internal factors: social class differences in attainment

Question 1

what does it mean to ‘label’ someone

Answer 1

to attach a meaning or definition to them

Question 2

how do teachers label pupils?

Answer 2

on the basis of stereotyped assumptions about their class background

Question 3

impacts of labelling (interactionists)

Answer 3

can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy
pupils treated differently due to labels
student believes label so internalises it, so it becomes part of their self-concept

Question 4

how did Becker research

Answer 4

interviewed 60 Chicago high school teachers

Question 5

Becker (1971’s) findings

Answer 5

judged pupils according to how closely they fitted with their image of the ‘ideal pupil’

ideal pupil - reference point against which all other students are measured

Question 6

Dunne and Gazeley (2008) research methods

Answer 6

interviews in 9 English state secondary schools

Question 7

Dunne and Gazeley (2008) - findings

Answer 7

schools persistently produce working class underachievement because of the labels and assumptions of teachers

labelled working class parents as disinterested and middle class parents as supportive - led to differences in how teachers dealt with pupils

Question 8

Dunne and Gazeley (2008)

Answer 8

interviews in 9 English state secondary schools

teachers normalised working class underachievement - thought little could be done about it

teachers labelled working class parents as disinterested in their children’s education

labelled middle class parents as supportive

led to differences with how teachers dealt with pupils they perceived as underachieving - wc entered into easier exams and middle class set extension work

Question 9

Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968) - study name and procedure

Answer 9

‘pygmalion in the classroom’

California primary school

gave fake IQ tests to students and randomly selected some students to be ‘bright’ students or ‘spurters’ and others to be ‘less able’

informed the school of the results

retested students a year later

Question 10

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) - findings

Answer 10

‘spurters’ progressed faster than other students

‘less able’ students regressed

teachers relayed labels to the students in terms of expectations and amount of praise

suggests higher teacher expectations can make a marked difference to pupil attainment

Question 11

streaming

Answer 11

separating students into different ability groups of classes called ‘streams’

Question 12

how does streaming create self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 12

once being streamed it is hard to move out of that set, and the teachers lower expectations are internalised by the students

Question 13

Douglas

Answer 13

children placed in lower streams at age 8 had suffered a decline in their IQ by age 11

opposite for those in higher streams

Question 14

Ball (1981) - ‘Beachside Comprehensive’

Answer 14

impact of setting

disproportionate amount of middle class children placed in the top band

behaviour became polarised - result of differing teacher expectations

top band students ‘warmed up’ and middle band students ‘cooled down’

even when in mixed ability groups - teachers still categorised and labelled pupils according to their social class

Question 15

polarisation in sets

Answer 15

how pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two extremes

Question 16

setting

Answer 16

where pupils are placed in one of three bands based off information received from their primary school

Question 17

Gilbourn and Youdell (2000)

Answer 17

studied 2 London secondary schools

teachers use stereotypical notions of ability to stream pupils

teachers less likely to see the working class and black students as having ability - placed into lower streams and sets

Question 18

educational triage

Answer 18

the division of students into three groups based on their expected GCSE grades

Question 19

Diane Reay - ‘the zombie stalking English schools’ (2006)

Answer 19

interviews with individual students in 2 secondary schools

bottom set all working class in one school

wc students seen as inadequate learners

experiences similar in the second school, despite having mixed ability groups

‘all you need to do is treat us like humans’

Question 20

pupil subculture

Answer 20

a group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour pattern

Question 21

why do pupil subcultures often emerge

Answer 21

as a response to the way pupils have been labelled and in particular as a reaction to streaming

Question 22

Lacey - how pupil subcultures develop

Answer 22

through differentiation and polarisation

Question 23

differentiation

Answer 23

how teachers categorise pupils according to their perceptions

Question 24

habitus (Pierre Bordieu)

Answer 24

the dispositions, taken for granted ways of thinking, being and acting that are shared by a particular social class

Question 25

what is the impact of schools having a middle class habitus

Answer 25

pupils who have been socialised at home into middle class tastes and preferences gain 'symbolic capital' or status, and deemed to have value from the school school devalues wc habitus working class tastes and values seen as worthless

Question 26

Archer - main ideas

Answer 26

focusses on the interaction between working class pupils' identities and school and how this produces underachievement clash between wc and middle class habitus - wc pupils felt to be successful, they would have to change themselves

Question 27

Archer (2007) - University's not for me, I'm a Nike Person

Answer 27

culture clash between the habitus of wc pupils and higher education education suited to the habitus of the white middle class one of the reasons for lower participation of HE wc identified themselves as 'Nike' compared to the upper class as 'Gucci'