Causes of school underachievement

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Causes of school underachievement

• This activity is designed to promote visual and
  kinaesthetic learning
• Print or photocopy slides 2 and 3 onto A3 size
  paper.
• One page represents the home, the other
  represents the education system.
• Print or photocopy slides 3 and 4 onto A4 paper
• Students are expected to cut out the boxes and
  paste them around the images to create revision
  posters.
• They should decorate the posters to increase
  visual interest.
• They should add other points created from their
  own learning and research.

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Pierre Bourdieu Parents of middle class children
pass on cultural capital and know how the systems
work
Pierre Bourdieu There is a hidden curriculum that
works to control children
Working class children are genetically inferior
and so fail
Tony Sewell Schools are racist and Black children
suffer
Connell Boys are experiencing a crisis of
masculinity
Gewitz et al Middle class parents are far better
at working the system to benefit their children
and get them into the best schools
Labov Working class children can think well, but
do not express themselves in the language of the
school
Paul Willis Working class boys choose to fail as
a way of resisting the pressure of schools
Schools with intakes from poor and deprived
families often have bad reputations for success
Abraham Working class children are more likely to
be punished for bad behaviour
Hargreaves Working class children are in low sets
Lacey Children in low sets tend to behave in a
more unruly manner
Macbeath and Mortimore Once the background of
pupils is taken into account, many working class
schools produce excellent results
All schools have an anti-racist and anti-sexist
policy. Comprehensive schools aim to give
children equal opportunities
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Bernstein Working class children speak a
different type of language from middle class
children and schools
Boudon Middle class children have higher
expectations and aspirations
Charles Murray Children from the lowest social
class, the underclass, develop a culture where
they expect to depend on benefits.
Cultural deprivation Children from poor
households fail because of inadequate
socialisation in the home and lack of role models
Shropshire and Middleton Working class children
learn to tailor their ambitions to suit their
family problems
Material deprivation Children living in poor
households are disadvantaged in practical terms
no extras, nowhere to work, poor diet
Correspondence theory What happens in school
mirrors what happens in society
Correspondence theory What happens in school
mirrors what happens in society
Rosenthal and Jacobson Teachers label children
and so working class children fail through self
fulfilling prophecy
Gewitz et al Middle class parents are far better
at working the system to benefit their children
and get them into the best schools
Heidi Safia-Mirza Black girls resist labelling by
teachers and succeed in school
Murphy and Elwood Girls and boys arrive in school
with gendered behaviour and this is simply
reinforced in school