roles and processes in schools

Question 1

setting

Answer 1

placing students in groups according to ability in individual subjects.

Question 2

streaming

Answer 2

placing students in groups according to ability across all
subjects.

Question 3

ideal pupil

Answer 3

characteristics that a teacher
subconsciously looks for in a good pupil.

Question 4

self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 4

when a pupil takes on the label that they have been by the school and acts accordingly.

Question 5

characteristics of an ideal pupil

Answer 5

*Female
*White
*M/Class
*Quiet

Question 6

Bernstein language codes - restricted code

Answer 6

*W/C
*Limited vocab
*Short unfinished sentences
*Grammatically simple
*Context bound

Question 7

Bernstein language codes - elaborate code

Answer 7

*M/C
*Wide vocab
*Grammatically complex
*Varied and abstract
*Context free

Question 8

labelling theory

Answer 8

*Labelling theory suggest that teachers often attach a label to a pupil that has little to do with their actual ability or aptitude.
*they form an opinion of the
student based on how close the students fit the ideal pupil.
*Becker suggests that 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 9

labelling theory evaluation

Answer 9

*Deterministic
*Focuses on the negative effects
*Labelling theory attributes too much importance to ‘teacher agency’ – structural
sociologists might point out that schools themselves encourage teachers to label students
*Teacher training.

Question 10

labelling theory reactions

Answer 10

*Self fulfilling prophecy
*Rejection of the label - Margaret Fuller’s (1984) 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 11

Rosenthal and Jacobson

Answer 11

*Pygmalion in the classroom.
*Fake IQ test given to students.
*Random 20% students
identified as bright, went back after a year and found that those students had made more progress then others.

Question 12

Ray Rist

Answer 12

*US Primary school study.
*Teacher used home
background to group/segregate students.
*Tigers – Neat m/c, fast students.
*Cardinals – W/C middling ability.
*Clowns – W/C troublesome.
*Labels carried through later
years

Question 13

Hempel Jorgenson

Answer 13

*Ideal pupil varies according
the make up of the school.
*Aspen – W/C school.
*Discipline was a problem. Ideal pupil is quiet, passive and obedient.
*Rowan – M/C school.
*Few dicispline problems. Ideal pupil is defined by personality &
academic ability rather than behaviour.