Class and Differentail Achievement in Education

Pupils=professional backgrounds=significantly more likely=enter higher education than those=unskilled backgrounds

Pupils=middle class backgrounds=more likely=study=A Levels whereas working class pupils=more likely=take vocational subjects

Pupils=disadvantaged backgrounds=more likely=leave school=16+less likely=start school being able=read

Pupils=unskilled backgrounds=average achieve lower scores=SATs +GCSEs=more likely=placed=lower stream/bands

Negative labelling=students=lead=self-fulfilling prophecy=failure

Becker(1971)+Keddie(1971)=teachers tend=evaluate pupils=terms=ideal student=looking=appearance,personality,speech+social class

Negative labelling=students=put into lower stream/bands.Ball(1981)found=pupils=top bands=higher social classes.Teachers=higher expectations=pupils=top band+taught=different ways

Keddie found=teachers allowed pupils=top streams access=higher levels=knowledge

Response=negative labelling+frustration=low status,pupils may form anti school subcultures

Hargreaves found=those=bottom streams=more likely=non conformist.

woods(1975) responded=saying=lots=different reactions=school,non-conformist reactions=more likley=come from=working class students

Theory=material deprivation=economic poverty=big factor=low achievement=school

Halsey(1980) found=most important factor preventing working class students sating on at school=lack=financial support

Douglas(1964) found=children=unsatisfactory living conditions didn't do very well=ability tests compared=kids=comfortable backgrounds

unemployment/low income=less money=books,Internet access+school trips.low income families can't afford nurseries+private schools+can't afford=support =kids through uni

Poverty+unsatisfactory living standards=cause health problems+absence=school

Theory=cultural deprivation=working class culture+parenting aren't aimed=educational success.

Douglas(1964) thought=level=parental interest=most important factor=affecting achievement

Some sociologists=working class kids don't have=knowledge+values=help achievement

Museum visits,books+paental knowledge=education may help midle class pupils=succeed.

Some styles=parenting emphsise=importantance=education more than others

Sugarman(1970)=pupils=non-manual backgrounds+manual backgrounds=different outlooks

Pupils=manual backgrounds lived=immediate gratification .Pupils=non-manual backgrounds=ambitious+deferred their gratification =invested time=studying+planned=future

Hyman(1967)=values=working class=self-imposed barrier=improving=position =working class tend=place=low value=education

Material+Cultural deprivation theories don't explain how factors inside schools affect achievement

Cultural deprivation theory generalises=lot about differences between middle class+working class life

Ignores working class families=do place=high vlaue=education+tends=assume=working class families=no culture/working class culture can't be relevant=school=ethnocentric

Bernstein(1970) found=working class pupils=East End=London weren't compatible=style=language required=school =used=restricted code-short forms of speech

Middle class students knew how=use=same elaborated code=teachers

Terms=language=working class kids =advantage

Bourdieu(1971,1974)reckons middle class students=advantage=have=right kind=cultural capital=right skills,knowledge+attitudes

More cultural capitalyou have=more successful you'll be=education+ believed=working class pupils don't have acess=cultural capital

Middle class families pass on cultural capital+expectations from parents=children=cultural reproduction

Problems=Bernstein's theory

Variations Within=middle class+working class. Different sections=groups vary=how=use=elaborate code

Labov(1973)thinks=elaborated speech code=different

Problems=Bourdieu's theory

Hasley(1980) found=material factors=important.Lack=money may stop kids staying on=school/getting=university

Not all working class students fail

Willmot+Hutchchinson(1992)studies inner-city schools=Manchester+Liverpool+identified=increase=number=students leaving school=no GCSE passes=linked=increase=deprived social backgrounds.

Leon Feinstein(2003) found=social classes continued=have significant impact=educational achievement.