Differential educational achievement: key terms
12 terms. Say the definition out loud, tap to check, then say whether you knew it. Back to the topic
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Cultural deprivation
The idea that some groups underachieve because they lack the norms, values, skills and knowledge needed for success at school.
Exam tip Separate it from material deprivation. Critics such as Keddie call it a myth that blames the victim.
Material deprivation
Lack of money and the things it buys, such as a good diet, housing, books and a quiet place to study.
Exam tip Give a specific effect on schooling (cost of trips, part-time work, illness) rather than just 'poverty'.
Cultural capital
The knowledge, attitudes, values and tastes of the middle class, which give their children an advantage at school.
Exam tip Bourdieu's term. Use it alongside economic and educational capital to show how the three reinforce each other.
Restricted and elaborated code
Bernstein's two speech codes: restricted is short, context-bound and used by the working class; elaborated is explicit and used by the middle class and by schools.
Exam tip Bernstein says the school's use of the elaborated code advantages middle-class pupils; he is not saying working-class speech is inferior.
Immediate gratification
Wanting rewards now rather than working for them later; Sugarman saw it as a working-class value.
Exam tip Pair it with deferred gratification. An outline answer needs the link to lower achievement, not just the definition.
Labelling
Attaching a meaning or definition to a person, such as 'bright' or 'troublemaker', which can shape how others treat them.
Exam tip An interactionist idea. Develop it into the self-fulfilling prophecy to reach the top band.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A prediction that comes true simply because it has been made, for example a pupil labelled as a failure who then fails.
Exam tip Explain the three steps: the label, the treatment, the pupil's response. Cite Rosenthal and Jacobson.
Institutional racism
Discrimination built into the routine workings of an organisation rather than coming from individuals.
Exam tip Gillborn and Youdell's 'A-to-C economy' and the ethnocentric curriculum are good examples to apply.
Ethnocentric curriculum
A curriculum that reflects the culture of one ethnic group, usually the white majority, and ignores or downgrades others.
Exam tip Use with examples such as a history curriculum centred on Britain. Evaluate: its effect on achievement is debated.
Feminisation of education
The claim that schools now value 'feminine' traits such as organisation and attentiveness, disadvantaging boys.
Exam tip Sewell's argument. Do not use it for girls' improvement alone: link it to explanations of boys' underachievement.
Gender domains
The tasks and activities that boys and girls see as belonging to their own gender.
Exam tip Browne and Ross. Useful for subject choice questions, not achievement questions.
Habitus
The learned, taken-for-granted ways of thinking and being shared by a social class, including tastes and expectations.
Exam tip Bourdieu. Archer used it to explain why working-class pupils may see university as 'not for the likes of us'.
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