2. Internal factors

Question 1

Labelling Theory

Answer 1

• States that how teachers ‘label’ a student can affect their performance.
• Becker (1951) interviewed 60 teachers about their attitudes towards pupils, such as their ideal student, he found teachers held a positive and ideal view of middle class pupils but a negative view towards working class pupils and were less willing to teach them.

Question 2

Evaluation: Labelling theory

Answer 2

• Becker argues holding such stereotypes would affect teachers perception of pupil.
• Interactionalists have concluded teachers have often failed to assess the working class pupils academic potential.
• Wood (1983) explains schools could improve teaching methods by reducing stereotyping and labelling, and thus reduce deviance in school.
• Strength of the interactionalist explanation is that it can provide a detailed insight into the day to day educational institutions and show that educational achievement is not based on external factors.

Question 3

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 3

• A ‘prophecy’ is a prediction a teacher will make at the start about a student by attaching a label e.g calling a boy a ‘troublemaker’. This affects the teachers perception of and behaviour towards the student.
• As a result the boy picks upon this, his perception is influenced through the teachers label and his behaviour reflects it.

Question 4

Evaluation: Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 4

• Rosenthal and Jacobson (1964) field experiment investigated the effects of teachers expectations on pupils.
• Academically pupils labelled ‘spurters’, made more progress than their friends ‘non-spurters’.
• Teacher applies label., student responded absorbs that new identity and will act accordingly.

Question 5

Subculture

Answer 5

• Defined as a group whose beliefs, values and attitudes. Colin Lacey (1970) found that streaming can lead to:
• Pro-school subculture: formed by pupils in a higher streams, they accept rules, values and goals such as homework, attendance and respect towards teachers.
• Anti-school subculture: formed by lower streams, engage in behaviour that rejects the schools rules, values and goals e.g breaking rules/ disobeying uniform. Lacey argues anti-school subculture means of gaining status.

Question 6

Evaluation: Subculture

Answer 6

• Ireson and Hallam (2001) found that setting and streaming has a negative effect on a child’s educational process.
• They found low achievers in streamed groups perform less well than similar pupils in mixed ability groups.

Question 7

Habitus (Bourdieu’s Concepts)

Answer 7

• Refers to a persons social identity, thoughts, values, speech, interests, lifestyle and outlook on life.
• A persons habitus reflects a persons social class

Question 8

Evaluation: Habitus (Bourdieu’s Concepts)

Answer 8

• Louise Archer et al (2010) analysed the relationship between working and middle class pupils’ self identity/school and how it impacts achievement. She drew on Bourdieu’s concepts:
• Symbolic capital and violence: schools and middle class share a similar habitus. Therefore, middle class pupils would have been socialised into sharing the schools habitus. Working class habitus view school as worthless.