Sociology revision Education

School factors [Cultural:]

 Labelling theory / self-fulfilling prophecy

 Streaming / Banding / Setting
 Class, gender, ethnic background
 Formal Curriculum (middle class knowledge)
 Hidden curriculum
 Anti-school subcultures (Male: Willis / Female: Lees)
 Language and textbooks (anti-female / black bias)
 Gender relationships (teacher -pupil / pupil-pupil)
 Gendered curriculum (patriarchal)
 Teacher expectations, attitudes and behaviour (Nash)
 Single / Dual sex schooling
 Examination and skill changes (GCSE, A-level, Coursework)
 Changing attitudes to / expectations of work (males and females)

Functionalist approach to education

Meritocracy- System where people are rewarded on the basis of ability and talent

1. Socialisation- education helps to maintain society by socializing young

people into the norms and values. Durkheim argued that education was
promoting individualism and that it could lead to social solidarity ( a state
with of lack of shared norms)
2. Parsons suggested that educations form a bridge between the family and
the wider society by socializing children to adapt a meritocratic view.
3. Davis and Moore – role allocation, Education allocates people to the most
appropriate job for their talents
4. Skills provision- education teaches the skills requires by the modern
industrial society.
5. Durkheim says that education passes on norms and values in order to
integrate individuals into society and helps to create social order.

Marxist approach to education

1. Education is seen as an important part of the superstructure of society

2. It reproduces the inequalities and social relations of production in
capitalist society
3. It serves to legitimate these inequalities through the myth of meritocracy
4. Althusser(1971) says that the main role of education is to transmit ISA
values( Ruling class or capitalist) disguised as common values
5. Ramsay (1983) claimed that knowledge is being used as a form of social
control and there is a hidden curriculum to keep w/c and ethnic minorities
in place.
 6. Bourdieu (1977) Symbolic violence where the w/c are effectively duped in
to accepting their failure and limited social mobility. Their cultural
attributes are rejected, because the system is defined and is for m/c who
succeed by default.
7. Illich a radical Marxist wants to get rid of school completely

Bowles and Gintis (1976) argue that education serves to reproduce directly
the capitalist relations of production- the hierarchy of workers from the boss
down.
B and G correspondence theory suggests that what goes on in school
corresponds directly to the world of work. They express success is not
entirely related to intellectual ability but the ability to conform and rise above
those who challenge the system.

Criticisms

- Failure to recognize correspondence between schools and the needs of

the economy in terms of the formal curriculum
- Reynolds (1984) claims the curriculum does not seem designed to teach
either skills needed by employers.
- Employers are highly critical for the low level of employability skills
possessed by graduates and school leavers.
- Willis (1977) learned to behave in a way that didn’t fit in with capitalism’s
need for a docile workforce. Willis however supported the principle that
schools reproduce the relations of production by showing that the boys in
the antischool subculture shared a similar outlook to the workers in the
factories they were likely to end up in.

New right approach to education

- Believe that education should socialise pupils into shared values such as
competition, and to instil a sense of national identity
- Want to create an education market they believe that competition
between schools and the laws of supply and demand will empower the
consumers, bringing greater diversity, choice and efficiency to schools and
increasing their ability to meet the needs of pupils, parents and employers
-

Class and educational achievement

1. Cultural deprivation
2. Cultural capital
3. Material deprivation

Cultural deprivation

Intellectual development
 - Many w/c homes lack the books, educational toys and activities that would
stimulate a child’s intellectual development
- Douglas (1964) found that w/c pupils scored lower on tests of ability than
w/c pupils. He argued that this is because w/c parents are less likely to
support their children’s intellectual development through reading with
them or other educational activities at home.
- Bernstein and Young (1967) reached similar conclusions. They found that
the way mothers think about and choose toys has an influence on their
children’s intellectual development. M/c mothers are more likely to choose
toys that encourage thinking and prepare children for schools.

Language
- Bernstein (1975) speech codes restricted and elaborated code
- Differences in speech codes give m/c pupils an advantage because
elaborated code is the language used by teachers, textbooks and exams
- Bereiter and Engelmann (1966) claim that the language used in lower
class homes is deficient

Attitudes and values

- Douglas found that w/c parents placed less value on education, were less
ambitious for their children and gave them less encouragement.
- Feinstein (1998) found that working class parent’s lack of interest was the
main reason for their children’s underachievement and was even more
important than financial hardship or factors in school
- Hyman (1967) argues that the values and beliefs of w/c subcultures are a
self imposed barrier to educational and career success. They believe they
have less opportunity for individual advancement so see no point in
education.
- Sugarman (1970) argues that w/c subculture has 4 key features
- Fatalism- a believe in fate
- Collectivism- valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an
individual contrast with m/c
- Immediate gratification- seeking pleasure now rather than making
sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future. By contrasts m/c values
emphasise deferred gratification.
- Present-time orientation- seeing the present more important than the
future and so not having long term goals.

Cultural capital

- Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) suggested that m/c cultural capital is as

valuable as material wealth. The forms of knowledge, values, ways of
interacting that m/c pupils possess are developed further and rewarded by
the education system.
 - Bourdieu (1984) argues both cultural and material factors contribute to
educational achievement and are interrelated.
- Ball et al 3 types of parents privileged/skilled choosers m/c who use their
economic and cultural capital to select the best schools. Semi-skilled
choosers are mainly w/c but were ambitious for their child. Disconnected
chooser w/c parents whose choices were restricted by lack of economic
and cultural capital.
- Sullivan (2001) tested Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital. She carried out
a survey research of children nearing school leaving age in 4 school sin
England and received questionnaire data from 465 pupils. Occupations of
parents were used to determine class, parent’s education qualifications
used to measure cultural capital. Pupils were asked about what book they
read, TV programmes they watches etc. The research then examined
which of these factors affected Ed performance in GCSEs. Sullivan found
they were more likely to be successful if they read more e complex fiction,
documentaries and watching more sophisticated drama.
- Gerwitz (1995) study of class differences in parental choice of secondary
school. Her study of 14 London schools is based on interviews with
teachers and parents using documents. She uses Bourdieu’s idea to
explain her findings and found that differences in economic and cultural
capital lead to class differences In how far parents can exercise choice of
secondary schools
- Whitty (1998) notes marketisation has not led to more opportunities for
w/c children, instead allowed m/c to use their wealth and knowledge even
more than before.

Material deprivation
- Poverty is closely linked to educational underachievement e.g. in 2006
33% of children receiving FSM gained 5 or more GCSEs at A*-C against
61% who were not.
- Flaherty (2004) money problems in the family were a significant factor in
younger children’s attendance at school
- Nearly 90% of failing schools are located in deprived areas
- Halsey 1980 found that the most important factor preventing working
class was lack of financial support.
- Douglas 1964 found that children in unsatisfactory living conditions didn’t
do very well in ability tests compared to other pupils from more
comfortable homes.

Housing
- Overcrowding can make it harder for the child to study. It means less
room for educational activities, nowhere to do homework, disturbed sleep
from sharing beds/bedrooms
 - Poor, damp housing can affect the child’s health making them ill leading
to a low attendance and the child falling behind

Diet and health

- Howard (2001) notes that young people from poorer homes have lower
intake of energy, vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition affects health e.g.
weaker immune system
- According to Wilkinson (1996) among 10 year olds, the lower the social
class, the higher the rte of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders,
all which have a negative effect on a child’s education

Financial support and cost of education

- Tanner et al (2003) found that the cost of items such as transport,
uniforms, books, computers, stationery, and music and art equipment
places a heavy burden on poorer families. As a result, poor children have
to make do with second hand and cheaper unfashionable equipment
which can harm the child’s self esteem making them an easy target for
bullying.
- Ridge found that people in poverty take on jobs such as baby sitting,
cleaning and paper rounds and this has a negative impact on school work

EMA
- offset the need for older students to work part time
- to support parents by removing the need for hem to pay for their child’s
travel

Class and educational achievement- inschool factors

Labelling- Interactionist’s explanations of the influence of school

- Labelling theories suggest that teacher’s judge pupils by theory

characteristics of class, gender and ethnicity
- Becker (1971) showed how teachers perceive the ideal pupil to be the one
who conforms to m/c standards.
- Ball (1981) in his study of beachside comprehensive argued that the same
effects can be observes in whole groups. Pupils at this school were put
into three bands. Ball argues that all students entered the school eager to
learn but die to the effect of the teacher’s attitudes and expectations,
band 1 warmed to Ed and did well whereas band 2 and 3 cooled down
and underachieved.
- Rist studied at an American kindergarten found that early on in the
children’s start in the school they were put into settings. They found at
that the teachers set them according to appearance and family
background.
- Cicourel and Kibuse studied decisions of counsellors in a American high
school. Found that counsellor’s classifications were influenced by non
 academic factors such as posture, manner of speech, slang, walk and
clothes.
- Rosenthal and Jacobson studied at an elementary school took a random
sample of pupils and tested their IQ at the beginning of the experiment
and told the teachers that they would show a rapid intelligent growth.
After 1 year they were retested and found that they showed a greater
change claiming that teacher’s expectations can greatly affect the pupils
performance
- Hargreaves 3 stages of classification, speculation phase a theory about
what sort of child they are, elaboration phase prediction is confirmed or
rejected, stabilisation teacher fells they know the pupil.
- Keddie looked at the operation of streaming in a large London
comprehensive school studied in which knowledge was evaluated and
classified and found out that teachers and students had different
definitions
- Fuller showed that all pupils live up to their label. Study of a group of
black girls in a London comprehensive school. Fuller 1984 found that the
girls resent their negative labels and they developed a preschool
subculture rejecting their self fulfilling prophecy

Limitations of labelling
- Marxists also criticise labelling theory for ignoring wider structures of
power within which labelling takes place.
- Marxists argue that labels are not merely the result of teachers’ individual
prejudices but stem from the fact that teachers work in a system that
produces class divisions

Pupil subcultures
Lacey’s (1970) concepts of differentiation and polarisation to explain how pupil
subcultures develop:
- Differentiation of teachers categorising pupils according to how they
perceive their ability, attitude and/or behaviour
- Polarisation- Is the process in which pupils respond to streaming by
moving towards one of the two extremes
The preschool subculture
- Pupils placed in high streams which are largely m/c tend to remain
committed to the values of the school. They gain status in the approved
manner, through academic success. Their values are those of the school:
they tend to form a preschool subculture

The antischool subculture

- Lacey found those place in lower streams who tended to be w/c suffer a
loss of self esteem.
 - This label of failure pushes them to search for alternative ways of gaining
statues. This usually involves inverting the school’s values of hard work,
obedience and punctuality.
- Such pupils form an anti school subculture as a means of gaining status
among peers.
- Joining an anti school subculture is likely to become a self fulfilling
prophecy of educational failure.

Variety of pupil responses

Woods (1979) argues other responses as well as anti and pro school subcultures
are also possible such as
- Ingratiation: being teacher’s pet
- Ritualism: going through the motions and staying out of trouble
- Retreatism: daydreaming and mucking about
- Rebellion: outright rejection of everything the school stands for.

The A-C economy

- Gillborn and Youdell call the publishing league tables the A-C economy.
This is a system in which schools ration their time, effort and resources,
concentrating on those pupils they perceive as having the potential to get
5 A*-C at GCSE to boost the school’s league table position
- Schools categorise pupils into those who will pass anyway, those with
potential and hopeless cases.
- Teachers do this by using notions of ability in which w/c are labelled as
lacking ability. As a result it leads to a self- fulfilling prophecy and failure.

Competition and selection

- Marketisation also explains why schools are under pressure to select more
able, largely m/c pupils who will gain the school a higher ranking in the
league tables
- Those with good league tables will then further attract m/c pupils or able
pupils and will further improve the school’s results, making it more
popular thus increasing funding.
- Unpopular schools are obliged to take less able or difficult pupils so their
results worsen, becoming less popular and their funding is reduced
- These pressures have resulted in increased social class segregation
between schools.
- Bartlett (1993) argues that marketisation leads to popular schools:
- Cram skimming- selecting higher ability pupils who gain the best results
and cost less to teach
- Silt shifting- off loading pupils wit learning difficulties that are expensive to
teach and get poor results.

Ethnicity and educational achievement

Intellectual and linguistic skills
 - Language is a problem, many AC speak a different dialect of English this
may cause problems in schoolwork and communicating with teachers
leading to a disadvantage at school
- Bowker (1968) identifies their lack of standard English as a major barrier
to progress in education and integration into wider society.
- However Mirza (2000) note that Indian pupils do very well despite often
not having English as their home language
Family structure
According to report by Babb et al (2004) children who are most likely to be low
educational achievers in England are

- Male
- From a low socio-economic background
- With parents who have low or no qualifications
- Living in a single parent household
- Having many siblings
- Attending a state school
- Attending a school with a high rate of FSM

- Children of Indian, Chinese and African-Asian origin do very well within

the ed system. There is a strong emphasis on self improvement through
ed in these cultures
- Moynihan (1965) argues that because many black families are headed by
a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care because she
has to struggle financially in the absence of the male breadwinner. The
father’s absence also means that boy lack an adequate role model of male
achievement.
- Scruton (1986) sees the low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities
as resulting to embrace mainstream British culture.
- Murray (1984) argues that a high rate of lone parenthood and a lack of a
positive male role model
- Strand (2007) focuses on 2 ethnic groups- Indian pupils widen the gap by
achieving higher than their white peers, whereas African-Caribbean pupils
do so by achieving less progress.
According to Strand Indian’s pupils relative progress can be explained by positive
factors such as
- High parental and pupil educational aspirations
- Undertaking high levels of homework
- Low levels of truanting, exclusion or social service/EWS involvement
- High resource provision at home (private tutors and computers)
- High parental monitoring of their children’s whereabouts.

Material deprivation and class

- Ethnic minorities are more likely to come from a w/c backgrounds this mean
they do not share the m/c class values of the school institution.
- African- Caribbean on average experience greater poverty (FSM), are more
likely to live in rented accommodation, attend schools that are more deprived

In school factors for ethnic minority

- Gillborn (1990) found that AC pupils were more likely to be given

detentions. This was because or teacher misinterpretation of speech of Ac
pupils
- Sewell (1996) claimed that many teachers were fearful of black boys in
school as the result of stereotypical assumptions
- Jasper (2002) the expectations that white female teachers have of black
boys behaviour dictate the form and style of the teaching that they offer
them
- Wright (1992) found discrimination She observe that teachers paid Asian
pupils, especially girls less attention
- Gillborn (2002) argues that schools are institutionally racist as teachers
interpret policy in a way that disadvantages Black pupils.
- Ethnocentrism, Coard (1971) showed how the content of Ed also ignored
black people he argued that this lead to low self esteem among black
pupils. However Report and Stone noted that despite feeling discriminated
against by some teachers AC children had been able to maintain an
extremely positive self image.

Gender and educational achievement

- until the late 1980’s girls underachieved, however since the early 1990’s
girls begun to outperform boys

Why have girls achievement improved?

- The job market- increasing job opportunities fro women while the
availability of traditional male manual work has reduced. Mothers in paid
employment which provided a positive role model, girls recognize the
future offers more choices
- Female expectations- many women look beyond the mother/housewife
role, growth in employment opportunities, rise in young women
occupational ambitions, (Frankton and Selton 2005) many girls now
looking forward towards jobs that require degree level qualification
- Feminism, Weiner (1995) has argued that teachers have more forcefully
challenged stereotypes and many sexist images have been removed from
learning material. However Best and Abraham found that women continue
 to be presented as passive or in a narrow range of domestic jobs. Work
feminist sociologist in the 1970’s and 80’s has led to greater emphasis on
equal opportunities.
- Behaviour- Girls work harder than boys. On average girls put more effort
into work, take care with presentation. (Burns and Bracey 2001) many
boys believe that school work should be done at school and are no
prepared to drat their work.
- Changes in the organisation of education- Pirie (2001) has argued that the
old o-levels were a boys exam by contrast the coursework in gcses
requires organisational skills and sustained motivation. However Myhill
(1999) has pointed out that shifts in assessment to increase the
proportion of unseen exams in English have been paralleled by an
increase in the extent to which girls outperform boys in that subject
- Better socialisation for schooling0 Hannan (2000) shows that girls spend
their leisure time differently fro boys. Whereas girls relate to one another
by talking, boys relate to their peers by doing. This puts girls at an
advantage because school is essential a language experience. Boys
consider it weak to ask for help whereas girls are happy to help one
another. Kirby (2000) has suggested that communicative play through
organized social games have been replaced by technology. He points out
while modern computer games may exercise spatial and visual abilities
they do little o address language deficiency

What are the concerns about boy’s underachievement?

- Boys are behind girls at reading and writing by the age of 6

- At age 11 the average boy in 9 months behind girl in development of
speaking skills
- White w/c boys the lowest achieving group
- Young men are much more likely to be excluded from school (DfeS 2006)

Why are boys making slower progress?

- Changes in the job market/status frustration- Mac an Ghaill (1994)

suggest that w/c boys are experiencing a crisis of masculinity, moreover
new jobs are part time, desk based more suited to the lifestyle of women.
They may feel that qualifications is a waste of time because of limited
opportunities in the job market and seek other ways of defining their
masculinity
- Laddish behaviour and peer group status, development of antischool
subcultures, Willis showed how these boys accepted ed failure and so
developed anti-ed coping strategies to compensate for status frustration.
- Social control differences, Mitsose and Browne 1998 teachers are not as
critical with boys as with girls. They may have lower expectations of boys
 - Unrealistic attitudes- research shows that they are surprised when they
fail exams and blame it on bad luck however Francis (200) boys are no
longer likely to consider themselves more able than girls. He also notes
that boys are more likely to have career aspirations which do not require
ed success e.g. professional footballer whereas girls career ambitions
more often require academic success.

Male subcultures

- Willis 1997 antischool subculture

- Mac an Ghaill (1994) identifies a range of school subculture
- The macho lad s- hostile to school authority
- The academic achievers- most likely skilled manual w/c developed ways of
accusation of effeminacy by the macho lads
- The new enterprisers- a new successful preschool subculture who
embrace the new vocationalism
- Real Englishmen- m/c pupils usually from a liberal professional
background. They rejected what school had to offer and thought their
culture was superior
- Gay students- they commented on the heterosexist and homophobic
nature of schools.

Female subcultures

Griffin (1985) studied young white w/c women during their first 2 years in
employment. They created small friendship groups. Their deviance was defined
by their sexual behaviour rather than trouble making. There were three possible
routes for the girls, which the could follow all at the same time
- The labour market- securing a job
- The marriage market- A permanent male partner
- The sexual market- having sexual relationships while at the same time
maintaining their reputation to not damage marriage prospects