EDUCATION - INTERNAL Class differences in achievement Flashcards
INTERNAL
Labelling
Becker
Becker carried out a small interactionist labelling study in 1971
He used interviews with 60 Chicago High school teachers and found they judged pupils based on their similarities with the ‘ideal pupil’
Work, conduct and appearance all influenced their judgement. M.C backgrounds were closest to ideal… W.C were furthest away.
INTERNAL
Labelling
Hemel-Jorgensen PRIMARY
This was a study of two English primary schools in 2009.
In Aspen, a W.C area, behaviour was a major issue. The ideal pupil was defined as passive and quiet.
Students were judged based on behaviour and not on ability.
Rowan school = mainly M.C and so the ideal pupil was defined based on academic ability and not behaviour.
INTERNAL
Labelling
Dunne + Gazeley SECONDARY
They argue that schools encourage and produce W.C underachievement because of teacher labelling. They used interviews from 9 English state schools to find that teachers became used to underachievement and normalised it for the W.C pupils though they believed they could change the underachievement of M.C pupils… this happened because they labelled W.C parents as uninterested but labelled M.C parents as caring. The W.C pupils were entered into easier exams etc.
INTERNAL
Self-fulfilling prophecy
The three steps
- Teacher labels pupil and makes predictions of the pupil
- Teacher treats pupil accordingly.
- Pupil internalises this expectation and it becomes part of their self-image.
INTERNAL
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Rosenthal and Jacobsen 1968
They studied Oak Community School, a primary in California.
They told staff they had a test to determine what pupils would grow faster… this was untrue because it was just an IQ test.
They tested the students and randomly picked 20% and labelled them ‘spurters’.
One year on, 47% of the ‘spurters’ made huge progress. The younger the child, the greater the effect.
The teachers changed their behaviour towards the S… spending more time with them and their body language.
This was a key interactionist perspective… and outlined the dangers of producing under-achievement through self-fulfilling prophecies
INTERNAL
Streaming
Why is it negative?
Douglas
The separation of children based on their ability reiterates the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Once W.C are streamed, they find it difficult to move to a higher seat. The children understand that their teachers do not think they are capable. M.C pupils tend to benefit because they develop positive self-concepts and are placed in higher sets.
Douglas found students placed in lower streams had IQ scores lowered by 11, when set in a lower stream at age 8 - this is the opposite for M.C students.
INTERNAL
Streaming
A-C Economy
Gillborn and Youdell 2001
This explores how teachers use stereotypes to stream and band children… teachers, consequently, were less likely to see W.C and Black students as having ability.
These pupils were placed in lower streams and were forced to sit lower tier GCSEs. They were not given the opportunity to be successful… these sociologists link streaming to the publishing of league tables.
They rank schools based on exam performance and use criteria such as the percentage of students gaining 5+ GCSEs A*-C grades which creates an economy where schools only focus on the pupils who have the potential to get 5 grade Cs or more to boost the school’s league table position within the country.
INTERNAL
Streaming
Educational Triage
Gillborn and Youdell 2001
The term triage was used to separate soldiers on the battlefield according to how serious their injuries were.
There are three segments:
- Walking wounded.. who can be ignored because they can survive.
- Those who die anyway and will be ignored because there are 0 chances of survival.
- Those who have a chance of survival and can be prioritised.
The A-C economy produced triage because pupils are split to those who will get a C, those with the potential to get a C or higher, and those doomed to fail.
INTERNAL
Pupil subcultures
Lacey
What is differentiation and polarisation?
Differentiation + Polarisation
Differentiation is the process of categorising pupils according to how their ability is perceived. Streaming is a form of differentiation because those who are deemed able, are placed in higher streams.
Polarisation is the process where pupils respond to the stream by moving two extreme opposites
INTERNAL
Pupil subcultures
Lacey and Hightown Grammar School
Lacey explores how differentiation and polarisation happened at this Grammar school where there were two subcultures:
Pro School - pupils placed in the higher streams remained loyal to the values of the school and so they gained status through academic success.
Anti School - students placed in lower streams suffered self-esteem losses because the school placed them in an inferior status. The label of failure pushes them towards alternative ways of gaining status e.g., upturning school values of hard work. Joining the subculture solves the issues of lacking status but endorses the failure of the self-fulfilling prophecy.
INTERNAL
Pupil subcultures
Hargreaves 1967 - pupil subcultures as a pathway to educational failure
Found a similar response to streaming in a secondary modern school.
Boys in the lower streams were subject to triple failures because they failed the 11+, were placed in lower streams, and were labelled as failures.
Pupils formed groups where high status was awarded to those snubbing school rules… they formed a subculture which guaranteed failure - sort of like the crime and deviance paper with Cohen’s status frustration and alternative status hierarchy.
INTERNAL
Streaming + subcultures
Stephen Ball 1981
Beachside school - a comprehensive in the process of disbanding banding to teach in mixed ability groups
78% of year 8 pupils in the middle band were W.C in comparison to the 36% in the top bands.
Banding abolished? Polarisation removed and anti-school subcultures’ influence declined.
It was superficial… Teachers still categorised pupils differently and labelled W.C students as uncooperative.
Positive labels were reflected in better exam results
INTERNAL
Pupil subcultures
Significance of Ball’s study
It proved that self-fulfilling prophecies happen regardless of streaming or subcultures.
Since Ball’s study and the ERA in 1988, there has been a trend towards more streaming. Some schools have more academic curriculums than others which means schools have the opportunity to differentiate based on class or gender or ethnicity.
INTERNAL
Pupil subcultures
Woods 1979 - Pupil responses to labelling + streaming
Recognised 4 responses:
Ingratiation - teachers pet
Ritualism - staying out of trouble
Retreatism - daydreaming and messing about
Rebellion - rejecting everything the school stands for
CRITICISMS OF LABELLING THEORY
Interactionists fail to address determinism = the assumption that the pupils who are labelled have no choice but to fulfil them
Marxists also believe that they ignore wider structures of power within society… the labelling theory blames teachers but failed to explain why they label the way they do. Marxists believe that labels are not because of individual prejudice but because of a system that reproduces class division
