1. “A child’s background can disadvantage their education?”

2. TOPIC: EDUCATION Social Class Differences in Education:
Britain is arguably still one the most class based societies in the world. It is important to highlight the fact that social class is heavily tied in with educational achievement. Generally speaking, the higher an individuals social class, the higher their educational achievement.
Learning Objectives for this Topic; You should;
> Be able to describe the pattern of class differences in educational achievement.
> Understand the difference between External & Internal Factors affecting achievement.
> Understand & be able to evaluate the role of different external factors, including cultural deprivation, material deprivation & cultural capital
> Understand & be able to evaluate the role of different internal factors, including labelling & the role of teachers within achievement including labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy, setting & streaming, subcultures & selection by ability.

3. Social Class Differences in Education:
Research into education & social class generally focus on 2 social classes:
Working-Class:
Middle-Class:
Manual occupations which traditionally include skilled workers such as plumbers & electricians, together with semi-skilled workers such as waitresses or lorry drivers, & unskilled or routine workers such as cleaners & labourers.
Non-Manual occupations which traditionally include professionals such as doctors or teachers, together with managers & other ‘white collar’ office workers.
Although it could be argued that the Middle-Class perform better in education due to ‘Private Schooling’ (Which will be considered shortly), it does not account for differences within ‘State Schools’ where pupils vary in relation to class background.

4. What do the Statistics tell us?...
To Research Statistics – Click Here
Students from working-class backgrounds, when compared to (same ability) middle-class students;
> Are more likely to start school unable to read.
> Do less well in tests such as SATs
> Less likely to get a place in top performing state schools
> More likely to be placed in lower ‘Streams’.
> Generally achieve lower exam results (3/4 of M/C achieve 5 A*-Cs compared to <1/3 of W/C pupils).
> Are more likely to undertake vocational courses (rather than academic courses) if they go onto post-16 education.
> Are less likely to go on to higher education (HE).
> 2006: Around 60% of HE students were form M/C backgrounds.
> 2006: 5% of unskilled background students were accepted onto HE courses.
Browne (2008)

5. Why is it ? Think about what some people say….
The parents don’t raise them properly
They are genetically less intelligent
Parents don’t push them hard enough!
They lack resources at home
The teachers don’t like them as much as middle class kids
So many are from families who don’t have any hopes for their children

6. The ‘Reproduction of Class Inequality’.
Many sociologists are interested in the role that education plays in peoples lives as it seems that, generally speaking, working-class children end up in working-class jobs whilst middle-class children end up in middle-class ‘Elite Jobs’.
In order to explain this phenomena, sociologists tend to split explanations into 2 main categories:
External/ Outside School Explanations
Internal/ Inside School Explanations
Interactionist / Labelling Theories:
We will consider these theories/ arguments first
Cultural Deprivation Theories:
> Stereotyping, Labelling & the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
> Material Deprivation (Inc. Poverty, Environment & Work).
> Setting & Streaming
> Cultural Attitudes, Beliefs & Views
> Unequal Access to Classroom Knowledge
> Socio-Linguistics (Language Codes)
> Pupil Subcultures
> Cultural Capital
> ‘Wider’ Educational Policies

7. Home Factors
Some explanations mainly focus on a child’s background and how they are raised
These can focus on CULTURAL FACTORS (socialisation/attitudes/values)
Or can focus on MATERIAL FACTORS (resources/money)

8. Our Daz better be no wimp at school !
CULTURAL FACTORS
Our Daz better be no wimp at school !
This is how a child is raised.
It’s the environment that they
are reared in.
Its about how they are
SOCIALISED in the family and what they
are taught to VALUE, their ATTITUDES and SKILLS that are needed for
education success. This basic ‘cultural equipment’ includes things such as
language, self-discipline and reasoning skills.

9. CULTURAL FACTORS
Below are the headings of cultural factors that may influence a child’s success in education. Can you think of anything that may come under these headings?
LANGUAGE
Speech codes
PARENTS’ EDUCATION
Parenting style
Parents’ educational behaviours
Use of income
Class, income and parental education
WORKING-CLASS SUBCULTURE

10. WORKING-CLASS SUB CULTURE
LANGUAGE
PARENTS’ EDUCATION
WORKING-CLASS SUB CULTURE
Educated parents more likely to use language that challenges their children
Working-class parents do not value education as much.
Lack of parental interest reflects the subculture of the working class.
Less educated parents only use language that requires children to make simple descriptive statements.
Working-class parents are less ambitious for their children & give them less encouragement and took less interest in their education.
Large sections of the working class have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society which is why their children fail at school.
Educated parents are more likely to use praise.
Working-class parents visit schools less often.
Working class children internalise their beliefs and values through socialisation and this results in them underachieving at school.
Language used by lower-class families is deficient, they tend to communicate by gestures, single words or disjointed phrases.
Discipline is harsh or inconsistent such as ‘doing as you’re told’ or ‘behaving yourself’
Educated parents are more likely to understand what is required.
Better educated parents spend their money on things that promote their children’s educational success.

11. The Education Theorists
LANGUAGE
Hubbs-Tait et al (2002)
Where parents use language that challenges their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities (e.g. ‘what do you think?), cognitive performance improves.
Leon Feinstein (2008)
Found that educated parents use language more in this way.

12. Basil Bernstein (1972)
Language is linked to developing understanding and thinking
There are two language codes: the restricted code the elaborated code
The restricted code
Shorthand speech, short, simple sentences. Has an ‘assumed’ element to it. Meanings are implicit. Much depends on gesture and expression.
The elaborated code
Detailed, explanatory, illustrative, analytical. Meanings are explicit.

13. The benefits of an elaborate code
Elaborate code enables people to think
at a more deeper level.
The elaborate code leads to a greater ability to use
‘abstract thinking’. That is to use concepts and make
connections between ideas effectively.
Elaborate code enables greater explanation
and analysis to take place.
These skills are vital for achieving well at
school.

14. The restricted code and the working class
Working class families are based upon relationships
that are hierarchical. No negotiation over decisions,
parents assume authority (‘No back-chat!’) and there is
no discussion or elaborate dialogue.
The same is true of working class jobs too..
manual workers know their place in a
hierarchy and have little scope to negotiate
and discuss.
This language code disadvantaged working
class children

15. The elaborate code and the middle class
Middle class families have less rigid relationships in them. The hierarchy is more flexible. People here are treated more as individuals who are ‘entitled to have something to say’. These families share decision-making and negotiation is common place.
The same is true of middle-class ‘non-manual’ jobs, where the middle class worker has more respect, freedom and independence.
Schools operate with the elaborate code and therefore middle class children are at an advantage.

16. The Education Theorists
PARENTS’ EDUCATION
Douglas (1964) found that working-class parents placed less value on education. As a result, they were less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education. They visited schools less often and were less likely to discuss their child’s progress with teachers. As a result, their children had lower levels of motivation and achievement.
Leon Feinstein (2008) reached similar conclusions. He argued that parents’ own education is the most important factor in affecting children’s achievement and, since middle-class parents tend to be better educated, they are able to give their children an advantage by how they socialise them. He said this occurs in 4 ways (parenting style, parents’ educational behaviours, use of income and class, income & parental education)

17. The Education Theorists
PARENTS’ EDUCATION
Bernstein & Young (1967) found, middle-class mothers are more likely to buy educational toys, books and activities that encourage reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development. Working-class home are more likely to lack these resources and this means children from such homes start school without the intellectual skills needed to progress.

18. The Education Theorists
WORKING-CLASS SUBCULTURE
Cultural deprivation theorists argue that lack of parental interest in their children’s education reflects the subcultural values of the working-class (a subculture is the group whose attitudes and values differ from the mainstream culture). They say large sections of the working-class have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society and this is why children fail at school.
Barry Sugarman (1970) shares their views and argues that working class subculture has 4 key features that act as a barrier to educational achievement (Fatalism, Collectivism, immediate gratification, present-time orientation).

19. WHY?
Why do you think these differences exist between working and middle class children in education?
Sugarman argues that the difference in values stem from middle-class jobs being secure careers that offer prospects for continual individual advancement. This encourages ambition, long-term planning and willingness to invest time and effort into gaining qualifications. In contrast, working class jobs are less secure and have no career structure through which individuals can advance.
Cultural deprivation theorists argue that parents pass on their values to their children through primary socialisation. Middle class values equip children for success, where-as working class values fail to do so.

20. Compensatory Education
Aim to tackle the cultural deprivation by providing additional resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.
Intervene early in socialisation process.
Best known example is : Operation Head Start in the US.
Sesame Street TV programme
Educational Priority Areas, Education Action Zones and Sure Start are examples in the UK.

21. The Myth?
Widely criticised as an explanation of class differences in achievement.
Nell Keddie (1973) sees cultural deprivation is a victim blaming explanation. She dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived background. She points out a child cannot be deprived of their own culture and argues working-class children are culturally different, not culturally deprived. They fail because they are put at a disadvantage by an education system that had predominantly middle-class values. She argues that rather than seeing working-class culture as deficient, schools should recognise and build on its strengths and should challenge teachers’ anti-working-class prejudices.
Barry Troyna & Jenny Williams (1986) argue that the problem is not the child’s language but the school’s attitude towards it. Teachers have speech hierarchy; they label middle-class speech highest, followed by working-class speech and finally black speech.
Tessa Blackstone & Jo Mortimore (1994) found that fewer working class parents attend parents evenings, not through lack of interest, but because they work longer hours or less regular hours or are put off by schools middle-class atmosphere.

22. Home Study – due next Monday
Work in your 2 groups – group 1 you are from a working-class background, group 2 you are from a middle class background. Using textbooks, research and your own experiences, prepare a case for next lesson to explain why each class might be advantaged or disadvantaged in education because of the cluture of their social class.
You can use these points to get you started:
Help with homework
Parents’ evenings
Attitudes towards school
Expectations of your future
Research/ additional notes on the 4 features that act as a barrier to education according to Sugarman.
Research Operation Head Start in the US & one from the UK.

23. Learning Objectives
To know and understand material deprivation in external factors.
To understand the sociologists linked to material deprivation.
To be able to critically evaluate the external factors that have an impact class has on education.

24. “A child’s background can disadvantage their education?”

25. Material Deprivation
Many sociologists see material deprivation as the main cause of underachievement, unlike cultural deprivation which see the working class subculture as the main cause.
What do you think the term material deprivation refers to?

26. Poverty
DFE (2012) – 1/3 of students eligible for free school meal, achieve 5 or more GCSEs at A*-C, compared to nearly 2/3 of other pupils.
Jan Flaherty (2004) – money problems in the family are a significant factor in younger children’s non-attendance at school.
Exclusion & truancy are more likely for children from poorer families. Children excluded from school are unlikely to return to mainstream education, while 1/3 of all persistent truants leave school with no qualifications.
Nearly 90% of ‘failing’ schools are located in deprived areas.

27. LACK OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT & COSTS OF EDUCATION
HOUSING
DIET & HEALTH
LACK OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT & COSTS OF EDUCATION
FEAR OF DEBT

28. Task
With a partner: Using your textbook and information about the four policy areas in the clip, answer the following questions.
1. How effective do you think each intervention would be in overcoming the effects of material deprivation? Give reasons for your answers.
2. Do you think governments are likely to implement the plans shown in the film? Give reasons for your answer.
3. Rank the policy areas in order of importance to overcoming the problems of poverty in order to improve educational achievement.
Compare your answers with the rest of the class.
Prepare a short report to your MP on what policies you would like to see implemented to overcome the problems of material deprivation for pupils who are affected by poverty.

29. Quick questions – can you answer them?
Identify 3 ways in which parents education may influence how they socialise their children.
Name 2 features of working-class subculture described by Sugarman.
Identify 3 characteristics of the elaborated code.
What is meant by compensatory education?
Suggest 3 ways in which material deprivation may affect achievement.