5.3 What factors help to explain differences in educational achievement and experience?

2026 Syllabus Objectives

5.3.1 Patterns in educational achievement and experience:

• Social class
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Global differences

5.3.2 Explanations for differences in educational achievement and experience based on social class:

• Material factors, e.g. access to digital technology
• Cultural and social factors
• Cultural capital
• Home/community factors
• Linguistic factors
• Compensatory education
• In-school factors, e.g. pro- and anti-school sub-cultures
• Selective and private education
• Labelling theory
• Marxist explanations

5.3.3 Explanations for differences in educational achievement and experience based on ethnicity:

• Institutional racism
• Ethnocentric curriculum
• Role models
• Linguistic factors
• Cultural, material and social factors
• Home/community factors
• In-school factors, e.g. pro- and anti-school sub-cultures, ethnic sub-cultures
• Labelling theory

5.3.4 Explanations for differences in educational achievement and experience based on gender:

• Differential gendered socialisation and social control
• Teacher expectations
• Cultural and social factors
• Access to education
• In-school factors, e.g. pro- and anti-school sub-cultures, gendered sub-cultures
• Labelling theory
• Feminist explanations, e.g. patriarchy

5.3.5 Global differences in educational achievement and experience:

• Reasons for differential achievement and experience in different countries, e.g.: availability of schools, poverty/wealth, access to education for girls, class sizes, norms, values and cultural differences, access to the internet / digital resources

5.3.6 Strengths and limitations of the different explanations for differences in educational achievement and experience:

• Social class
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Global differences

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