Cultural Deprivation - Textbook

Question 1

What did a study by the Centre For Longitudinal Studies find?

Answer 1

By 3 children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to 1 year behind those from more privileged homes and the gap widens with age.
Some sociologists find this to be the result of cultural deprivation.

Question 2

How do most people begin to acquire the basic values, attitudes and skills needed for education success?

Answer 2

Through primary socialisation in the family which teaches things such as language, self-discipline and reasoning skills.

Question 3

According to cultural deprivation theorists what do many w/c families fail to do?

Answer 3

Socialise their children adequately which means these children grow up ‘culturally deprived’ lacking cultural equipment needed to do well at school resulting in them underachieving.

Question 4

What are the 3 main aspects of cultural deprivation?

Answer 4

Language, parents education and working class subculture.

Question 5

What is language an essential part of?

Answer 5

The education process and the way in which parents communicate with their children affects their cognitive (intellectual) development and ability to benefit from the process of schooling.

Question 6

What did Hubbs-Tait et al find?

Answer 6

When parents used language that challenged their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities cognitive performance improves.

Question 7

What did Feinstein find educated parents are more likely to do?

Answer 7

Use language which challenges their children to evaluate their own understanding/ abilities.

Question 8

How do less educated parents tend to use language?

Answer 8

Language i ways that only require children to make simple descriptive statements which results in lower performance.

Question 9

What did Feinstein find that educated parents are more likely to use and what does this encourage?

Answer 9

Praise which encourages children to develop a sense of their own competence.

Question 10

How do cultural deprivation theorists see differences in how parents use language linked to?

Answer 10

Social class.

Question 11

What did Bereiter and Engelmann claim?

Answer 11

Language used in lower class homes is deficient as they communicate with gestures, single words or disjointed phrases.

Question 12

As a result of parents using deficient language what dont children develop?

Answer 12

Necessary language skills - growing up incapable of abstract thinking and unable to use language to explain, describe, enquire or compare - means they cannot take advantage of the opportunities school offers.

Question 13

What does Bernstein identify differences between?

Answer 13

Working class and muddle class language that influence achievement.

Question 14

What are the two types of speech code Bernstein identified?

Answer 14

The restricted code and the elaborated code.

Question 15

What is the restricted code?

Answer 15

Typically used by the working class, limited vocabulary, based on short often unfinished grammatically simple sentences.
Speech is predictable and may involve a single world or just a gesture.
Not descriptive nor analytic.
Context-bound.

Question 16

The elaborated code

Answer 16

Used by the middle class.
Wider vocabulary and based on grammatically more complex sentences.
Speech is varied and communicates abstract ideas.
Context free.

Question 17

What do differences in speech code give m/c?

Answer 17

An advantage at school because elaborated code is used by teachers and textbooks and exams.

Question 18

How does Bernstein view the elaborated code?

Answer 18

A more effective tool for analysing and reasoning and for expressing thoughts clearly and effectively.

Question 19

What does early socialisation into the elaborated code mean?

Answer 19

Middle class children are already fluent when they start school making them feel more ‘at home’ in school and more likely to succeed unlike working class children who lack the code making them feel excluded and less successful.

Question 20

Why do critics argue that Bernstein is a cultural deprivation theorist?

Answer 20

Describes working class speech as inadequate.

Question 21

What does Bernstein recognise unlike most cultural deprivation theorists?

Answer 21

That school and home influence children’s achievement arguing working-class pupils fail because schools fail to teach them how to use the elaborated code.

Question 22

Douglas study on education

Answer 22

Found working class parents placed less value on education and as a result were less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education.
They also visited schools less and were less likely to discuss their children’s progress with teachers resulting in children having lower levels of motivation and achievement.

Question 23

What does Fernstein argue parents own education is?

Answer 23

The most important factor affecting children’s achievement.

Question 24

What does educated parents’ parenting style emphasise?

Answer 24

Consistent discipline and high expectations of their children which supports achievement by encouraging active earning and exploration.

Question 25

What is less educated parents parenting styles marked by?

Answer 25

Harsh/ inconsistent discipline that emphasises doing as you’re told and behaving yourself which prevents the child from learning independence and self-control leading to poorer motivation at school and problems interacting with teachers.

Question 26

What are educated parents more aware of?

Answer 26

What is needed to assist their children’s educational progress leading them to engage in behaviour such as reading to their children.

Question 27

What are educated parents better able to get?

Answer 27

Expert advice on child rearing, better relationships with teachers and better guiding good children’s interactions with school.

Question 28

What do better educated/ m/c parents tend to have which helps children’s educational success?

Answer 28

Higher paid incomes which they spend in ways that promote their children’s educational success.

Question 29

What did Bernstein and Young find middle-class mothers are more likely to do?

Answer 29

Buy educational toys, books and activities that encourage reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development whereas working class homes are more likely to lack these resources.

Question 30

What do better educated parents have a better understanding of?

Answer 30

Nutrition and its importance on child development which a higher income allows parents to buy more nutritious foods.

Question 31

What did Feinstein note parental education has an influence on?

Answer 31

Children’s achievement regardless of class or income therefore even with a given social class better educated parents tend to ave children who are more successful at school.

Question 32

What do cultural deprivation theorists argue a lack of parental interest in a child’s education reflects?

Answer 32

cultural values of the working class.

Question 33

According to cultural deprivation theorists what do large sections of w/c have?

Answer 33

Different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values which is why children fail at school.

Question 34

What are the 4 features Sugarman argued the w/c subculture has that act as a barrier to educational achievement?

Answer 34

1. Fatalism - nothing you do will change your status. 2. Collectivism - valuing being part of a group ore than succeeding as an individual 3. Immediate gratification - seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices to get rewards in the future. 4. Present-time orientation - seeing the present as more important than the future and so not having long term goals/ plans.

Question 35

How do w/c children internalised beliefs and values of their subculture?

Answer 35

Through socialisation which results in them underachieving in school.

Question 36

Where does Sugarman suggest differences in values between w/c and m/c come from?

Answer 36

The fact that m/c jobs are secure careers offering prospectus for continuous individual achievement which encourages ambition, long-term planning and a willingness to invest time and effort in gaining qualifications which contrasts to w/c jobs which are less secure and have no career structure through which individuals can advance.

Question 37

What do compensatory education programmes aim to tackle?

Answer 37

The problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.

Question 38

What is operation head start?

Answer 38

A multi-billion dollar scheme of pre-school education in poorer areas introduced in the 1960s with its aim being to plan enrichment of the deprived child’s environment and develop skills and instil achievement and motivation. It included improving parenting skills, setting up nursery classes and home visits by educational psychologists.

Question 39

What are some examples of compensatory education programmes in the UK?

Answer 39

Educational priority areas Educational action zones Sure start

Question 40

What has cultural deprivation been criticised as?

Answer 40

An explanation of class differences in achievement.

Question 41

How does Keddie describe cultural deprivation?

Answer 41

As a ‘myth’ and sees it as victim blaming dismissing the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived home background.

Question 42

Why do we/c children fail according to Keddie?

Answer 42

Because they are put at a disadvantage by an education system dominated by m/c values.

Question 43

What does Keddie argue schools should recognise?

Answer 43

w/c subcultures and recognise and build on its strengths and challenge teachers anti-working-class prejudices.

Question 44

What do Troyna and Williams argue the problem is in the education system?

Answer 44

The schools attitude towards the child’s language

Question 45

According to Blackstone and Mortimer what do w/c parents do and why?

Answer 45

Attend fewer parents evenings because they work longer, less regular hours or are put off by schools m/c atttudes. The may want to help their child progress but lack the knowledge to do so.