EDU- RS And Procedses Within School

Question 1

Define Labelling

Answer 1

Labelling refers to the process where meaning is attached to behaviour.

Question 2

What do teachers base labels on?

Answer 2

Teachers’ label or name students according to their social class, gender or ethnicity, not their ability. Labels are often based on stereotypical assumptions eg. girls are quiet and obedient, while boys are noisy and macho.

Question 3

Effect of labelling

Answer 3

Labels can have a powerful effect on educational achievement because they usually become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 4

Who conducted a study on labelling and the self fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 4

Rosenthal and Jacobson

Question 5

Rosenthal and Jacobson study into labelling and the self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 5

Rosenthal and Jacobson carried out an experiment in a school where teachers were (falsely) told that 20% of their students were ‘spurters’ and likely to do very well. Teachers gave these students positive labels and they went on to do very well, developing a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, students respond in different ways to labelling - some students accept their labels and develop a self-fulfilling prophecy (like the ‘spurters’), while other students reject their labels.

Question 6

Which social class tend to have a positive label?

Answer 6

Middle class

Question 7

Which sociologists argue that middle class students have positive labels ?

Answer 7

Becker argues that a middle class student is more likely to fit the definition of a teacher’s
‘ideal pupil.

Gillbourn and Youdell argue that teachers’ judge middle class students as being more able.

Question 8

Which social class has a negative label?

Answer 8

Working class

Question 9

Which sociologists argue that working class students have negative labels ?

Answer 9

Rist found that pupils from working class backgrounds were more likely to be labelled

Question 10

What was the negative label given to working class ?

Answer 10

‘Clowns’ - for most, this negative label became a self-fulfilling prophecy, having a negative impact on their educational achievement.

Question 11

Which gender has a positive label?

Answer 11

Girls

Question 12

Which sociologist argued that girls have positive labels?

Answer 12

Rancid found that girls tended to be labelled as hard working and capable

Question 13

Which gender has a negative label?

Answer 13

Boys

Question 14

Who argues/found that boys have a negative label?

Answer 14

Francis found that boys (particularly w/c) were seen as disruptive and less able

Question 15

Which ethnicity has a positive label ?

Answer 15

Chinese and Indian - seen as bright and capable. Tend to be quiet, hard working and obedient (thus corresponding with the
‘ideal pupil’ idea).

Question 16

Which ethnicity has a negative label ?

Answer 16

Black Caribbean - likely to be labelled as disruptive with a ‘bad attitude’. Even a threat the teacher’s authority.

Question 17

Influence of pupil subcultures

Answer 17

Pupil subcultures can have a powerful influence over students at school and are likely to shape both the experience ofschool, as well as students’ grades.

Question 18

Pupil subcultures
Which sociologist can you talk about?

Answer 18

Lacey found that teachers put students into two types of subculture: pro-school subcultures or anti-school subcultures. Once placed into ability-based sets or streams, students tend to become polarised, becoming either pro-school or anti-school.

Question 19

Pupil subcultures
According to Lacey students tend to become…

Answer 19

Polarised

Question 20

Pupil subcultures
Pro-school subculture

Answer 20

Pro-school subcultures are characterised by working hard, following the rules, completing homework and having high aspirations.

Question 21

Pupil subcultures
Anti-school subculture

Answer 21

Anti-school subcultures, on the other hand, are characterised by rule breaking, truanting, being disruptive and showing off etc. In this way, students who feel that they are less likely to do well feel they gain some status for rule breaking e.g. working class students gain symbolic capital from their peers (status and recognition) for ‘acting out’ and challenging teachers.

Question 22

Which social class is seen to have a pro-school subculture ?

Answer 22

Middle class

Question 23

Who argues that m/c students tend to have a pro school subculture ?

Answer 23

Bourdieu - middle class students share the same middle class habitus of the school.
They want to do well and being pro-school earns them symbolic capital (status and recognition).

Question 24

Which social class tends to have an anti school subculture ?

Answer 24

Working class

Question 25

Which sociologist argued that w/c tend to have an anti-school subculture?

Answer 25

working class students feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable in the middle class habitus of the school. They experience symbolic violence - their working class culture is devalued by the school and they are made to feel like education is not for them. Working class students form anti-school subcultures as a means of expressing their frustration, but also a way of earning symbolic capital as braking school rules gives them status and recognition among their peers.

Question 26

Which gender tends to have a pros school subculture ?

Answer 26

Girls

Question 27

Who argues that girls tends to have a pros school subculture ?

Answer 27

McRobbie argues that girls are more likely to form pro-school subcultures as a result of the bedroom culture, where talking, working hard and being neat are seen as important.

Question 28

Which gender tends to have an anti school subculture ?

Answer 28

Boys

Question 29

Who argues that boys tends to have an anti school subculture ?

Answer 29

Epstein found that boys (particularly working class faced pressure to be anti-school, otherwise they risked being labelled as ‘gay’, as school work was seen as feminine.

Question 30

Which ethnicity tends to have a pro school subculture ?

Answer 30

Chinese and Indian

Question 31

Who argues that Chinese and Indian tends to have a pro school subculture ?

Answer 31

O’Donnell discovered that most Indian students were angry with the racism they encountered, but they didn’t reject the education system and worked hard at school.

Question 32

Which ethnicity tends to have an anti school subculture ?

Answer 32

Black Caribbean students

Question 33

Which sociologists argue that black Caribbean student tends to have an anti school subculture ?

Answer 33

Fuller found that Black Caribbean girls were pro-education, but formed anti-school subcultures. They wanted to do well, but ‘put on a front’ like they didn’t care about school.

O’Donnell found that many Black Caribbean boys angrily rejected a white dominated education system.

Question 34

Streaming and setting

Answer 34

Placing students into ability-based groups has advantages and disadvantages. The intention is primarily to ensure that students share a similar level of ability to provide them with the teaching and learning styles that suit them,
thus improving their confidence and progress.

Question 35

Setting and streaming
Who can you talk about ?

Answer 35

Gillborn and Youdell

Gillborn and Youdell suggest that setting can also be a response to the need for schools to improve their percentage Fi of students who achieve A*-C grades, so a great amount of teaching energy goes into students who are on the C/D borderline e.g. revision sessions, the best teachers etc. Whilst those in sets where there is little chance of m getting a C grade tend to be placed in the ‘hopeless cases’ category - they tend to end up with the weakest teacher p and are given up on. The A-C Economy is directly linked to marketisation, as only schools with top exam results will si attract new parents and students.

Question 36

Which social class tends to be in top set?

Answer 36

Middle class

Question 37

Which sociologists argue that middle class tend to be in top set?

Answer 37

Gillborn and Youdell - teachers assume middle class students are more able and will achieve excellent exam results, placing them into top sets. In the educational triage, they are the ones who will achieve anyway.

Becker - middle class students are seen as the ideal pupils, so they are more likely to be placed in top sets.

Question 38

Which social class tends to be in bottom set?

Answer 38

Working class

Question 39

Which sociologists argue that working class tend to be bottom set?

Answer 39

Rist found that working class pupils were more likely to be labelled as ‘Clowns’ and put in low sets.

Gillborn and Youdell - teachers assume that working class students won’t do well in exams, placing them in the ‘hopeless cases’ category in the educational triage. This meant they were put in low sets with the weakest teachers and entered for lower tier exam papers.

Question 40

Which gender tend to be top set?

Answer 40

Girls

Question 41

Which sociologist argues that girls tend to be in top set?

Answer 41

Francis - girls are placed in higher sets because they are seen as more capable and hard working.

Question 42

Which gender tend to be bottom set?

Answer 42

Boys

Question 43

Which ethnicity tends to be top set?
And why

Answer 43

Chinese and Indian

Perceived as more intelligent and placed in the higher sets.

Question 44

Which ethnicity tend to be bottom set?

Answer 44

Black Caribbean students

Question 45

Which sociologist argues that black Caribbean students tend to be on bottom set?

Answer 45

Gillborn found that teachers stereotyped black children, placing them in lower sets because they believed they wouldn’t achieve academic success. This meant that they were placed at the bottom of the educational triage and left in the ‘hopeless cases’ category.

Question 46

The hidden curriculum

Answer 46

The hidden curriculum refers to all of the things students learn by being at school, which are not formally taught in lessons e.g. dealing with boring lessons, not to mess with the ‘cool’ kids, respecting teachers.

Question 47

National curriculum
Functionalists

Answer 47

functionalists argue that the hidden curriculum is an important part of socialisation teaching us universalistic values needed to be full members in a meritocratic society.

Question 48

National curriculum
Marxists

Answer 48

Marxists, on the other hand, argue that the hidden curriculum maintains social class divisions by suggesting that working class students are inferior to middle class students,
preparine working class students to accept this in their future jobs.

Question 49

National curriculum
Feminists

Answer 49

Feminists argue that the hidden curriculum simply reproduces patriarchy, for example, suggesting that some subjects are girly’ subjects or allowing boys to dominate in the playground.

Question 50

The hidden curriculum
Social class

Answer 50

Marxists, Bowles and Gintis the correspondence principle) argue that behaviour such as punctuality, obedience and respect for authority prepare the working classes for the world of work where they will be exploited and expected to follow all requests.

Question 51

The hidden curriculum
Gender

Answer 51

Gender stereotyping in books.
Best found that males and females were stereotyped in children’s reading books e.g. men were presented as active heroes, whilst women were presented as passive.

Question 52

The hidden curriculum
Ethnicity

Answer 52

The hidden curriculum may reinforce ethnocentricism through, for example, the uniform or arrangements for PE, which may conflict with cultural norms.

Question 53

The curriculum

Answer 53

The curriculum is what is formally taught in schools. The National Curriculum was introduced in the 1988 Education Reform Act. The curriculum affects different social groups in various ways.

Question 54

The Curriculum

The curriculum affects different social groups in various ways:

Answer 54

Social class
Gender
Ethnicity

Question 55

The Curriculum

The curriculum’s affects on social class:
White

Answer 55

White argues that the curriculum is based around middle class knowledge - children learn about middle class authors, poets, artists etc. which gives middle class students an advantage over working class students who are unfamiliar with what they’re learning about.

Question 56

The Curriculum

The curriculum’s affects on social class:
Marxist, Bourdieu

Answer 56

Marxist, Bourdieu, agrees that the curriculum reflects middle class habitus, not society as a whole. Bourdieu argues that possession of cultural capital also gives middle class children an advantage, for example, they already know about the middle class books and poems taught in English lessons because their parents talk about them or taken them to see theatre shows. Working class students, on the other hand, are disadvantaged because they lack cultural capital and are not familiar with the middle class knowledge taught in school.

Question 57

The Curriculum

The curriculum’s affects on gender:

Answer 57

Gender differences in achievement may be reinforced through the curriculum, for example, the introduction of coursework seemed to benefit girls who tend to be neat, tidy and more organised than boys (Mitsos and Browne).

Question 58

The Curriculum

The curriculum’s affects on gender:
Feminists

Answer 58

Feminists argue that the curriculum spreads patriarchal ideology, for example, the use of particular texts or periods in history e.g. A handmaid’s tale where fertile women are forced to have sex with men, resulting in students’ thinking that women are subordinate to men. In addition, the curriculum often ignores the contribution of women in particular subjects such as science, which may discourage girls from taking science further.

Question 59

The Curriculum

The curriculum’s affects on ethnicity:

Answer 59

Some sociologists claim that the curriculum is ethnocentric - white British culture is seen as superior to all other cultures (which are deemed unimportant or ignored).

Question 60

The Curriculum

The curriculum’s affects on ethnicity:
Coard

Answer 60

Coard argues that History lessons are taught from a white British perspective and that when black history is covered, it focuses on negative things like slavery, which can lead to low self-esteem among black students. Other examples of how the curriculum is ethnocentric include History focusing on white British leaders only and focusing on White British literature, music and arts.

Question 61

Pupil identities

Answer 61

Pupils’ identities are developed through their schooling - their identities are policed (watched and controlled) by their peers and teachers.

Question 62

Pupil identities
Marxist, Bourdieu

Answer 62

argues that because schools have a middle class habitus, middle class pupils earn symbolic capital (status and recognition). Whereas, working class habitus is seen as inferior and they experience symbolic violence, as their culture is devalued and they’re forced to learn middle class knowledge, which they feel uncomfortable with and start to believe education is not for them. Schools reproduce pupils’ social class identities: middle class pupils learn that they’re the dominant, superior social class and they “ go on to do high-status, well-pa jobs. Whereas, working class pupils are led to believe they’re inferior and not good enough for University and that they’ll end up in low-status, low paid jobs.

Question 63

Pupil identities
Who studied working class girls’ id writes and school?

Answer 63

Archer studied working class girls’ identities and school. They felt uncomfortable in the school’s middle class habitus, believing education was not for them.
This symbolic violence led them to find alternative ways of creating status and self-worth. They did so by creating a ‘sexy Nike’ appearance; wearing Nike trainers, having nice hair and make-up. This earned them symbolic capital from their peers (status and respect). The girls’ would self-police (monitor and control) each other’s appearance; if they didn’t look good, their peers would give them a hard time.

Thus experiences at school led the girls to create a ‘sexy Nike’ identity to distinguish themselves from middle class girls and feel good about being working class.

Question 64

Pupil identities
Pupils’ gender identities are shaped by

Answer 64

the ‘male gaze’ - the ways in which male teachers and pupils ‘look girls up and down’, making judgements about the appearance of girls.

Question 65

Pupil identities
Who talks about the male gaze?

Answer 65

Mac an Ghaill

Mac an Ghaill argues that the ‘male gaze’ reinforces dominant heterosexual masculinity and devalues femininity. For example, boys telling their friends about how far they got with a girl. As a result, girls think women should be pretty and look good.

Question 66

Pupil identities
Sewell

Answer 66

Sewell argues that black Caribbean boys turn to their peers for acceptance, as they felt rejected by other areas of society including school. They felt like the only people who understand them are their peers. In addition, Sewell argues that some black Caribbean boys identify with a ‘gangsta’ image found in the media and may attempt to copy a hyper masculine identity.