Social Class & Education: Home Factors (AQA GCSE Sociology)

Statistics on social class & educational achievement

• One way to characterise a person's place in society is by their social class

  • This is typically determined by a person's occupation or that of their parents

• A child's access to free school meals (FSM) may indicate a lower income and consequently, a lower social class

• According to statistics, middle-class students typically outperform working-class students on public exams

• Students from middle-class backgrounds are more likely to pursue higher education (such as going to university)

• Sociologists have offered several theories as to why working-class students perform relatively poorly

  • The influence of home environment/background (internal factors)

  • The influence of the school background (external factors)

Material deprivation

• Material deprivation refers to a lack of financial resources or poverty and is one explanation of how the home environment can affect educational achievement

• Material deprivation affects children's educational achievement in the following ways:

  • The cost of school uniforms and sports kits may result in poorer children being kept away from school or sent home

  • Poor housing, overcrowding, lack of privacy or a quiet place in the home to complete homework affects performance at school

    • Being absent from school is more frequent in working-class children who live in such conditions

  • Many middle-class parents can afford private tuition and housing in the catchment areas of good schools

  • Many working-class areas may lack preschool facilities, such as nursery schools, which research has shown has an impact on children's outcomes in education

  • The cost of higher education limits the achievement and aspirations of working-class students

Key thinkers: Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) on social class and inequality

Method

• Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) drew on data from a face-to-face survey of over 8,000 males born between 1913 and 1952 who were educated in England and Wales

• They explored the social class origins and educational destinations of the men

• Social class was based on their father's occupation, and they were divided into three groups:

  • Service class (such as professionals and managers)

  • Intermediate class (such as clerical or sales workers)

  • Working class (such as manual workers in industry and agriculture)

Findings

• Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) found that an individual from the service class, as compared to one from the working class, had:

  • four times as great a chance of being at school at 16 years

  • eight times the chance of being at school at 17 years

  • ten times the chance of being at school at 18 years

  • eleven times the chance of attending university

Conclusions

• A higher percentage of working-class children than middle-class children left school at the first possible opportunity

• Middle-class children may have had a head start, as higher household income may have led to better quality housing and more study materials and support at home

• This supports the Marxist view of education, which argues that the education system is not meritocratic

• Many policies introduced by New Labour were designed to reduce inequality, such as EMA and Aim Higher but critics argue these educational reforms benefited the middle classes

• We should bear in mind that the research excluded females, and this might have made a significant difference to the findings

Parental attitudes & cultural deprivation

• Another explanation of how the home environment can affect educational achievement is parental attitudes and expectations

• Some researchers have suggested that the values between middle-class and working-class parents differ, which affects their children's educational outcomes

• It is argued that middle-class parents are more likely to provide their children with attitudes that contribute to educational success

Cultural deprivation

• Cultural deprivation can explain how the home environment can affect the educational achievement of working-class children and those from some ethnic minority groups

• Bernstein and Young suggest that children from middle-class homes will be advantaged in school as their upbringing provides them with cultural resources and experiences that provide a greater opportunity for academic success

  • Holidays abroad and family trips to libraries, museums or art galleries that foster a love of learning and the early development of general knowledge and research skills are some examples

  • Electronic media, books, and educational toys are commonplace in middle-class homes, so children are familiar with knowledge that is valued at school

• The working-class child, it is argued, is less likely to receive this kind of upbringing

Cultural capital

• Cultural capital is the knowledge, attitudes, skills and values that middle-class parents provide their children that give them an advantage in the education system

• In simple terms, middle-class parents know how to 'work the system' which is an important factor in their children's success. They may do this by:

  • challenging teachers about their child's learning

  • knowing what books or resources to buy and having the money to buy them

  • frequently visiting or contacting the school as they are interested in their child's progress

  • having the qualifications, knowledge and experience to support their child with homework

Key thinkers: Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz (1994) on the impact of market forces on parental choice

Method

• Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz (1994) evaluated the impact of the educational policies that were brought in as part of the 1988 Educational Act

• They aimed to find out if the marketisation of education increased the gap between children from working-class and middle-class families

• They interviewed staff and governors in 15 secondary schools, and primary school headteachers and parents of primary school children

• Additionally, they used data from secondary sources like published league tables

Findings

• Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz (1994) found that:

  • by publishing exam league tables, schools hoped to draw in more academically able children and motivated parents who could boost the school's position in the tables

  • Some schools reintroduced streaming and setting to focus resources on students who were more likely to be successful in public exams

  • material resources are advantageous in the education market, such as having a car to drive children to school

  • while working-class parents are more likely to send their children to local schools, middle-class parents who have the correct cultural capital are better able to compete in the market because they feel confident navigating the education system

Conclusions

• Marketisation and educational reform, according to Ball, Bowe, and Gewirtz (1994), increase the advantages of middle-class parents and reduce educational equality

• This contrasts with Parsons' functionalist perspective, which held that education is a meritocratic system

• Schools are more focused on recruiting talented, privileged and more able students

• Schools are more likely to neglect students with special educational needs, those who are less able, and those who are disadvantaged