Class Differences in Achievement (External Factors)

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How much is Eton (public school) fees each year?
Over £34,000 a year.
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What does middle-class/non-manual occupations include?
Professionals such as doctors or teachers, also managers and other 'white collar' office workers and owners of businesses.
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What does working-class/manual occupations include?
Skilled workers such as plumbers, semi-skilled workers such as lorry drivers, and unskilled or routine workers such as cleaners.
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From what background do children do better from? Middle-class or working-class?
Middle-class.
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What happens between middle-class and working-class achievement as they get older?
The gap between their achievement gets wider.
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What are middle-class pupils most commonly known for doing better than working-class children at?
They do better at GCSE, stont in full-time education for longer and they also take up the majority of places at universities.
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What is the major argument about 'better-off' parents being able to provide their children with a better education?
They have more money so are more likely to be able to send their children to private schools, these private schools arguably have a much better standard of education.
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Why is it believed that private schools have better standards of education?
The class sizes are half the size of state schools.
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What percentage of children are taught at private schools?
7%
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What percentage of students going into elite univeristies such as Oxford and Cambridge have come from private schools?
50%
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What did Sutton Trust (2011) find in their 3-year long study?
1 private school sent 211 students to Oxbridge, while over 1,300 state schools sent none.
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What are internal factors?
Factors within schools and the education system, such as interactions between pupils and teachers, and inequalities between schools.
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What did the study by the Centre for Longditudinal Studies (2007) find?
That by the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already 1 year behind those from more privleged backgrounds. This gap widens with age.
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What do some sociologists argue this is because?
Cultural deprivation.
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What do they say about being socailised by the family, at home?
Most of us acquire the basic values, attitudes and skills that are needed for educational success through primary socialisation in the family.
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What is this known as?
'Cultural equipment'
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What does cultural equipment include?
Language, self-discipline and reasoning skills.
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What do cultural deprivation theorists say about working class families and them socialising their children?
They fail to socialise their children adequately.
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What do these children grow up to be?
Culturally deprived.
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What does this mean?
They lack the cultural equpiment needed to do well at school.
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What does this result in, in terms of their educational achievement?
They significantly underachieve.
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What are the 3 main parts of cultural deprivation?
Language, parents' education and working-class subculture.
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Why is language key to educational success?
The way in which parents communicate with their children affects their cognitive (intellectual) development and their ability to benefit from the process of schooling.
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What did Hubb-Tait et al (2002) find?
Where parents use language that challenges their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities, cognitive performance improves.
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Give an example of questions these parents may ask their children?
'What do you think?' OR 'Are you ready for the next step?'
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What did Feinstein (2008) find?
Educated, middle-class parents are more likely to speak/ask such questions to their children.
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What type of language do working-class parents use instead?
Use language that require children to make simple descriptive statements.
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For example...
'What is this animal called?'
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What does this result in?
Lower performance.
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What are middle-class parents also more likely to use when communicating with their children?
They are more likely to use praise.
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What does this encourage children to do?
To develop a sense of their own competence.
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What do Bereiter and Engelmann (1966) say?
Language used in lower-class homes is deficient. They say they describe by gestures, single words or disjointed phrases.
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What does this result in?
Their children fail to develop the neccessary language skills.
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What happens in terms of them growing up?
They grow up incapable of abstract thinking and unable to use language to explain, describe, enquire or comapre.
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What happens in terms of school opportunities?
Due to the fact they have poor skills of communicating, they are not able to take advantage of all the opportunities school has to offer.
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What sociologist researched into speech codes and what year?
Bernstein (1975)
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What two types of speech code does Bernstein identify?
The restricted code and the elaborated code.
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What is the restricted code?
Used by working-class. Limited voabulary, based on the use of short and often unfinished, gramatically simple sentences. Speech is predictable, involving single words or just a gesture.
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What else is the restricted code and what does this mean?
It is context-bound meaning the speaker assumes that the listener shares the same set of experiences.
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What is the elaborated code?
Used by middle-class.Wider Vocabulary, longer and more complex sentences.Speech is varied and communicates abstract ideas.
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What else is the elaborated code and what does this mean?
It is context free meaning the speaker does not assume that the listener shares the same experiences, they use language to spell ouot their meanings explicitly for the listener.
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Who do these speech codes give an advantage to and who do they put at a disadvantage?
They give middle-class pupils an advantage and working-class pupils a disadvantage.
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Why do they give middle-class pupils an advantage?
The elaborated code is the code used by teachers, textbooks and exams. It is also seen as the 'correct' way to speak and write.
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Why else does Bernstein think the elaborated code is best?
It is a more effective toold for analysing and reasoning and for expressing thoughts clearly and effectively.
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The middle-class children already speak in the elaborated code before they start school. What does this mean?
They are fluent users and are already able to start properly conversing with teachers before they begin school.
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How does this make the middle-class pupils feel?
They feel more 'at-home' when they speak in the elaborated code at home and at school. This means they are more likely to succeed.
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How does this make working-class pupils feel?
They will feel excluded and not good enough/lacking the proper skills that are requried to effectively succeed at school.
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What do critics say about Benstein?
They say he is a cultural deprivation theorist as he describes working-class speech as inadequate.
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However, what are the positives of Bernstein's work?
He recognises that the school are also to blame for the poor speech level for working-class children. He says that schools should help working-class pupils speak the elaborated code and not just be stuck in the restricted code (preventing success).
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What do cultural deprivation theorists say about parents' education?
Parents' education greatly affects the achievement of their child's ability in school.
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What did Douglas (1964) find?
Working-class parents places less value on education.
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What is the result of this?
They were less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education.
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Proof of working-class parents being less interested in their child's education?
Did not visit the school and they were less likely to discuss their children's progress with teachers.
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What is the result of this?
The children of this type of parent felt less motivated and had low levels of achievement.
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What did Feinstein (2008) say?
Parents' own education is the most important factor affecting children's achievement.
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What does this mean for middle-class parents and children?
The parents tend to be much more likely educated, the children are able to be socialised better.
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In what ways does this occur?
Parenting style, parents' educational behaviours, use of income and class,income and parental education.
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What is an educated-parents parenting style like?
Emphasises consistent discipline and high expectatations of their children. They encourage active learning and ex[ploration that leads to much higher achievement rate for the children.
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What are uneducated parent styles like?
Harsh or inconsisent discipline that emphasises 'doing as you are told' and 'behaving yourself'.
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What does this prevent the child from doing?
Learning independence and self-control leadibng to poorer motivation at school and problems interacting with teachers.
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What are educated parents more aware of?
What is needed to assist their children's educational progress.
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As a result of this, what sort of behaviour do the parents engage in? (9)
Reading to their children, teaching them letters, numbers, songs, poems and nursery rhymes, painting and drawing, helping with homework.
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What are educated parents also better at?
Being able to get expert advice on childrearing, more successful in establishing good relationships with teachers and better at guiding their children's interactions with school.
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What do educated parents also recognise?
The educational vlue of activities such as visits to museums and libraries.
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What are educated parents wages like?
They are, on average, much higher than those parents that are not well educated.
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How do they tend to spend their income?
In ways that promote their children's success.
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What did Bernstein and Young (1967) find?
Middle-class mothers are more likely to buy educational toys, books and activities.
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What do these objects encourage?
Reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development.
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What are working-class homes more likely to lack?
Lack the previous resources.
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What does this mean?
Children from working-class homes start school without the intellectual skills needed to progress.
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What else do middle-class parents have a better understanding of?
Nutrition and its importance in child development and a higher income with which to buy more nutritious food.
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What does Bernstein believe in regards to class, income and parental education?
He believes that parental education is more of a factor as to why some children do better than others, regardless of social class. This explains why some working-class children do not do as equally bad in education.
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What do cultural deprivation theorists argue about the lack of parental interest in their children's education?
It reflects the subcultural values of the working class.
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What is a subculture?
A group whose attitudes and values differ from those of the mainstream culture.
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What do CDT say about large sectios of the WC?
They have very different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society. Hence why their children fail at school.
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Who takes this view?
Sugarman (1970).
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How many features does Sugarman (1970) say working-class subculture has in terms of a barrier to educational achievement?
4.
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And what are they?
1. Fatalism 2. Collectivism 3. Immediate gratification 4. Present-time orientation
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What does fatalism mean?
A belief in fate. 'Whatever will be, will be' and there is nothing you can do to change your status. This contrats with MC values (they believe you can change your position through your own efforts).
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What does collectivism mean?
Valuing being part of a group more than suceeding as an individual. Contrasts with MC view that an individual should not be held back by group loyalties.
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What does immediate gratification mean?
Seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future. MC values emphasise deffered gratification, making sacrifices now for future happiness.
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What does present-time orientation mean?
Seeing present as more important than the future, so not having LT goals or plans. MC culture has a future-time orientation that sees planning for the future as important.
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Why does Sugarman believe these differences in values exist?
MC jobs are secure careers offering prospects for continuous individual achievement.
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What does this encourage?
Ambition, long-term planning and a willingness to invest time anf effort in gaining qualifications.
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What are WC jobs like?
Less secure and no career structure through which individuals can advance. Few promotion opportunities and earnings peak at an early age.
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How to parents pass on their values to their children, according to CDT?
Through primary socialisation.
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What do compensatory education programmes aim to do?
Tackle the problem of CD by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.
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What is the best known example?
Operation Head Start in the USA. A multi-billion dollar scheme of pre-school education in poorer areas introduced in the 1960s.
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What was their aim?
'planned enrichment' of the deprived child's environment to develop skills and instil achievement motivation.
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What did the programme include?
Improving parenting skills, setting up nursery classes and home visits by educational psychologists.
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What was the well known TV programme Sesame Street (apart of Head Start) aim to provide?
A means of transmitting values, attitudes and skills needed for educational success, such as the importance of punctuality, numeracy and literacy.
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What is Sure Start?
A compensatory education programme, aimed at pre-school children and their parents.
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How is the cultural deprivation theory critcised?
Myth of cultural deprivation.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What does middle-class/non-manual occupations include?

Back

Professionals such as doctors or teachers, also managers and other 'white collar' office workers and owners of businesses.

Card 3

Front

What does working-class/manual occupations include?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

From what background do children do better from? Middle-class or working-class?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What happens between middle-class and working-class achievement as they get older?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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