Outline some of the ways in which material deprivation may affect educational achievement amongst the different social class groups. (12 marks)

Despite brilliant improvements within the educational system and level of the nation as a whole, social class differences still continue to exist, as middle class pupils tend to achieve higher academically than working class pupils. This is due to many external factors (these are factors outside of the educational system, e.g. influences from home and the family background as well as cultural deprivation etc) but also internal factors (these are factors within schools and the educational systems, such as the relationship between teachers and pupils). In this essay I intend to explain the ways in which material deprivation can affect the educational achievement between different social classes.

Material deprivation, an external factor refers to poverty and a lack of resources to succeed in education, such as; books, internet and adequate housing etc. It is the working class families who have a low income and inadequate housing that affects how a child does in their education.
There are 3 features within material deprivation; 1) housing- working class families are more likely to live in poor housing with overcrowding, which means a lack of personal space that can lead to illnesses to spread within the house quicker meaning children are ill more often and taking time off school, resulting in underachievement. 2) Diet and health- compared to middle class families, the working class families tend to have a poor diet which leads to a low intake of energy and weak immune system. This all leads to absences in school due to the poor health which ultimately concludes in educational underachievement. Whereas a poor diet is never a concern for middle class families as they ensure their children have a balanced diet with enough