Topic 2: Class - Factors inside the education system

Question 1

What is believed about in-school factors?

Answer 1

That the way the school is organised and how students are treated can affect differences in attainment.

Question 2

What do Perry and Francis (2010) claim about Govts and Ofsted?

Answer 2

A lot of emphasis has been placed on improving “failing schools”.
- Well-organised schools who motivate students can make all the difference.

Question 3

What do interactionists examine?

Answer 3

How pupils and teachers react to one another.

Question 4

Does the reaction of the teacher hold power?

Answer 4

Yes, the way the teacher sees a student can impact the student’s self-concept.

Question 5

What do interactionists claim teachers do?

Answer 5

They label students and actually treat pupils differently due to the labels they assign to them.

Question 6

How do Hargreaves, Hester, and Mellor (1975) suggest that labelling has a negative impact?

Answer 6

The way students act or appear can lead to them being labelled as "good" or "bad".
Working class students = Bad.
Middle class students = Good.

Question 7

After teachers have labelled students, how do teachers interpret the student’s behaviour?

Answer 7

Well, a teacher will label a students as good or bad and will then interpret any kind of behaviour in terms of the label.

Question 8

What do Hargreaves, Hester, and Mellor (1975) say about how students reacted to labelling?

Answer 8

They will live up to the label and act in the way predicted.

This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 9

How does class affect labelling by teachers?

Answer 9

Middle class pupils fit the ideal pupil stereotype whereas working class pupils are seen as lazy or deviant.

Question 10

Why might working class kids be labelled negatively because of their attitudes and appearance?

Answer 10

Because they do not have the correct cultural capital that the education system favours - middle class students do.
This is a marxist theory by Bourdieu.

Question 11

Labelling can lead to what in terms of setting and streaming?

Answer 11

They usually occupy the lower sets and are seen as less able or disruptive.

Question 12

What was the experiment of Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)?

Answer 12

They gave teachers the inverted IQ of pupils.
The teachers expected the higher IQ (actually had lower IQ) students to do better. Hence they received more encouragement.
The students that were believed to have higher IQs made more progress.

Question 13

What does Rosenthal and Jacobson’s experiment reveal about teacher expectations?

Answer 13

It reveals that the way students are viewed by teachers can massively impact how well they do. Again, it is an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
One feels more capable if the teacher has more confidence in one.

Question 14

What did Harvey and Slatin (1976) demonstrate surrounding how teachers label students?

Answer 14

Teachers were given photos of students from different classes.
Pupils from higher classes were expected to do better merely on appearance - lower class students at a massive disadvantage.

Question 15

How might one criticise the work of Rosenthal and Jacobson, and Harvey and Slatin?

Answer 15

Well, their work was conducted in the 1960s and 1970s.
Those prejudiced views of teachers may no longer be relevant now - lower set students may receive more encouragement than previously.

Question 16

What did Stephen Ball (1981) note about setting and streaming?

Answer 16

Despite having similar measured ability from primary school, lower class students were more likely to be placed in lower bands.

Question 17

What does Ball’s research show and what Marxist idea does it support?

Answer 17

That even when academically capable, the working class are still labelled negatively.
Supports the idea of the myth of meritocracy.

Question 18

What did research by Ireson and Hallam (2009) reveal about the self concept of certain students.

Answer 18

Those in higher sets were more likely to have a more positive self-concept.
Thus, more likely to think of staying on in education as a positive thing.

Question 19

What is a criticism regarding the knowledge one can acquire and its relation with streaming?

Answer 19

Those in lower sets are denied the chance to learn knowledge that could make further educational success possible.

Question 20

What did Neil Keddie (1971) observe with regards to knowledge and streaming?

Answer 20

Teachers simplified the content in lower streams, whereas higher streams were taught in more abstract concepts - they gained a greater opportunity to develop a full understanding.
Further, the questions of those in lower sets were often ignored.

Question 21

How does setting and streaming reinforce social inequalities? Give reference to Gillborn and Youdell (1999).

Answer 21

Working class and black students were more likely to be placed in lower sets despite gaining similar results as middle class white kids.
When in the lower sets, they were unable to achieve higher than a C - harder to progress into further educational courses.

Question 22

How does David Hargreaves (1967) connect streaming and subcultures?

Answer 22

Labelled “troublemakers” in lower sets often rebelled against school norms.
They developed a non-conformist subculture whereby getting into trouble was valuable, and doing homework was frowned upon.

Question 23

What did Paul Willis (1977) argue about subcultures that clashes with Hargreaves?

Answer 23

As a Neo-Marxist, he believed that these subcultures were formed based on class grounds - streaming and labelling did not matter.
They saw manual work as proper, rejecting middle class "pen pushing". Thus, their position in the class structure influenced their views on schooling, not how teachers treated them.

Question 24

Summarise Mac an Ghaill’s (1994) research on how different sets affect attitudes.

Answer 24

The wc boys in the lower sets were hostile to school, showing it little interest.
Those in the middle sets had positive attitudes but saw the vocational route as a way to success.
The wc boys in the top set aimed to progress further in academia.

Question 25

What is a criticism of the interactionist research into internal factors?

Answer 25

They downplay factors outside of the school, not explaining where stereotypes or class inequalities come from.
Eg, Stereotypes can arise as wc pupils don't have access to successful schools.

Question 26

What is a criticism of labelling theory?

Answer 26

It is deterministic.

Does not recognise that not all pupils live up to teacher labelling.

Question 27

How does Margaret Fuller (1984) refute labelling theory’s determinism?

Answer 27

Group of black working class girls were labelled as failures but responded by working harder.
They rebelled against the low teacher expectations.

Question 28

How might feminists criticise the research given?

Answer 28

Majority of studies have focused on male peer groups.
Less useful in understanding female groups.
“Malestream”.