Social Class Differences - Internal Factors - Pupil Subcultures Flashcards
What is a pupil subculture?
A pupil subculture is a group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns.
Pupil subcultures are often a response to the way pupils have been labelled, and a pupil’s reaction to streaming.
What did Lacey say about how pupil subcultures develop?
Lacey (1970) said that pupil subcultures developed through differentiation and polarisation.
What is differentiation? (Lacey 1970)
Differentiation is the process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and behaviour.
What is polarisation? (Lacey 1970)
Polarisation is the process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two ’opposite poles’ or extremes.
They have either a pro-school subculture (mainly middle class) or an anti-school subculture (mainly working class).
What is a pro-school subculture?
A pro-school subculture refers to the pupils who are placed in higher streams (mainly middle class). They are students who are committed to she values of the school. They gain their status through academic success.
What is an anti-school subculture?
An anti-school subculture refers to students who are placed in low streams (mainly working class). They suffer a loss of self-esteem, the school has undermined their self worth by placing them in a position of inferior status.
This label of failure pushes them to find their status alternatively - by inverting/going against the school values. Eg, talking back to the teacher, truanting/absences, not doing homework, smoking etc.
This is also likely to develop a self -fulfilling prophecy of educational failure.
What did Hargreaves (1967) say about anti-school subcultures?
He found a similar response to labelling and streaming in secondary education.
Boys in lower streams were seen as triple failures.
They had failed their 11+ exam, had been placed in lower streams, and had been labelled as ‘worthless louts’.
A solution to the problem of inferior status would be for the pupils to find each other and form a group within which high status went to those who disobeyed the schools rules.
However, by this the pupils formed a neglectful subculture that helped them to guarantee their educational failure.
What did Ball find out about if streaming was abolished?
Ball (1981) researched at Beachside comprehensive school that was abolishing banding (a type of streaming) and were teaching in mixed ability groups.
He found that when the school abolished banding, polarisation into subcultures declined and the influence of the anti-school subculture had declined.
However, differentiation continued. Teachers still categorised pupils on their class, gender and ethnicity. This was presented through exam results, suggesting a self-fulfilling prophecy had occurred.
This study shows that class inequalities can continue asa result of teachers’ labelling, even without the effect of subcultures of streaming.
What did Woods say about the other responses of pupil subcultures?
Woods (1979) argues that there are other responses to pupil subcultures. These are: ingratiation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.
What is ingratiation?
Ingratiation is the response to pupils subcultures where student are the ‘teacher’s pet’.
What is ritualism?
Ritualism is the response to pupils subcultures where students stay out of trouble, they engage in school work but may not always show up to lesson.
What is retreatism?
Retreatism is the response to pupils subcultures where a student daydreams and messes around in lesson.
What is rebellion?
Rebellion is the response to pupils subcultures where a student rejects everything the school stands for.
What does Furlong say about the different responses to pupil subcultures?
Furlong (1984) says that many pulils are not committed permanently to any one response, they move between different types.
Eg, acting differently in lessons with different teachers.
