Factors Affecting Educational Achievement: Social Class (AQA GCSE Sociology): Exam Questions

Describe one example of cultural capital.

Identify and describe one counter school subculture.

Identify and describe one example of how labelling may affect a student’s achievement in school.

Identify and describe one type of pupil subculture that may be found in schools.

Identify and explain one advantage of using structured interviews to investigate working-class students’ experiences of school.

Item D

From Item D, identify and describe one way in which Ball believed that the banding of students affected their approach to learning and behaviour in school, including what you know of his perspective on education.

Identify and explain one disadvantage of using snowball sampling to investigate the effects of streaming on students’ experience of school.

Item C

From Item C, examine one strength of the research.

Item C

Identify and explain one factor, other than debt, that may discourage students from poorer backgrounds from applying to university, raised as a concern in Item C.

Identify and explain one disadvantage of using a snowball sample to investigate attitudes of students towards higher education.

Identify and explain one advantage of using unstructured interviews to investigate setting in schools.

Item D

From Item D, identify and describe one example of how the correspondence principle works according to Bowles and Gintis, including what you know of their perspective on education.

Identify and explain one advantage of using a longitudinal study to investigate the effects of streaming students in schools.

Item D

British sociologist Paul Willis wanted to understand the experience of schooling from the perspective of the students. He chose to study a group of 12 working-class boys. He observed these boys over their last 18 months of school, and their first few months at work. The 12 students formed a friendship group with a distinctive attitude to school. The ‘lads’, as they were known, had their own counter school subculture, which was opposed to the values promoted by the school.

This counter school subculture had certain features. The lads felt superior to the teachers and to the conformist students, who they called ‘the ear’oles’. They saw no value in the academic work of the school and no interest in gaining qualifications. Instead they aimed to ‘have a laff’ by entertaining themselves with misbehaviour, avoiding lessons, doing as little work as possible and generally rejecting the values of the school. To the lads, school was boring, whilst the outside world offered possibilities for excitement.

Source: Willis, P, Learning to Labour, 1977.

From Item D, identify and describe one way in which the ‘lads’ were anti-school according to Willis, including what you know of his perspective on education.

Item D

British sociologist Paul Willis wanted to understand the experience of schooling from the perspective of the students. He chose to study a group of 12 working-class boys. He observed these boys over their last 18 months of school, and their first few months at work. The 12 students formed a friendship group with a distinctive attitude to school. The ‘lads’, as they were known, had their own counter school subculture, which was opposed to the values promoted by the school.

This counter school subculture had certain features. The lads felt superior to the teachers and to the conformist students, who they called ‘the ear’oles’. They saw no value in the academic work of the school and no interest in gaining qualifications. Instead they aimed to ‘have a laff’ by entertaining themselves with misbehaviour, avoiding lessons, doing as little work as possible and generally rejecting the values of the school. To the lads, school was boring, whilst the outside world offered possibilities for excitement.

Source: Willis, P, Learning to Labour, 1977.

Discuss how far sociologists would agree that teacher expectations have a significant effect on a student’s educational performance.

Item D

In 1981 sociologist Stephen Ball undertook a case study of a comprehensive school and examined the way it was organised. The school used a banding system. Students were placed into one of three bands (similar to streaming). Band 1 contained the most able students and Band 3 contained the least able students. Ball compared the experiences of those students in Band 1 with those placed in Bands 2 and 3.

Ball noted that each band was taught differently and followed different educational routes. Only students in Band 1 were encouraged to have high aspirations and to study academic courses. During his observations, Ball noticed that students’ behaviour changed as a result of the bands that they were placed in. Ball linked this to the teacher expectations of each band. For example, Band 1 was expected to be hardworking and well behaved, while Band 2 students were expected to be difficult and uncooperative. This led to negative changes in the behaviour of Band 2 students.

Source: Ball, S. J, Beachside Comprehensive. A Case Study of Secondary Schooling, 1981.

From Item D, identify and describe one way in which Ball believed that the banding of students affected their approach to learning and behaviour in school, including what you know of his perspective on education.

What term is commonly used by sociologists to describe the grouping of students of different academic levels in the same class?

Describe one example of cultural capital.

Identify and describe one counter school subculture.

Item D

According to sociologist Emile Durkheim, the main function of education was passing on society’s norms and values. He believed that subjects like history reinforce shared norms and values, encouraging children to see themselves as part of society.

In Durkheim’s view, rules should be strictly enforced in order for children to learn self-discipline and to understand that misbehaviour damages society as a whole. He argued that by experiencing sanctions at school and by respecting the school rules, children learn to respect rules in society.

Source: Durkheim, E, Moral Education, 1925

Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the way in which students are grouped together within the school can have a significant effect on their educational performance.

Which term is commonly used by sociologists to describe the grouping of students for a particular academic subject based on their ability in that subject?

Identify and describe one example of the cultural capital which middle class parents can use to give their children advantages at school.

Item C

Many sociologists are concerned about the relatively poor performance of working class pupils when compared to their middle class peers. According to a study by the universities of Leicester and Leeds middle class pupils do better because parents put more effort into their children’s education. The researchers suggested that policies aimed at improving parental effort could be effective in increasing children's educational attainment. Effort was measured using indicators of a student's attitude, such as the answers given by 16-year-olds to questions including whether they think school is a "waste of time'', and teachers' views about students' laziness. Other factors studied were the parents' interest in their children's education, measured by, for example, whether they read to their child.

The research, Must Try Harder, used the National Child Development Study, which follows individuals born in a given week in 1958 throughout their lives.

Identify and explain one alternative factor that may have led to the relatively poor performance of working class pupils referred to as a concern in Item C.

Item D

In the 1970s sociologist Paul Willis observed a group of working class students who rejected school and all its values and who wanted to leave school as soon as they could. The students in this group were described by Willis as the ‘lads’ and their behaviour was compared to the conformist students or ‘ear’oles’ (referred to as such because they listened to the teacher):

‘During films in the hall they tie the projector leads into impossible knots, make animal shapes on the screen with their fingers, and gratuitously dig and jab at the backs of the ‘ear’oles’ in front of them.’

‘There is a continuous scraping of chairs, a bad tempered ‘tut-tutting’ at the simplest request from the teacher, and a continuous fidgeting which explores every permutation of sitting or lying on a chair.’

Willis used both non-participant and participant observation in class and around the school, in his attempt to understand the experience of schooling from the perspective of the students.

From Item D, identify and describe the research method used by Willis including what you know of his perspective on education.

Item D

In the 1970s sociologist Paul Willis observed a group of working class students who rejected school and all its values and who wanted to leave school as soon as they could. The students in this group were described by Willis as the ‘lads’ and their behaviour was compared to the conformist students or ‘ear’oles’ (referred to as such because they listened to the teacher):

‘During films in the hall they tie the projector leads into impossible knots, make animal shapes on the screen with their fingers, and gratuitously dig and jab at the backs of the ‘ear’oles’ in front of them.’

‘There is a continuous scraping of chairs, a bad tempered ‘tut-tutting’ at the simplest request from the teacher, and a continuous fidgeting which explores every permutation of sitting or lying on a chair.’

Willis used both non-participant and participant observation in class and around the school, in his attempt to understand the experience of schooling from the perspective of the students.

Identify one possible label that might be attached to students who fail to conform and explain the possible impact that label might have on their school career.

Item D

In the 1970s sociologist Paul Willis observed a group of working class students who rejected school and all its values and who wanted to leave school as soon as they could. The students in this group were described by Willis as the ‘lads’ and their behaviour was compared to the conformist students or ‘ear’oles’ (referred to as such because they listened to the teacher):

‘During films in the hall they tie the projector leads into impossible knots, make animal shapes on the screen with their fingers, and gratuitously dig and jab at the backs of the ‘ear’oles’ in front of them.’

‘There is a continuous scraping of chairs, a bad tempered ‘tut-tutting’ at the simplest request from the teacher, and a continuous fidgeting which explores every permutation of sitting or lying on a chair.’

Willis used both non-participant and participant observation in class and around the school, in his attempt to understand the experience of schooling from the perspective of the students.

Discuss how far sociologists agree that a student’s socialisation experiences in the home are the main reason for differences in their educational achievement.

Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the way in which students are grouped together within the school can have a significant effect on their educational performance.