1.1. Differential Educational Attainment
The idea, behind equal opportunity is that all children, irrespective of their social class, ethnic background, or sex should achieve educational success. However, this does not seem to be the case, inequalities in educational opportunity remains.
Evidence has shown that the social class of a child’s parents, ethnicity and gender does influence his/her performance in education. These factors seem to be more influential than innate ability in determining educational achievement.
The aim of this at topic therefore is to look at and explain underachievement in terms of social class, ethnicity and sex.
Definition of Underachievement
Underachievement can be defined as ‘the failure of pupils to do as well in education as they should, given their ability.’ (Brown, An Introduction to Sociology, 2007).
Social Class and Underachievement
Social class has often been associated to social class membership. A large body of research has shown that in general, the higher a person’s class of origin 9the class into which they were born), the greater their chances of achieving high educational qualifications. Thus, social class is a determining factor as to whether a social class inequality in education begins at the primary level widens as children move through the education system, with the higher levels of education the system dominated by middle class students

Factors explaining working class Underachievement.
Sociologists have identified a range of factors which can explain social class differences in educational achievement. These are:
(1) Outschool factors ( The Home environment)
(2) Inside school factors
1.2.1. Outside school factors : The Home Environment
Sociologists have argued in general that the socio-economic environment of the child is influential on his/her educational success. These will be explained in terms of material deprivation and poverty, cultural deprivation, parent’s attitude to education, parents’s level of education, language (restricted code v/s elaborated code), culture clash and the cultural capital theory of Bourdieu.
1.2.1.1. Poverty and Materials deprivation
In a study conducted by Coalies and Silburn in the 1960’s of St Anns’s, an inner city slum in
Nottingham, it was suggested that the disadvantages associated with poverty are passed from generation to generation. Children of the lower and working classes generally come from a poor family background and have been found to lack the material advantages to succeed at school.
■ Living in poor conditions means that large number of people live in small crowded houses. As a result, it is quite improbable that these children will have their own room or even a quiet place where to study.
■ Poverty results in poor diet and thus sickness. This would mean that children will be often absent from school and lag behind in studies.

■ Poverty results from unemployment or where only one parent is working, or where both parents work, the salary is low. It is true that education is free in Mauritius. However, it does entails some private costs ( tuitions, educational books) which many people from the lower middle class child) have the opportunity to have access to these. They may not have computers, have the toys which are ‘in’, participate in outings or even have calculators and books. These factors affect the child educational performance.
These factors tend to be cumulative. For example, poverty means low income, which may means overcrowding at home, which may lead children to have part-time jobs and this continues from one generation to another, leading to a cycle of poverty.
1.2.1.2. Cultural deprivation
Poverty also leads to cultural deprivation in terms of the way children of lower classes are socialized, their parents’ attitude to education, the parents’ level of education and the clash between the language spoken at home and at school. These may have an influence on the way that children from the lower classes perform at school
(a) Parents attitude
Evidences have shown that the degree of interest and encouragement parents show in their children’s education can be important in affecting educational success. Parents from middle class give more value and show more support in their children’s education. They are more likely to visit schools, help in homework and even the choice off career at a later stage. However, this may not necessarily mean that working class children are not interested in their children’s education. Most of these parents in Mauritius, work in the EPZ sector and are more likely to work for longer hours, do overtime and shiftwork. However, the lower classes parents may give lesser value and importance to education as they couldn’t themselves succeed in education. This value is transmitted to their children and therefore affects their achievement at school.

(b) Parent’s level of education
Parents of middle class have higher levels of education as compared to working class and lower classes. This factor enable them to get more involved in their children’s education, help them in their homework, revision for e4xams, choice of careers. They know what books to buy and what games to play. This could help the child from a middles class to move in a guided direction throughout his/her schooling.
(c) Language: Restricted v/s Elaborated code
It is generally recognized that there are social class differences in speech patterns, which some sociologists have related to educational attainment. Berstein’s view is that middle class children possess an elaborated speech pattern while lower class children possess a restricted one. He argues that those children who use the elaborated code have better chances of success at school than those who use the restricted code.
The restricted code is a type of language used between friends and family members and is most common among working class. It is an informal, simple, everyday language, with limited explanation sometimes ungrammatical and limited in vocabulary.
The elaborated code is the language of strangers and individuals in some formal context, where explanation and details are required. It is has much wider vocabulary than the restricted code.
According to Bernstein, the language used at school is the elaborated code, used by the middle class. Thus, the middle class child has an advantage over the working class child, as they use this type of language at home. It is easier for them to understand the lessons than for the working class children who use the restricted code.

(d) Culture clash it is believed that the home culture of the middle class is similar to that of the school.
Importance is given to education, working har and sacrifices for future rewards and good manners and disciplines. As a contrast, for children from the working classes this might represent a culture class as they bring in a different culture to school. Their values and home atmosphere is different from that of the middle classes and the school. This cultue clash may partly explain wotking class underachievement. Moreover, teachers usually come from middles class and it is easier for children of the middle class to relate to them.
(e) Cultural capital theory
Associated with cultural deprivation is the Cultural Capital Theory of Bourdieu (1984) whereby he viewed that that working class failure is seen as the fault of the pupil themselves. They have a different lifestyle. They are in conflict with the school knowledge, which is the knowledge of the dominant class.
1.2.2 Inside school factors
So far, we have looked at the material and cultural explanations to explain the relationship between social class and underachievement. However, there is also a wide range of factors present in the school itself which can slso account for the low performance of working class children at school. These factor are teachers’ attitudes, streaming, labeling and self-fulfilling prophecy.

1.2.2.1 Teachers attitude
Sociologists argue that given that teachers come from middle classes, they cangive more attention to pupils having the same social background and who share the same values and attitudes. This is likely to affect the performance of pupils as the child from the lower class will not be given individual attention, support and encouragement.
1.2.2.2 Streaming
Streaming is a system used in schools to separate pupils into different groups according to their predicted ability. Teachers and schools are more likely to think that working class children are less intelligent and thus place them in lower stream.
1.2.2.3 Labeling & self fulfilling prophecy
It is viewed that the relationship between teachers and students has an impact on performance.
According to a study conducted by Becker (1996), teachers seem to take into consideration things like standards of behaviour, dress, speech and types of home children come from and the social class of children. It was viewed that teachers had a better relationship with pupils of middle class and upper class. Research has shown that teachers expectation, streaming and labeling him or her as bright or slow can make that a child becomes a success or failure.
Given that the teacher comes from the middle class, he/she has higher expectations from the middle class pupils and thus label him as such. Likewise, those in lower streams are viewed as lazy, troublemakers and failures by reachers. Such labeling can affect a child’s view of himself/herself and the child may well come to believe in this label applied to him. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This labeling process follows a pattern. Children who are neat and tidy, conscientious and polite are much more likely likely to be labeled by teachers as ‘clever, whether they are or not.

Awkward, untidy and less polite ones are far less likely to gain the teachers approval. But there is one more level to this. Those awkward students are more likely to come from poorer backgrounds and belonging to the lower class.