a mean of gaining status among peers by for example truanting classes.
