Class Internal

Question 1

Interactionist Theories

Answer 1

Theories suggest WC are disadvantaged by education system with focus on interactions between students and teachers, students with institutions and students with peers. 5 internal factors affecting achievement.

Question 2

Labelling

Answer 2

attaching a meaning or definition to them, in this case teachers typically label students with either positive or negative connotations based on pre-existing stereotypes of what constitutes as a ‘ideal pupil’.
Becker - found M/C closest to ideal pupil and W/C furthest away based on 60 high school interviews
Hargreuves- certain students given imaginary halos from labelling and interactions based on the halo-Halo effect

Question 3

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 3

Stage 1- Teacher labels pupil and makes predictions on them
Stage 2-Teacher interacts with pupil based on label and predictions
Stage 3-Pupil internalises label and teachers expectations leading to the pupil becoming the label.

Question 4

Streaming

Answer 4

Gillborn and Yondell- due to pressure of league tables, schools ration time and resources into an educational triage, Pupils separated into 3 groups and either targeted for help or not.
A) Those who will pass anyway
B) Borderline C/D pupils who are targeted for help
C) Hopeless pupils who won’t pass
System is based on stereotypes -> WC are neglected as those deemed to lack ability are put in lower streams

Question 5

Pupil subcultures

Answer 5

A group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns. Often responded to the prior labelling and reacted to streaming

• Pro school subculture -pupils who commit to school values and gain status by academic success
• Anti-school subcultures -pupils placed in lower streams often W/C reject school values and gain status through peers

Question 6

Pupils class identities and the school -Habitus

Answer 6

Archer focused on interactions between W/C pupils & the school and how it produced underachievement.
-Bourdieu Main school habitus is M/C.
-M/C children socialised at home with M/C values gaining symbolic capital/status.
-W/C habitus devalued by the school ‘worthless and tasteless’.
-Bourdieu labels this as symbolic violence with defining W/C habitus as inferior
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Question 7

Pupils class identities and the school -Symbolic capital and symbolic violence

Answer 7

Symbolic violence reproduced class structure and keeps lower classes in their place

• W/C students find experiences unnatural and excluding
• Archer found that W/C pupils had to lose their own identities and become similar to M/C to be successful in school.

Question 8

Class identity and self exclusion

Answer 8

Despite class inequalities, many W/C people attend university however faced a barrier of self-exclusion

• Bourdieu claims W/C people think places like Oxbridge as not being suitable for the WC stemming from habitus
• This thinking leads WC to avoid certain elite universities
• Studies of Archer show education system devalues WC experiences thus forcing WC to conform to MC habitus/abandoning WC identities for success or maintain own identities.

Question 9

Relationship between internal and external factors

Answer 9

We must look at external and internal factors together since they are often interrelated.

• WC habitus and identities formed outside school (external)may conflict with schools M/C habitus (internal) -> symbolic violence
• W/C pupils using restricted speech code (external)may be labelled by teachers as less-able -> Self FP