Education with Research Methods

1.    Explain what is meant by ‘Material Deprivation’ (2 marks)

Material deprivation was explored by JWB Douglas and it refers to the lack of material resources required to succeed, such as a child not having the correct resources to gain educational achievement in education, this is more common in working class children.

2.    Identify three government policies that may have reduced social class differences in educational achievement (6 marks)

One government policy that may have reduced social class differences in educational achievement is the tripartite system which introduced secondary technical schools, secondary modern school and grammar schools – this was initially introduced to give more equal opportunities to students, however – to gain entry to a grammar school, students had to pass an IQ test that was later found to be culturally biased, meaning it was more likely for middle class children to be in grammar schools which lead to higher achievement.

Another government policy to reduce social class differences is ‘compensatory education’, where working class children who may have been at a disadvantage due to living conditions or material deprivation, the effects of these issues are alleviated through compensatory education such as homework clubs or breakfast clubs.

Finally, education action zones (EAZ) were introduced into deprived areas so that schools received more money in order to provide a better education to the students who are more at a disadvantage to middle class students who are usually placed in areas that are not suffering with deprivation.

3.    Outline some of the reasons why students form subcultures in schools (12 marks)

One reason that students form subcultures in schools is that it is usual for certain ethnic groups to form subcultures when they are subjected to teacher racism or even just so they feel part of a community. Durkheim would argue that they are opposing the ideals of social solidarity, however within their own subculture; their similar traits help to achieve a stronger internal solidarity. This is emphasized when a school has an ethnocentric curriculum, e.g. mainly white children and there was a minority group of black children, the black children may feel more obliged to form a separate subculture.

Another reason why students may form subcultures is if a teacher labels a certain student archetype as ‘trouble makers’ or something similar, then the labelling may then evolve into a self fulfilling prophecy which would lead to anti-school subculture being formed. Furthermore, once a teacher has internalised their own label for the child, it becomes impossible for the child to prove the label wrong and therefore when a subculture is formed, their actions would likely be punished more than necessary which eventually will lead to a poorer education provided to the people within the subculture.

4.    Using material from item A and elsewhere, assess sociological explanations of gender differences in achievement and in subject choice (20 marks)

Male and female students tend to choose specific subjects to study in schools in accordance to their gender domains, for instance – boys are more likely to choose masculine subjects such as science, PE or ICT, whereas girls tend to choose subjects such as health and social care, sociology and art.  It has been found by sociologists such as Alison Dewar that girls who choose PE as a subject are subjected to being called ‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’, whereas if boys choose to do a typically feminine subject such as dance, then they will be subjected to being called gay.

The use of negative labels such as ‘gay’ are used to police other’s sexual identities and way they behave, hence why boys and girls choose different subjects. Teachers also reinforce ‘tough’ behaviour from boys and quiet behaviour from girls, as a result, males and females develop different subject tastes.

This idea is questioned when researching single-sex schools as it has been found that these types of schools hold less gendered subject images, this means that more girls choose subjects that are considered to be male dominated which then leads to better opportunities in life.

Furthermore, it has also been found that girls do significantly better in exams than boys in all subjects except maths and there are several sociological explanations for this finding. For instance, the introduction of GCSE’s in 1988 saw an increase in grades for girls, this could be because with GCSE’s came coursework which requires a certain level of organisational skills that girls seem to possess more of.

It could also be argued that girls get higher educational achievement than boys because teachers usually label boys to be more stereotypically disruptive in lessons than girls are and so they are treated differently as a result, as a consequence – girls usually end up with a better standard of education.

Several external factors could also be applied to this situation, for instance - Feminism has been on the rise to improve women’s rights. Doing better in education supports this and therefore girls are more motivated to attain higher grades which may lead onto better career opportunities. In addition, girls now aim for more professional occupations such as doctors and lawyers and therefore better grades are a requirement.