External Factors in Class Differences in Educational Achievement
External factors are influences on educational achievement that originate outside the school, in a pupil's home, family and wider material circumstances, contrasted with internal factors operating inside the school itself. Cultural deprivation theorists argue working-class underachievement stems from a home environment that fails to equip children with the attitudes and knowledge school rewards: Bernstein's concept of restricted and elaborated speech codes shows working-class pupils are often more fluent in a context-bound restricted code while school assessment uses the more abstract, explicit elaborated code that middle-class pupils typically acquire at home. Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital argues middle-class children inherit, through their upbringing, the tastes, knowledge and ways of speaking that schools implicitly value and reward, converting this cultural capital into educational, and eventually economic, capital. Material deprivation explanations focus instead on poverty itself: overcrowded housing, poor diet, and the inability to afford educational extras or private tuition all depress attainment independently of parental attitudes. Marxists argue material and cultural factors are not separate, since Bourdieu's cultural capital is itself a product of unequal economic capital across generations.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Separate external (home, family, material circumstances) from internal (in-school processes such as labelling and streaming) factors clearly, since the specification and mark schemes treat them as distinct explanations, even though the best evaluation shows they interact.
- Distinguish cultural deprivation from material deprivation precisely: cultural deprivation is about attitudes, language and knowledge transmitted at home; material deprivation is about the practical consequences of poverty.
- Use Bernstein's speech codes accurately: restricted code is context-bound, shorter and less explicit, common in working-class homes; elaborated code is context-free, more complex and closer to the code schools and exams use, common in middle-class homes.
- Use Bourdieu's cultural capital accurately: it is the tastes, knowledge and linguistic style that are inherited rather than taught, which schools implicitly reward, converting cultural advantage into qualifications (Bourdieu calls this the conversion of cultural into economic capital).
- Apply material deprivation evidence, e.g. that poorer families are less able to afford revision guides, a quiet study space, educational trips, or private tuition, each of which independently affects attainment regardless of parental attitudes.
- For the item-based technique, identify whether the item's example is cultural (attitudes, language, aspirations) or material (money, housing, resources) before building your paragraphs, since conflating them loses application marks.
- Evaluate cultural deprivation theories from a Marxist angle: they can be accused of blaming working-class families for a disadvantage that is actually produced by structural inequality, which functions as a form of victim-blaming.
- For a 20-mark essay, weigh cultural and material explanations against each other rather than treating them as a simple list, and use in-school (internal) evidence briefly to show the two sets of factors combine rather than act alone.
Worked example
Item A: A study of two families found that in one household, parents regularly discussed books and current events with their children and helped with homework using the vocabulary the children's teachers used in class. In the other household, parents worked long shifts, had little spare money for school trips, and the family of five shared two bedrooms. Applying material from Item A and your knowledge, analyse two external factors affecting educational achievement. (10 marks)
- Identify the two contrasting examples in the item: the first family shows a cultural factor (discussion, vocabulary matching school's code), the second shows material factors (low income, overcrowded housing, no spare money).
- Build the first factor from the item using Bernstein and Bourdieu: the first family transmits an elaborated code and cultural capital that matches what school rewards, giving their children an advantage in classroom communication and assessment.
- Build the second factor from the item using material deprivation: overcrowded housing makes quiet, uninterrupted study difficult, and low income limits the family's ability to pay for trips, resources or tutoring, each depressing attainment.
- Add one line of development to each: note that Bourdieu argues cultural capital converts into qualifications because it is invisible to the school, being treated as natural ability rather than an unfair inherited advantage.
- Check both points are drawn explicitly from the item's detail rather than generic bullet points about class and achievement.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What is the difference between cultural deprivation and material deprivation as explanations of underachievement?Show answer
Answer: Cultural deprivation blames a lack of the attitudes, language and knowledge school values, transmitted through upbringing; material deprivation blames the practical effects of poverty, such as poor housing or lack of money for resources.
Q2Explain Bernstein's distinction between restricted and elaborated speech codes.Show answer
Answer: Restricted code is a shorter, context-bound way of speaking common in working-class homes; elaborated code is more explicit, context-free and closer to the language schools and exams use, common in middle-class homes.
Q3What does Bourdieu mean by 'cultural capital'?Show answer
Answer: The tastes, knowledge and linguistic style that middle-class children typically inherit from their upbringing, which schools implicitly value and reward, allowing it to be converted into educational qualifications.
Q4Give two examples of material deprivation that could affect a pupil's achievement.Show answer
Answer: Overcrowded housing that makes quiet study difficult, and low income that prevents a family from affording revision materials, school trips or private tuition.
Q5State one Marxist criticism of cultural deprivation theory.Show answer
Answer: That it blames working-class families and their culture for underachievement, when the real cause is structural economic inequality, so the theory functions as victim-blaming.
Q6Why might a middle-class pupil's cultural capital be described as 'invisible' in school?Show answer
Answer: Because schools present the knowledge and style they reward as neutral or as natural ability, rather than as an inherited class advantage, so pupils without it appear less able rather than simply less advantaged.
Q7Explain why material and cultural factors are difficult to separate in practice.Show answer
Answer: Because a family's economic resources shape the cultural experiences it can offer, for example paying for books, trips or a quiet study space, so material deprivation can itself produce a form of cultural disadvantage.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a A Level Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Outline two ways material deprivation might affect a pupil's educational achievement.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
Item B: Sociologists found that in the classroom, some pupils confidently used abstract, precise vocabulary that matched teachers' own explanations, while other pupils, equally intelligent, often struggled to express the same ideas in the way exams and essays required. Applying material from Item B, analyse two reasons why speech codes might affect educational achievement. (10 marks)
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 10 available
Item C: A report found that pupils eligible for free school meals were, on average, significantly less likely to achieve top grades than their better-off classmates, even in the same schools and classes. Interviews suggested some of these pupils' parents had little time to help with homework due to shift work, while others said they simply could not afford tutoring that wealthier families used. Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the claim that external factors are the main cause of class differences in educational achievement. (20 marks)
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 20 available
See real A Level Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the external factors in class differences in educational achievement worksheet pack - 7 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
Next topics
Not quite what you needed?
Tell us what is missing on external factors in class differences in educational achievement, or which topic to write up next. Every request is read, and we reply to every one.
Build a full practice pack.
This topic is one of hundreds in the library - pick the ones a student needs and generate a printable PDF in minutes.