LABELLING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Question 1

Dunne and Gazeley (2008)

Answer 1

Schools persistently produce working-class underachievement because of the labels and assumptions of teachers

Question 2

Interviews in 9 English state secondary schools (D and G; 2008)

Answer 2

a. Teachers normalised the underachievement of working class, seemed unconcerned by it and felt that there was nothing they could do about it
b. With middle-class pupils, they believed they could overcome their underachievement

Question 3

What was the major reasons for these discrepancies?

Answer 3

a. Home backgrounds
b. Working-class parents were labelled as being uninterested in their child’s education
c. Middle-class parents were labelled as supportive