Exam (elaborations)
30 mark essay plan for differences in class achievement
- Institution
- AQA
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INTRO: Item b states that there are both internal and external factors that affect educational achievement. Examples of externalfactors are cultural and material deprivation and examples of internal factors are streaming and subcultures. Sociologists such as
mac an ghaill, woods and willis focus on the subcultures within schools other sociologists such as bernstein and gibson look at
cultural and material deprivation.
PARA 1
POINT - item b states that “some sociologists focus on factors outside of school such as material circumstances” this is essentially
talking about material deprivation.Material deprivation refers to the inability for individuals or households to afford those
consumption goods and activities that are typical in a society at a given point in time, irrespective of people's preferences with
respect to these items.
EVIDENCE - Gibson and Asthana (1999) pointed out that there is a correlation between low household income and poor
educational performance. There are a number of ways in which poverty can negatively affect the educational performance of
children. For example ,Higher levels of sickness in poorer homes may mean more absence from school and falling behind with
lessons. Less able to afford ‘hidden costs’ of free state education: books and toys are not bought, and computers are not available
in the home.Conner et al (2001) and Forsyth and Furlong (2003) both found that the introduction of tuition fees in HE puts
working class children off going to university because of fear of debt.
EVALUATION - However it could be argued that programs such as Sure Start,GMAs and bursaries give w/c children financial
support. Marxists argue that money determines how good an education you get, but people do not realize this because schools
spread the ‘myth of meritocracy’ – in school we learn that we all have an equal chance to succeed and that our grades depend on
our effort and ability. Thus if we fail, we believe it is our own fault. This legitimates or justifies the system because we think it is fair
when in reality it is not.
LINK - Although disadvantaged students receive financial aid it clearly isn’t enough by itself to solve the problem of w/c
underachievement.
PARA 2
POINT - item b states that “some sociologists focus on factors outside of school such as… ways in which parents socialise their
children” this may be referring to the cultural capital deprivation theory. Cultural deprivation means having inferior norms and values
skills and knowledge that makes it difficult to access education. According to cultural deprivation theorists w/c parents fail to
adequately socialise their children due to their restricted language and parent’s education. Whereas m/c children are socialised into
the elaborate code and parents may take them on more educational trips such as museums and art galleries to increase their
cultural capital therefore a gap is created before they even start school
EVIDENCE - Bernstein investigated socio linguistics- found w/c use codes different in terms of education. m/c use elaborate cod
which is used in schools. Bourdieu found that m/c kids via socialization are able to grasp, analyse and express abstract ideas.
EVALUATION - Keddie - CD is only “blaming the victims” and that the w/c culture is just different not deficient. Troyna and
Williams support Keddie and argue that the rs isn’t to be blamed but the teacher’s reaction.
LINK - external factors such as cultural deprivation according to some sociologists aren’t the only reasons why the w/c
underachieve there are also issues within the school.
PARA 3
POINT - labelling from a young age affects performance due to low standards and expectations teachers have for
w/c kids ∴ underachieve. m/c kids receive positive labels such as “bright” this boosts confidence ∴ boosting
performance
EVIDENCE - Dunne argues that schools consistently and continuously produce w/c underachievement. Becker carried out an
interactionist study - found that teachers judge pupils on how well they fit their view of an “ideal” pupil - found that teachers viewed
m/c as closest to “ideal pupil” and w/c as furthest due to their behaviour.
EVALUATION - However the labelling theory has been criticised as it is too deterministic, not all negatively labelled pupils go on to
fail. Fuller’s study - group of black girls in london school who rejected their negative labels and used their anger as motivation to
succeed.
LINK - This shows that although labelling does have a negative impact it doesn’t affect everybody in the same way. However
labelling has an impact on other internal factors such as streaming.
PARA 4
POINT - Streaming involves separating children into different groups based on their ability, each group is taught separately. As
discussed above according to Becker w/c children are seen as “hopeless cases” and so put into lower streams whilst m/c children
are put into higher streams where they learn more challenging topics and are interacted with in positive ways. However it is hard for
w/c kids to move up and are given low expectations. They then “get the idea” that they’re not bright enough. This results in the self
fulfilling prophecy where pupils live up to expectations.
EVIDENCE - Deborah and Youdell - show how teacher stereotypes of notions of “ability” played a part in stereotyping they also
found that m/c kids were less likely to put m/c kids in low streams.marxists would argue this is done on purpose to try and teach the
w/c children that they cant move up classes (hidden curriculum)
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