2.3 relationships and processes within schools

Question 1

Hargreaves and Willis’ study

Answer 1

• subcultures can be pro-school or anti-school
• members have things in common, gain status, mutual support and a sense of belonging
• anti-school subcultures are predominantly found in bottom sets

Question 2

Louise Archer = University’s not for me, ‘I’m a Nike person’

Answer 2

• mixed methods(longitudinal interviews and group interviews)
• working class’ culture isn’t represented, they suffer symbolic violence

Question 3

Louise Archer = Pupil Identities (2008)

Answer 3

• ideal pupil = white, middle class, highly achieving
• pathologised pupil = Asian, lower class but deserving poor, conformists
• demonised pupil = black or white working class, seen as unintelligent, peer-led

Question 4

Peter Woods

Answer 4

• not just pro or anti, it is a wide variety

Question 5

What are the 8 sub-cultures that Woods identified?

Answer 5

1. ingratiation = eager to please teachers
2. compliance = rather neutral
3. opportunism = try to please teachers and win popularity
4. ritualism = not overly enthusiastic
5. retreatism = dont seek academic success
6. colonisation = hostile towards school
7. intransigence
8. rebellion

Question 6

Mirza (1992)

Answer 6

• 62 black girls, found that they had very +ve attitudes to school
• although many thought that some teachers were racist, they still valued their education

Question 7

Martin Mac an Ghail (1994) = a study of the relationship between schooling, class, masculinity and sexuality

Answer 7

• macho lads = hostile to school authority
• academic achievers = called effeminate and ridiculed
• new enterprisers = accepted new enterprise linked vocational subjects
• Real Englishmen = reject authority BUT achieve success by appearing not to care
• gay students = feel neglected

Question 8

Hollingworth and Williams:

Answer 8

• now a greater variation in middle class subcultures based on consumption e.g. skaters, emos, goths, hippies and poshies

Question 9

What is meant by labelling theory?

Answer 9

• labelling by teachers can contribute to the moulding of student identities and has been proven to effect educational performance and behaviour
• it can affect a child’s self-concept

Question 10

What is the halo effect?

Answer 10

• students are either labelled with a halo or an unfavourable halo

Question 11

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) = Pygmallion in the Classroom

Answer 11

• field experiment
• sample of 20% and told the teachers that those students could be expected to achieve rapid development
• the teachers passed on their high expectations which led to a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 12

Howard Becker

Answer 12

• semi-structures interviews, 60 teachers asking what their ideal pupil would be
• upper-middle class pupil best fit the description

Question 13

Harvey and Slatin (1976) = Social Class Laboratory Experiment

Answer 13

• 96 teachers shown 18 photos
• teachers were then asked to rate children on their performance, parental attitudes to education, aspirations and so on
• the results have shown that lower class students were rated less favourably

Question 14

Rist = Cardinals, Tigers and Clowns

Answer 14

• appearance can influence teacher labelling
• there were three tables:
  1. tigers = smart and engaged
  2. cardinals = appearance as expected
  3. clowns = scruffy and disengaged

Question 15

Gillborn and Youdell (2000)

Answer 15

• teachers had ‘racialised expectations which resulted in black students being negatively labelled as a threat
• black boys are more likely to be excluded or put in bottom set

Question 16

Waterhouse (2014)

Answer 16

pivotal identity
- teachers believe that some students are deviant and others are normal
- any behaviours that are different to the pivotal identity will be seen as temporary

Question 17

Wright (1992)

Answer 17

• Asian pupils received less attention from teachers from having been labelled as having poor language skills

Question 18

Fuller (1984)

Answer 18

• a group of black working class girls who were labelled as failures actually worked harder and rebelled against the low expectations of their teachers

Question 19

What is meant by banding?

Answer 19

schools try to ensure their intakes have a spread of pupils with different abilities

Question 20

What is meant by setting?

Answer 20

students are divided into different groups based on ability in particular subjects

Question 21

What is meant by streaming?

Answer 21

students are divided into groups of similar ability in which they stay for all subjects

Question 22

Stephen Ball (1981)

Answer 22

Beachside Comprehensive
- top stream students are ‘warmed up’ and are encouraged to achieve highly
- lower stream students are ‘cooled down’ and encouraged to follow lower status vocational courses

Question 23

Smyth et al

Answer 23

• students in lower stream classes have more negative attitudes to school, find the pace of teaching too slow and spend less time on homework

Question 24

Rutter (1979)

Answer 24

Fifteen Thousand Hours: Secondary Schools and their Effects on Children
- good schools can make a difference on life chances of all pupils; feature of the organisation make this difference, such as:
- teachers are well prepared for lessons, have high expectations, set examples of behaviour and encourage students to do well