Relationships and processes in education Flashcards
What is the hidden curriculum?
Unwritten rules, values and normative patterns of behavior that students are expected to conform to and learn in school
- contrasts to the ‘formal’ curriculum of subjects and lessons designed by government, exam boards etc.
What is taught through the hidden curriculum?
- Respecting authority
- Respect for other pupils opinions
- Punctuality
- Aspiring to achieve
- Having a ‘work ethic’
What’s a critique of hidden curriculum?
Most of the expected patterns of behavior are formally encoded in school rules = not hidden
- students have to formally agree through the school tutorial system
- school ethos may be a more relevant concept
What do marxists think about the hidden curriculum?
Mentioned by Bowles and Gintis in correspondence principle
> norms taught got children ready for future exploitation at work
> accepting teachers authority got children ready for accepting managers authority later in work
> Learning values part of ideological control
What is school ethos?
Refer to the character, atmosphere or ‘climate of the school’
What’s an example of school ethos?
- emphasis on academic success and/or artistic or sport achievements
- emphasis on equal opportunities = focus on helping disadvantaged students
- emphasis on respect for diversity = promote multiculturalism, anti racism and sexism
When is school ethos most relevant?
When trying to understand what’s different about elite education in the very top public schools such as Eton and Harrow
What is the school ethos of elite schools?
Teach pupils that they’re part of the ruling elite
- pupils come to the end of their schooling feeling as if they belong in the global elite = middle/upper class jobs
Who conducted marketing research?
Gillborn and Youdell
What did G&Y argue?
Publishing league tables leads to A-C economy (system which schools ration their time and effort on pupils seen as having potential to get A-C’s at GCSE = boosted league table position)
What are 3 types of students identified by G&Y?
1) Students that are going to fail regardless
2) Students that need work but have potential
3) Students that are going to excel and need less attention
What is labelling?
Attach a meaning or definition to someone
What does labelling look like in education?
Teachers may label someone as intelligent or troublesome
- students show that teachers attach labels based on class rather than actual ability
- Negative labels to working class and positive to middle class
Who speaks about self fulfilling prophecy and teachers?
Hargreaves et al
What did Hargreaves et al say?
Teachers have a very limited idea about their students identity when they first enroll based on the area they came from = have to build an image throughout school year
What are the 3 stages of classification?
Speculation: make guesses about the type of student (tentative about typing, willing to amend views)
Elaboration: hypothesis tested, confirmed or contradicted - typing refined
Stabilization: teacher feels they know the students, little difficulty making sense of their actions (interpreted based on general type of student)
What was the study Rosenthal and Jacobsen conducted?
Pygmalion in the classroom
- field experiment
- told a school they had a new test (standard IQ test) designed to identify spurters
- selected 20% students at random and claimed they were future spurters
- returned a year later = 47% of spurters shown significant progress
