What are external factors?
Factors from outside schools and the education system itself. These include the influences on students from their home and family background, and from communities.
Define material deprivation
This refers to the more practical educational disadvantages working class student’s experience.
Things like a lack of equipment or a quiet place to do homework. This is concerned not with what the cultural theorists point out to be cultural differences (in values and beliefs etc), but in the actual factors of poverty, like the availability of necessities like good housing and income.
Define cultural deprivation
not having the right values, attitudes in education
What are the three main aspects of cultural deprivation?
- Intellectual development
- Language
- Attitudes and values
According to Young and Bernstein, how does intellectual development impact education?
Douglas Young and Basil Bernstein found mothers choice of toys affects their child’s intellectual development.
Middle class mothers tend to choose toys which encourage thinking and reasoning skills and prepare children for school.
eg jigsaws, top trumps
According to Bernstein, what are the different ways of speaking?
Bernstein argues there are two different ways of speaking.
- restricted (WC) limited vocabulary
- elaborated (MC)
what is elaborated code?
- detailed language spoken by the middle class
- teachers and textbooks speak in this code, leading to working class not being able to access the education
what is restricted code?
- spoken by working class
- limited vocabulary with slang
How does language impact educational achievement?
Working class children are socialised using less advanced academic knowledge, known as restricted code.
This causes them to underachieve in education, as all resources like textbooks are written in elaborated code, therefore they’re less likely to achieve.
Accordig to Douglas, how do parents attitudes and values impact a child’s educational achievement?
Douglas found that working class parents do not place a high value on education compared to middle class parents. They are less ambitious for their child’s career, show less encouragement for educational achievement and take less of an interest in their child’s education.
- they paid schools/teachers less visits and their child’s motivation/achievement was low.
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According to Sugarman, what are the 4 main elements of working class sub-culture?
- Fatalism: belief in fate, ‘whatever will be will be’, there’s nothing you can do about it
- Collectivism: belief that being part of a group is more important than individual success. (This is a contrast to the middle class thinking that group loyalty shouldn’t hold you back).
- Immediate gratification: seeking rewards now rather than making sacrifices for future gain.
- Present time orientation: seeing the present as more important than the future and having no long-term plans, eg mess around in school
What is immediate gratification, and who created the idea?
- seeking rewards now rather than making sacrifices for future gain
- wc see uni as debt not an investment
- created by sugarman
What is fatalism and who created the idea?
- fatalism is the idea that the working class believe they’re going to fail so don’t see a point in trying
- created by sugarman
Define compensatory education
Compensatory education is a policy that is designed to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation, by pumping in extra resources, like money, to make up for the educational disadvantage that working class pupils experience.
How did sure start tackle cultural deprivation?
- Established 3,500 centres that provided integrated education, care, family support, health services
How do Sesame Street help tackle cultural deprivation?
- making fun and entertaining ways of learning
- trying to teach the children that are put in front of the TV
- help children to pay attention and make learning memorable
How can the belief in cultural deprivation be evaluated?
Keddie argues that you can’t be deprived of a culture. Cultural deprivation is victim blaming. Education system is to blame.
What are the key trends associated with parents and educational achievement?
- Children’s parents who have professional jobs and are paid more do better in education.
- 83% of children whose parents have a high professional job achieved five or more A* - C grade at GCSE.
-Whereas only 43% of children whose parents works in routine jobs, like sales assistant achieved this.
Who are the three cultural deprivation theorists?
- Sugarman (instant gratification)
- Bernstein (difference in language)
- Douglas Young (parent’s attitudes and values towards education).
What are the four key characteristics of the working-class culture according to Sugarman?
- Fatalism (whatever will be will be)
- Collectivism (being part of a group is more important)
- Immediate gratification (seeking pleasure now)
- Present time orientation (seeing the present more important than the future so they mess around in school)
What is the difference between elaborated and restricted code?
Elaborated code is usually used by middle class and has a wider vocabulary with longer complex sentences. Many textbooks and resources are written in elaborated code. Restricted code tends to be by working class which as limited vocabulary with short, unfinished sentences including slang.
What are the three aspects of material deprivation?
Housing, diet and nutrition and finance/costs of education.
What did Bourdieu discuss?
Bourdieu argues that both cultural and material factors contribute to a child’s achievement, and they are in fact interrelated rather than being separate issues. As well as ‘educational capital’, which refers to a person’s qualification that can aid them through life.
What is a privileged-skilled chooser?
- Privileged-skilled chooser - take full advantage of the choices open to them and they know how the school admission system
