Discuss The View That Cultural Factors Provide The Most Likely Explanations For Underachievement
Lynne Knight Student No: 0590348 24th October 2011
Examine the view that cultural factors provide the most likely explanation for underachievement for some pupils.
In the society we live in, one of its major institutions is Education. In the National Curriculum, certain guidelines are set out for a National expected level of achievement for each year group. Some pupils achieve a much higher level than this guideline, whereas others fall significantly below this.
It is believed that a number of cultural factors are responsible for this wide range of achievements, even though pupils in the same school are exposed to the same lessons in the curriculum and information available within the school.
Various studies conducted and concluded by Sociologists to support this have been widely documented and one of the factors raised was that of parental attitudes from differing social classes from within the home. In his study of parents and their attitudes to education, J.W.B. Douglas believed that fundamentally, parental attitudes and values towards their children’s educations had a direct impact on their level of attainment. His observations concluded that parents of working class children were not as interested in their education as the parents within the middle classes and therefore education was …show more content…
Although the study indicated that the ethnic groups who were underachievers also had low incomes, there were some ethnic groups who were inconsistent with this. For example, the highest rate of impoverished children were the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean children compared to white children with a much lower rate in comparison. However, the levels of attainment between the Indian children and the Black Caribbean children were very
Examine the view that cultural factors provide the most likely explanation for underachievement for some pupils.
In the society we live in, one of its major institutions is Education. In the National Curriculum, certain guidelines are set out for a National expected level of achievement for each year group. Some pupils achieve a much higher level than this guideline, whereas others fall significantly below this.
It is believed that a number of cultural factors are responsible for this wide range of achievements, even though pupils in the same school are exposed to the same lessons in the curriculum and information available within the school.
Various studies conducted and concluded by Sociologists to support this have been widely documented and one of the factors raised was that of parental attitudes from differing social classes from within the home. In his study of parents and their attitudes to education, J.W.B. Douglas believed that fundamentally, parental attitudes and values towards their children’s educations had a direct impact on their level of attainment. His observations concluded that parents of working class children were not as interested in their education as the parents within the middle classes and therefore education was …show more content…
Although the study indicated that the ethnic groups who were underachievers also had low incomes, there were some ethnic groups who were inconsistent with this. For example, the highest rate of impoverished children were the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean children compared to white children with a much lower rate in comparison. However, the levels of attainment between the Indian children and the Black Caribbean children were very