education - class differences in achievement - cultural deprivation

Question 1

in general who achieves the least in the education system?

Answer 1

•working class pupils in general achieve the less than middle class children in education.
•children who have parents of higher professions are almost twice as likely as children of manual workers to get five or more GCSE passes at grade 4 or above

Question 2

what are cultural factors?

Answer 2

these include class differences in norms and values acquired through socialisation, attitudes to education and, speech codes etc

Question 3

what are material factors?

Answer 3

these are the physical necessities of life, such as adequate housing, diet and income

Question 4

how does cultural deprivation lead to educational failure?

Answer 4

•according to the cultural deprivation theory, some working class parents fail to transmit the aspirations, motivation, values, attitudes, language skills etc needed for educational success

Question 5

what is a factor responsible for the working class underachieving according to cultural deprivation theorists?

Answer 5

•aspects of the working class subculture that contribute to underachievement such as:
-immediate gratification
-fatalism
-low value in education -hyman argues that the working class don’t value education and they don’t believe they will benefit from it, so they don’t try. douglas also argues that w/c parents show less interest in their children’s education and give them less support.

Question 6

what does bernstein (a cultural deprivation theorist) believe is causing working class underachievement?

Answer 6

•the working class use the restricted code - this has limited vocabulary and is formed of simple sentences or even just gestures
•the middle class use elaborated code - a wide range of vocabulary and complex
•the elaborated code helps children to succeed in education, as they will need to use it in exams and university interviews etc. however working class children do not have this

Question 7

what does feinstein (a cultural deprivation theorist) believe is causing working class underachievement?

Answer 7

feinstein argues that parents’ own education is the most important factor affecting children’s achievement. since middle class parents tend to have higher qualifications, their children gain an advantage. this occurs in several ways:
•parenting style - parents with higher qualifications emphasise consistent discipline, high expectations and active learning. parents with fewer qualifications are more likely to practice inconsistent discipline, so their children have poorer motivation academically
•parents’ educational behaviours - parents with higher qualifications are more aware of what helps children progress
•use of income - parents with higher qualifications spend less their income to promote children’s development, e.g educational toys

Question 8

criticisms of cultural deprivation theory

Answer 8

•it blames the victims for their failure. it assumes working class children underachieve due to their own and their parents’ deficiencies
•it ignores the impact of school factors such as labelling, and the impact of material factors such as poverty

Question 9

cultural capital theory

Answer 9

•created by bourdieu
•bourdieu reckons that middle class students are at an advantage because they have cultural capital - the right language, skills, knowledge and attitudes
•he thought that the more cultural capital you have the more successful you’ll be in education - he believed that working class students do not have access to cultural capital
•middle class families pass on cultural capital through socialisation etc. this is called cultural reproduction

Question 10

sugarman

Answer 10

argued there are four key features of a working class subculture that act as a barrier to educational achievement:
•fatalism - believing fate ‘whatever will be, will be’ - don’t revise and accept failure
•collectivism -value being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual - focus on friends rather than education - opposite: individualism
•immediate gratification - working class are more likely to seek pleasure and rewards now rather than later and leave school as soon as possible. don’t go into further education and go straight into a job to earn money - opposite : deferred gratification which is the ability to postpone your goals
•present time orientation -seeing the present as more important than the future. leave education as soon as possible and get a job