Internal Factors Affecting Education Flashcards
What was Becker’s labelling theory?
AO1
- Pupils are constantly being assessed and consequently are labelled and placed into particular classes based on the label they have been given
- Labels can be positive or negative
- Positive labels: e.g. ‘smart’ children are put in top sets, given best opportunities, special treatment. Student starts to believe they are smart leading to halo effect
- Negative labels: ‘dumb’ students are put in lower set, entered for lower tiers. Student starts to believe they are dumb/ lose confidence. Less motivated to work hard - get bad grades. Pupils and friends in same position reject school values leading to an anti-school subculture
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
AO1
When teacher expectations are translated into actual outcomes. The student lives out the predictions of them - for the working class this means underachievement
How can we analyse Becker?
AO3
- Teachers may attach a positive/negative label to certain social groups - can be used to explain differences in educational achievement between different social groups
- This knowledge tells us if we start changing teacher perceptions of students, we can change results
How can we evaluate Becker?
AO3
- It is up to the student to decide if they accept or reject the label
- Willis not all students passively accept their label - some people choose to fail and actively reject school values
What was Hargreaves’ theory?
AO1
Used an overt participant observation and unstructured interviews.
Came to the conclusion that there are 3 steps of labelling:
1. Speculation: teacher generates predictions based on pupils characteristics to help formulate labels e.g. black students more likely to be labelled as troublemakers
2. Elaboration: teacher tests hypothesis of student and looks to see if it is confirmed or contradicted e.g. gives black student particular task to see if they get on with working or misbehave
3. Stabilisation: results from test solidify and now label is attached to student. The teacher will now feel like they know who the student is and what will make them misbehave. But this is more based on stereotype than evidence. Student may internalise their behaviour e.g. teacher know knows that black student will misbehave - may not allow them on school trips, change exam tiers, etc
What was Rosenthall and Jacobson’s study?
AO1
Pygmalion in the Classroom:
- studied Californian elementary school
- tested all children with an IQ test - told teachers 20% of the students had high IQs and were ‘spurters’ who would do well. These ‘spurters’ had been chosen at random.
- returned after a year and found that those who had been labelled as spurters had an IQ increase while the non-spurters had decreased
- they had become what they’d been labelled as - self-fulfulling prophecy
How can we analyse Rosenthall and Jacobson?
AO3
Doesn’t apply to contemporary Britain as students aren’t assessed by IQ but with SATs, GCSEs, ALevels, etc
How can we evaluate Rosenthall and Jacobson?
AO3
- Extraneous variables were not controlled - can’t be certain results were only affected by label
- Don’t consider other CAGE factors that might affect attainment
What were Gilborn and Youdell’s findings?
AO1
Teachers have racialised expectations:
Black students: discipline problems, behaviour seen as threatening
Asian students: mispronounced their own names, didn’t like their own culture/customs, teachers saw them as a problem they can ignore
What is and are the pros and cons of setting and streaming?
(Setting and streaming are different but have the same pros/cons)
AO1/3
Setting = pupils put into different ability grouping for different subjects e.g. Set 1 Maths but Set 3 English
Streaming = pupils put into ability groups for all subjects e.g. upper, middle, lower
Advantages: social benefits - encourages relations between people from different backgrounds, ability is not fixed - students can move up or down, different abilities will take different exams - some exams aren’t accessible to certain abilities
Disadvantages: lower set students are demotivated leading to lower attainment, behaviour not ability - evidence that pupils with high ability are put into lower sets for poor behaviour, setting discriminates - working class and minority students are more likely to be put in lower sets
What is and are the pros and cons of mixed ability?
AO1/3
Mixed ability = pupils are put into different groups within the same classroom randomly
Advantages: reduces chances of bullying - kids don’t know the differences in ability to mock anyone as ‘smart’ or ‘dumb’, social benefits
Disadvantages: C-D borderline students are prioritised, requires more work to prepare for all abilities e.g. extension for high ability and scaffolding for low ability, confidence issues - lower ability students may feel intimidated to participate in lesson due to performance of higher kids
What is and are the pros and cons of banding?
AO1/3
Banding = students are put into different groups within the same classroom based on ability e.g. table groups in primary school
Disadvantages: can lead to labelling within the classroom, bullying
What is Mac An Ghail’s view of setting a streaming?
AO1
Critical view:
- Students who should be teachers main concerns end up being in the bottom sets
- Students in top sets are given priority in classrooms with specialist teachers
- Most experienced teachers teach top sets
- Teachers respect and have high expectations of those in top sets - motivate them to do well
How does Ward evaluate Mac an Ghail?(setting and streaming)
AO3
Ward supports Mac an Ghail as he found the same results in South Wales schools:
1. Bottom sets were seen as unlikely to have success and of low ability
2. They were provided with less experienced teachers
3. Information was taught according to their assumed level - no room to grow
How can we analyse Mac An Ghail’s view of setting?
AO3
The current alternative, mixed ability, is very difficult for teachers to carry out and allows less motivated students to distract higher motivated students.
Setting based on motivation is better.
What did Hallam and Hurley find about setting?
AO1
They looked at the possible effects of setting and streaming studing 45 mixed comprehensive schools that were either: mixed ability, partially set, or set.
They found that:
- average grade of mixed ability and set schools were the same
- this is because in mixed ability schools most people do averagely
- in set schools the people in top sets do exceptionally well whereas the bottom sets underperform causing the overall average to be similar to mixed ability schools
What did Garmaron find about the impacts of setting and streaming?
AO1
Garmaron did a survey in the UK, USA, Germany, South Africa, Belgium, and Japan. Found that:
1. Those in high sets gain whereas those in low sets lose
2. Gains of high achievers offset the losses of low achievers
3. The gap between higher achievers and lower achievers widen
4. Middle class students tend to be in top sets whilst working class tend to be in lower sets. This reproduces class inequality as the social gap widens
What did Garmoran see as the solution?
AO1
- Academic standards in lower sets need to be raised including entry to higher education and access to jobs
- Mixed ability classes should be specially designed so that supplementary instructions can be available for those who have difficulty
