class differences in achievement (inside school) Flashcards
labelling; hempel-jorgensen study
Studied 2 English Primary Schools.
At the W/C primary school the ideal pupil as defined as quiet, passive and obedient showing that children were defined by behaviour not ability. Whereas, the ideal pupil at the M/C schools was based on academic ability rather than being a ‘non-misbehaving’ pupil like the W/C scho
labelling. dunne and gazeley study
Studied 9 secondary schools finding that teachers ‘normalised’ the underachievement of w/c students as they felt there is nothing that could be done to overcome it, whereas if a M/C student underachieved it could be overcome.
Most of these labels came from assumptions about parental support. The M/C parents were seen as more supportive.
ideal student; becker
conducted interviews with 60 teachers and found that teachers judged pupils by how closely they fitted their image of an “Ideal student”. Pupils work, conduct and appearance were key factors in influencing their decisions. M/C were closest to ideal while W/C were furthest away.
self fulfilling prophecy; Rosenthal and Jacobson
conducted a field experiment in a school. They carried out IQ tests on the children in one class. After the students had completed this IQ test, some were chosen at random to be the students that were expected to be academic bloomers; however, the results of the test did not influence which students of the class were chosen. The teachers in the study, gave the supposed academic bloomers more personal interactions, highly extensive feedback, more approval, and kind gestures, such as nods and smiling which resulted in those students having higher success rates.
streaming and notions of ability; Gillborn and youdell
found that schools use teachers ‘notions of ability’ to decide how to set/stream students, and which level of GCSE to enter them for. Teachers are more likely to perceive working class and black students as being low ability. Being in a low set/stream means these students never have the chance to get good grades, as they’re taught at a lower level and entered for only foundation level GCSEs
evaluation of labelling theories
Labelling theorists have been criticised for being too deterministic, suggesting that if a student is labelled, they will just simply just accept the label. However, Fuller carried out research which showed that actually, that even if a student is labelled, they may reject/ ignore the label given to them.
Marxists criticise labelling theory for ignoring the wider economic structures of power. Most labelling theory blames the teacher for labelling, however Marxists question why teachers label in the first place and blame a society that creates class division
subculture
Subculture: A smaller group within the larger group whose ideas and values are different of the rest of the group in some way
differentiation subcultures (lacey)
This means separating students into groups: Teachers categorise students according to perceived ability or behaviour e.g. streaming. Working class students are more likely to end up in lower sets while middle class students dominate the higher sets.
polarisation subcultures (lacey)
This is the process of moving towards one of two opposite ‘poles’ (extremes): the students in the top sets become better behaved/more ambitious due to positive labelling, whereas the low set student behaviour is likely to get worse as they are surrounded by other students with little motivation. Pro-school subcultures will form in the top set, and anti-school subcultures will form in the lower sets
habitus and glass identities
symbolic capital
Bourdieu’s (Marxist) theory of habitus: This is the lifestyle, interests, expectations and views of a social group. Habitus is formed as a result of a group’s class position and is learnt during socialisation. This is similar to Bourdieu’s idea of ‘cultural capital’ but Habitus also incorporates material factors, attitudes to education, social capital and identity.
While no habitus is better than another, some groups like the middle class have power to define their habitus as superior to others. As a result – schools prefer the middle-class habitus as a result of its tastes and preferences this is known as symbolic capital (recognition from the school). This means that working class habitus is disregarded seems tasteless and worthless.
nike identities and symbolic violence
Archer argues that W/C students feel that their identities are not valued by school and that this is an act of symbolic violence against them. As a result, working class students wear designer clothing (usually sportswear) as a means to achieving self-worth and status within their own culture – this gives them symbolic capital.
This causes them to come into conflict with school dress codes which do not allow sportswear. This further reinforces their feeling that school is ‘not for them’ reproducing their rejection of education.
Archer found that some working-class students would choose self-exclusion from schools’ attitudes and values in order to maintain their Nike identity. They also see higher education as ‘not for them’ and therefore see no point in achieving in lower levels of education.
selection procedures
Bartlett argues that marketisation disadvantages working class students because they are not selected by the better schools. Better schools become over-subscribed, so they get their pick of the students who apply to study there. They can then select middle class pupils as they are more desirable, leaving the working class in sink schools
educational triage
Marketisation put schools under pressure get the best results they can. Gillborn and Youdell argue that this caused an A – C economy in schools where teachers focus all their time, effort and resources on the students who they think will achieve 5 grade Cs or above at GCSE. Those who are highly likely to succeed or fail anyway are ignored by the teacher, as s/he spends all their time on the C/D borderline students. This is done in the hope that more students will manage to achieve a C grade, as this improves the school’s position in the league tables.
