Class barriers : constraints working class pupils face in the primary classroom

Abstract

Working class pupils in a Maltese Primary State School have to cope with various obstacles they face due to their social standing. The language the pupils are likely to use at home is one which is often communicated by non-verbal means. Since schools are often associated with the transmission of a middle class culture, working class pupils have to reject this language in order not to be punished. The working class pupil's language that often employs a concrete, descriptive and visual symbolism does not fit within a pedagogy where there is formal teacher talk manifested through iconic and symbolic modes of learning that lead to boredom and routine. Given a context of a middle class teacher teaching working class pupils, there arises a situation where there is culture incommensurability. The pupils' actions and attitudes are interpreted by the teacher as vulgar. If these attitudes do not fit within the established framework, pupils are often victims of symbolic violence. Streaming and gender differentiation support wider social and economic inequalities and further differentiate between working class pupils: those who are referred to as failures and those who succeed to assimilate in the school's structures and thus have the possibility of social mobility.