Education and Interactionalism Flashcards
What do interactionalists focus on?
The interactions of individuals
What type of research methods do interactionalists use?
Qualative
What type of theroy is interactionalism?
A micro theory. They want to know what actually happens on a day to day basis within schools
What’s labelling?
To attach a meaning to a person, ie saying that somebody is a trouble maker
What’s a self fulfilling prophecy?
When a person lives up to a label they were given because they were given it
What did Howard Becker come up with?
Labelling theory. The idea that a teacher labels a person in a particular way, based on how closely they fit the idea of an ideal pupil. The teacher acts a certain way towards that pupil, sometimes resulting in a self fulfilling prophecy.
What’s the halo effect?
Where one impression/ judgment effects others. For example if a teacher sees a pupil as polite they might also view them as bright/hardworking.
What did Dunne and Gazeley come up with?
Labelling in secondary schools. They found that teachers normalised the under achievement of working class students and seemed concerned by the same in middle class pupils. They labeled working class parents as uninterested and middle class as supportive. Teachers explained and dealt with underachievement in different ways which lead to differences inn attainment.
What study did Rosenthal and Jacobson come up with?
They conducted a study in schools in America. They told teachers that 20 students did better on an IQ test than the rest of their classmates, when they in fact didn’t. Teachers were then observed to treat these students differently and the students began to think of themselves as better than the others. The 20 students made the most improvement at the end of the year, this was called the Pygmalion effect.
What did Ball come up with?
He studied the banding in a comprehensive school. Students were put into 3 bands based on the grades they got in primary school and personal details such as the profession of their father. The children with the working class background were more likely to be put into lower bands. This lead to progressive deteoriation of the pupils, such as non conformity as they saw the unjust system. They were put into lower gsce and a level and were less likely to succeed in life.
What did Gillborn and Youdell study?
They examined the way teachers thought about pupils and their subconscious actions. They studied how labels have a detrimental effect on students. Teachers tend to see ability as fixed, middle class students were more likely to be seen as ideal pupils, with higher levels of ability. Pupils who did not fir the ideal were often setted differently and therefore at a disadvantage. This often linked with ethnicity. They also identified the educational triage: those who will pass anyway so can be left alone, those who are doomed to fail and those who have potential and will be helped to get a C grade or better. They also linked it to school league tables, calling it the A to C economy.
What did Sutton discover?
Asian girls are more likely to be seen as the ideal student. This links to the halo effect and then them being able to more highly achieve.
What did Lacey come up with?
Pupil Sub culture
What’s a pro-school sub culture?
Where pupils are placed in high streams and tend to be committed to the values of the school. They gain their status through academic success in the approved manner.
What’s an anti school sub culture?
When pupils tend to be placed in low streams, making them suffer with low self esteem. In response to their low status, the pupil begins to invert the schools values, doing things like not doing the homework.
