internal factors for class based underachievement

Question 1

what does the inside school approach explain in terms of working class underachievement?

Answer 1

it explains differences in educational achievement in terms of social processes operating within schools

Question 2

briefly explain interactionalists (social action theorists) view of the inside school approach explaining working class underachievement

Answer 2

they claim that educational failure/success is determined by a hidden curriculum operating inside of schools

Question 3

the hidden curriculum provides the ‘culture’ of a school, give 3 examples of things this includes

Answer 3

-the way the school is organised (streaming, setting, mixed-ability teaching)
-relationships between pupils & pupils and teachers & pupils
-assemblies (moral and spiritual messages) and school rules

Question 4

labelling theory

Answer 4

where labels are attached to people and groups of people which shapes their interactions with others

Question 5

what do studies show about what influences a teacher to attach labels to certain students?

Answer 5

it is done regardless of the students ability or attitude, and instead they label students on the bias of stereotyped assumptions about their class background (labelling working class pupils negatively and middle class pupils positively)

Question 6

Becker (1971) labelling theory

Answer 6

interviewed 60 chicago high school teachers and found that they judged pupils according to how closely they fitted an image of the ‘ideal pupil’ (e.g. being punctual, studious, attentive and hard working)

Question 7

what are social action theories preferred research methods / to get which type of data ?

Answer 7

they tend to like participant observations and research methods which collect qualitative data, so they don’t like statistics

Question 8

who are the 4 key thinkers of the social action approach

Answer 8

Becker-labelling, Mead- symbolic interactionalism,
Goffman- micro-sociology, Cooley- looking glass self

Question 9

briefly explain the social action approach

Answer 9

a micro theory approach (meaning they look at studies of people in face to face interactions)

this approach tends to look at society as drama, meaning people use props (e.g. clothes and body language) to project idealised images of themselves to a social audience- multiple identities are changed accordingly to the company.

Question 10

what does “taking the role of others” saying mean?

Answer 10

a common saying of social action theorists. it means thinking about how people see us and reacting accordingly, it’s an active and conscious process.

Question 11

what does “looking glass self” saying mean?

Answer 11

means using social interaction as a ‘mirror’, so people use other people’s judgement to measure self worth, value and behaviour.

Question 12

give one strength of the social action approach theory in understanding the education system

Answer 12

high in validity looks beneath the surface)

Question 13

give one weakness of the social action approach theory in understanding the education system

Answer 13

lacks reliability (ignores the ‘big picture’)

Question 14

briefly explain Cicourel and Kitsuses’s study (1963) on how labelling can disadvantage working class students

Answer 14

-study of educational counsellors in an American high school
-found inconsistencies in the way counsellors assessed students’ suitability for courses.
- However the counsellors claimed to judge students based on ability but they actually largely judged them on the basis of their social class and/or race.
-M/C students more likely to be labelled as having college potential and place them on higher level courses

Question 15

briefly explain Rist’s (1970) study on labelling in primary schools

Answer 15

• in an american kindergarten
  -found teachers used information of a students home background and appearance to place them into separate groups/tables
  -fast learners were labelled as ‘tigers’, mainly M/C and neat in appearance
  -other 2 groups were labelled as ‘cardinals’ and ‘clowns’ were seated further away, mainly W/C and were given lower level books to read and read as groups (not individually like the ‘tigers’)

Question 16

briefly explain Keddie’s study (1971) on how labelling can be applied to not only the pupils but also the knowledge they are taught

Answer 16

-found those in a dominant position have the power to label knowledge as superior and inferior to others.
-found teachers often taught more abstract and higher status knowledge to higher stream students (mainly M/C) and descriptive common sense knowledge relating to everyday experience was taught to lower stream classes mainly W/C)

Question 17

briefly explain Gilborn and Youdell’s (2001) study on how labelling affects GCSES

Answer 17

-looked at how schools use notions of ability to decide which pupils have the potential to achieve 5 A*-C grades.
-found W/C and black pupils less likely to be perceived as having ability and more likely to be placed in lower sets and entered for lower-tier GCSEs
-this denies them knowledge and opportunities needed to gain good grades and so it widens the gap in achievement

Question 18

self-fulfilling prophecy (sfp)

Answer 18

when students take on the label that is attributed to them by the teacher or school (can be positive or negative label)

• cycle of an sfp: 1) teacher labels pupil based on their class background. 2) teacher treats pupil accordingly, like if their prediction is already true. 3) pupil internalises the teachers expectation (becomes part of their self concept) and now the pupil becomes who the teacher originally expected them to be

Question 19

briefly explain Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) study on teachers expectations

Answer 19

-context: field experiment in a californian community primary school. to see how sfp’s influenced children due to teachers behaviour and assumptions
-conclusions: teachers beliefs about pupils ability was influenced by the test results. they then conveyed these beliefs to the pupils through the ways they interacted with them (body language and level of encouragement). Found the interactionalists principle of what people believe to be true will have real effects.
-how it demonstrates the sfp: by teachers accepting the prediction that certain children would spurt ahead and teachers brought this about. Due to the children being selected at random it shows how if a teacher believes a student to be a certain type, they can make them into that type. Sfp can produce underachievement by communicating to children through interactions of their low expectations of them and children then develop a negative self concept which fulfils the original prophecy.

Question 20

streaming

Answer 20

involves separating children into different ability groups or classes called ‘streams’

Question 21

briefly explain Becker’s theory on how streaming in schools leads to SFP’s and underachievement of W/C students

Answer 21

teachers don’t see W/C students as the ideal student so place them in the lower stream. children in this stream then get the message that teachers have written them off educationally which turns to a sfp with students living up to their teachers low expectations, and underachieving.

Question 22

a pupil subculture

Answer 22

a group of students who share similar values and patterns of behaviour.
-often emerge as a response to the way pupils have been labelled and in reaction to their streaming

Question 23

briefly explain what Lacey (1970) found when immersing himself in school life (taught and observed some lessons and went on school trips)

Answer 23

he found pupil subcultures may play a part in creating class differences in achievement.
He used differentiation and polarisation to explain how pupil subcultures develop

Question 24

differentiation (include an example involving streaming)

Answer 24

the process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability
-streaming separates pupils into high streams with high status and low streams with low status

Question 25

polarisation (include an example involving streaming)

Answer 25

process in which pupils respond to streaming, by moving towards 1 or 2 opposites or extremes
-therefore streaming creates pro-school and anti-school subcultures

Question 26

give 3 examples of attitudes/behaviours of both pro-school (high stream) and anti-school (low stream)

Answer 26

pro-school: polite, grade and career focused, status from academic achievement
anti-school: low attendance, not punctual, focused on status from peers so they misbehave

Question 27

what are the 2 types of pro-school subcultures suggested by Ghaill (1994) ?

Answer 27

the academic achievers: seek to achieve academic success by focusing on traditional academic subjects (e.g. english, maths, science)

the new enterprisers: rejected traditional academic curriculum but were motivated to study subjects like business and computing that they see as a route to economic success

Question 28

what type of sociologist was Woods?

Answer 28

Interactionalist

Question 29

briefly explain Woods’ (1979) criticisms of Lacey’s study

Answer 29

he believed that division between pro and anti school subcultures was too simplistic

Question 30

briefly explain the 8 different responses to school that Woods found as his adaptational model

Answer 30

1) Ingratiation: most positive adaptation, try to identify themselves with teachers to try earn their favour, care little about other pupils’ attitudes to them (often called teachers pets)

2) Compliance: less strong positive adaptation to school, common in new secondary school pupils and those studying for external exams who comply for instrumental reasons (to achieve success in exams)

3) Opportunism: adaptation that often develops in 2nd year at school, temporary phase before pupil develops stable attitude towards the school, fluctuate between wanting approval of teachers and peers

4) Ritualists: deviant to the extent their reject goals of education, they’re not difficult to control as they won’t break school rules, not concerned in achieving academic success or gaining teacher approval

5) Retreatists) more deviant adaptation, reject schools goals without outright rebellion, not consciously trying to oppose school values but daydream in class

6) Colonalization: very common adaptation in later years at school, attach no great importance to academic success, want to avoid trouble but will cheat if they think there’s little chance of discovery

7) Intransigence: one of the most difficult adaptations for schools to cope with, indifferent to academic success, reject accepted standards of behaviour, less afraid than colonalizers to hide their deviance

8) Rebellion: the rejection of both goals and means with replacement of alternatives (school life is directed towards quite different objectives than those sanctioned in schools), e.g. some girls devote their school life to showing concern of their personal appearance and boys are only interested in leaving school and do manual work

Question 31

briefly explain Woods’ conclusion of his findings in his adaptational model

Answer 31

like many interactionists he relates his views in a general way of social class, arguing the more conformist adaptations are typical of M/C pupils and less conformist of the W/C.
M/C pupils tend to find both the goals and means of school to be similar to the cultural values of their families than W/C pupils will.

Question 32

give 3 limitations of Woods’ adaptational model

Answer 32

• some interactionists think it fails to do justice to the complexities of interaction within schools
• Furlong suggests pupils don’t consistently act in accordance with a sub-culture or a particular type of adaptation and he stresses that individual pupils will behave differently in different contexts
• Hammersley and Turner think there may be no single set of aims or values accepted by those in authority within school. Not all teachers share a M/C view of the world with M/C values, so some may be in sympathy with some of the deviant pupils activities and less enthusiastic about the most conformist among those they teach.

Question 33

give 2 points of evaluation of inside school explanations

Answer 33

• labelling theory has been criticised for being deterministic, not all students labelled fufil the prophecy
• Neo-Marxists such as Willis (1979) is critical of inside school explanations. While he accepts anti-school subcultures exist , he argues they stem out of W/C cultures (home background) rather than processes operating inside of school

Question 34

briefly explain compensatory policies

Answer 34

to counteract W/C achievement, government introduced a range of policies for those students from W/C backgrounds.
Their aim is to compensate the negative factors W/C children face (e.g. education priority areas were set up in the 1960’s)

Question 35

briefly explain Gillborn and Youdell (2001): the A-to-C economy and educational triage

Answer 35

• teachers are less likely to see W/C (and black) students as having ability and therefore they’re placed in lower sets and entered for lower tier GCSE papers
• streaming is linked to the exam league tables, schools need to achieve a good league table position if they’re to attract good pupils and generous funding.
• this in turn creates A-C economy schools focus only on those who are capable of getting the golden ‘5 or more GCSEs’

Question 36

give 4 ways to link internal and external factors together to explain underachievement

Answer 36

• W/C habitus and identities formed outside of school may come into conflict with the schools middle class habitus, results in symbolic violence and subsequent underachievement.
• W/C pupils socialised into restricted speech code in their family and community (external) which may be negatively labelled by teachers (internal) leading to underachievement
• material deprivation experienced at home (external) may lead to bullying and stigmatisation by peers within school (internal), this can lead to truanting and under achievement
• national education policies (e.g. national curriculum) and league tables (external) may lead to school adopting strategies like the A-C economy that leads to streaming and setting (internal). Resulting in W/C pupils being negatively labelled and failing, and schools in W/C areas gaining less funding/have to shut down.

Question 37

material deprivation

Answer 37

when the W/C students lack money and wealth which can lower their educational achievement

Question 38

cultural deprivation

Answer 38

W/C students who are lacking the right culture at home in order to be successful at school

Question 39

habitus- Bourdieu

Answer 39

learned or taken for granted ways of thinking , being or acting that are shared by a particular social class

Question 40

anti-school subculture

Answer 40

a group of students in school who share attitudes which go against school values

Question 41

fatalism

Answer 41

when W/C students tend to give up trying in school as they believe their destines are inevitable of the ruling class

Question 42

restricted speech code

Answer 42

W/C speech which uses limited vocab and isn’t rewarded at school

Question 43

privileged skilled choosers

Answer 43

M/C parents who use their educational and cultural capital to choose best schools

Question 44

deferred gratification

Answer 44

when M/C students delay their pleasure rather than having rewards immediately

Question 45

elaborate speech code

Answer 45

M/C speech which contains a wide-ranging vocab and abstract thinking

Question 46

present time orientation

Answer 46

living for their moment without any long term plans

Question 47

symbolic violence

Answer 47

using symbolic capital in a negative way
e.g. to demonstrate superiority through values, beliefs and attitudes

Question 48

symbolic capital

Answer 48

the status, recognition and sense of worth that students receive from others

Question 49

working class dilemma

Answer 49

the dilemma faced by w/c pupils to achieve symbolic capital from their friends or academic capital by rejecting w/c identity

Question 50

briefly explain Archers theory of how symbolic violence shapes pupils identities

Answer 50

schools impose forms of symbolic violence against students whose identities are shaped by designer clothing or hyper-heterosexual feminine behaviour (usually w/c) that suggests to those students that education isn’t for them

Question 51

briefly explain Reay’s theory of school environments shaping pupils identities

Answer 51

students align their ability with the type of school they attend.
- students attending poor performing schools see themselves as poor and are more likely to form anti-school subcultures, whereas those attending high performing schools tend to form pro-school subcultures

Question 52

briefly explain how Ball’s theory of the ethnocentric curriculum shapes pupils identities

Answer 52

the current curriculum is very focused on M/C white british culture which makes ethnic minorities and girls feel excluded

Question 53

briefly explain nike identities

Answer 53

wearing brands was a way for w/c students to be themselves and without them they’d feel inauthentic and their identities were also strongly gendered.

This conflicts with schools m/c habitus and dress code as teachers opposed street styles as showing bad taste and so they labelled those as rebels.

also explains w/c rejection of higher education as they saw it as unrealistic and undesirable, nike identities showed how they had a preference for a particular lifestyle

therefore they may choose self elimination/exclusion from education as they get the message education isn’t for them and also actively choose to reject it as they don’t fit in with their own identity or way of life (doesn’t match m/c habitus)