Class and achievement Setting, Streaming and Subcultures- Internal Flashcards
Define setting, streaming and subcultures
Pupil subculture =a group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns which are distinct to the mainstream culture.
Streaming refers to placing students into classes by ability and then teaching each class (‘stream’) separately from the others in all subjects.
Setting refers to placing students into classes by ability, but in relation to each subject so a student could be in a top set for Maths, but in the bottom set for English so the set they’re in changes from subject to subject.
Willis- Learning to Labour
Learning to labour.
A study of 12 lads – a secondary school counter-school subculture made up of 12 w/c boys.
The lads’ counter-school values reflected the w/c values of their fathers, older brothers and other men from the community.
The values included: having a ‘laff’, a lack of respect for authority, messing around, etc.
The reason why the lads developed their counter-school subculture was that they had low expectations of their future employment opportunities so for them school was a waste of time as they believed that working hard at school will not lead to a better future.
Lacey
Carried out a study of Hightown boys’ grammar school through participant and non-participant observation, e.g. taught lessons, went on school trips, etc. over a period of 18 months.
Lacey developed two key concepts to explain why pupil subcultures are formed – differentiation and polarisation.
Differentiation
Differentiation is the process through which teachers categorise pupils according to what they perceive the students’ ability and behaviour to be like.
Streaming is a form of differentiation as it places students into different classes according to their ability.
Students perceived as able are placed into higher streams, those seen as less able as placed into lower streams.
Polarisation
Polarisation is the process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving to one of two opposite ‘poles’ or extremes.
At Hightown Grammar, boys were polarised into a pro-school and an anti-school subculture.
Therefore, according to Lacey, subcultures form as a result of differentiation (streaming) which leads to polarisation.
Pro and anti-school subcultures?
Pro-school subculture:
Consists of pupils in top streams.
They tend to be middle class.
They remain committed to school’s values.
They gain status through academic success.
Anti-school subculture:
Consists of pupils in lower streams.
They tend to be working class.
The placement into lower streams decreases pupils’ self-esteem.
This feeling of failure forces them to look for status through means other than academic success.
Usually, this involves turning against the school’s values of hard work, obedience and punctuality.
As a result, the members of the anti-school subculture tend to truant, be rude to teachers, smoke, drink, graffiti, steal,…
These behaviour patterns lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy as the pupils tend to underachieve.
Hargreaves?
Found that education system views working class boys in lower sets as triple failures – they failed their 11+ exam, are in the bottom stream, have been labelled as ‘worthless louts’. As a result, these boys formed a subculture in which high status went to those who broke the school rules.
Ball?
Studied Beachside comprehensive which abolished streaming in favour of mixed ability classes.
This decreased polarisation and anti-school subcultures among pupils.
However, teachers continued to differentiate and label students according to their social class background.
This shows that even without the influence of the subculture and streaming, the class differences in achievement continue due to negative labelling of pupils by teachers and the self-fulfilling prophecy it causes.
Therefore, according to Ball, teacher labelling leads to formation of subcultures which then affects the students’ achievement.
Woods?
Identified that pupils can respond to labelling and streaming in 4 different ways, not just in two (pro and anti school):
Ingratiation – being the teacher’s pet.
Ritualism – going through the motions of attending lessons, doing the work, staying out of trouble.
Retreatism – daydreaming and messing around.
Rebellion – rejection of school’s values.
Furlong?
Adds to Woods’ argument.
Pupils can respond to labelling and streaming in a variety of ways, but are not committed permanently to one particular response. They move from response to response depending on the subject and teacher.
e.g. in Maths, a student can be a rebel, while in Geography s/he can be a ritualist.
Therefore, labelling and streaming lead to formation of subcultures.
Criticisms of the subcultural theory?
It is deterministic – assumes that if a child is labelled, the self-fulfilling prophecy is unavoidable. However, it is possible for pupils to not be affected by labels.
It blames the teachers for labelling, but doesn’t explain why they label students. Marxists argue that teachers work in a system that reproduces inequality so it’s not their fault.
