Social Class and Educational Achievement – Knowledge Check List

Main Sub-Topics

• Intro – How achievement varies by social class background
• Material deprivation and educational achievement.
• Cultural deprivation theory and educational achievement
• Cultural capital theory and educational achievement
• In school processes and how these effect achievement
• How education policies affect educational achievement by social class

Selected Key Concepts

• Social Class
• Educational Attainment
• Cultural Deprivation
• Immediate Gratification
• Deferred Gratification
• Elaborated Speech Code
• Restricted Speech Code
• Fatalistic
• NEETs
• Material Deprivation
• Social Capital
• Material Capital
• The Ideal Pupil
• Counter School Culture
• Streaming
• Compensatory Education

Selected Short Answer Questions

• Define what is meant by the term ‘material deprivation’ (2)
• Using one example explain how cultural deprivation effects educational achievement (2)
• Outline three ways in which material deprivation can affect educational achievement (6)
• Outline and briefly explain two ways in which cultural capital can give an advantage to some pupils in education (10)

Selected Essay Questions

• Assess the argument that cultural factors are more important that material factors when explaining social class and achievement. (20)
• Assess the view that home factors are more important than in-school factors when explaining differential achievement by social class (20)