Education Topic 1

Children in middle class preform better than working class children

Class gap in achievement widens as children get older

One reason of class difference in achievement is:

• Middle class parents can afford to send to private school

Internal and external factors

• Internal - Within the schools and education system- interactions between pupils and teachers
• Exterenal - Outside teh education system, influence of home and family background

Sociologist argue most of us begin to acquire the basic values, attitudes and skills that are needed fo educational success through primary socialisation. 

Basic cultural equipment - language, self discipline, reasoning skills.

BUT, many working class fail to socialise their chidlren adequately. - culturally deprived. 

Three main asepcts of cultrual deprivation:

• language
• parents' education
• working class subculture

The way parents communicate with their children affect their cognitive development and benefit of schooling. Hubbs-Tait et al - parents who use challenging language to get their children to evaluate - cognitive performs improves. Less educated parents used simple statements. - Lower perfomance. Feinstein - educated parents most likely to use praise. 

Engelmann - language used in lower class homes is deficient. - communicating by gestures and single words. 

Result = children fail to develop necessary language skills and unable to use langaugae to evaluate and explain. Thus unbale to take advantage of oppurtunities in school. 

Speech codes by Bernstein. 

Restricted code: Working class. Limited vocabulary, short, unfinished sentences. Gestures.

Elaborated code: Middle class, wider vocabulary and complex sentences.

Advantage for middle class in school,  becasue elaborated code is used by teachers and text books. Middle class are fluent due to primary socialisation and thus feeling at home. 

Critiques - Bernstein is a cultural deprivation theorist. BUT recognises school and home infleunces childrens achivement. He argues W/C are culturally deprived but because schools fail to teach them how to use elaborated code. 

Parents education is a key factor.

Douglas - W/C parents placed less value - less encouragement and less ambitious for their children. Visited school less often and less likely to discuss progress. 

Parents style 

Educated parents - discipline and high expectations, support achievements by encouraging. 

Less educated marked by harsh inconsistent discipline. Prevents child learning independence and self control - poorer motivation

Parents educational behaviours

Educated parents more aware of what is needed to assist their children and can engage by stories ad painting and drawing etc. Also can get advice on childbearing and good relationships with teachers and reocgnise the values of activities.

Use of income

M/C- Higher income and promote thier childrens success. Young et al M/C bought books to encoruage skills and intelligent development. Better understanding of needing sleep and nutrients.

W/C lack these recourses so chidlrens start without. 

Class, income and parental education

Parental education has an infleunce on children's achievment regardless or income or class. 

May help explain why not all children of wokring class parents do equally badly and why not all children from middle class families are equally successful.

Subculture - group whose attitudes and values differ form those of the mainstream culture. 

Lack on parental interest in children's education reflects the subcultural values of W/C.

Sugerman - W/C subculture has four key features that act as a barrier to educational achievement

• Fatalism: belief in fate - 'whatever will be, will be'. - can't change status. M/C you can change position through your own efforts.
• Collectivism: valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual. M/C individual should not be held back by group.
• Immediate gratification: seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices to get rewards in the future. M/C make sacrifices for greater rewards
• Present-time orientation: seeing present as more important, no long term goals. M/C future time orientation, plans for the future is important.

Sugarman argues - stem from M/C jobs are secure careers. W/C less secure and hae no structure through advance. 

Parents pass on the values of their class to chidlren

Compensatory education programmes aim to tackle the problem of culture deprivation by providing extra rescources in deprived areas. Intervene early socialisation. 

Myth?

Keddie 'myth' - victim blaming explanation. 

Says child cannot be deprived of its culture and argues that W/C children are simply cultrually different, not culturally deprived. 

Fail becasue they are at disadvanatge by an education system that is dominated by M/C values

Schools should recognise and build on its strengths and should challenege teachers anti-working class prejudices. 

Blackstone says W/C parents don't attend parents evening as they are working and have the lack of knowledge to help their chidlren.