Compensatory education providing extra resources to schools and communities

in deprived areas to compensate for deprivation at home

Feminist ideas have had a major impact on policies within education, for
examples policies such as GIST encourage girls to pursue subjects they might
avoid
Increase in female teachers and heads, these woman act as role models holding
responsibilities outside of traditional gender roles
Sociologists argue that the gender gap increased sharply with the introduction of
coursework and GCSE in 1989, girls are better at coursework because they spend
more time on their work and meet deadlines (Mitos)
Interactionists focus on the labelling of students self-fulfilling prophecy, Gillborn
and Youdell found teachers were faster to discipline black pupils, This was
because they had racialized expectations of black boys and expected them to be
poorly behaved, students reacted negatively to this thus causing the stereotypes
which teachers hold and continuing the cycle
Some sociologists argue that ethnic minorities are not offered the same
opportunities as white students, for example the Gifted and Talented
programmed was supposed to help children in low-income families , However,
Gillborn found that white students were twice as likely to be in the G&T,
Furthermore Tikly showed that black students were also more likely to be entered
for the lower tier examinations
Working class students are more likely tro see debt negatively, For example they
may see the 9000 university cost as too big a risk, Callender and Jackson found
that working class students were more likely to avoid debt and therefore less
likely to apply for university, Working class students are less likely to receive
financial support from families at uni, Working class students are more likely to
try and go to a university near their home and work through their degree
Poor housing can affect achievement, an overcrowded house can make it harder
for children to study and get enough sleep, poor housing can also affect a childs
health as they are at greater risk of accident and illness, It could be argue that
Chinese students on FSM outperform in many areas so cultural factors may not
be important
Sullivan tested 465 pupils in a questionnaire, she asked them about habits and
hobbies to test cultural capital, she found those with cultural capital performed
better at school, children who performed the best were children of graduates
who could spend on cultural capital, Even when middle class and working class
students had the same cultural capital according to the test, the middle class still
did better in GCSEs this suggests there are other factors