Relationships and Processes within schools Flashcards
What is the hidden curriculum?
The hidden curriculum is the set of social norms and values schools pass on along with the formal curriculum
What are some aspects of the hidden curriculum?
- Dressing smartly
- Working hard to achieve rewards
- Arriving on time
- Hierarchy - respect for authority
- Punishments
What is the basis of the labelling theory?
The labelling theory states that people decide on the characters of others and treat them accordingly whether the label is fair or not
What is the importance of the labelling theory?
Labels are an important part of teacher-pupil relationships
- If labelled as a troublemaker a child is disciplined more harshly
- If a student is labelled as a bright spark is given encouragement to help them succeed even further
What can the labelling theory create?
The labelling theory can create the self-fulfilling prophecy where a student internalises the label they’ve been given as their identity
What are the different ways of organising teacher in a school?
- Streaming
- Setting
- Mixed ability
What is streaming? `
Students are sorted into classes according to ability and they stay in these groups for all or most of their subjects
What is setting?
Students are sorted into classes according to ability but on a subject-by-subject basis
What is a mixed ability?
Students are sorted into classes that arent based on ability, so that the highest and lowest achieving students are taught together
What are the main arguments in favour of streaming and setting?
Students can work at their own level and pace
What is a problem with streaming?
Students are likely to be better at some subjects than others so some bottom stream students are not challenge enough in certain subjects
What did Ball (1981) find when investigating setting and streaming?
He found the students in high ability groups were given more attention and encouragement, and those in lower classes were given negative labels and performed poorly
What is a negative of Mixed ability classes?
Teachers still hold low expectations for lower ability students and often lower the level of their teaching to suit them .
- Means the work is not challenging enough for higher ability students
What is a subculture?
A subculture is a group who share ideas and behaviour patterns which are different from the mainstream culture
What arre the two common discussed cultures in school?
Anti school or Pro school
What effect do subcultures have on student achievement?
They can have a positive or negative effect
What did Lacey (1970) believe resulted in subcultures?
- Claimed it was a result of streaming
- Conducted a study in a grammar school - all students are selected as bright at age 11
- Bottom stream pupils still formed an anti-school subculture because they were labelled as failures
What did Fuller (1984) believe resulted in subcultures?
- Conducted a student of high ability black girls in year 11
- Felt their teachers were racist so they ‘did not work for their teachers approval’
- Formed a subculture, worked alone and succeeded
What did Willis (1977) believe resulted in subcultures?
- Studied a group of boys who had formed an anti school subculture
- Called themselves ‘the lads’ found that they deliberately disrupted lessons as a way of gaining respect from others within the subculture
- Observed that these boys were working-class and likely to et manual jobs
- Seemed to believe that school was of no use to them in the future
What does looking at a students identity do?
It brings together factors such as labelling, self fulfilling prophecies, the organisation of teaching and subcultures as a way of identifying the effects of each factor
What is an example of looking at an identity?
A pupil may identify themselves as ‘non-academic’ which could have begun due to a teacher label but the biggest factor now may be as a result of a subculture
What is a disadvantage of studying a students identity?
Pupils identity is very complex and using identity to look at a specific process within school on achievement is very difficult
