The code for success? Using a Bernsteinian perspective on sociolinguistics to accentuate working-class students’ underachievement in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

Educational disadvantage has been a long-standing issue in Ireland, and since the 2006/07 academic year, schools recognised as serving disadvantaged areas receive DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) status and subsequent additional funding, resources, and staffing allocations. Studies on DEIS schools usually report the traditional challenges associated with the lower classes when identifying problems schools face: unemployment in the community, a lack of parental interest, involvement and support, absenteeism, behavioural and emotional difficulties, dysfunction among students’ families, etc. while the theme of sociolinguistics and the linguistic repertoire of working class students receives little to no attention. Drawing on Basil Bernstein’s theory of code, this paper outlines the discontinuities that exist between the language of working-class children and the language of the school as a formal institution, which is a salient issue in the context of the Irish education system as it is particularly focused around strong linguistic skills at the expense of other forms of intelligence. This paper therefore highlights the role sociolinguistics play in hindering the academic attainment of working-class students in Irish schools, and explains why this theme has not traditionally surfaced as a detrimental factor in Irish education.

Validating school-based measures of educational disadvantage in Ireland

“…For example, Kellaghan (2001) uses Bourdieu's concepts to provide a definition of educational disadvantage that expands on that used in Irish legislation, suggesting that the official definition exhibits a number of inadequacies including a failure to recognize the importance of cultural capital. Skerritt (2017) draws on Bernstein's work in order to examine achievement levels of working-class students, outlining discontinuities between the language of working-class children and the language of the school.…”

‘I think Irish schools need to keep doing what they’re doing’: Irish teachers’ views on school autonomy after working in English academies

“…The Leaving Certificate is often criticised for the reliance on memory recall over higher-order thinking skills in the assessment process (Burns, Devitt, McNamara, O'Hara, and Brown, 2018) and for having a backwash effect on teaching and learning. Indeed, in this sense, the Irish school system can be particularly challenging for students in DEIS schools and from working-class backgrounds (see Skerritt, 2017). Similarly, the dominance of rote learning at Junior Cycle (where Irish students, typically aged 15, sit Ireland's equivalent of England's General Certificate of Secondary Education) in preparation for terminal examinations can have a particularly adverse impact on students from disadvantaged backgrounds (Murchan, 2018).…”