1. Describe two examples of how cultural deprivation may affect educational achievement.

(4
marks)
One example would be when parents are disinterested with their child’s education as a result of
working class subculture. If a parent shows a lack of interest in their child's studies it could largely
demotivate children to work harder in schools and look towards higher education. Another example
could be restricted codes which are largely a result of cultural deprivation and working class
subcultures. When children speak in restricted code, it can reduce chances of developing skills
required by the education system.

2. Explain two ways being put into lower sets/streams may impact negatively on class
achievement. (8 marks)
One way it could impact class achievement could be observed when children develop a self-fulfilling
prophecy based on the way they are looked at in their streams. If they are aware they are in a lower
set and teachers treat them as such they can be fatalistic and deem themselves to give up their
studies completely. Their behaviour and results will come to reflect the teacher’s perception of a lower
stream. Not only that, but in many cases pupils in lower streams can be deemed ‘troublesome’ or
‘difficult’. This has the potential to create an anti-school subculture among the students, where they
begin to reject schooling, teachers and the overall authority of the education system.

Another way being put in lower streams could affect pupils could be when teachers prioritise those
from higher levels compared to the lower ones. Some teachers will teach sets differently. GIbborn a
Youdell observed to secondary schools in the UK where students were separated into 3 descending
groups of education attainment. The last group was deemed a ‘lost cause’ and with their GCSE grades
being predicted no higher than a C. These students' needs were observed as largely neglected since
their educational attainment had no luck of getting better. It was the 2nd group which received the
most attention so they could potentially get higher grades for the schools league tables. It is common
that the lowest set students will often be neglected since teachers have no expectations of them
whatsoever.

3. ‘School attainment is directly linked to IQ levels.’ Using sociological material, give two
arguments against this view. (12 marks)
One argument against this view is that IQ tests can improperly evaluate student’s abilities if they come
from different cultures. Psychologist Otto Klineberg gave IQ tests to Yakima indigenous children in
Washington State. He timed how long the children would take to place wooden blocks in their
appropriate holes in a frame. The children’s time scores were low, but all were able to complete the
task at hand. Klineberg observed that the Yakima society did not place a heavy emphasis on speed in
their culture. This suggests that speed-based tests can be highly inappropriate in evaluating cognitive
capacity because some culture’s values can favour their test scores more than others. Vernon stated
that ‘there is no such thing as a culture-fair test’, therefore IQ as measurement of intelligence must be
viewed with high caution especially among different cultural groups. There must be an understanding
of different subcultural groups, especially in places such as the US which has a number of people from
cultures all across the globe who may be misrepresented and disadvantaged with their IQ scores.
The tests are often biased towards the Western middle class, since it is most often made by and
catered to the middle class. There will always be cultural differences between classes, with working-
class children often having higher levels of fatalism and worse relationships with schooling. When
children already have a negative relationship with school practises as well as the teachers who
undergo them, there is a higher chance that they won’t put their full effort and aptitude in when it
comes to test performance. Working class children's subcultures may not fully prepare them for what
is expected from them, this can largely have to do with both material and cultural deprivation. With this
in mind, working class students will likely perform poorly on IQ tests compared to middle class
students, and may not adequately measure their full intelligence and cognitive ability.

4. Evaluate the view that external factors are more important than internal factors in explaining
working-class under-achievement. (26 marks)
There are a variety of factors that can disadvantage working class students in schooling. External
factors refer to the factors outside of the school which can negatively influence a pupil’s achievements.
Internal factors refer to factors within the school that can influence a student’s achievement, in contrast
with external factors such as material or cultural deprivation. Both can be highly influential to a
student’s academic progress but here we will compare them and evaluate which of the two are most
avidly connected to academic under-achievement.

An external factor that largely affects working-class students at a higher rate is language. Bernstein
points out that many working-class students are socialised into speaking using restricted code at
home. This code is a form of informal spoken English which can include non-standard vocabulary,
colloquialisms, simplistic sentence structure, and improper grammar. In schools it is elaborated code
that is used, which contains complex sentence structures and vocabulary. Working class students who
primarily have access to restricted code at home often fail to fully comprehend the elaborated code
used by teachers and in exams, leading to under-achievement.

Another external factor would be working-class student’s cultural deprivation. Many working class
families fail to teach appropriate attitudes and values regarding education. This can lead pupils to turn
towards immediate gratification as a source of fulfilment, where instead of studying for future benefit,
they will do what benefits them most in the present. Working class families often have to work or don’t
put too much value to education if they are uneducated themselves, this can lead to a disinvolvement
in their child’s school life. This can heavily affect both the student’s performance and behaviour when it
comes to schooling negatively. Middle class families will often have the time and attitude to be mor4e
involved in their child’s education, if they are educated themselves they can easily help their children
with homework, if they have the available time they may go to parent-teacher meetings or spend more
time doing educational activities with their children such as visiting museums or zoos.

Material deprivation can be commonly seen as one of the roots to working-class student under-
achievemnt. Working class families often have a lower income compared to middle class families. This
lack of money can prove to be a barrier for children to receive educational books and toys, tutoring,
access to schools in better zones or private tuition, and the chance to pursue extracurriculars. The UK
Millennium Cohort Study, a study which followed the cognitive ability of 12644 children from birth
onwards, showed that parental income often had a direct relationship with cognitive ability. Cognitive
ability was measured in 5 year-olds by 3 tests in order to identify a student's developmental age.
Waldfogel and Washbrook drew on the study and separated the students into 5 groups. The bottom
20% low income group’s test scores and the middle 20% middle income group’s test scores proved to
be drastically different, with the low income’s test scores being much lower than middle income. The
research indicated that working-class students were nearly a year behind in cognitive development
compared to middle-class students. The deprivation of a home computer, car and annual holiday
proved to be significant causes of underdevelopment, and were all due largely to what working-class
families can afford.

Some sociologists argue internal factors are equally or more significant than external factors when it
comes to educational attainment. Labelling with regards to social class is often seen as one of these
significant factors. Rist underwent a study of an american kindergarten where students were
permanently placed at 3 tables based on their learning abilities as soon as the 8th day of school. Rist
found that it was not necessarily the cognitive abilities of the students which determined where they
were placed, but the extent to which the students satisfied the teacher’s middle-class standards.
These standards included having a tidy outward appearance and whether they came from educated
middle-class families. This labelling can heavily affect the student’s self image as well as the level of
teaching they receive depending on the situation. Cicourel and Kitsuse conducted a study involving
college counsellors (part of whose job is to prepare students for college with special courses) and their
high-school students. They found that there were cases where working class students with the same
academic records as middle class students weren’t put in higher level courses because they weren’t
perceived as natural college prospects. It shows that the labels the counsellors put on their pupils
could heavily affect their prospects for higher education.

Teacher-pupil relationships can also have a large impact on working-class student’s performance.
Teachers tend to favour students who match with the ‘ideal pupil’, someone who is very motivated,
academically strong, obedient, responsible and often those who come from ‘dominant classes’
according to Bourdieu. Teachers will have positive relationships with their ideal pupils in higher sets
who most often come from stable middle-class families. However, the students in lower sets, often
from the working class, will often have negative relationships with their teachers. This could have to do
with attitudes where they disregard academics and don’t follow the school’s agenda properly.
Teachers easily have disciplinary issues with these students and don’t usually give them the benefit of
a doubt. In response, students may see their teachers as hostile and resent them, further demotivating
them to achieve academically. This can be shown in Ghaill’s study of a secondary school in the UK,
where a working-class student group named the ‘Macho Lads’ were seen as non-academic
troublemakers by the teachers, and the more the teachers used disciplinary measures against them,
the more the Macho Lads’ resentment grew.

Overall, one must look at educational achievement as something where both external and internal
factors will directly intersect pupils at different measures and rates. There will be students who may
not be completely affected by outside factors but completely affected by internal factors and vice
versa. Both play a key role in working-class underachievement and what will overall influence the
students perception of the school system, their access to it, and their abilities inside of it.