Action Theory + Education Flashcards
what are the 2 Ps and the R that action believe occurs within schools?
- Processes
- Procedures
- Responses
what are action theorists interested in about education?
they are interested in the day-to-day interactions that take place within the education system between groups and how we react to it (positive/negative)
what interactions occur in education?
- peer interactions with each other
- teach and pupil interactions
what is the first educational theory?
LABELLING THEORY (a process)
according to BECKER what is a label?
making a judgement/assumption based on stereotypes (from generalisations), and attaching a label to them
what is the response to the labelling theory
SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY
what are the 3 steps for self-fulfilling prophecy to be achieved?
1- Person is labelled, label is attached/treated accordingly
2-Person believes, person accepts label + internalises it
3-Person become, judgement becomes part of self image, with prediction being fulfilled (self-fulfilling prophecy)
who presented evidence for this prophecy?
ROSENTHAL + JACOBSON
give detail on the rosenthal and jacobson study?
- ‘late-bloomer’ label on 20% of students
- treatment= warm climate, input(taught more), response opportunity, differentiated feedback, helped if wrong
what was RAY RIST’s study?
- primary school, teacher’s labelling on 4/5 yo
- bad students kept at arms length, ‘don’t want them near me, too disruptive.’
- labels based on parental income + postcode
- students labelled as ‘tigers’ + ‘clowns’
what were the two things that becker found about labelling?
- halo effect
- ideal pupil
what is the halo effect?
teachers see some pupils like an angel, they’re perfect and don’t do anything wrong
-effects way that teachers treat students
what is the ideal pupil?
the student that teachers want, seen as perfect, with characteristics (eg- organised, hard-worker, smart.) they want to see
what was the evidence for the halo effect/ideal pupil?
-becker’s 60 teachers unstructured interview
what did becker find in the interview?
- teachers perceived those who were well behaved, polite, well-mannered, as ‘bright and more able.’
- these students couldn’t do anything wrong, they are given halo effect, becoming ideal pupil.
what is the argument against the interview findings
teachers views based on early impressions of class, gender + ethnicity, not ability?
what are the 3 arguments against the action theorist view on these processes?
- too deterministic, they say we have free-will, but internalising/becoming label is deterministic.
- extent of free will is exaggerated.
- MARY FULLER, black girls seen as less intelligent so made their own Saturday school and ended up doing highly in GCSEs.(self-refuting prophecy)
what happens when students are sorted into ability groups?
students are allocated to ability groups due to given labels.
-this shapes what/how they are taught + the examinations they take
what are sets?
ability group based on individual subjects, so there can be different sets based on ability in each specific subject.
what are streams?
one overall grouping for all subjects, same grouping.
what are the effects of setting or streaming?
- learning environments (top v bottom)
- labelling is used to place people in sets, labels to do with set person is in
what are the consequences of setting and streaming?
- lower sets don’t get as many opportunities and miss out on college/uni places, due to exams and not getting taught what they need to.
- lower sets achieve lower grades which can impact their future, while top sets achieve higher due to more opportunities/academic help.
what is the Education Triage, according to GILLBORN + YOUDELL?
a way of categorising students into 3 sections based on their grades and who need help
what are the three sections in the education triage?
- safe
- borderline
- failures
what is the impact of the education triage?
an A*-C economy is created, leading to cream skimming
what did GILLBORN say about the education triage, about schools?
‘a school now lives or dies by it’s results.’
what are the two arguments against the education triage?
- too deterministic, students have free will and mobility to move sets, after working hard (low-high)
- ability grouping can be beneficial, people have different abilities, learn differently and at different speeds.
what is an example of a response to education?
pupil subcultures
what is a pro-school subculture?
where pupils respect and value the school and educational values
what is an anti-school subculture?
where pupils don’t respect the school/educational values and create their own values and rules that they follow.
what would you expect from pro-school students?
- punctual/on-time
- hard-working, high achievers
- positive labels
what would expect to see from anti-school students?
- lateness, anti-authority/truantcy
- badly behaved, lower sets, lower achievement
- negative labels
what did Tony Sewell find out?
- studied African-Carribbean boys in all boys school (age 11-16)
- pro-school= conformists, valued school, worked hard, achieved educational success
- anti-school= rebels, rejected school, no values for qualifications, believed racism in society would stop them from getting decent jobs in future anyway
- many families did not have a father figure as a role model/for discipline, so the boys were more prone to peer pressure into anti-school subcultures.
what did Lacey find out?
- study on middle-class grammer school
- differentiation= sorting into ability groups
- lead to polarisation= 2 opposite poles (high/low)
- teachers treated pupils based on poles, so students acted based on teacher interactions and labels
what did MacanGail find out?
- year 11 boys, 2 groups
- Macho Lads= low sets, low status, underachieved so moved on to vocational courses/work
- Academic Achievers= higher sets, high status, overachieved so moved onto higher education
what did Willis find out?
- 12 working class boys (the Lads)
- mirrored behaviour of future employment
- anti-school, messed around, lacked respect
- bullied pro-school, calling them earoles
what were the creation of these anti-school subcultures found in the sociologists findings created as a response to?
they were created as a response to labelling, as well as setting and streaming, which all shape behaviours.
what did each individual in these groups receive from their peers?
a sense of belonging and unity
-anti-school= they may not receive this at home, so joining the group helps them.
