THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL CLASS ON EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND ATTAINMENT IN UK.
Sociologists have argued that social class differences in educational attainment can be explained in many terms but not necessarily in mutual exclusive kinds of theories such as; IQ theory; social class differences in material circumstances; sub-cultural attitudes and values and the school labelling processes just to mention a few. Sociologists tend to be critical of the IQ theory for various reasons including the factors affecting how it is measured, so in this essay, I shall therefore concentrate upon the other more sociological approaches and exclude the IQ theory. The following list of key words were essential in my argument; different methods of
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This clearly puts the working-class at a disadvantage despite their equal enthusiasm with the middle class to do the best for their children. Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz (1995) talk about 'cultural capital and educational choice ' to reflect on how being better educated themselves, middle-class parents have better knowledge and skills to negotiate and influence the education system. Many working-class parents are ambitious for their children too but do not know how to give practical help and they are usual tied up with long hours at work. However, middle class parents are likely to hold a more advantaged position than working class parents when interacting with teachers and other professionals and this may be demonstrated by their ability to: monitor their child’s progress at school, assist with home work, pay for extra tuition, they seek extra support for their child or complain about what they judge to be shortcomings in the school. Troyna (1986) and Sarup (1991) claim that there are school structures and environment that favours the white, middle-class culture especially the language and curriculum (Gewirtz, 2001. pp 365 - 378 ).
Many sociologists see social class achievement as linked to the meanings and experience that are negotiated in schools and classrooms. According to interactionists the underachievement of working-class pupils is not caused by unequal social structures, but by processes within the
According to Bynner and Joshi (1999) class differences have persisted since the late 1950’s. It can be seen that all studies carried out by various theorist came to the same conclusion that middle class pupils tend to do a lot better than working class in terms of educational achievement. Pupils from middle class backgrounds tend to pass more exams, stay on at school for longer and are five times more likely to go to university. This gap in achievement widens with age as right from nursery school to university, processes like labelling or the self fulfilling prophecy take
One of the major causes of underachievement is the lack of economic capital, proposed by Pierre Bourdieu (1984), that a working class family possess. As item A states, ‘sociologists claim that factors outside the school, such as parental attitudes and parental income, are the main causes of working class underachievement.’ Children who belong to a working class background may not be able to afford the necessary equipment or meet the
Many issues in the 1900’s have been affecting jobs, social classes, and student’s education. In particular, fifth graders are being divided by their parents work level. Because this is happening, students will have unequal fairness on the outcome of the education they will receive. Jean Anyon, the author of “From Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum Of Work,” employs important concepts and powerful illustration to prove that the parents work level affects their children’s quality of education.
In the article “From Social Class to the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” written by Jean Anyon, he argues that the working-class and affluent communities both receive a learning-based education, the working-class lacks the fundamentals. Supporting this claim is Diane Ravitch in “The Essentials of a Good education” stating affluent communities provide classes beyond the essentials, including extra-curricular classes and activities with well-equipped material for their children to obtain. Contrastively, the working class community only receives the “basic” courses that consist of mathematics and English for their children. It has become evident that working-class communities in comparison to affluent communities cannot afford an open-handed and
In “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” Anyon compares low-class schools and high-class schools. She argues that poor schools are “usually mechanical” and involve “rote behavior and very little decision making or choice” (Anyon 140). In short, she feels teachers are educating younger students, especially in primary school, exactly the same and are given no freedom to make choices that affect their education. On the other hand, Anyon believes that wealthy schools are “developing [a student’s] analytical intellectual powers” and “produc[ing] intellectual products that are both logically sound and of top academic quality” (Anyon 148). In contrast to lower class schools, upper-class schools are effectively teaching students to become the “teachers” and leaders in
The book Unequal Childhoods describes observations made by Annette Lareau to shed light on the significance of social class and how it affects student’s learning. Lareau presents her observations by highlighting the two dominant ways of parenting that ultimately affect how successful students become as they transition into adulthood. These styles of parenting consist of Concerted Cultivation where parents put through kids through structured activities, and Accomplishment of Natural Growth where unrestrictive freedom and directives are exercised (20-22).
Social Class and Education”. It opens by discussing research conducted in the 1960’s in an effort to identify factors contributing to differences in the academic achievement of Whites and Blacks (Banks & Banks, 2013). Researchers hypothesized that the achievement gaps were mainly the result of disparities in school resources and characteristics, but found that there is a high correlation between achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) (Banks & Banks, 2013). Furthermore, attention is drawn to the class stratification which exists in our educational system and works to maintain inequality through exclusion strategies such as ability grouping and tracking (Banks & Banks, 2013). Evidence of the correlation between social class and
Social class is a large faction of people who have similar positions in an economic system. In an exemplary world, all students would have an equal shot at success, excellent schools, and educators that dedicate themselves and their time to achieving this goal. However, social class can significantly affect a student's success, highlighting the correlation between low socioeconomic statuses and academic problems. In all social groups, class plays a significant role in the attainment of children in education. Unfortunately, this has always been the case and the effects are just more evident today. Families from high social classes are more likely to obtain a greater level of education than those in low social classes. Members of upper social classes tend to be better educated and have higher incomes; therefore, they are better able to supply educational advantages to their children as well. Being in a financially disadvantaged can also affect a child’s performance during school. It is important, therefore, to examine the way in which education is distributed through social class. Between societal pressures, expectations and parental negligence, children can be negatively impacted in their pursuit for future success through their education as exemplified through “College Pressures” and “The Sanctuary of School”.
The idea that working-class children will most likely under-achieve due to a lack of culture, also known as cultural deprivation, refers to children lacking the norms, values, beliefs, skills and knowledge that a society would regard as important and necessary. The attributes that these children should know and learn are, in most cases, taught by their parents and are passed to the next generation through socialisation. All children are socialised differently, and the social class of the parent has a huge impact on the child and may affect their achievement in education. According to the cultural deprivation theory, some working-class
Social class is based on the relationship one has to the elements of society, and as children in the American education system grow and develop, it is a plausible query that these education systems might be the starting point to where social class based relationships such as people, ownership, and productive activity are fostered. In social activist and American professor Jean Anyon’s essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”, the relation to social class and the established cycle of education systems is the main topic that Anyon aims to dissect and argue. Through extensive observation research, Anyon studies the behavior and curriculum taught at working-class, middle-class, affluent professional, and executive elite schools
Another defining factor for social class is education especially since education is seen as an achievement toward the American Dream. (Lareau, 235). Younger generations seem to place more emphasis on achieving higher education and the occupational opportunities provided for those who are well-educated (Cherlin, 113). The socioeconomic stratification corresponds to those with differing levels of education such as upper/middle class individuals have a college education while working/lower class have some college and/or minimal high school education (Cherlin, 118-119). These individuals and their given circumstances based on education and income have different values and trends about marriage, family and socialization/rearing of children. (Cherlin, 114-117). Family inequality is then based on direct obtainment for individuals who are head of these households such as employment of fathers and mothers (Cherlin, 111), which in turn affects the childhood/family experience of child within the socioeconomic status of their parents. (Lareau,
1. How may a student's social class origin and related factors impact on her/his learning outcomes and how can teachers intervene to effectively address any resulting disadvantages and injustices for students?
Pursuing this discussion further, it could be implied that there is a connection drawn between education and social class. Usually when conferring about these two aspects, social class and underachievement becomes the focus of attention. “Working-class children experience a much greater cultural clash when they enter school than those from more privellaged homes” (Giddens and Griffiths, 2006, p.710). Gillborn and Youdell (2000) took this further suggesting how teachers believed that ability was ‘fixed’ (Darmody, Tyrrell and Song, 2011) and saw working class pupils as having less ability and as lower achievers.
However social class is not the only factor influencing educational achievement; Girls achieve higher grades than boys in Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) and GCSE’s (Mitsos and Browne, 1998), in 2010 to 2011 54.3 per cent of black pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE compared to 58 per cent of white pupils and 61.8 per cent of Asian pupils (Attew, 2012). Therefore educational achievement is also affected by gender and ethnicity.
This distribution of the working class into lower prestige jobs can be accounted for by a number of factors that shall be discussed later. The inequality that exists here regarding school leavers is one that results in an economic inefficiency since the talent of many working-class pupils could have been transferred into higher skilled jobs yet due to certain other factors the talent in a crude sense is ‘wasted’. Why this is the case could be attributed to the fact that a large number of families may rely on their children to bring in a second or third income. With the deterioration of the nuclear family in society there is an increasing trend towards single parenthood and this may result in children having to leave school to get a job and support the family. Furthermore parental influence plays a large role in shaping their children’s attitudes to school. For example Furlong 1987 argues that parents from working class backgrounds who left school at an early age may not press upon their children from their early days in their school life and before five years old the importance of a good education but rather the importance of work and making money. So the culture passed onto children from their parents will have a serious effect on their educational achievement and if this is borne in at an early stage in the life cycle especially pre five, it will be