Jamie – loved yer mushroom Risotto, but I find yer ‘dream school’ programme unpalatable.

Jamie, thanks for teaching me how to make a really nice Mushroom Risotto – in return I attach this document – which you might like to work through like my AS level students did last week –

Education videos and Web links with Qs

It will show you that the problem with your ‘dream school’ show is that it ignores the underlying class inequalities that lead to such massive failures in education – it is predominantely children from low income backgrounds that fail at school – suffering from material and cultural deprivation while the middle classes use their material and cultural capital to give their kids an unfair advantage.

Programmes like this make it seem as if children fail in school because of their own choices – this is not the case – the main reason children fail in school is because they are poor and the middle classes always make the education system work in their favour.

So while I’m really glad you found cheffing as a way of earning money – don’t patronise these kids – most of them are the victims of a class system in which the odds are stacked against them, and the opportunities for a decent life simply aren’t out there for all of them!

Some further evidence of the relative advantages of those with different incomes –

Connor et Al: Immediate Gratification linked to lack of money (2001)
Conducted focus group interviews with 230 students from 4 different FE colleges from a range of class backgrounds, some of whom had chosen to go to university and some who had not chosen to go to University. The main findings were that working class pupils are discouraged from going to university for three main reasons: Connor and Jewson (2001) found three types of ‘discouraging factors’ that prevented qualified working class candidates entering higher education:

  • Firstly, such candidates want ‘immediate gratification’. They want to earn money and be independent at an earlier age. This is because they are aware of their parents having struggled for money and wish to avoid debt themselves
  • Secondly, they realise that their parents cannot afford to support them during Higher Education and did not like the possibility of them getting into debt
  • Thirdly, they have less confidence in their ability to succeed in HE.

 

Leon Fenstein: Lack of Income correlated with Restricted Speech Code (2003)
The class divide, once set, then maintains itself with increasing rigidity throughout school life, with the gap growing for most children: “Only 14% of young people from lower income backgrounds go to university, compared to 75% from more advantaged homes.”Research by Leon Feinstein, a researcher in child development at University College, London. Just before their second birthday, children were given four simple tasks to see how they were developing their skills:

  • The ability to point to different facial features when asked
  • Putting on and taking off a pair of shoes
  • Stacking a pile of coloured bricks
  • Drawing lines and circles on a piece of paper, as opposed to simple scribbles

It was discovered that the children of middle-class, professional backgrounds were far better at completing the tasks than children of working-class parents. A difference in income of £100 a week was equal to a 3% improvement in the ability  to do the tasks. Children whose parents were educated to at least A level standard were 14% above those whose parents were not.

 The research fits in with other findings which revealed that children of working-class parents tend to be more passive; less engaged in the world around them and have a more limited vocabulary. Children from middle-class households had a wider vocabulary, better understanding of how to talk to other people and were more skilled at manipulating objects.

 Education officials said that parents’ willingness to spend time with their children, how much they spoke to them and the amount of reading they did all produced differences in their child’s attainment.  The research found that toddlers in the bottom quarter of the test results were significantly less likely to leave school with qualifications. The findings also revealed that children in the top 25% of results at the age of three-and-a-half were twice as likely to go on to A-levels than those in the bottom quarter.

The richer your parents, the better you read  Prof Edward Melhuish, (2005)
A five-year-old whose parents earn more than £67,500 has reading skills six months more advanced than one whose parents are jobless, a Government-funded study revealed. The gap occurs irrespective of natural ability, parents’ education or how often mothers and fathers read to their child. The children of those earning between £30,000 and £66,000 have an advantage of almost four months; Children whose parents’ earned income is between £2,500 and £15,000 are three weeks more advanced.Prof Edward Melhuish, the project’s leader, said: “We have isolated the effects of an earned family income on a pre-school child’s education attainment from their parents’ occupational status, education level and home environment, and have found that it has a profound effect.” Families with an earned income are more likely to be actively involved in society, have a more stringent attitude to learning and higher expectations of their children. “We suspect this advantage will become more extreme as the child’s education continues,” added Prof Melhuish. “Teachers will assume that children who enter school already confident, fluent and familiar with learning have great potential and will push them to achieve accordingly,” he said.
Class Strategies and the Education Market: The Middle Class and Social advantage, Stephen Ball (2003)
Stephen Ball argues that government policies of choice and competition place the middle class at an advantage. They have the knowledge and skills to make the most of the opportunities on offer. Compared to the working class they have more material capital, more social capital – access to social networks and contacts which can provide information and support. Strategies: The aim of parents is to give their children maximum advantage in the education system. The choice of school is vital, And this is where middle class parents, who Ball refers to as ‘skilled choosers’ come into their own. Compared to working class parents (disconnected choosers) they are more comfortable with dealing with pubic institutions like schools, they are more used to extracting and assessing information. For example they use social networks to talk to parents whose children are attending the schools on offer. They collect an analyse information about GCSE results and they are more used to dealing with and negotiating with administrators and teachers. As a result, if entry to a school is limited, they are more likely to gain a place for their child.   The school/ parent alliance: Middle class parents want middle class schools and schools want middle class pupils. In general the schools with more middle class students have better results.. Schools see middle class students as easy to teach and likely to perform well. They will maintain the schools position in the league tables and its status in the education market.
 
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