2.2 class differences in achievement (internal factors) Flashcards
internal factors
- labelling
- the self fulfilling prophecy
- streaming/setting
- pupil subcultures
- pupils class identity
labelling
what does the labelling theory suggest
Howard Becker suggests that teachers often attach a label to a student that actually has little to do with their ability or aptitude
instead they form their idea of what the student should act like and form an opinion on them based on how close they come to the ‘ideal pupil’
sociologists believe students can conform to this label and fall into the self fulfilling prophecy, only achieving what their label reaches.
labelling
what research was done on labelling in two different english primary schools?
- amelia hempel- jorgensen
- aspen primary school mainly working class school- discipline was a major problem, staff saw ideal pupil as quiet, passive and obedient (defined by behaviour not ability)
- rowan primary school mainly middle class school- ideal pupil was instead described by personality and acedemic abilty
labelling
labelling in secondary schools
labelling
Woods identifies a total of 8 different types of pupil adaptation: ingratation
conformist pro-school “teachers pet” seeks approval from teacher and wants to please them, favourable attitude towards school.
labelling
Woods identifies a total of 8 different types of pupil adaptation: opportunism, ritualism, retreatism and colonization
- opportunism- fluctuates between seeking aproval from teachers and peers
- ritualism- attends school but doesn’t show much enthuiasm
- retreatism- indifferent to schhol values nd exams, mess about a bit but don’t challenge authority of school
- colonization- mess around as much as possible but still avoid getting into trouble
labelling
Woods identifies a total of 8 different types of pupil adaptation: what is the difference between instransigence and rebellion
- instransigence- trouble makers who are indifferent to school and not that b othered about conformity
- rebellion- main goals are deviant
self-fullfilling prophecy
3 stages of the self- fullfilling prophecy
- teacher labels a pupil and on the basis of this label, makes predictions
- teacher treats pupil accordingly, acting as if the prediction is already true
- pupil internalises the teachers expectation, acts acordingly and it becomes part of their self-concept
self-fulfilling prophecy
Rosenthal and Jacobson’s study
A class of students were administered an IQ test.
20% of the class were selected and random, and the teachers
were told that they should be expected to make faster
academic progress
The researchers returned a year later to administer another IQ
test and examine the school reports of the children in the
study.
The teachers were merely informed that about 20% of the students were ‘bloomers’ who could be expected to outperform their classmates. Only the names of the purported ‘bloomers’ were unveiled to the teachers.
8 months later given another IQ test, the results indicated that the scores of the ‘bloomers’ had increased significantly in comparison to those of the other children, as a result of having more attention paid to them.
streaming
what is the difference between setting and streaming?
Setting is the placement of students into ability
classes within individual subjects.
Streaming is the placement of students into
ability groups going across all subjects.
streaming
what impact does streaming have on education
W/C students are usually placed in the lower
streams/sets which can lead to lower self
esteem and therefore under achieve. Being
placed in lower streams can also limit student
achievement by not allowing them access to
opportunities to achieve.
streaming
evaluation: positive impacts of setting and streaming
- higher achieving students can be challenged, lower ability students can be supported, both leading to high achievement
streaming
what makes it difficult for working class students to move up into a higher stream
- teachers tend to see them as lacking ability and have low expectations for them (be in a lower stream)
- then, the children are more or less locked into their position and the low expectations for them and get the message that there isn’t much hope for them
- creates SFP
streaming
what was the study that David Gillborn did of two London secondary schools?
- teachers more likely to put working class and black students in lower ability sets and lower tier GCSE’s
- this denies them the knowledge and opportunity needed to gain good grades and widens the class gap in achievement
streaming
what is the A*-to-C economy?
a system in which schools concentrate their efforts on those pupils that seem most likely to gain A* to C grades at GCSE’s and so boosts the school’s leage table position.
streaming
what does the A* to C economy produce?
educational triage
streaming
what are the 3 types of pupils within an educational triage?
- those who will pass anyway and can be left to get on with it
- those with potential, who will be helped to get a grade C+
- hopeless cases who are doomed to fail
streaming
what drives educational triage?
the need to gain a good position in the school league table
streaming
who came up with the theory of educational triage?
Gillborn and Youdell
streaming
what is the link between markitisation policues and streaming
publication of exam league tables impacts micro-level face-to-face interactions with students which contribute to class differences in achievement.
Pupil subcultures
what is a pupil subculture?
a group of pupils who share similar values/ behaviour patterns.
Pupil subcultures
what are the two different ways that pupil subcultures develop?
- differentation
- the process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they percieve their ability
- streaming is a form of differentation (putting kids in to high and low streams based on how “able” they percieve them to be.
- polarisation
- the process in which pupils respond to streaming, by moving towards one of two “poles/extremes”
Pupil subcultures
characteristics of the pro-school subculture
Committed to school
values
Gain approval / status
through academic success
Pupil subcultures
characteristics of the anti-school subculture
Lower streams
Rejection of school
values
Truanting
Disruption
Not doing homework
Pupil subcultures
what effects does the label of being a failure have on those (generally working class) in lower streams
it pushes them to search for alternative wyas to gain status usually through inverting school values of hard work, obedience and punctuality.
such pupils form an antischool subculture as a means of gaining status amongst staff and peers
Pupil subcultures
what problems does joining an anti-school subculture pose for students?
being in that group commits him to a behaviour pattern that means work will only get worse
is likely to become a self-fullfilling prophecy of educational failure
Pupil subculture
what makes it difficult to study anti-school subcultures
- more likely to truant- harder for researcher to have contact with them
- adult researcher could be seen as an authority figure an be unwilling to respond openly
- head teachers may refuse to maintain schools public image
- peer pressure is likely to influence the responses of individuals, making it harder for researchers to uncover individual variations in attitudes
- difficult to gain parental consent- parents may not want their kids to be labelled as “anti-school”
Pupil subcultures
for what reason may a member of anti-school subculture be willing to particpate in research
- if trust is gained- it gives them the opportunity to speak openly about their feelings toward school
Pupil subcultures
evaluation of pupil subculture theory
not all pupils may fall into pro or anti school subculture
Pupil subcultures/streaming
what did stephen ball find the effect of abolishing banding
- the basis for students to polarise in subcultures was largely removed and the influence of anti-school subculture declined
Pupil subcultures
in stephen balls research, even though polarisation dissapeared … continued
differentiation, teachers continued to label and catagorise pupils
Pupil subcultures
since balls study and the …. …. act, streaming has increased, as well as more variety in schools which has lead to …
the education reform act 1988
new opportunities for teachers to differentiate between pupils based on assumptions
Pupil subcultures/labelling
criticisms of labelling theory
- assumes pupils will take on the label and have no choice but to fulfil the prophecy and fail
- marxists- say that labelling ignores wider structures of power, labelling blames teachers but doesn’t tell us why teachers do so and that they are part of a system that reproduces class division (not their indiuvidual prejudices)
Pupil’s class identities and the school
what does the term habitus include?
- lifestyle preferences and consumption
- outlook on life
- expectations of what is normal/realistic for people like themselves
Pupil’s class identities and the school
which class habitus does the school favour
middle class
as it has the power to define its habitus as superior and to impose it on education
Pupil’s class identities and the school
what is symbolic capital within education?
middle class tastes and preferences gain status and reconition and deemed to have worth/value.
working class tastes (e.g. appearence and accent) are deemed to be tasteless and worthless
Pupil’s class identities and the school
what does bordieu’s “symbolic violence” refer to?
- the withholding of symbolic capital
- which is achieved through defining working class ways as inferior which reproduces the class structure, keeping working class pupils in their place
Pupil’s class identities and the school
what is the consequence of the working-class pupils habitus and the schools middle class habitus clashing?
working class pupils may experience education as alien and unnatural
Pupil’s class identities and the school
according to archer, how did working class pupils feel about becoming educationally successful?
they felt that in order to gain educational success they would have to “lose themselves”
and that to get into good universities/a successful career felt that they were “not for the likes of us”
Pupil’s class identities and the school
symbolic violence led working class pupils to seek alternative ways of creating…
they did so by…
- self worth, status and value
- investing heavily in styles, consuming brnded clothing like nike
Pupil’s class identities and the school
“but people like us, they’re just, we’re ….”
nike
Pupil’s class identities and the school
how would working class pupils feel without wearing brands
inauthentic
Pupil’s class identities and the school
style performances were policed by who?
not conforming resulted in what?
peer groups
social suicide
Pupil’s class identities and the school
how did nike identities clash with the schools middle class habitus?
- led to conflict within the school dress code
- tecahers opposed street styles as showing bad taste or even as a threat
- risking them being labelled as rebels
Pupil’s class identities and the school
how did nike identities lead to higher education being seen as “unrealistic” or “undesireable”
- unrealistic- higher education wasnt for “people like us”, but for richer, posher and cleverer people as well as being an unaffordable and risky investment
- undesireable- wouldnt suit their preffered lifestyle/ habitus e.g. didn’t want to live on a loan because then wouldnt be able to buy their style that gave them their identity
Pupil’s class identities and the school
what was nicola ingrams study of two working class catholic school boys?
- both from the same highly deprived neighbourhood in belfast
- one group passed the 11 plus exam while the others were sent to a local secondary school
- the grammar school had s strongly middle class habitus of high expectations and acedemic achievement
Pupil’s class identities and the school
how do working class pupils self-exclude themselves from university?
- reluctant to apply to elite universities such as oxbridge
- bordieu- as these places were felt to be “not for the likes of us”, a feeling that comes from their habitus, which suggests what opportunities really exist for them and whether they would fit in or not, which becomes a part of their thinking and identity, leading them to believe university is not for them
Pupil’s class identities and the school
what did evans find out about the 21 working class girls she studied?
- they had a strong attachment to their locality
- only 4/21 wanted to move away to study
Pupil’s class identities and the school
relationships between internal and external factors
- working class habitus >conflict with schools middle class habitus (leads to think that school is not for the likes of them)
- restricted speech code >labelled by teachers as less able (SFP)
- wc home backgrounds> what teachers believe about them
- poverty >bullying and stigmatisation by peer groups >truanting and failure
