In recent years, my reading list has been enriched by a variety of exceptional books exploring teaching and learning, authored by individuals across the field, ranging from psychologists like Daniel T Willingham to teachers turned consultants and bloggers like Tom Sherrington and Kate Jones.
These authors draw heavily from cognitive science and advocate for an evidence-based approach to pedagogy.
Similarly, I have learned a great deal from attending conferences such as ResearchED and webinars on research-informed education from organisations such as the Chartered College of Teaching, which have predominantly focused on evidence from cognitive psychology.
Beyond cognitive science
However, pedagogy extends beyond teaching techniques to encompass broader aspects of personal and societal transformation. According to Smith (2012), it involves not only knowledge acquisition but also profound societal change.
This broader perspective prompts us to examine the goals and purposes of our teaching, reflecting on educational philosophies, societal structures, and the ultimate objectives we aim to fulfil.
While I appreciate the focus on cognitive science outlined above, as a sociology teacher I believe our practice could benefit from insights from sociology alongside psychology. Incorporating empirical data from the wider social sciences could make "evidence-informed practice" more comprehensive and holistic.
The sociological imagination
In addition to adopting “evidence-informed” teaching techniques, teachers can significantly enhance their understanding of wider pedagogical issues by embracing the so-called "sociological imagination".
A phrase coined by C Wright Mills in 1959, this concept encouraged sociologists to explore and better understand the connections between an individual’s personal situation and the broader social and historical contexts in which they live.
Although Mills uses the word “imagination”, he is essentially advocating a conceptual framework for understanding social reality, which is underpinned by both qualitative and quantitative research (he was concerned that the latter often eclipsed the former).
As teachers, we can also adopt this framework and repurpose it with the aim of improving students’ outcomes. For instance, by comparing students' demographic, or socio-economic and socio-cultural, contexts with sociological research and historical trends, teachers can gain valuable insights into the societal forces shaping students' lives.
This bridging of personal narratives with wider social contexts can foster empathy and understanding and allows us to design instructional strategies that resonate with learners' realities and aspirations.
Therefore, by investigating research on social interaction, identity formation, structural inequalities and knowledge production, teachers can enrich the learning experience by creating dynamic, innovative, and inclusive classrooms (Trowler, 2005; Halasz & Kaufman, 2008).
Sociological concepts worth considering
So, how can sociological research inform our day-to-day classroom practice? How can it make us more aware of and subsequently more responsive to our students' needs?
Below are some basic sociological concepts that can help us make sense of the wider issues affecting our students in school. While I do not outline specific strategies to address them, they are – nonetheless – well established sociological terms that I feel we should be aware of when planning, teaching, and interacting with students and parents.
Cultural capital: From Cultural Capital Theory, Bourdieu and Passeron’s (1990) initial use of “cultural capital” suggested middle class students hold an inherent advantage over working class students due to the former group's alignment with the dominant school culture. Schools can, therefore, seem hostile and alien to some students from lower socio-economic groups. For a wider discussion on this, see Sullivan (2008).
Cultural deprivation: Unlike Cultural Capital Theory, cultural deprivation looks at what is missing in terms of disadvantaged students’ norms, values, knowledge, and skills as opposed to the implicit denigration of working class norms and values. Interesting studies on cultural deprivation in UK schools include Feinstein et al (2008) and Callanan et al (2016).
Deferred and immediate gratification: This suggests that many students, particularly those from non-academic backgrounds, value immediate gratification or rewards over the deferred reward of academic success. Whereas sociologists have linked immediate gratification to social class (Sugarman, 1967), recent studies have applied this concept to social media (Panek, 2014).
Ethno-centric curriculum: Refers to a curriculum that is dominated by one culture at the expense of others. In schools with diverse demographics, empirical evidence tends to suggest that students perform better when the curriculum is inclusive and worse when it is not (Alexander et al, 2015).
Feminisation of education/crisis of masculinity: This suggests that the prevalence of female teachers, particularly at primary level, can negatively impact boys’ attainment (Skelton, 2002). For instance, girls now outperform boys by 3% on average at GCSE. This might seem a somewhat “woke” point to make, but Tony Sewell – a right wing sociologist popular with current government ministers – concurs (Smith, 2006). It is made worse by a decrease in industrial employment in the UK, which impacts traditional vocational routes in education and boys in particular (Mac an Ghaill, 1996).
Gender and subject choice: Despite girls outperforming boys in terms of attainment, research shows that gender still has some bearing on subject choice. For example, boys are still more likely to dominate physics and maths and girls the social sciences. Importantly, research has demonstrated how socialisation at primary level affects and influences these choices and that they are often reinforced by teachers and peers at secondary level (Raabe et al, 2019).
Labelling: Involves assessing individuals based on superficial traits like social class, gender, and ethnicity. Studies have shown that labelling can affect self-worth and attainment (Hargreaves et al, 1975). More recent studies have also considered the labelling of students in relation to race, gender, and socio-economics, as well as special education needs (Cruz & Firestone, 2022).
Material deprivation: This is perhaps obvious, but sociologists have done a substantial amount of research on how socio-economic deprivation has an impact on attainment. Issues include cramped home environments, which affect homework, as well as how poor diet and nutrition correlate to school absences (Parsons, 2016). Other associated concepts for us to consider include the “hidden costs of education”, which may include the inability to afford equipment, uniform or go on trips (Treanor, 2018).
Restricted and elaborated speech codes: According to Bernstein (1971), the restricted code consists of a limited vocabulary and is largely informal. The elaborated code, on the other hand, has a wider vocabulary as well as more complex and formal sentence structures. Bernstein's point, of course, was that this gives an advantage to students from a more middle class background or those with better educated parents. Bernstein's ideas are clearly important to our practice and can be seen in the work of Quigley (2018).
Polarisation: Various studies have shown how streaming and setting can lead students in top or bottom sets to become “pro” or “anti-school”. In some cases, these can lead to the creation of pro and anti-school subcultures and exacerbate some of the issues discussed above in terms of labelling and immediate gratification (Lacey, 1971; Boaler et al, 2000).
Final thoughts
The multifaceted nature of our students' educational development encompasses various factors, many of which extend beyond the confines of the school and into society. Sociological research provides a treasure trove of knowledge that could aid teachers and educational leaders in helping students unlock their full potential, whether by addressing issues of material, cultural, and linguistic deprivation, exploring concepts of cultural capital and subcultures, or delving into other relevant societal influences.
- Andrew Jones is assistant headteacher at The Reach Free School in Hertfordshire. Follow him on X @abowdenj and find his previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/andrew-jones
Further information & resources
- Alexander, Weekes Bernard & Arday (eds): The Runnymede school report: Race, education and inequality in contemporary Britain, Runnymede Trust, 2015: www.runnymedetrust.org/publications/the-school-report
- Bernstein: Class, codes and control: Theoretical studies towards a sociology of language, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971.
- Boaler et al: Students' experiences of ability grouping – disaffection, polarisation and the construction of failure, British Educational Research Journal (26), 2000.
- Bourdieu & Passeron: Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture, Sage, 1990.
- Callanan et al: The value of after school clubs for disadvantaged children, Briefing paper 3, NatCen Social Research, 2016: www.nuffieldfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/resbr3-final.pdf
- Cruz & Firestone: Understanding the empty backpack: The role of timing in disproportionate special education identification, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity (8,1), 2022.
- Feinstein et al: Education and the Family: Passing success across the generations, Routledge, 2008.
- Halasz & Kaufman: Sociology as pedagogy: How ideas from the discipline can inform teaching and learning, Teaching Sociology (36), 2008.
- Hargreaves et al: Deviance in Classrooms, Routledge, 1975.
- Lacey: Hightown Grammar: The school as a social system, 1971.
- Mac an Ghaill: What about the boys?: Schooling, class and crisis masculinity, The Sociological Review (44,3), 1996: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1996.tb00429.x
- Mills: The sociological imagination, OUP, 1959.
- Panek: Left to their own devices: College students’ “guilty pleasure” media use and time management, Communication Research (41,4), 2014.
- Parsons: Ethnicity, gender, deprivation and low educational attainment in England: Political arithmetic, ideological stances and the deficient society, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice (11,2), 2016: https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197916648282
- Quigley: Closing the Vocabulary Gap, Routledge, 2018.
- Raabe et al: The social pipeline: How friend influence and peer exposure widen the stem gender gap, Sociology of Education (92,2), 2019.
- Skelton: The 'feminisation of schooling' or 're-masculinising' primary education? International Studies in Sociology of Education (12,1), 2002.
- Smith: Feminised curriculum 'has thrown boys out with bathwater’, The Guardian, 2006: https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2006/jun/13/schools.uk3
- Smith: What is pedagogy? The Encyclopedia of Informal Education, 2012: https://infed.org/mobi/what-is-pedagogy/
- Sugarman: Involvement in youth culture, academic achievement and conformity in school: An empirical study of London schoolboys, The British Journal of Sociology (18), 1967.
- Sullivan: Cultural capital, cultural knowledge and ability, Sociological Research Online (12,6), 2008: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.1596
- Treanor: Falling through the cracks: The cost of the school day for families living in in-work and out-of-work poverty, Scottish Affairs (27, 4), 2018.
- Trowler: A sociology of teaching, learning and enhancement: Improving practices in higher education, Papers: Revista de Sociologia (75), 2005.