Differences in Achievement » Social Class and Achievement: School Factors and Theories

What happens inside school?

The last lesson looked at the home. This lesson looks at in-school factors: things that happen inside the school that help to explain why pupils from different social classes achieve different results. Two pupils with the same ability can leave school with very different results because of how they are treated, who they spend time with and which school they attend.

Key terms:

• In-school factors: things inside the school, such as teacher attitudes, friendship groups and the type of school, that affect achievement.
• Pro-school sub-culture: a group of pupils who accept the school's values, work hard and want to do well.
• Anti-school sub-culture: a group of pupils who reject the school's values, see success in school as pointless and gain status from misbehaving.
• Ideal pupil: the picture teachers have in their heads of what a good pupil looks and acts like.

Pro-school and anti-school sub-cultures

Remember, a sub-culture is a group within society with its own values and norms. In a school, pupils often form friendship groups with their own ideas about how to behave.

Willis studied a group of working-class boys in an English school, whom he called "the lads". They saw school as boring and pointless and tried to have a laugh and avoid work. They expected to go into manual jobs like their fathers, so exam results did not seem to matter to them. Willis argued that the lads' rejection of school actually prepared them for working-class jobs, so the sub-culture helped to keep them in the same class.

Some sociologists argue that anti-school sub-cultures are more common among working-class pupils, which could help to explain lower average results. But this is only a pattern. Plenty of working-class pupils are strongly pro-school, and Willis studied a very small group.

Selective and private education

Remember, a selective school chooses pupils by ability, often by an entrance exam, and a private school charges fees. Both can be an advantage, and both are linked to social class.

• Private education: parents pay fees, so mainly wealthier families can afford it. These schools often have smaller classes, more resources, more facilities and a strong focus on exams. Pupils may also meet useful contacts for later life.
• Selective education: pupils who pass the entrance test get high-achieving classmates and strong teaching. However, middle-class children are often better prepared for these tests, for example through private tutoring, so they may win more of the places.

Labelling in the classroom

Remember, a label is a meaning put on a person by others, and a self-fulfilling prophecy is when a prediction comes true because people act as if it were true. Sociologists apply this idea to class in schools.

Putting this together: if teachers label working-class pupils as less able, they may expect less, give them less challenging work and place them in lower sets. The pupils may then live up to the label. The label does not need to be true to have an effect.

Labelling also helps to explain how anti-school sub-cultures begin. Pupils who are labelled as failures may join a group that rejects the school, because that group gives them status instead.

Marxist explanations

Remember, Marxists see society as divided between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and see education as helping to keep this system going. Applied to class differences in achievement, Marxists argue that:

• The school system is run in the interests of the ruling class, so it is not truly meritocratic. Success looks like fair competition, but middle-class pupils have advantages from the start.
• Middle-class pupils' cultural capital matches the culture of the school, so they are more likely to be rewarded.
• The hidden curriculum teaches working-class pupils to obey and accept low status, which prepares them for working-class jobs. Bowles and Gintis argued that school rewards obedience in the same way a workplace does.
• Working-class pupils are more likely to end up in lower sets and to be labelled as less able, so they are steered towards lower-paid work.

So Marxists see class differences in achievement as a result of how the whole system is built, not of working-class pupils or parents being at fault.

Exam-style question

(a) Define the term anti-school sub-culture. [2]

(b) Give two examples of in-school factors that may affect achievement. [2]

(c) Explain three ways in which private education can give pupils an advantage. [6]