Action Theory + Education

Question 1

what are the 2 Ps and the R that action believe occurs within schools?

Answer 1

• Processes
• Procedures
• Responses

Question 2

what are action theorists interested in about education?

Answer 2

they are interested in the day-to-day interactions that take place within the education system between groups and how we react to it (positive/negative)

Question 3

what interactions occur in education?

Answer 3

• peer interactions with each other

- teach and pupil interactions

Question 4

what is the first educational theory?

Answer 4

LABELLING THEORY (a process)

Question 5

according to BECKER what is a label?

Answer 5

making a judgement/assumption based on stereotypes (from generalisations), and attaching a label to them

Question 6

what is the response to the labelling theory

Answer 6

SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY

Question 7

what are the 3 steps for self-fulfilling prophecy to be achieved?

Answer 7

1- Person is labelled, label is attached/treated accordingly
2-Person believes, person accepts label + internalises it
3-Person become, judgement becomes part of self image, with prediction being fulfilled (self-fulfilling prophecy)

Question 8

who presented evidence for this prophecy?

Answer 8

ROSENTHAL + JACOBSON

Question 9

give detail on the rosenthal and jacobson study?

Answer 9

• ‘late-bloomer’ label on 20% of students

- treatment= warm climate, input(taught more), response opportunity, differentiated feedback, helped if wrong

Question 10

what was RAY RIST’s study?

Answer 10

• primary school, teacher’s labelling on 4/5 yo
• bad students kept at arms length, ‘don’t want them near me, too disruptive.’
• labels based on parental income + postcode
• students labelled as ‘tigers’ + ‘clowns’

Question 11

what were the two things that becker found about labelling?

Answer 11

• halo effect

- ideal pupil

Question 12

what is the halo effect?

Answer 12

teachers see some pupils like an angel, they’re perfect and don’t do anything wrong
-effects way that teachers treat students

Question 13

what is the ideal pupil?

Answer 13

the student that teachers want, seen as perfect, with characteristics (eg- organised, hard-worker, smart.) they want to see

Question 14

what was the evidence for the halo effect/ideal pupil?

Answer 14

-becker’s 60 teachers unstructured interview

Question 15

what did becker find in the interview?

Answer 15

• teachers perceived those who were well behaved, polite, well-mannered, as ‘bright and more able.’
• these students couldn’t do anything wrong, they are given halo effect, becoming ideal pupil.

Question 16

what is the argument against the interview findings

Answer 16

teachers views based on early impressions of class, gender + ethnicity, not ability?

Question 17

what are the 3 arguments against the action theorist view on these processes?

Answer 17

• too deterministic, they say we have free-will, but internalising/becoming label is deterministic.
• extent of free will is exaggerated.
• MARY FULLER, black girls seen as less intelligent so made their own Saturday school and ended up doing highly in GCSEs.(self-refuting prophecy)

Question 18

what happens when students are sorted into ability groups?

Answer 18

students are allocated to ability groups due to given labels.
-this shapes what/how they are taught + the examinations they take

Question 19

what are sets?

Answer 19

ability group based on individual subjects, so there can be different sets based on ability in each specific subject.

Question 20

what are streams?

Answer 20

one overall grouping for all subjects, same grouping.

Question 21

what are the effects of setting or streaming?

Answer 21

• learning environments (top v bottom)

- labelling is used to place people in sets, labels to do with set person is in

Question 22

what are the consequences of setting and streaming?

Answer 22

• lower sets don’t get as many opportunities and miss out on college/uni places, due to exams and not getting taught what they need to.
• lower sets achieve lower grades which can impact their future, while top sets achieve higher due to more opportunities/academic help.

Question 23

what is the Education Triage, according to GILLBORN + YOUDELL?

Answer 23

a way of categorising students into 3 sections based on their grades and who need help

Question 24

what are the three sections in the education triage?

Answer 24

• safe
• borderline
• failures

Question 25

what is the impact of the education triage?

Answer 25

an A*-C economy is created, leading to cream skimming

Question 26

what did GILLBORN say about the education triage, about schools?

Answer 26

‘a school now lives or dies by it’s results.’

Question 27

what are the two arguments against the education triage?

Answer 27

• too deterministic, students have free will and mobility to move sets, after working hard (low-high)
• ability grouping can be beneficial, people have different abilities, learn differently and at different speeds.

Question 28

what is an example of a response to education?

Answer 28

pupil subcultures

Question 29

what is a pro-school subculture?

Answer 29

where pupils respect and value the school and educational values

Question 30

what is an anti-school subculture?

Answer 30

where pupils don’t respect the school/educational values and create their own values and rules that they follow.

Question 31

what would you expect from pro-school students?

Answer 31

• punctual/on-time
• hard-working, high achievers
• positive labels

Question 32

what would expect to see from anti-school students?

Answer 32

• lateness, anti-authority/truantcy
• badly behaved, lower sets, lower achievement
• negative labels

Question 33

what did Tony Sewell find out?

Answer 33

• studied African-Carribbean boys in all boys school (age 11-16)
• pro-school= conformists, valued school, worked hard, achieved educational success
• anti-school= rebels, rejected school, no values for qualifications, believed racism in society would stop them from getting decent jobs in future anyway
• many families did not have a father figure as a role model/for discipline, so the boys were more prone to peer pressure into anti-school subcultures.

Question 34

what did Lacey find out?

Answer 34

• study on middle-class grammer school
• differentiation= sorting into ability groups
• lead to polarisation= 2 opposite poles (high/low)
• teachers treated pupils based on poles, so students acted based on teacher interactions and labels

Question 35

what did MacanGail find out?

Answer 35

• year 11 boys, 2 groups
• Macho Lads= low sets, low status, underachieved so moved on to vocational courses/work
• Academic Achievers= higher sets, high status, overachieved so moved onto higher education

Question 36

what did Willis find out?

Answer 36

• 12 working class boys (the Lads)
• mirrored behaviour of future employment
• anti-school, messed around, lacked respect
• bullied pro-school, calling them earoles

Question 37

what were the creation of these anti-school subcultures found in the sociologists findings created as a response to?

Answer 37

they were created as a response to labelling, as well as setting and streaming, which all shape behaviours.

Question 38

what did each individual in these groups receive from their peers?

Answer 38

a sense of belonging and unity

-anti-school= they may not receive this at home, so joining the group helps them.