Social Class & Education: The Importance of Material Factors (WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology): Revision Note

Statistics on social class & educational achievement

• One way to describe a person's place in society is by their social class

  • This is typically determined by a person's occupation or that of their parents

• A child's eligibility for free school meals (FSM) is often used as an indicator of low income and, therefore, a lower social class

• According to national statistics, middle-class students consistently outperform working-class students in public examinations

• Students from middle-class backgrounds are also more likely to attend university or pursue other forms of higher education

• Sociologists have proposed several explanations for why working-class students tend to underachieve compared to their middle-class peers:

  • Home and background factors

    • Differences in home environment, income, and parental support can affect educational success

    • Key ideas include cultural deprivation (a lack of knowledge, language, or values) and material deprivation (a lack of money and resources)

  • School-based factors

    • Factors within the education system itself can also affect achievement

    • These include teacher labelling, streaming and setting, school culture, and the type of school attended

Material deprivation

• Material deprivation refers to a lack of financial resources caused by poverty

• It is one way the home environment can affect children’s educational achievement, as it limits access to basic resources that support learning

• Material deprivation includes poor housing, low income, inadequate diet, and lack of educational materials (e.g. books, computers, and internet access)

How material deprivation affects educational achievement

• Poor housing conditions, overcrowding, or a lack of a quiet space to study can make it difficult to concentrate or complete homework

• Illness and absenteeism are more common among working-class children who live in cold, damp, or overcrowded homes

• Middle-class parents can afford private tuition, internet access, computers and homes in catchment areas of high-performing schools

• Working-class areas may lack early years provision, such as nursery education, which can affect later school performance

• The cost of higher education and student debt discourages some working-class students from applying to university

• Lower-income families may struggle to afford essentials like food, books, or school uniforms, affecting health, attendance, and motivation

Choice of school

• Low-income families have fewer school options due to catchment area restrictions and housing costs

• Middle-class parents can afford to move near desirable schools, a process Stephen Ball calls “selection by mortgage”

• This reinforces inequality, as children from wealthier families are more likely to attend high-performing schools

Government support

• The Pupil Premium (2011) provides extra funding to schools for disadvantaged students to help close the attainment gap

• However, critics argue that funding is insufficient and does not fully address deep-rooted inequalities linked to poverty

Key thinkers: Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) on social class and inequality

Method

• Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) drew on data from a face-to-face survey of over 8,000 males born between 1913 and 1952 who were educated in England and Wales

• They explored the social class origins and educational destinations of the men

• Social class was based on their father's occupation, and they were divided into three groups:

  • Service class (such as professionals and managers)

  • Intermediate class (such as clerical or sales workers)

  • Working class (such as manual workers in industry and agriculture)

Findings

• Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) found that an individual from the service class, as compared to one from the working class, had:

  • four times as great a chance of being at school at 16 years

  • eight times the chance of being at school at 17 years

  • ten times the chance of being at school at 18 years

  • eleven times the chance of attending university

Conclusions

• A higher percentage of working-class children than middle-class children left school at the first possible opportunity

• Middle-class children may have had a head start, as higher household income may have led to better quality housing and more study materials and support at home

• This supports the Marxist view of education, which argues that the education system is not meritocratic

Evaluation of material deprivation

• Improvements over time

  • The gap between middle-class and working-class students has narrowed slightly due to government support (e.g., Pupil Premium)

  • However, critics say these policies haven’t gone far enough to address inequalities between the classes

• Gender and ethnicity matter too

  • Differences in achievement aren’t just about class — gender and ethnicity also affect results

  • E.g., working-class white boys tend to underachieve more than girls or some ethnic minority groups

• Research limitations

  • Studies like Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) only looked at males, so their findings ignore women’s educational progress over time

  • Since the data is from people born decades ago, it may not reflect modern education systems or today’s social mobility