roles and processes in schools Flashcards
setting
placing students in groups according to ability in individual subjects.
streaming
placing students in groups according to ability across all
subjects.
ideal pupil
characteristics that a teacher
subconsciously looks for in a good pupil.
self fulfilling prophecy
when a pupil takes on the label that they have been by the school and acts accordingly.
characteristics of an ideal pupil
*Female
*White
*M/Class
*Quiet
Bernstein language codes - restricted code
*W/C
*Limited vocab
*Short unfinished sentences
*Grammatically simple
*Context bound
Bernstein language codes - elaborate code
*M/C
*Wide vocab
*Grammatically complex
*Varied and abstract
*Context free
labelling theory
*Labelling theory suggest that teachers often attach a label to a pupil that has little to do with their actual ability or aptitude.
*they form an opinion of the
student based on how close the students fit the ideal pupil.
*Becker suggests that teacher/ pupil interactions are based upon these labels and can lead to a self
fulfilling prophecy where the students take on the label and act accordingly.
labelling theory evaluation
*Deterministic
*Focuses on the negative effects
*Labelling theory attributes too much importance to ‘teacher agency’ – structural
sociologists might point out that schools themselves encourage teachers to label students
*Teacher training.
labelling theory reactions
*Self fulfilling prophecy
*Rejection of the label - Margaret Fuller’s (1984) research on black girls in a London comprehensive school found that the black girls she researched were labelled as
low-achievers, but their response to this negative labelling was to knuckle down and study hard to prove their teachers and the school wrong.
Rosenthal and Jacobson
*Pygmalion in the classroom.
*Fake IQ test given to students.
*Random 20% students
identified as bright, went back after a year and found that those students had made more progress then others.
Ray Rist
*US Primary school study.
*Teacher used home
background to group/segregate students.
*Tigers – Neat m/c, fast students.
*Cardinals – W/C middling ability.
*Clowns – W/C troublesome.
*Labels carried through later
years
Hempel Jorgenson
*Ideal pupil varies according
the make up of the school.
*Aspen – W/C school.
*Discipline was a problem. Ideal pupil is quiet, passive and obedient.
*Rowan – M/C school.
*Few dicispline problems. Ideal pupil is defined by personality &
academic ability rather than behaviour.
what did Becker find teachers see the ideal pupil as?
M/c, well-behaved and hardworking.
Douglas
Found m/c students received more encouragement leading to higher achievement.
Ball
Found streaming processes reproduce class inequality with m/c students in higher sets and w/c students in lower sets.
Gillborn and Youdell
Found black students are more likely to be placed in lower sets leading to educational underachievement.
Willis
The lads study - w/c boys resisted school but ended up in low-paying jobs proving the system benefits capitalism.
Bowles and Gintis
The hidden curriculum prepares students for exploitation in the capitalist workforce.
