Differential achievement in British education: class, gender, and ethnicity

Differential achievements education Britain - Sociology 1.Class - Trends achievement (Statistics). 2/3 factors affecting achievement - e.g. social class, neo-liberalism 2. Gender -Trends achievement (Statistics) .

Class trends in achievement: Prejudice and culture

According to the British Educational Research Association: "Some 31% of white pupils on free school meals -- a key indicator of poverty -- achieve five As to Cs, compared with 63% of white pupils not eligible for free school meals" (Shepherd 2010). However "this gap between social classes -- of 32 percentage points -- is far higher for white pupils than for other ethnic groups" (Shepherd 2010). Statistics thus suggest that while class prejudice may have an impact upon student test scores, a culture in some white, working-class homes that does not support education must also be taken into consideration as a factor, given that the effects of poverty are not nearly as obvious as they are for minority students.

Q2. Gender trends in achievement: Developmental and disciplinary problems amongst boys

During students' early educations, "there is little difference in the performance of boys and girls in mathematics, but in reading, writing and spelling at Key Stage 1, girls do substantially better. The difference in the number of girls and boys reaching Level 2 is about 10 percentage points, and this gap shows no signs of narrowing. It indicates that the underachievement of boys in literacy begins in the first few years of their education, and eventually this leads to many boys transferring to secondary schools with weak literacy skills that are often insufficient to cope with the demands of the secondary curriculum (Ofsted 1994 -- 1998)" (Shelton n.d. 3). This translates into fewer boys going on to university. The emphasis upon literacy vs. other tasks in the classroom, boy's slower rates of developing in terms of their communication skills, and displinary problems in classroom where boys have more difficulty playing by 'the rules' have all been cited as the reason for the gap.

Q4. Explain what is meant by meritocracy

A meritocracy is a society where one's merit, rather than one's status at birth or inherent attributes (such as gender, class, race, ethnicity, religion, or disability status) determines one's success.

Q5. Identify and explain THREE policies that the government have introduced to overcome children's deprivation. E.g. Labour helping families out of poverty by introducing free nursery places for 3- to 4-year-olds.

Three measures include: a recent tax credit to support childcare for low-wage workers (Jowitt 2013); the Sure Start programme which "supports parents in the poorest communities and tries to intervene to overcome the disadvantages their babies experience from birth" by "aiming to improve parenting skills, give mothers more support and get small children fully immunized and into nursery schools" (Bosely 2008); and increasing the availability of food banks for needy families of a wider range of incomes (Bennett 2013).

Q6. Identify TWO policies or reforms which aimed at raising educational achievement and briefly explain how each was meant to do so.

In the 1980s, the Conservative government introduced "a number of market mechanisms into the UK education system, including parental choice, parent representation on governing bodies and linking school funding with student enrolment numbers" and publishing test scores to address concerns about failing schools and to allow parents to 'punish' failing schools by withdrawing their children (Machin & Vignoles 2006: 3).

A second wave of reforms in the 1990s included "reform of the vocational qualification system, particularly the introduction of new employer focused qualifications such as NVQ and GNVQ, and the revitalisation of apprenticeship in the UK. The second policy was the introduction of an education maintenance allowance paid to disadvantaged young people age 16-19 to encourage them to stay on in full time education" (Machin & Vignoles 2006: 4). Questions remain about the efficacy of some of the skills in the vocational program although the remuneration program has increased retention, statistics indicate.