differential education achievement: class (internal factors)

Question 1

middle class

Answer 1

occupations that are mostly white collar and professional jobs, highly educated

Question 2

working class

Answer 2

mostly blue collar and manual jobs.
low educational achievement

Question 3

internal factors

Answer 3

factors inside of the school which influence educational achievement

Question 4

educational triage

Answer 4

putting students into 3 streams.
M/C in top streams, C/D boarder line, W/C in lower streams

Question 5

A-C economy

Answer 5

schools are judged based on the number of students who achieve A-C grades of GCSE

Question 6

Labelling

Answer 6

labelling theory suggests teachers often attach a label to a pupil that has little to do with their actual ability or aptitude.
instead they create an opinion of the student based on how close the student fit the ideal pupil.
Becker suggests teacher/ pupil interactions are based upon these labels and can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy where the students take on the label and act accordingly

Question 7

labelling impact on achievement

Answer 7

self fulfilling prophecy
rejection of the label - Fuller’s research on black girls in a london comprehensive school found that the black girls she researched were labelled as low-achievers, but their response to this negative labelling was to knuckle down and study hard to prove their teachers and the school wrong

Question 8

labelling evaluation

Answer 8

*deterministic
*focuses on the negative effects
*attributed too much importance to ‘teacher agency’
*structural sociologists might point out that schools themselves encourage teachers to label students

Question 9

self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 9

when students take on the label that is attributed to them by the teacher or school. this can either be a positive or negative label

Question 10

self fulfilling prophecy impact on achievement

Answer 10

*negative labels are usually placed on W/C students which can lead to students forming an anti-school subculture and underachieving at school
*positive labels usually applied to M/C students due to ideal pupil characteristics can lead to a pro-school subculture and help students achieve at school

Question 11

self fulfilling prophecy evaluation

Answer 11

*deterministic
*rejection of label - Fuller’s research on black girls in a london comprehensive school found that the black girls she researched were labelled as low-achievers, but their response to this is negative labelling was to knuckle down and study hard to prove the teachers and their school wrong

Question 12

setting/ streaming

Answer 12

*setting is the placement of students into ability classes within individual subjects
*streaming is the placement of students into ability groups going across all subjects

Question 13

setting/ streaming impact on achievement

Answer 13

*W/C students are usually placed in the lower streams/ sets which can lead to lower self esteem and therefore under achievement
*being placed in lower streams can also limit student achievement by not allowing them access to opportunities to achieve

Question 14

setting/ streaming evaluation

Answer 14

*allow for higher ability students to be stretched and lower ability students to be supported which can lead to higher achievement

Question 15

pupil subculture - anti-school subculture

Answer 15

*lower streams
*rejection of school values
*truanting
*disruption
*not doing homework

Question 16

pupil sub cultures- pro-school subcultures

Answer 16

*committed to school values
*gain approval/ status through academic success

Question 17

pupil subcultures impact on achievement

Answer 17

*W/C are more likely to be part of an anti-school subculture where by status is not achieved through educational achievement but through disruptive behaviour and therefore unlikely to achieve at school

Question 18

pupil sub cultures evaluation

Answer 18

*not all students become part of a pro or anti school subculture

Question 19

pupil’s class identity

Answer 19

*Habitus - learned or taken for granted ways of thinking, being or acting that are shared by a particular social class (Bourdieu)
*includes their tastes, outlook on life, expectations and what is normal or realistic for people ‘like us’

Question 20

pupils class identity impact on achievement

Answer 20

*M/C have power to set the habitus of the school giving M/C students an advantage
*W/C habitus is devalued by schools and W/C students felt that they had to change who they are in order to be academically successful
*W/C habitus sees HE as undesirable and unrealistic

Question 21

pupil’s class identity evaluation

Answer 21

*postmodernists argue that class doesn’t have as much of an impact on students identity anymore due to the pick and mix culture