Class + Education

Question 1

Key trend

Answer 1

children from MC families do best

Question 2

where are 90% of failing schools located

Answer 2

deprived areas

Question 3

cultural deprivation

Answer 3

acking the correct values, attitudes and beliefs to succeed due to inadequate socialisation

Question 4

Bernstein

Answer 4

speech codes - the restricted code is used by the working class (limited vocabulary, short + grammatically simple sentences, context-bound) VS the elaborated code is used by the middle class (wider vocabulary, longer + grammatically complex sentences, context-free) → MC given an advantage as EC is used by teachers, textbooks and exams and is better at expressing elaborate ideas

Question 5

Douglas

Answer 5

WC parents place less value on education → less ambitious for children, received less encouragement, took less interest → children had lower levels of motivation + achievement

Question 6

AO3 of Douglas

Answer 6

Blackstone and Mortimore (1994): WC attend fewer parents evenings not because of a lack of interest but because they work longer + put off by schools MC atmosphere

Question 7

Feinstein

Answer 7

parent’s own education is the most important factor affecting achievement:

1. parenting style
2. education experience
3. use of income

Question 8

Sugarman

Answer 8

WC subculture - WC believe in fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, and present-time orientation

Question 9

compensatory education

Answer 9

programmes aim to tackle the problems of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources for schools and communities in deprived areas

Sure Start, Operation Head Start in the US

Question 10

Keddie

Answer 10

cultural deprivation is a ‘myth’ and victim blames the WC - they are culturally different not culturally deprived and fail because they are put into a MC education system

Question 11

material deprivation

Answer 11

poverty and a lack of material necessities

Question 12

how does housing impact students

Answer 12

poor housing can affect students directly (overcrowding, disturbed sleep, impaired development, moving causes disruption) and indirectly (accidents, ill health, psychological stress)

Question 13

Howard

Answer 13

young people from poorer homes have poorer health - lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals →absences, trouble concentrating etc

Question 14

Wilkinson

Answer 14

the lower the social class, the higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders

Question 15

Bull

Answer 15

‘costs of free schooling’: children from poor families have to do without equipment and miss out on experiences that would enhance their educational experience

Question 16

Flaherty

Answer 16

Stigmatisation

1. WC children hand-me-downs = bullying
2. 20% of people entitled to FSM don’t take them

Question 17

Callender and Jackson

Answer 17

WC students are debt-averse - they wanted to avoid debt and saw more costs than benefits of going to university - eg 5x less likely to apply to uni than MC

Question 18

Bourdieu

Answer 18

both cultural and material factors contribute to educational achievement - they are interrelated

1. cultural capital
2. economic capital
3. educational capital

Question 19

Leech and Campos

Answer 19

‘selection by mortgage’ - MC parents can afford houses in catchment areas of the best schools

Question 20

Labelling

Answer 20

to attach a meaning or definition to a pupil - eg bright VS thick, utilising interactionist perspective

Question 21

Becker

Answer 21

teachers judge pupils as to how closely they fitted an image of the ‘ideal pupil’ - MC children were seen as closest to the ideal and WC the furthest who were regarded as badly behaved

Question 22

Hempel-Jorgenson

Answer 22

notions of the ideal pupil vary according to the social-class makeup of a school - in WC school where discipline was a major problem, the ideal pupil was defined as passive + obedient VS in MC school where discipline was not a problem the ideal pupil was defined in terms of personality and academic ability

Question 23

Rist

Answer 23

labelling occurs from the outset of a child’s education - teachers used information about children’s home background to place them in separate groups, the MC ‘tigers’ who had a clean appearance were seated at the front and shown encouragement VS WC ‘cardinals’ and ‘clowns’ were seated further away and given lower-level material

Question 24

SFP

Answer 24

teacher labels a pupil and makes predictions on the basis of the label → teacher treats the pupil as if the prediction is already true → pupil internalises the expectation and fulfils the prediction

Question 25

Rosenthal and Jacobson

Answer 25

selected 20% of a class at random and told the teachers these had been identified as children who would ‘spurt’ ahead. A year later, 47% of the ‘spurters’ had made significant progress, demonstrating the SFP

Question 26

streaming

Answer 26

separating children into different ability groups or classes called ‘streams’

Question 27

Gillborn and Youdell

Answer 27

exam league tables create an A-to-C economy - schools focus everything on pupils they see as able to get Cs to boost their league table position educational triage - schools categorise pupils as such: 1. those who will pass anyway (no support) 2. those on the borderline (lots of support) 3. hopeless cases (no support) - WC

Question 28

Ball

Answer 28

when schools abolished banding for mixed-ability sets, pupil polarisation decreased but teacher differentiation persisted as teachers were still more likely to label MC pupils as co-operative and able

Question 29

Woods

Answer 29

4 responses to streaming 1. integration - teachers pet 2. ritualism - going through motions 3. retreatism - daydreaming 4. rebellion - rejecting school values

Question 30

Furlong (AO3 of Woods)

Answer 30

pupils may move between responses to streaming

Question 31

pupil subcultures

Answer 31

a group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns

Question 32

Lacey

Answer 32

subcultures develop by 1. differentiation - teachers categorising pupils by attitude/behaviour 2. polarisation - pro-school subculture (MC) vs. anti-school subculture (WC)

Question 33

Hargreaves

Answer 33

boys in lower streams = triple failures 1. failed 11+ exam 2. placed in low streams 3. labelled 'worthless louts'

Question 34

AO3 of labelling theory

Answer 34

Deterministic - assumes that pupils who are labelled have no choice but to fulfil the prophecy and will inevitably fail Marxists: ignores the wider structures that influence teachers → economic base of society determines the superstructure

Question 35

Bourdieu (habitus)

Answer 35

the ‘dispositions’ or learned, taken for granted ways of thinking, being and acting that are shared by particular social classes - eg their tastes and preferences about lifestyle, their outlook on life and their expectations about what is normal and realistic for ‘people like us’

Question 36

how does the MC weaponise habitus

Answer 36

MC has the power to define it’s habitus as superior and to impose it on to the education system Pupils have been socialised into a MC habitus gain ‘symbolic capital’ or status and recognition from the school school devalues WC habitus so that they experience ‘symbolic violence’ and are deemed to be tasteless and worthless This reproduces the class structure and helps keep the WC ‘in their place’

Question 37

Archer

Answer 37

Symbolic violence leads WC to seek alternative ways of creating self-worth, status and value: 1. nike identities - investing heavily in ‘styles’ especially branded clothing. Style performance was heavily policed by peer groups and not conforming was ‘social suicide’ (conflict with school dress code) 2. WC actively rejected higher education - unrealistic (only for posh people) + undesirable (wouldn't suit preferred habitus)