External Factors
for Working Class
Underachievement
Cultual Deprivation
Language
Hubbs-Tait ( 2002)
Challenging children's
understanding: "What do you think?"
improves cognitive development
Leon Feinstein (2008)
Middle Class parents most likely
to talk to their child like this.
Working class, or less educated parents
use more descriptive language. "What
animal is that?"
Language used by lower classes is
efficient, it uses gestures, single
words and 'disjointed' phrases
Children are unable to perform
abstract thinking and struggle
in school.
Basil Bernstein (1975): Speech Codes
Restricted Speech Code: Used by working class
families It is limited in vocabulary and grammar. The
communication could also involve gestures and
requires a context and shared experience to be
understood.
Elaborated Speech Codes: Used by the middle class. It has an extensive
vocabulary and is grammatically complete. It allows for the expression of
abstract ideas and does not require a context to be understood.
The elaborated speech code is
used in schools and textbooks and
seen as the "right" way to speak.
This gives middle class children an
advantage over those from a
working class background.
Middle class children feel 'at home' in
school, whereas working class
children feel excluded.
Critics call Bernstein a
cultural deprivation theorist.
Bernstein rejects this and say
working class pupils fail
because schools fail to teach
elaborated code.
Parent's
Education
Douglas
(1964)
Working class families place less
value on education. They would
visit schools less and are less
likely to discuss their child's
progress. The children therefore
have lower levels of motivation to
succeed.
Middle class parents have knowledge of
the education system that aids them in
socialising their children.
Educated parents use dicipline and expectation to enhance active learning. Less
educated parents are harsher or inconsistent which leads to the child having poor
motivation and communication skills.
Educated parents can develop better
relationships with teachers, and can
use their higher income to provide
educational toys and better nutrition.
Feinstein suggests that parental
education may affect achieve on its
own, explaining how some working
class pupils do better or middle
class pupils doing badly.
Working class
subculture
Barry Sugarman
(1970)
Fatalism, Collectivism,
Immediate gratification and
Present-time orientation.
Working class pupils are socialised to expect
insecure jobs with little or no opportunity to
progress up the career.
Compensatory
Education
Provision of extra resources to intervene
in early socialisation.
Educational Priority Areas,
Educational Action Zones and Sure
Start.
Material Deprivation
Housing
Crowded rooms prevent studying,
disturbed sleep, lack of space
Damp and cold housing
leads to illnesses and
therefore absences.
Diet and
Health
Poor nutrition weakens
immune system, leading
to more illness and
absence.
children from poorer homes can
develop emotional and/or behavioural
problems.
Children from poorer
households are more likely
to engage in fighting.
Financial
Support
Cost of resources places burden of
poorer families (Emily Tanner,
2003)
Children in poverty take on jobs,
this impacts on school work