Social Class Internal Factors Flashcards
What are the internal factors explaining educational achievement differences
Labelling Self fulfilling prophecy Streaming Pupil subcultures Class identities and the school School selection processes
What is the definition of Labelling
Labelling refers to attaching an identity or a meaning to somebody and basing your behaviour towards them on this
How does labelling affect educational achievement
Teachers are believed to label students of factors other than IQ and aptitude but on stereotypical assumptions such as social class,ethnicity or gender. Stereotypes held by teachers can lead to a ‘halo effect’ where the formed impression of a student influences all future interactions between them
What study did Beckerr use to support labelling theory
Unstructured interviews - 60 teachers - Chicago - found they had an image of the ‘ideal pupil’ ; they worked hard, had good behaviour and dressed appropriately to school rules. -These characteristics are common of Middle Class students. Working class therefore unlikely to fit into this image of an ideal pupil
What was Hempel-Jorgansen study that contrasted Beckerr’s study
Teachers had very different views on their ideal students. In some working class schools where discipline is a key factor staff preferred quieter and more conformist students. Middle class schools preferred a student’s personality rather than ability
What did Rist find to do with Labelling
Primary school teachers used information on a students home background and their appearance to determine where they sat them in the classroom. M/class students tended to be grouped together as ‘fast learners’ they were sat closest to the teacher and received the greatest encouragement whilst w/class remained further away and given less encouragement . W/class were given significantly lower level reading tasks
What did Dunne and Gazeley find (similar to Rist)
similar behaviour in secondary schools to that of Rist's theory. interviewed teachers who 'normalised' working class failure , they seem unconcerned by this feeling, there was little they could do to change this. M/class student failure was seen as more of a concern and something that they felt they could help in reducing
Why did Dunne and Gazeley say many of the teachers believed and did
W/class parents were disinterested in their child's education unlike m/class Sex-extension work for under-performing middle class students but not working class ones Underestimated the potential of working class students and when they did well they saw this as 'overachieving'
these differences in behaviour Dunne and Gazeley said explained the results students achieved
How does Self fulfilling prophecy affect educational achievement
The label given to a student can impact on their self concept. This can result in self fulfilling prophecy - the student internalises teachers expectations and this becomes part of their self concept. They believe this label and act according making the label a reality
How did Rosenthal and Jacobson support self-fulfilling prophecy
performed a field experiment in a Californian primary school to show how teacher labelling can create a self-fulfilling prophecy that caused success/failure
Gave students in a school a test that could identify ‘spurters’ simple IQ test and randomly selected 20% gave the teachers the names identified as spurters. Returned a year later and performed an IQ test again found that those identified as ‘spurters’ had indeed made significant process. Argued that it was teachers belief in these students and the way that they labelled them led to them achieving better.
How does streaming and setting affect educational achievement
There is a strong correlation between teachers expectations and the stream/set that students are placed in. Beckerr found that following the label applied to students from the teacher working class students tended to be placed on lower band streams whilst middle class were placed in higher ones. Once streamed it is difficult to move 'stream' as the 'halo effect' can influence teachers expectations of their ability.
What is Streaming and setting
Streaming refers to placing students in different ability groups where they are taught separately from other students for all subjects
Setting refers to placing students into different ability groups where they are taught separately from other students in specific subjects
How did Gilbourn and Youdell support streaming and setting
teachers uses stereotypical notions of a students ability and found the social class of a student had an impact upon this. W/class were placed in lower streams and were entered for lower tier exam papers, therefore they would be taught a lower level of information restricting their ability to perform at a higher level. Since the publication of League tables schools have begun to focus on a ‘A to C economy’ where time effort and resources are focused upon students to achieve 5 grade C’s to raise the schools profile - working class were typically a ‘hopeless case’ who would not achieve 5 C’s and were warehoused in bottom streams producing a self-fulfilling prophecy and their educational failure.
Gilbourn and Youdell therefore recognise the importance of student-teacher interaction but also the impact of external government policies
What is a student subculture
Group of students who share similar values and behaviour patterns but some of which will differ from main stream society
What did Lacey use to argue subcultures existed because of
Differentiation - students are categorised according to their perceived ability and streamed differently
Polarisation - students respond to the stream they are put into by moving to an extreme type of behaviour e.g Pro school or Anti school
