1. Causes of school underachievement
Print or photocopy slides 2 and 3 onto A3 size paper.
One page represents the home, the other represents the education system.
Print or photocopy slides 3 and 4 onto A4 paper
Students are expected to cut out the boxes and paste them around the images to create revision posters.
They should decorate the posters to increase visual interest.
They should add other points created from their own learning and research.

4. Working class children are genetically inferior and so fail
Pierre Bourdieu
Parents of middle class children pass on cultural capital and know how the systems work
Working class children are genetically inferior and so fail
Pierre Bourdieu
There is a hidden curriculum that works to control children
Tony Sewell
Schools are racist and Black children suffer
Connell
Boys are experiencing a crisis of masculinity
Gewitz et al
Middle class parents are far better at working the system to benefit their children and get them into the best schools
Labov
Working class children can think well, but do not express themselves in the language of the school
Paul Willis
Working class boys choose to fail as a way of resisting the pressure of schools
Schools with intakes from poor and deprived families often have bad reputations for success
Abraham
Working class children are more likely to be punished for bad behaviour
Hargreaves
Working class children are in low sets
Lacey
Children in low sets tend to behave in a more unruly manner
Macbeath and Mortimore
Once the background of pupils is taken into account, many working class schools produce excellent results
All schools have an anti-racist and anti-sexist policy. Comprehensive schools aim to give children equal opportunities

5. Middle class children have higher expectations and aspirations
Bernstein
Working class children speak a different type of language from middle class children and schools
Boudon
Middle class children have higher expectations and aspirations
Charles Murray
Children from the lowest social class, the underclass, develop a culture where they expect to depend on benefits.
Cultural deprivation
Children from poor households fail because of inadequate socialisation in the home and lack of role models
Shropshire and Middleton
Working class children learn to tailor their ambitions to suit their family problems
Material deprivation
Children living in poor households are disadvantaged in practical terms: no extras, nowhere to work, poor diet
Correspondence theory
What happens in school mirrors what happens in society
Correspondence theory
What happens in school mirrors what happens in society
Rosenthal and Jacobson
Teachers label children and so working class children fail through self fulfilling prophecy
Gewitz et al
Middle class parents are far better at working the system to benefit their children and get them into the best schools
Heidi Safia-Mirza
Black girls resist labelling by teachers and succeed in school
Murphy and Elwood
Girls and boys arrive in school with gendered behaviour and this is simply reinforced in school