Internal Factors- Teacher Labelling

Question 1

What did Becker Research + Discover about Teacher Labelling?

criticism (H-J)

Answer 1

-Interviewed 60 Highschool teachers in Chicago (1960s)
- Found that teachers have an ideal image of a pupil in their minds & they use this to compare their students to-this is what their labelling is based off
- Found that MC are closer to this image than WC
- 2009: Hemple-Jorgenson = Neighbourhoods are class-based meaning in a school kids are all of same class so teachers can’t favour MC over WC
(argues theory is out of date)

Question 2

What did Dunne and Gazeley Research + Discover about Teacher Labelling?

criticism

Answer 2

-9 state highschools in England
-Teachers normalised underachievment of WC students (assumed they would fail + if they’re doing badly there is nothing they could do)
-Teachers also label WC parents negatively (ignore them, have no conversations unlike with MC)
-Deterministic (assumes human beings have no free will- they could have motivation to prove teacher wrong for example)

Question 3

What did Rist Research + Discover about Teacher Labelling?

Criticism

Answer 3

-Found that within a week, teachers had made a seating plan based off class
-Nicknamed MC children Tigers + WC children clowns & cardinals. MC sat at front & WC at back
-Teachers looked up info about home backgrounds (made judgements)
Criticism: Blames teachers, doesn’t tell us the results e.g the achievement of children after highschool. Why do teachers do this? –> proof but no explanation

Studied US Kindergarten

Question 4

What did Rosenthal and Jacobson + Discover about Teacher Labelling?

Answer 4

Oak Community School, California
Told teachers that they had created a test to see who would be ‘spurters’. This was a fake IQ test & they randomly picked and informed teachers that 20% of the students were spurters. 47% of these ‘spurters’ made progress. –> Teachers conveyed these beliefs in the way that they taught their students. Label became students self-image (Self-fullfilling Prophecy)
Deterministic, excludes other wider structures e.g classism, unethical research as 80% weren’t ‘spurters’ - impacted their learning, lacks generalisation, small sample

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