Clustering of disadvantages in education Sample Clauses

Clustering of disadvantages in education. By considering how these sources of variation affect what students are able to be and do, it is also possible to think of how sources of disadvantage can cluster (Xxxxx and xx-Xxxxxx 2007, p.120). Clustering disadvantage refers to the ways in which specific forms of disadvantage can be dynamic, which is to say a person can accumulate and reproduce disadvantages over time. An example of this is discussed later on, where a student explains how she is expected to carry out daily chores for her family. This leads to her spending less time on her school work, which in turn means that her relationships with teachers becomes strained and this leads them to call home, and the student’s parents punish her for not doing well in school. It is unlikely, from the outside, for us to notice the pattern of inequality that this young person experiences; it is only by taking her view and listening to her voice that we might gain an insight into the plurality of disadvantage. Significantly, this thickens our account of inequality because it suggests that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds will have fewer opportunities than their more advantaged counterparts, even if they are given more resources (the problems that this student faces will not be resolved by an increase in books or equipment). Xxxx and xx-Xxxxxx argue for an approach to public policy that attempts to ‘de-cluster disadvantage’ (2007, p.120). In the example above, we might identify groups of young people who are likely to take on additional responsibilities at home and therefore be disadvantaged in their school life. There might be an underlying cause for why this is the case, for example material deprivation or single parent homes, but this might not be necessarily relevant. The critical point for ‘de-clustering’ disadvantage, in the first instance, is ensuring that the pattern of clustering is disrupted. The student themselves highlighted this, suggesting that if her teachers were aware of how many chores she completed at home then they might not consider she was lazy. She might be wrong in this respect, but it is clear that post-16 education can be significantly disadvantaged by poor housing, lack of parental support, increased family responsibility, low aspirations, and so on: all of which are disadvantages that typically cluster together. Indeed, this illustrates the Xxxxxxx Effect that clustering disadvantages attract: where ‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer’ (a key finding from Chapter...