The Role of Socio-Cultural

Factors In Determining The

Quality of Students’ Experiences
at School
INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATION (EDUC1029) MAJOR ESSAY:
"SOCIAL JUSTICE ESSAY"

Caitlin MacQuaid
44350697 | UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND - EDUC1029 - TUTORIAL 4
The Australia we live in today is more culturally, ethnically and sexually diverse than it

ever has been in our history. Unfortunately the Australian school system has not yet

reached a point where minority groups within our diverse national community has

access to the same opportunities or has the same chances to succeed at school, as

majority groups. Socio-cultural factors such as race, cultural identity, gender, sexual

orientation, religion, disability, geographic location, socio-economic background,

language and pregnancy (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and

Youth Affairs , 2008, p. 7) play an indisputably significant role in determining the quality

of people’s educational experiences at school and therefore their educational success.

Meadmore highlights the importance of these sociocultural factors when they write

“More clearly evident than ever before in this country are vast social differences that

reflect differences in culture, wealth, status and education that come together in the

unequal exercise of power. In this way, power relations between, among and within

social classes are created and exercised.” (2004, p. 74). The following paper will draw

on theory and academia to explore how these sociocultural factors influence student’s

experiences at school, their chances of success at school, how teachers and schools

expectations influence these the former, and the role teachers play in addressing these

issues.

According to Lampert, Burnett, & Morse (2015, p. 78), “Within the Australian school

system where the majority of teachers, administrators and students are white,

whiteness can be seen as the ‘norm’ and non-white skin color as the ‘other’. This

positioning of white as ‘normal’ can encourage intercultural relations in which race and

racism are ‘normalized’ and viewed as an inevitable part of the daily existence.”. The
aforementioned concept of ‘othering’ is the predominant route through which

sociocultural factors in school students are singled out and discriminated against. The

voices and experiences of students from diverse cultures and ethnicity tend to be

excluded from pedagogy and curriculum, and their inherited linguistic and cultural

competencies tend to be undervalued when compared with the pre-established cultural

‘norms’ (Mills & Gale, 2010, p. 58). This undervaluing of students identities often leads

to a disconnection from learning (Mills & Gale, 2010, p. 34), they “…respond to a form

of schooling that says they are not suitable, or indeed capable, of education by rejecting

or opposing it. A response that is entirely understandable.” (Groundwater-Smith, 2009,

p. 74). Lampert, Burnett, & Morse (2015, p. 79), also find that unequal power

relationships between students and their teachers arise as a result of this inequality;

and in on the flip side of this, Moustakim (2015, p. 130) found that, generally, “the

quality of students experiences of schooling are contingent upon being treated with

respect by school staff and teachers’ critical awareness of the marginalizing effect of

‘racialised’ deficit representations”. Additionally the sociocultural factor of socio-

economic level is found to have a strong effect on the experience of students at school,

with Mills & Gale (2010, p. 34) stating that hunger, homelessness and financial hardship

adversely influence students schooling. The effect that sociocultural factors have on

students experiences at school, have a run on effect to their academic success at

school, as will be explored further.

As stated by Moustakim (2015, p. 129), “Dominant ways of understanding dis

proportionally low academic outcomes for students from Indigenous and other minority

groups fail to locate the debate about learner engagement and academic achievement
in the wider context of social inequality, choosing instead to contribute students

disconnection from schooling to their cognitive, emotional and behavioral deficits or in

terms of a moral underclass culture in their communities.”. In order to understand the

effect that socioeconomic factors have on the achievement level and chances of

success for students at school, one must first examine and understand the theory.

Bordieu’s theory of social practice encompasses three concepts: capital, habitus and

field. In this context, the focus will be on capital which can be further reduced into three

types: social, cultural and economic capital. Cultural capital involves the skills,

dispositions, attitudes and other cultural assets that parents pass down to their children,

and it is important to note that certain types of cultural capital are valued in our western

school system over others. Research has shown that “cultural capital confers

advantages on some children while disadvantaging others in school… cultural capital

has a positive effect on reading literacy, sense of belonging at school and occupational

aspirations.” (Moustakim, 2015, pp. 132-133). Schools are very much responsible for

reproducing social inequalities, with schools in the past catering too specifically to, and

working most effectively for, middle-class white male students (Mills & Gale, 2010, pp.

1-2). As Mills & Gale (2010, pp. 1-2) put it “…with their reduced access to the cultural

capital of the dominant, marginalized students are at a disadvantage in the classroom,

suffering educational repercussions for having a cultural captial that is in the wrong

currency.”. Notably, teachers expectations of their students have the capacity to

exacerbate the effects of socio-cultural factors on students experiences and success at

school, for better or for worse, as explored below.

Lampert, Burnett, & Morse (2015, p. 80) state that “It is well acknowledged that

teachers’ low expectations of culturally diverse students in Australia reproduce existing

inequalities. What teachers expect of students makes a profound difference.”. Lampert

et al. (2015, p. 80) also find that this teachers lowering of their expectations may not be

conscious and purposeful, in fact they may not even notice them as these expectations

become masked via a dumbed-down version of the curriculum. These lowered

expectations are particularly harmful for Indigenous children's success and experiences

at school as teacher low expectations extend past abilities and into attendance and the

like, “…sometimes labeling indigenous children and families as troublemakers, lazy or

worse” (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, 2015, p. 80). Additionally it is important here to note

that there have been various studies which prove the expectations of teachers to be

essential to teacher-student and teacher-community relationships and the impact on

students educational achievement and success. (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, 2015). It is

necessary for pre-service teachers to develop the skills necessary to challenge their

pre-established notions in order to promote sociocultual equality, as explored below.

According to Lampert, Burnett, & Morse (2015, p. 77), “Pre-service teacher’s

unexamined attitudes towards both poverty and ‘race’ are often invisible to themselves

and need to be brought to the force in an ongoing and deliberate way.”. First and

foremost teachers need to play a role in affecting policy both within their own school and

on higher levels of state schooling. Moustakim (2015, p. 135) finds that at the policy

enactment level of schools, teachers must engage critically with assumptions meanings

and implications of of equity initiatives of minority groups. Additionally, Keddie (2011, p.

24), finds that the cultural recognition ad its significance must be reflected within the
practices and structures of the school. Meadmore (2004, p. 12) believes that one “…

must aim to develop a focus on inclusiveness, in which curriculum and pedagogy serve

the full spectrum of students in an increasingly diverse society.”. The strategy most

accessible to pre-service teachers is explored by Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, (2015, p.

77) who write that good teachers must develop reflexivity as part of their teacher

preparation in order for them to effectively interrogate their attitudes prior to beginning

their career’s. Additionally they must continue to engage in an ongoing dialogue and

engage with continued reflection throughout their careers (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse,

2015, p. 77). It is important to note at this point that “Many teachers in high poverty,

under served schools in Australia are white and come from middle class backgrounds;

therefore it is common for teachers to arrive in these classrooms with little knowledge of

their students’ families and communities.” (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, 2015, p. 77).

Moreover it is not solely the responsibility of pre-service teachers themselves to

facilitate this development. Teaching educators must also contribute by creating ample

opportunities early in their teaching programs for their students to “ examine critically

and identify their taken-for-granted belief in relations to classroom actions.” (Lampert,

Burnett, & Morse, 2015, p. 78).

In our increasingly racially, socially and ethnically diverse Australian society, everyone,

regardless of their sociocultural background deserves as fair a chance as any at

achieving success in education. But due to the sociological concepts explored

previously, marginalized groups are often ‘othered’, shoved into the spotlight in a

negative fashion and are not granted access to the same capital and therefore the same
chances of educational success as the dominant group. As teachers of the future we

have the chance to influence this for the better.

References
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Ferfolja, C. Jones Diaz, & J. Ullman, Understanding Sociological Theory For Educational Practices
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in a Changing World (pp. 73-92). Melbourne: Cengage Learning .

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