Internal Class Factors Flashcards
What internal factors affect class achievement?
Labelling Self-fulfilling prophecy Streaming Pupil Subculture Pupil Identity
How does labelling affect class achievement?
Becker: Teachers judge pupils according to how closely they fit an image of the ‘ideal pupil’. Middle-class children are the closest to the ideal but working-class children are further from the ideal pupils.
Dunne and Grazeley: Teachers normalised working-class underachievement and felt that they could do nothing about it but put more time into helping underachieving middle-class students.
Middle-class parents are labelled as more supportive but working-class parents are labelled as uninterested in their child’s education.
Teachers are more likely to label working-class pupils negatively and therefore could create low achievement by expecting it e.g. entering working-class pupils for easier exams.
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
When the prediction becomes true.
How does the self-fulfilling prophecy effect class achievement?
Rosenthal and Jacobson: Told teachers that some of their students were late bloomers.
The teachers treated those students differently and they improved but if teachers have low expectations of certain children, they could see themselves as failures.
Shows that teacher expectations impact on performance.
What is streaming?
Separating children into different ability groups or classes.
How does streaming affect class achievement?
Becker: Working class children are rarely seen as the ideal pupil and placed in lower streams where it's difficult to move up to progress. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where the pupils live up to their teachers' low expectations by underachieving.
Douglas: Middle-class pupils are likely to be placed in higher streams which makes them work harder and improve their grades.
What do Gillborn and Youdell argue about streaming?
Teachers use stereotypes to stream pupils and enter working-class (and black) pupils into lower exams which denies them the knowledge and opportunity to gain good grades.
How do Gillborn and Youdell link streaming to the A-C economy?
Middle class children are desirable as they achieve better but working class children hinder progression up the league table. Schools focus on students who have the potential to succeed.
What is A-C economy?
A system in which schools focus their time, effort and resources on pupils who have the potential to get 5 grade Cs.
What is the educational triage?
Schools sort pupils into one of three groups:
Those who will pass
Those who can pass with help
Those who will fail
How does educational triage affect class achievement?
Teachers sort pupils into groups using stereotypes of working-class (and black) pupils as lacking ability which produces self-fulfilling prophecy and failure.
What is pupil subculture?
A group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns, usually resulted from labelling and streaming.
Who came up with differentiation and polarisation?
Lacey
What is differentiation?
The process of teachers sorting pupils according to how they view their ability, attitude, or behaviour.
What is polarisation?
Pupils respond to streaming by moving towards pro-school subculture or anti-school subculture.
