Social Class & Achievement [INTERNAL] Flashcards
What concept does Becker introduce?
Teachers label their students and have a stereotype of an ‘ideal pupil’. This identity includes things like hard work, concentrating, conforming to rules and staying out of trouble.
Becker said that teachers saw M/C pupils to fit the ideal stereotype and W/C were seen as badly behaved being labelled the ‘deviant pupils’.
What did Rist’s study show?
The study of American kindergarten children showed that teachers used information about their children’s home background to place them into different groups seating them at different tables.
These groups included: Tigers (top achieving), Cardinals (average) ad Clowns (lowest achieving w/c)
What is the halo effect?
If you praise a student, they put in more effort and start achieving more.
What is Rosenthal and Jacobson’s study?
They show the self-fulfilling prophecy by conducting a field experiment to discover whether teachers expectations of students ability would affect their attainment.
They posed as educational psychologists at a school where one sixth of the children were Mexican, an over represented group in the slow stream.
Researchers gave false information to primary school teachers about a new test designed to identify pupils who would spurt ahead.
They found that random group of children who teachers were told were spurters even though they weren’t different made greater progress than the students not labelled.
Showing that they improved because they were praised.
What are criticisms of the labelling theory? (4)
It assumes that all students internalise their label.
It assumes we are passive idividuals and absorb everything.
We are conscious people that have free will.
Not all teachers have the same labels.
What is streaming?
The practice of putting students in the same group of the same ability, to be taught together across all subjects.
What is setting?
This is where students are grouped together by ability in a specific subject.
What concepts do Gillborn and Youdell introduce?
A-to-C economy and educational triage
What is the A-to-C economy?
A system in which schools focus their time and effort on pupils they see having the potential to get five grade C’s.
What is the educational triage?
Sorts and divides students into three categories.
What are the 3 categories of the educational triage and what do they mean?
Safe: Those who can be left to get on with it. Motivated and independent.
Underachievers: Need helpand guidance, targeted for extra help.
Hopeless cases: Doomed to fail and people who don’t pay attention.
What concept does Keddie introduce and what does she say about it?
The organisation of class room knowledge.
She observed a school in London that focussed on streaming. The study illustrates how classroom interaction affects both the self-perception and performance of pupils.
She found that the pupils are labelled as either high or low status’s and knowledge was differentiated between top and bottom streams.
Knowledge from pupil experience was devalued, and general knowledge was valued. W/C seen as not cultured enough.
How can students react to the experience of schooling?
Joining subcultures.
What are pupil subcultures?
Groups of students who share similar values, norms and behaviour which gives them a sense of group identity and belonging.
What is polarisation and who introduces it?
Lacey
A way that students become divided into two opposing ‘poles’. Those in the top streams who achieve highly are valued and given status and those in the bottom streams are labelled as failures.
