Sociology Education, Class Difference.

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Class differences in achievement.
External factors:-cultural capital
-cultural deprivation
-material deprivation
Internal factors:-teacher-pupil relationship
-labelling
-subcultures
-marketisation and selection policies
EXTERNAL:
Cultural deprivation
Intellectual development: Douglas found w/class scored lower in ability tests. W/class lack books, ed. toys... Bernstein & Young support this.
Language:Bernsein identifies difference in language. W/class have a restricted code, context bound whereas m/class hav an elaborate code, context free. This gives m/class an advantage when they start school because schools speak m/class.
CRITICISM: it's their culture, schools fail to teach them the elaborate code.
Attitudes and values: Douglas found w/class parents place less value on education than m/class parents and gave them less encouragement. Feinstein found that w/class' parents lack of interest in their education was one of the main reasons for their children's underachievement. Hyman found that there was a self-imposed barrier to education they believe they cannot do it so they don't bother. EVALUATION: it's a myth. Keddie says it's victim blaming. W/class are not deprived but different. Ed. system dominates with m/class values. Blackstone & Mortimer reject parents don't care about their children's education.
TACKLE: compensatory education.
EXTERNAL:
Material deprivation:
Housing: poor housing means no or little space to reivise and work in.
Diet and health: Howard notes w/class kids lack vitamins and minerals thus a weaker immune system making them miss school.
Financial support and cost of education: w/class don't have the money to buy books, computers, calculators, sport kits...
EXTERNAL:
Cultural capital.
Bourdieu identified three types of capital:
-cultural capital: refers to knowledge, attitudes, values and abilities of the middle class. Like Bernstein he says middle class has it and w/class don't giving middle class an advantage.
-educational + financial capital: these (and cultural capital) can be converted into another. E.g.: wealthier parents can convert financial capital into educational which in turn turns into financial.
THIS IS UNDER EXTERNAL FACTORS KIND OF UNDER CULTURAL!! Gerwirtz: Marketisation and parental choice.
Gerwirtz found that differences in economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far parents could excercise choice of secondary school, she identifies three types of parents.
Privilleged-skilled choosers: mainly professional middle class parents who used their economic snf cultural capital for their children. Being educated they could take advantage of the choices open to them. They possesed cultural capital, knew how school admissions worked, how to make an impression.
Due to their economic capital they could afford to move.
Disconnected-local choosers: w/class parents whose choice was restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital. They found it difficult to understand school admissions and were less confident less aware of their choices and less able to manipulate the system to their own advantage. Many of them attached more importance to school facilities than to league tables.
Distance and cost of travel were major restrictions in their choice of school.
Semi-skilled chosers: mainly w/class but these were ambitious for their children. However due to lack of cultural capital they found it difficult to make sense of the ed. maket often having to rely on people's opinions to choose schools. They were often frustrated by their inability to get their children into the schools they wanted.
INTERNAL:
Labelling:
Labelling means to attach a meaning to them. They are not based on ability but on stereotypes such as class background.
Becker found (in a research in a Chicago High School) that teachers saw children from middle class closest to the "ideal" student and lower class as furthest away from it.
Rists found that teachers in America used info on their kindergarten pupils to find out about the background of their students. He labelled pupils as tigers (fast learning, m/class), cardinals and clowns (slow learning, w/class).
Gillborn & Youdell found that w/class and black pupils are less likely to be perceived as having ability and more likely to be placed in lower sets.
INTERNAL:
Self-fulfilling prophecy:
Rosenthal & Jacobson found that:
1- teacher labels pupil and makes a prediction about him/her.
2- teacher treats pupils accordingly as if the prediction were already true.
3- pupil internalises the expectation and the prediction is fulfilled.
Teacher expectation:can be either positive or negative.
INTERNAL:
Subcultures:
Lacy found that because of labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy pupils form a subculture, either anti or pro school.
Lacy's study: Hightown Grammar School: power of labelling and streaming could actually create failure. Elite 15% town's pupils who had passed the 11+ were set in a low stream and labelled as failures. There was a physical reaction; bed wetting and insomnia. By their second year they became anti-school.
Hargraves found a similar response to labelling; boys in the lower streams were triple failures.
-Failed 11+
-Placed in lower streams
-Called "worthless". They also formed an anti school subcultures.
INTERNAL:
Woods' 4 subcultures:
Ingratiation: being the teacher's pet.
Ritualism: going through the motions and staying out of trouble. Majority.
Retreatism:day dreaming and mucking about.
Rebellion:out right rejection of everything the school stands for. Small minority.
INTERNAL:
Limitations and criticisms of labelling theory:
It is deterministic and assumes that all pupils who are labelled will fail.
Marxists argue that this theory ignores wider structures of power within which labelling takes place.
INTERNAL:
Differentiation:
Process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and/or behaviour.
INTERNAL:
Polarisation:
Process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite "poles". Pupils become either pro-school or anti-school.
INTERNAL:
MARKETISATION AND SELECTION POLICIES:
Funding formula:
Government gives a school the same amount of funds for each pupil.
INTERNAL:
MARKETISATION AND SELECTION POLICIES:
Exam league tables:
That rank each school according to their performance and make no allowance for the level of ability of its pupils.
INTERNAL:
MARKETISATION AND SELECTION POLICIES:
Competition:
It is among schools to attract pupils. Because of these policies, schools are under more pressure to gain high grades.
Schools need to achieve a good league table position to attract pupils and funding. They are more likely to stream and label pupils.
Gillborn & Youdell found that this widens the gap between m/class and w/class.