Examining Inequalities in Disadvantaged Schools

This article examines the inequalities practiced in disadvantaged schools and highlights the need for a culturally appropriate environment for students. It discusses the role of the schooling system in perpetuating stereotypes and calls for a change in mindset and actions.

Annotated bibliography
Thomson, P. (2003). Schooling the rustbelt kids. British Journal of Educational Studies.
This book aims at examining the secondary and primary schools situated in
disadvantaged areas in order to highlight the inequalities practiced in these schools. One
of the main reasons for writing this book is to establish the point that disadvantaged
schools do not show any effective results in giving a culturally appropriate environment
to its students.
The first chapter in this book starts with the realization that the only way to improve the
condition of a poor child is to hand over them to rich parents. This highlights the fact that
the existing educational policies have been proving to be ineffective to improve the
overall life standard and especially educational atmosphere for the poor students
belonging from disadvantaged schools in Rustbelt cities. The first chapter talks about two
imaginary students namely Vicky and Thanh who come from different cultural
backgrounds but are of same age. It has been said that both the child have different set of
knowledge, experiences and narratives when they step into their first day at school.
The author thinks that the schooling has a vital role to play in deciding what kind of
education these students are expected to experience from their schools. Actually, the
author criticizes the role of the schooling system that stereotypes the children based on
their socio economic and cultural backgrounds and think that students belonging from
working class cannot succeed as much as the children belonging from higher socio
economic backgrounds. Thus, no social policy can be helpful for improving the situation
of the poor children unless the mindset and the actions of the schooling system change its
typical assumptions. So, the author sides with the fact that policies need to focus on how
to train the teachers or others related to the schooling system so that they can equalize the
education of every student regardless of what cultural background they come from.
The chapter is highly relevant for understanding the topic of the study. This is so because
the chapter in the above mentioned book helps in giving an alternative approach to the
existing educational policies by giving more importance to policies that involve school
programs. Thus, the issue of inequality has been highlighted and has been supported by

many opinions opined by other researchers. One weakness that this chapter poses is that
the conclusions are based on imaginary students and thus it would be more impactful if
real students would have been observed for the sake of establishing the point that
schooling system effects the development of the children highly.
Thomas, N. (2011). Children's rights: policy into practice. Centre for Children and Young
People: Background Briefing Series, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW,
Australia.
This particular article aims at discussing the policies and practices regarding children’s
rights and how they work in real life. For that reason, firstly, the concept of human rights
and children’s rights has been explained. Additionally, the historical development in the
area of children’s rights has been discussed. Specifically, the principles and importance
of UNCRC have been illuminated in order to see how this policy helps in implementing
children’s rights. Mainly the evolution of policies regarding children’s rights in the 20th
century has been focused on.
On the other hand, many global initiatives regarding human rights have been mentioned
so that the recent global understanding of children’s rights can be understood. Apart from
that, the UNCRC has been discussed in order to see how local authorities and the society
have been affecting the implementation process of this policy for being forbearers of
cultural differences.
The relevance of this work lies in the fact that this work clearly point out the significance
of the policies that intend to establish children’s rights in the society. Thus, it has been
claimed that policy changes can be helpful in giving a culturally appropriate atmosphere
for each and every child in a society. Thus, social workers at any corner of the world can
be benefitted by this work and the methods mentioned in the work to improve the
existing children’s right related policies. However, this article does not provide any
psychological effect that children face if they do not get proper nurturing as a result of the
breaching of children’s rights globally.

Chapman, R. (2016). A case study of gendered play in preschools: how early childhood
educators’ perceptions of gender influence children's play. Early Child Development and
Care, 186(8), 1271-1284.
This particular article gives an unusual and experimental perspective on how culture and
societal norms construct the psyche of human beings. So, the article aims at investigating
the hidden gendered narratives in the mindset of preschool teachers that affect their
perspectives of seeing a child. For that reason, the article explores the area of children’s
play in a setting of preschool where the educators show stereotypical believes by
differentiating roles of children in the play based on the gender they belong to.
The work is based on primary data where behavioral patterns of these educators have
been observed during the time of spontaneous children’s play in the preschool. A feminist
approach has been implemented in this research for upholding the fact that personal
believes regarding gender differences do affect the cultural environment of a school
where the children go for study.
So, the whole research has been focused on two observations that have been done in two
different school settings. Finally, it has been concluded that gender stereotypes effect
how the children get affected from their childhood for belonging from different genders.
The relevance of this study lies in the fact that cultural differences have a vital role to
play in the lives of the children.
However, only one specific area of cultural difference has been investigated in this study
that is the gendered differences. So, the importance of this article becomes limited while
it is about using the findings of this article in the study. Moreover, the use of primary data
has been very helpful in understanding the real situation regarding cultural differences
that have been affecting the schooling process of children.