Class differences in achievement (external factors)

Question 1

Name the three subgroups of external factors that impact educational achievement.

Answer 1

Cultural factors
Cultural capital
Material deprivation

Question 2

What are the cultural factors that impact achievement?

Answer 2

Language
Parenting practises
Working-class subculture

Question 3

Explain speech codes as a cultural factor impacting achievement.

Answer 3

It has been noted that there is a distinct difference in the way in which working-class and middle-class parents talk to their children. Bernstein distinguished between two types of speech code- the restricted code and the elaborated code.

The restricted code: primarily used by working-class. limited vocabulary with short, unfinished and grammatically incomplete sentences. Reliant on shared understandings; particularistic and context-bound.

The elaborated code: primarily used by the middle-class. Wider vocabulary, longer and more complex sentences. Able to communicate abstract ideas. Universalistic- context-free.

The elaborated code is used within education ( partly due to. the education level of teachers and partly because it is better suited for the introduction of new knowledge) and has intrinsic intellectual advantages meaning middle-class children have an advantage right from the beginning of schooling.

Question 4

Explain Laureau’s findings regarding the impact language on eduction.

Answer 4

Laureau found that upper-middle class children are exposed to wider vocabularies and are taught to contest adult statements, use language in extended negotiations with parents and learn through a combination of reasoning in directives. They are encouraged to challenge their parents rather than blindly accept what they say. Their parents don’t tell them plainly what to do but rather guide them to reach the conclusion on their own.

Comparatively, children in working-class households are exposed to fewer words, rarely question adults, learn more through directives and accept what they are told.

Question 5

Evaluate the role of language in impacting the educational achievement of a child.

Answer 5

(+) There is a lot of evidence for the importance of language in educational attainment and for language differences existing between the classes.

(-) Research such as that done by Gaine and George suggests that class differences in speech have declined since Bernstein carried out his research and the category ‘working-class’ is now more diverse.

Question 6

Outline the mechanisms through which parents’ education can be seen to impact achievement.

Answer 6

Fernstein argues that parental education has the most profound impact on a child’s educational achievement. This happens through:

• parenting style
• parents’ educational behaviours
• parents’ use of income

Question 7

Explain how parenting style has an impact on the educational achievement of a child.

Answer 7

Laureau identified that middle-class parents engage in concerted cultivation as opposed to working-class parents who engage in achievement of natural growth.

Middle-class children are driven to activities, involved in family debates at dinner time and encouraged to communicate with their teachers. The parents talked to their children all the time and even negotiated and bargained about things such discipline.

Working class children have long periods of unstructured time in which they hang out with neighbours and cousins, roam the neighbourhood and watch TV with extended families. Parents give the children orders rather than soliciting their opinions and that children should reach adulthood naturally without much interference from adults.

Question 8

Explain how parents’ education behaviours have an impact on the educational achievement of a child.

Answer 8

More highly educated parents are better equipped to assist the educational development and progress of their child.

Evidence from the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education project indicates that the following activities undertaken at home are related to the cognitive test scores of three year olds:

• reading with the child
• teaching songs and nursery rhymes
• painting and drawing
• visiting the library
• playing with numbers or letters

Sammons et al. found these activities were undertaken by fewer children with fathers in manual labour than in non-manual employment.

Question 9

Explain how parents’ use of income has an impact on the educational achievement of a child.

Answer 9

Better educated parents have higher incomes and are also more likely to spend their income in ways that promote the educational progress and achievement of their children.

Gershoff et al. found that the association between family income and children’s cognitive skills appeared to be a result of parents investing more money in their children by buying more books, a computer or taking children on visits to museums, which enhanced their test scores.

Question 10

Evaluate parents’ education as a factor affecting achievement.

Answer 10

(+) Evidence strongly suggests that parental education impacts children’s attainment through parenting style, learning activities and use of income.

(-) It is important to not blame working-class parents and acknowledge that the treatment and expectations of middle-class children might have a negative impact on their mental health and well-being.

Question 11

Explain working-class subculture as an explanation for the underachievement of working-class children.

Answer 11

It is suggested that working-class children underachieve at school due to being immersed in working-class subculture which undermines their effort and achievement.

Sugarman identified four key features of working-class subculture that contribute to lower educational achievement:

• collectivism rather than individualism
• fatalism rather than action
• present-time orientation rather than future-orientation
• immediate gratification rather than deferred gratification

Question 12

Explain working-class attitudes towards education as a factor impacting achievement.

Answer 12

Goodman and Gregg used data from four longitudinal studies to study the relationship between poverty and low educational attainment. They found that, as well as parental behaviours and material deprivation, attitudes towards education and the overall value placed on education by parents was very important in explaining low achievement among poor children.

Question 13

Explain low-aspirations as a factor impacting achievement.

Answer 13

The cabinet office argued that children from disadvantaged backgrounds may have low aspirations which may contribute to or even cause educational underachievement.

Low aspirations have been identified as being particularly problematic with White working-class children with the chief inspector of schools in England having said that White working-class children have fallen behind as their families ‘lack the aspiration and drive seen in many migrant communities’.

Question 14

Evaluate subcultural values as an explanation for educational underachievement in working-class children.

Answer 14

(-) Sugarman’s research used questionnaires and so the data might be lacking in validity.

(-) this explanation can be found to be guilty of victim-blaming

(-) working-class culture might just be realistic rather than fatalistic- eg. deferred gratification might be a luxury they do not have access to. It is their situation, not their subculture, which prevents them from expressing the norms of middle-class children.

(-) Other research, eg. Evans, found that working-class parents place a very high value on education rather than a low one and so it might be that they lack the resources rather than that they undervalue education.

Question 15

Explain Bourdieu’s idea of capitals.

Answer 15

Bourdieu, a Neo-Marxists sociologist, identified four types of capital; economic, cultural, social and symbolic.
He stated that under the right conditions, capitals are convertible, and that cultural capital is the most important in determining a child’s success and creating reproduction of class.

Question 16

Explain cultural capital as an factor impacting a child’s education.

Answer 16

Cultural capital refers to the knowledge, tastes and skills of the middle-class. Middle-class culture is seen as ‘capital’ because it is advantageous to those who possess it. According to Bourdieu, cultural capital is acquired through socialisation in the home but rewarded by the education system which favours the dominant culture. This means children from middle-class families as socialised into a path destined for educational success and working-class children and disadvantaged. Children with cultural capital go on to acquire institutionalised cultural capital such as grades and qualifications, which can then be exchanged for economic capital in the labour market.

Question 17

Explain social capital as an explanation for class differences in achievement.

Answer 17

Social capital is likely to be educationally advantageous due to:

• Information sharing about schools and educational resources
• Access to educational expertise including that of teachers

Question 18

Describe the study that tested Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital.

Answer 18

Sullivan carried out a survey with 465 year 11 students assessing the relationship between class, cultural capital, and educational attainment.

She tested students’ knowledge of famous cultural figures, their vocabulary and asked them about the cultural activities they participated in. She found a strong association between parents’ and pupils’ cultural participation which suggests that cultural capital is transmitted in the home. She found that cultural capital is associated with GCSE attainment but only offers a partial explanation for social class differences in GCSE success when controlling for background variables. Participation in formal events such as visiting museums or listening to high-brow music such as classical or jazz is not associated with GCSE attainment and neither is playing a musical instrument. However, reading behaviour and watching high-brow TV programmes is.

Question 19

Evaluate the cultural capital explanation for class differences in achievement.

Answer 19

(+) It is increasingly recognised by policy makers

(+/-) Partially supported by Sullivan’s study

(+) Evans found that middle-class mothers were able to use their cultural capital to give their children a head start, using their own educational knowledge to incorporate more learning activities into their child’s play

(-) Goldthorpe argues there is a lack of empirical evidence for Bourdieu’s claims

Question 20

Outline material deprivation as an explanation for class differences in achievement.

Answer 20

Children on free school meals do far less well in education than their peers.

This might be due to material deprivation such as:

• poor diet
• poor housing
• lack of educational resources

Question 21

Explain housing as a factor impacting educational achievement.

Answer 21

• Children may lack a quiet space to work and have to share a room.
• Poor housing conditions and overcrowding have a significant negative impact on childhood development.

Homelessness in particular has a negative effect on educational progress due to problems accessing schools, attendance, and feelings of isolation children may experience due to their circumstances. The impact of homelessness or poor housing on children’s learning persists when the conditions have improved.

Poor housing can also effect the health and welfare of a child which, in turn, has a negative impact on their educational attainment.

Question 22

Explain diet and health as a factor impacting educational achievement.

Answer 22

Littlewood et al. conducted a study involving 5000 pupils aged 9-11 from over 100 primary schools and found that children who eat breakfast and those who eat a higher quality breakfast achieve higher academic outcomes.

Children living in food-insecure households are less healthy and less able to resist illness and more likely to be admitted to hospitals. Health and nutrition have close links with overall educational attainment, with children who are better nourished performing significantly better in school.

Benton found evidence supporting the link between poor diets and antisocial behaviour which may have a range of educational impacts.

Question 23

Explain lack of educational resources as an explanation for class differences in achievement.

Answer 23

Not having access to computers and internet at home can impact a child’s ability to complete schoolwork and maintain peer relationships. Chowdry et. al found home internet access to be linked to a 10 point increase in GCSE attainment.

A third of those from richer homes have had tutoring compared to only 20 percent of those from poorer homes.

Students from poorer backgrounds are less likely to be able to afford revision guides and other learning materials which aren’t always provided by schools, particularly since austerity.

Question 24

Evaluate material deprivation as an explanation for the class difference in achievement.

Answer 24

(+) There is a lot of supporting evidence that material disadvantage has a negative impact on students’ attainment.

(+) JFR conducted a meta-analysis of 34 high-quality studies and found that household financial resources are important for children’s educational outcomes with a causal relationship between the two being established.

(-) It is difficult to determine whether it is just financial issues causing underachievement or other aspects of a child’s background. For example, material deprivation does not explain why poor Chinese children still do so well in school.

Question 25

Evaluate low aspirations as an explanation for working class children’s lower achievement.

Answer 25

(-) Aspirations, even in communities struggling with poverty, have been found to be very high—the missing element is the knowledge of how to make these aspirations concrete and obtainable. 
(-) Low aspirations discourse blames working class communities for their problems.