social class differences in achievement (internal factors)

Question 1

What are the 5 internal factors in education?

Answer 1

labelling
self fulfilling prophecy
streaming
pupil subcultures
pupil’s class identities

Question 2

What type of sociologists are particularly interested in labelling for face to face interactions?

Answer 2

Interactionists (social action)

Question 3

What did Becker do his study on and what were his findings?

Answer 3

interviewed 60 chicago high school teachers
found they judged pupils based on how much they fit into the ideal pupil
pupils from m/c tended to be ideal pupil

Question 4

AO3 - different notions of ideal pupil

Answer 4

in largely w/c school - quiet, obedient, passive (behaviour not ability)

in largely m/c school - defined in personality and academic ability as there were few discipline problems

Question 5

What did Rist find about labelling in primary schools?

Answer 5

studied American kindergarteners
found teachers use info from their home life and place them on tables

CLOWNS AND CARDINALS - mainly w/c, given less opportunity and lower level books, sat far away from teacher

TIGERS - fast learners, mainly m/c, clean appearance, seated near teacher

Question 6

What is the process of self fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 6

step 1 - teacher labels pupil and make prediction from label
step 2 - teacher treats pupil accordingly
step 3 - pupil internalises label and become like that label

Question 7

What did Rosenthal and Jacobsen find in their study?

Answer 7

told school they had a test to see who would spurt ahead (was a normal IQ test in reality)
picked 20% randomly and said they were spurters
a year later found 47% of these had made significant progress
shows labels affect progress

Question 8

AO3 - labelling too deterministic

Answer 8

assumes all children labelled become that label

Question 9

AO3 - marxist disagreement

Answer 9

ignore wider structural inequalities that create labels
argue labels are not product of individual teachers but societal influences

Question 10

What did Becker find with streaming?

Answer 10

w/c pupils not seen as ideal and have low expectations so put in lower streams (sets)

Question 11

Who made streaming and A-C economy?

Answer 11

Gillborn and Youdell

Question 12

What did Gillborn and Youdell find?

Answer 12

teachers less likely to see w/c and black pupils as having ability so placed in lower streams
gives less opportunities
they publish exam league tables and so those schools with better performance get more pupils and more funding
creates A-C economy as they focus on pupils capable of Cs to boost league tables

Question 13

What is the educational triage by Gillborn and Youdell?

Answer 13

pupils separated in a triage

those who will pass anyway
borderline C-D students
hopeless cases

Question 14

Who talked about pupil subcultures of differentiation and polarisation?

Answer 14

Lacey

Question 15

What is differentiation and polarisation?

Answer 15

differentiation - teachers categorise pupils due to perceived abilities

polarisation - how pupils respond to streaming (pro school or anti school)

pro school - m/c and committed to school
anti school - w/c and low self esteem/ no commitment to school

Question 16

AO3 - abolishing streaming

who researched it?

Answer 16

Ball

Question 17

What did Ball find about a school that was in the process of abolishing streaming?

Answer 17

found the basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed and influence of anti school declined

but teachers still differentiated pupils

so even when streaming is removed class inequalities remain

Question 18

AO3 - what did Woods find?

Answer 18

pupils had a variety of responses

ingratiation - teacher’s pet
ritualism - go through motions and stay out of trouble
retreatism - daydream and muck about
rebellion - reject all school stands for

Question 19

What does Archer argue about habitus?

Answer 19

pupils with a similar habitus to teacher recieve symbolic capital (m/c)
pupils who do not receive symbolic violence (w/c)

w/c felt they had to change how they present themselves and talk to be successful and felt m/c space at uni etc wasn’t for them

Question 20

Who came up with nike identities?

Answer 20

Archer

Question 21

What is nike identities?

Answer 21

wore certain things to gain symbolic capital from peers since they didn’t get it from teachers
if you didn’t have a nike identity it was seen as ‘social suicide’

Question 22

How are nike identities unrealistic and undesirable for w/c leading to their rejection of school?

Answer 22

unrealistic as they are for people who were richer, posher and cleverer (uni was unaffordable and a risky investment)

undesirable as it wouldn’t suit their preferred lifestyle e.g don’t want to live off student loan

Question 23

What does Archer et al say about w/c expressing their preference?

Answer 23

w/c identities not just a cause of marginalisation in education but to express their preferences and particular lifestyle

may seek self exclusion from school as it doesn’t fit their identity

Question 24

AO3 - w/c identity and educational success

what did Ingram’s study find?

Answer 24

studied two groups of catholic boys from highly deprived neighbourhoods in Belfast
(one group went to grammar with m/c values, other secondary with low expectations)
Ingram found w/c focuses on fitting in and grammar schools boys felt tension between m/c school and w/c home life

e.g symbolic violence for wearing tracksuit on non school uniform day

Question 25

Class identity and self exclusion

Answer 25

w/c go to uni more now but there is still a clash between habitus of home and school

this can act as a barrier through self exclusion

Question 26

Evans study on class identity and self exclusion

Answer 26

studied group of w/c girls from south London and found they were reluctant to apply to unisex like Oxbridge and those who did feared they wouldn’t fit in

they felt a strong attachment to their community so didn’t want to move away

self exclusion narrows w/c options so limits success

Question 27

AO3 - what did studied like Evans show?

Answer 27

consistent pattern of m/c education suystem that devalues w/c choice or experience

w/c often forced to choose between w/c identity and conforming to m/c habitus to succeed