Education - Social class

Question 1

What are external factors?

Answer 1

Factors outside the education system, such as the influence at home, family background and wider society

Question 2

What is an internal factor?

Answer 2

Factors within school and the education system, such as labelling and streaming

Question 3

What are the two types of external factors?

Answer 3

Material Deprivation

Cultural deprivation

Question 4

What is the definition of material deprivation?

Answer 4

Someone suffering from a lack of financial support, poor diet, poor housing and a fear of debt

Question 5

What are the four examples of material deprivation?

Answer 5

Poor housing
Poor diet/health
Lack of financial support
fear of debt

Question 6

What criticism can you give for the idea that material deprivation inhibits a pupils ability to achieve academically?

Answer 6

Because many young people from impoverished backgrounds prove themselves to be very academically successful

Question 7

What is the definition of cultural deprivation?

Answer 7

A lack of cultural equipment such as language, self discipline and reasoning skills

Question 8

What are the three main examples used for cultural deprivation?

Answer 8

Speech codes
Parents education
The working class as a deviant subculture

Question 9

Give examples of sociologists who support the idea that speech codes affect a pupils academic success, and explain what they mean?

Answer 9

Fernstein- he claims that parents who use their income to buy academic resources and items that will encourage academic progression 
Bernstein- he identified two types of speech codes.
The restricted code- used by w/c pupils, limited vocabulary, simple sentences and tends to be context bound. 
The elaborated code- used by middle class pupils, grammatically complex sentences, speech is varied and communicates abstract ideas

Question 10

Explain how parents education impacts a child’s ability to achieve academically?

Answer 10

Examples such as their parenting style, their parental education behaviours and their use of income will impact the child’s academic success.

Question 11

What criticism can you give that a parents education impacts upon a child’s ability to achieve academically?

Answer 11

Fernstein says that even with a given class, better educated parents tend to have a child who is more successful, which explains why not all working class children do equally bad.