Social Class Differences in Educational Achievement [2] : The Schools – Summary and Conclusions

Russell Haggar

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Parts List

Part One: Some Introductory Links Followed By Early Investigations - Click Here
Part Two: Some More Recent Investigations - Click Here
Part Three: School Effectiveness Research - Click Here
Part Four: Secondary School Choice - Click Here
Part Five: Summary and Conclusions 

Social Class Differences in Educational Achievement [2] : The Schools

Part 5

Summary and Conclusions : Social Class Inequalities in Educational Achievement

In this and the previous document we have investigated a considerable number of relevant sociological studies of social class inequalities in educational achievement and considered the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches to the analysis of this issue.

Based on this work we may draw the following broad conclusions.

    • With the current state of knowledge, it is impossible to determine the relative importance of heredity and environment as factors affecting individual intelligence.
    • Sociologists are, for various reasons, critical of IQ theories and they can show that social class factors have a considerable impact on educational achievement even for pupils of equal measured intelligence
    • It has been argued in some sociological studies that social class inequalities in educational achievement can be explained partly in terms of the cultural deprivation of working-class pupils and their families. Other sociologists have claimed that it is inappropriate to make this argument in relation to most working-class parents who are ambitious for their children.
    • The theories of Bourdieu and their application in the studies of Ball, Bowe and Gerwitz who make use of the concepts of cultural, economic and social capital are very useful. These theories suggest that although many working -class parents are ambitious for their children, they may lack the cultural, economic and social capital which are necessary to translate their ambitions for their children into effective practical help.
    • Relative working-class educational underachievement can be explained partly because of relative material economic deprivation.
    • Relative working-class educational underachievement is explained partly because of the organisation of the UK education system: working class children are less likely to attend effective schools and more likely to experience the effects of negative labelling within schools. Some recent studies suggest that the negative labelling investigated in interactionist studies of the 1960s-1980s is still prevalent in the early C21st.
    • It is argued in school effectiveness research that effective schools can help pupils to improve their examination results very significantly, but expert sociologists such as Diane Reay, Stephen Machin and Lee Elliot Majors claim that external factors are far more significant than internal factors as influences on educational achievement.
    •  It is now widely argued that Badil Bernstein’s comment in a 1970 article that “Education cannot compensate for society” has been misinterpreted and that in principle it is possible that the effectiveness of schools can be improved such that in the future schools might contribute more significantly to patterns of educational. achievement.
    • It is argued that the growing quasi-marketisation of education has in practice operated to the disadvantage of working-class parents and their children who have been less able than middle class children to secure access to high performing schools. However, supporters of the New Right approach to education policy continue to argue that such policies have improved school effectiveness and increased equality of educational opportunity. This, however, is widely disputed by many expert sociologists
    • In the assessment of the overall effectiveness of the UK education system, it is also necessary to assess the case for and against the continued existence of Grammar Schools and Private Schools.
    • Whatever the relative importance of internal factors and external factors, it is also necessary the effects of the interaction between internal and external factors.

In the following documents information is provided on relationships between Gender and Educational Achievement and Ethnicity and Educational Achievement.

 

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