Internal Factors

Question 1

key internal factors

Answer 1

Labelling and SFP
Streaming
Pupil Subcultures
Social Class identities

Question 2

key sociologists behind labelling

Answer 2

Becker
Rist - labelling in primary schools
Dunne and Gazaley - Labelling in Secondary Schools

Question 3

what is labelling

Answer 3

To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them.

Question 4

what do studies show about teacher labelling

Answer 4

Studies show that teachers often give labels regardless of pupil’s ability or attitude instead they base labels on stereotypes and assumptions they make about the social class background.

Question 5

becker’s study of labelling

Answer 5

Becker carried out a study based on interviews with 60 Chicago high school teachers, he found that teachers judged students on how closely they fit their image of an ideal pupil, students from middle-class backgrounds meet the ideal, working-class students do not

Question 6

sociologist behind labeling in primary schools

Answer 6

Rist

Question 7

labelling in primary schools

Answer 7

Labelling occurs from the outset of a child’s educational career, Rist in his study of an American kindergarten class found that teachers used information about a student’s home background and appearance to place them in separate groups and seat them at different tables. Middle-class students were labelled as tigers and were favoured and put in more desirable groups/seats at the front of the classroom while working class students were seated further away and given little encouragement as they were labelled as clowns

Question 8

sociologist behind labelling in secondary schools

Answer 8

Dunne and Gazeley

Question 9

labelling in secondary schools

Answer 9

Dunne and Gazaley argue that schools persistently produce working-class underachievement because of the labels and assumptions of teachers. They interviewed teachers in 9 English state schools and found that teachers normalise working class underachievement, they were not concerned by it and felt there was little they could do about it, they found that teachers assumed the parents of WC students were uninterested.

Question 10

what does labelling lead to

Answer 10

self fulfilling prophecy

Question 11

what is self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 11

A prediction that comes true simply because it has been made

Question 12

steps that lead to SFP

Answer 12

1. Teacher labels students
2. Teacher makes predictions based on label
3. Teacher treats pupil according to the label/prediction
4. Student internalises the teacher’s label and reacts accordingly
5. Predictions become true

Question 13

what sociologist is behind SFP

Answer 13

Rosenthal and Jacobson

Question 14

Rosenthal and Jacobson study of SFP

Answer 14

Rosenthal and Jacobson in their study for a California primary school showed SFP at work. They told the school that they had a new test specially designed to identify those who would spurt ahead and the teachers believed them but the test was simply a standard test. They tested all the pupils and then picked 20% of them at random and told the school that the test had identified these children as spurters. A year later almost half identified as spurters had made significant progress in school.

Question 15

what is streaming

Answer 15

This involves separating children into different groups or streams based on ability, each group is then taught separately for each subject.

Question 16

what is likely to occur when pupils are streamed

Answer 16

SFP

Question 17

who are more likely to find themselves in lower streams

Answer 17

The working class are more likely to be put in lower streams

Question 18

what happens once streamed

Answer 18

Once streamed, it is usually difficult to move up or down a stream, children become locked into their teacher’s expectations of them and Children in lower streams get the message that their teachers have written them off as failures. This creates a SFP in which the pupils live up to their teacher’s low expectation of them and vice versa

Question 19

sociologists behind streaming

Answer 19

Douglas

Question 20

Douglas’s study of streaming

Answer 20

Douglas found that children placed in lower streams at the age of 8 had suffered a decline in their IQ score by the age of 11 but those in higher streams(typically MC) had seen an increase

Question 21

what is streaming connected to and according to who

Answer 21

Streaming is connected to the publishing of exam league tables according to Gillborn and Youdell

Question 22

what are league tables

Answer 22

League tables rank schools according to exam performance based on the % of those who achieve 5 or more GCSEs at A*-C

Question 23

what is the education triage

Answer 23

The rationing of educational resources with extra resources being aimed at those on C/D borderline

Question 24

what do league tables create and how

Answer 24

Schools want to be as high up the league tables as possible in order to attract pupils and funding, this creates an A-C economy in schools where schools focus all their time and energy on the pupils who have the potential to achieve 5A* - C, this creates the process of education triage

Question 25

where are working class pupils in the education triage

Answer 25

WC pupils are more likely to be labelled as 'hopeless cases' which results in lower levels of achievement for WC pupils.

Question 26

what are pupil subcultures

Answer 26

Pupil subcultures are groups of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns

Question 27

what are pupil subcultures a response to

Answer 27

They often emerge as a response to labelling and streaming

Question 28

sociologists for pupils subcultures

Answer 28

Lacey Hargreaves Ball Woods

Question 29

what are the two ways pupil subcultures develop and according to who

Answer 29

Lacey argues that there are two ways subcultures develop. Differentiation Polarisation

Question 30

differentiation

Answer 30

The process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and or behaviour. Streaming is a form of differentiation since it categories pupils into separate classes based on ability

Question 31

what is polarisation

Answer 31

The process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite poles or extremes.

Question 32

what does streaming polarise boys into

Answer 32

Lacey found that streaming polarised boys into a pro-school and an anti-school subculture

Question 33

what is a pro-school subculture

Answer 33

It is a subculture associated with the MC, pupils are placed in high streams that tend to remain committed to the values of the school, and they gain their status through academic success

Question 34

what is an anti-school subculture

Answer 34

Those placed in low streams, usually WC suffer a loss of self-esteem as they have an inferior status in the school, this label of failure pushes them to search for alternative ways of gaining status which often involves rejecting the schools values which leads to SFP of educational failure

Question 35

sociologist behind polarisation and differentiation

Answer 35

Lacey

Question 36

sociologist behind triple failures

Answer 36

Hargreaves

Question 37

what does Hargreaves argue

Answer 37

Hargreaves found a similar response to labelling and streaming in a secondary modern school. From the point of view of the education system, boys in lower streams were triple failures - they failed their 11+, they had been placed in lower streams and they had been labelled as worthless louts

Question 38

who studied abolishing streaming

Answer 38

Ball

Question 39

abolishing streaming

Answer 39

Ball studied Beachside School which was in the process of abolishing banding (a type of streaming) in favour of teaching mixed-ability groups, as banding produced the kind of polarization described by Lacey. Ball found that when the school abolished banding, the basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed and the influence of anti-subcultures declined

Question 40

what continued in Balls study and why

Answer 40

Though pupil polarisation had disappeared, differentiation continued. Teachers continued to categorise pupils differently and were more likely to label MC pupils positively. This positive labelling was reflected in better exam results, suggesting that a SFP had occurred

Question 41

what does Ball's study show

Answer 41

Ball's study shows that class inequality can continue as a result of teacher labelling even without the effect of subcultures or streaming

Question 42

sociologist behind various responses to labelling and streaming

Answer 42

Woods

Question 43

what does woods argue

Answer 43

Woods argues that there are more responses to labelling and streaming. Ingratiation - being the teacher's pet Ritualism - going through the motions and staying out of trouble Retreatism - daydreaming and mucking about Rebellion - the outright rejection of everything the school stands for

Question 44

pupil's class identities

Answer 44

Sociologists are interested in how a pupil's class identity interacts with the school

Question 45

sociologist behind pupil's class identities

Answer 45

Archer et al

Question 46

what did Archer focus on

Answer 46

Archer focused on working-class pupils' identities and how they produced underachievement and the concept of habitus

Question 47

what is habitus

Answer 47

This refers to the taken-for-granted ways of thinking and acting that are shared by a particular social class. It includes their preferences, and tastes about fashion and leisure as well as their outlook on life and what they class as normal for 'people like us'.

Question 48

how is a groups habitus formed

Answer 48

A group's habitus is formed as a response to its position in the class structure

Question 49

Middle Class Habitus

Answer 49

Schools tend to have a middle-class habitus. This is because the middle class see themselves as superior and therefore has the power to impose their habitus on the education system. This means that schools place a higher value on middle-class tastes, and preferences and therefore see these as more important. This gives the middle-class symbolic capital (status) over everyone else

Question 50

Working-Class Habitus

Answer 50

Schools tend to devalue working class habitus and see this as inferior and less important. Schools tend to see working-class ways of thinking as tasteless and worthless. Schools are therefore seen as withholding symbolic capital from the WC and creating symbolic violence (status conflict). In other words, it creates a conflict between MC habitus and WC habitus.

Question 51

what happens after school creates a conflict between MC habitus and WC habitus.

Answer 51

WC pupils find themselves fighting against the school and often feeling isolated. For example, Archer found that for working-class pupils to be successful at school they felt they had to lose themselves and become more MC. They had to change their habitus, many WC students are not prepared to do this and therefore settle for failure/underachievement

Question 52

what other ways do working-class students gain status

Answer 52

Through Nike Identities

Question 53

Nike Identity

Answer 53

Many WC students are conscious of the school looking down on them and look for other ways to be successful or gain symbolic capital (status) One way they do this is by creating a strong sense of class identity, which is linked heavily to branded clothing. WC students can find status in wearing branded clothing such as Nike

Question 54

how does Nike Identity led to conflict

Answer 54

Nike identity puts the WC in conflict with the middle-class habitus of the school as the Nike Identity/branded clothing does not fall in line with uniform regulations

Question 55

criticisms of labelling theory

Answer 55

It is too deterministic, it assumed that pupils who are labelled have no choice but to fulfil the prophecy and will inevitably fail Marxists criticise labelling theory for ignoring the wider structures of power within which labelling takes place, it fails to explain why labelling takes place and Marxists argue that it is because teachers work in a system that reproduces class inequalities and divisions not due to the teacher's individual prejudices