Internal Factors (1) Labelling, Identities and Responses Flashcards
How are Asian pupils labelled compared to black students?
Interactionists studies show black students are seen as disruptive and Asian as passive.
What do Gillborn and Youdell argue?
- They argue teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils due to ‘racialised expectations’ as they misinterpret their behaviour.
- Pupils felt underestimated and responded negatively to teachers picking on them.
- They concluded this conflict between white teachers and black pupils stem from racial stereotypes
What does Bourne argue?
She found schools see black boys as a threat and label them negatively, leading to exclusion, explaining the higher rate of exclusions in black pupils. This affects achievement as 1 in 5 pupils who are excluded achieve 5 GCSEs
What does Osler argue?
Black pupils are more likely to suffer from unofficial exclusions, send out of class, and sent to pupil referral units that exclude them to access to mainstream culture
Describe black pupils in streaming
Gillborn and Youdell found due to negative labels, black students are in bottom sets and treated as ‘hopeless cases’ due to the A-C economy
How are Asian pupils affected by labelling?
- Wright (1992) found teachers assumed they had a poor grasp of English and left them out of discussion or used simplistic language when speaking to them
- They felt isolated when teachers disapproved their customs or mispronounced their name
- Teacher saw them not as a threat, not a problem they could ignore.
- Asian pupils were marginalised, preventing from participating
Describe the three different pupil identities constructed by dominant discourse that Archer argues
- Ideal pupil: White, middle class, masculinised identity, normal sexuality. This pupil achieves in the ‘right way’, natural ability and initiative
- Pathologised pupil: Asian, ‘deserving poor’, asexual or oppressed sexuality. This pupil is a conformists and culture, achieves through hard work.
- Demonised pupil: black or white working class, hyper-sexualised. This pupil is peer-led, culturally deprived and underachiever
How are Chinese students views by teachers?
- Archer argues they are seen as successful, but through the ‘wrong’ way, hard work rather than natural ability.
- They stereotypes Chinese families as ‘tight’ using this to explain girls’ passivity. and tended to wrongly stereotype them as middle-class
- This shows that ethnic achievement is only seen as ‘over-achievement’ since ‘proper’ achievement is natural and white
Describe Fuller’s study of rejecting negative labels
- Study of a group black girls in year 11, who channelled their anger about labelling into the pursuit of educational success
- This shows that pupils can still succeed even if they refuse to conform and negative labelling doesn’t always leads to failure
Describe Mac an Ghail’s study of rejecting negative labels
- Study of black and Asian A-level students at sixth form showed that students responded to labelling differently based on ethnic group, gender and nature of former school
- Means a label doesn’t inevitably produce a self-fulling prophecy
Describe Mirza’s study of failed strategies for avoiding racism
- Studied ambitious black girls who faced teacher racism that discouraged them from being ambitious through advice on career and option choices
- Much of girls’ time at school was spent avoiding effects of teachers’ negative attitudes
Describe Sewell’s study on the variety of boys’ responses
- He found 4 responses, rebels who were anti-school, conformists who accepted school goals, retreatists who were isolated individuals and innovators who were pro-education but anti-school
- Teachers tend to see all black boys as rebels as rebels, contributing to underachievement
– Many of the boys’ negative attitudes are a response to this
