relationships and processes within schools Flashcards
Teacher pupil interactions
Teachers are actively judging and typing students in various ways including their ability, personality and behaviour, whether they are average or deviant in these respects. Interaction based on these attitudes can shape students self concepts and identities, how they see and define themselves.
Becker - 1971 - the ideal pupil
first discovered that teachers initially evaluate pupils in relation to their stereotypes of the ‘ideal pupil’
‘ideal pupil’ who was intelligent, motivated and well behaved. In the classroom, teachers judged their pupils against this model, labelling them
who fitted The ideal pupil label best
middle class students
what is a stereotype
stereotype is a generalised, over-simplified view of the features of a social group –allowing for few differences between members of the group.
what did Becker conclude
teacher attitudes are crucial in the way they affect students’ self-images and consequently their attainment.
Hempel Jorgenson - 2009
can be used to prove that becker ideal pupil is still in modern contemporary society
year long study, 12 primary schools, Hampshire
asked children what they think their teachers would like to see in classroom; most said stay out of trouble, good behaviour, listening, rules, good scores
what research methods did HJ use
observation and conversation with children and semi-structured interviews with teachers
what did HJ conclude
this influences how they view themselves and how they view their classmates and that conceptions of ‘ideal pupil’ and ’ideal learner’ had arisen out of daily interactions in the classroom.
what is meant by the self fulfilling prophecy
where people act in response to expectations of them, thereby making the expectation come true
what did Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968 California) find about the SFP
They found a randomly chosen group of students whom teachers were told were bright and could be expected to make good progress, did in fact make greater progress – unrelated to ability - than those not so labelled.
Hartley and Sutton (2011)
stereotyped expectations and labelling from teachers, peers, parents and the media are generating a self – fulfilling prophecy in the performance of boys.
Hartley and Sutton study involved…
Their study of 140 children in 3 Kent primary schools allocated children to 2 groups, the first were told that boys do not perform as well as girls and the others not. They were then tested in maths reading and writing. Boys in the first group performed significantly worse than those in the second. Girls overall performance was similar in both groups. They proposed wider society contributed to boys under performance by routinely using phrases like ‘silly boys’, ‘school boy pranks….’
Banding, streaming and setting are ways of grouping students according to their actual or predicted ability. what are the differences between them?
Banding is where schools try to ensure their intakes have a spread of pupils drawn from all ability bands. Streaming students are divided into groups of similar ability for all subjects. Setting refers to dividing students into groups of the same ability for each subject
what are the consequences of banding, streaming and setting
The allocation of students to differentiated groups can be a consequence of teacher labelling. Student perceptions about the set they are placed in affects their efforts and their pupil identity, contributing to the processes of self- fulfilling prophecy and the development student subcultures.
Ball (1981)
placed in a low stream undermined student confidence and discouraged from trying. Top stream students were ’warmed up’ by encouragement to achieve highly and to follow academic courses of study. Lower stream students were ‘cooled out’, encouraged to follow lower status vocational courses and were less qualified
where did ball (1981) do his research
beachside comprehensive
what did Smyth (2006) confirm
lower stream students have more negative attitudes to school and were more likely to disengage from school life. This suggests that streaming has harmful effects on the identities of young people labelled of low ability, damages self- esteem and attainment.
what are pupil subcultures
groups of students who share values, norms and behaviour which give them a sense of group identity, belonging and peer status during the schooling process
what did Mac and Ghaill (1944) find
conformist pro school subculture emerged in two male groups which he called the ‘Academic Achievers’ and ‘New Enterprisers’(vocational subjects such as technology and computers) who were skilled manual WC white and Asian students who were aspiring to MC careers.
what is the hidden curriculum/what does it involve
‘learnt’ from daily school routines that is not the formal taught subject knowledge. The hidden curriculum instils values, attitudes and behaviours. It includes the school ethos, the character and attitude of the school. E.g. how the school defines success, academic emphasis, creative or sporting. The importance of self- development, its pursuit of equal opportunities or the tolerance of sexism or racism. Whether students and parents are involved in decision making.
hidden curriculum vs actual curriculum
actual curriculum may give overt and subliminal messages – whilst learning history we learn what our culture prioritises as important, equally what is not featured is a strong message about worth
Ball (1994)
criticises the National Curriculum for ignoring ethnic diversity and promoting an attitude of ‘Little Englandism’ - a mythical age of empire and past glories, ignoring the history of black and Asian people.
the interactionist approach- fuller
Fuller (1980) found that some black girls subject to negative labelling and placed in low streams consciously chose to reject such labels and strived to prove teachers wrong by achieving educational success.
