Educational Achievement and Development

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Educational achievement is one of the most important factors of a students’ academic journey. Education as a form of secondary socialisation teaches students, the basic norms and values of society and assists in developing their individual identity. In many cases there are contributing issues that not only hinder, but can dramatically affect a child’s educational achievement and development; but also impacts negatively on their childhood experience. These contributing factors consist of a person’s class, their gender and/or their race and ethnicity; which no child has the ability to change at such a young and impressionable age. The issue of race, ethnicity and gender are essentially a part of a person’s genetic design, which is biologically determined and cannot be changed easily. When a child is born they have no control over the social environment they are born into, it is only in later life that they may have the opportunity to develop and gain a greater chance of social mobility within society. The problematic attributes of gender, social class and race/ethnicity, regarding educational achievement and attainments, are a combination of environmental (social constructivism) and biological design (essentialism). This essay will critique how a child can be labelled and/or stereotyped depending on their individual identity construction, including their social class, gender and/or race and ethnicity, which may lead to problematic issues within their personal educational achievement.

Within society today, race, ethnicity, social class and gender, including sexual orientation; collectively help to define and construct who we are as individuals within society. Burr (1995) states that social constructivism emphasises the importanc...

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...osition in society and secondary education quality”. The pie chart represents that students from middle class backgrounds, have the highest expectations to go to university, whereas students from work class backgrounds, have lower expectations to further their education; thus suggesting that financial constraints and lack of self-belief are to blame. Also the impact of class inequality is apparent within these results because that are supporting the concept that the higher your class statys is the greater the chance of furthering your education.

Factors that could impact an individual’s progression into a higher educational institution could be the quality of their education. There are many middle class families sending their children to private schools, thus providing them with greater opportunities to achieve success and power, through this elite education.

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