Sociology topic 2: internal factors affecting achievement

Question 1

What is labelling

Answer 1

to attach a meaning or definition to someone

Question 2

Howard Becker studied labelling and found…

labelling

Answer 2

• Interviewed 60 Chicago high school teachers

- Found they judged pupils on how close they fitted the ‘ideal pupil’ image

Question 3

Who were seen as closest to fitting the ‘‘ideal pupil’’ image?
(labelling)

Answer 3

• Middle class as they were ‘‘well behaved’’

- Working class regarded as ‘‘badly behaved’’

Question 4

What do Dunne and Gazeley argue?

labelling

Answer 4

• Schools ‘persistently’ produce working class underachievement
• Due to labels from teachers

Question 5

How did teachers feel about middle-class underachievement compared to the working class?
(labelling)

Answer 5

From interviews in 9 English State secondary schools      
-teachers ''normalised'' working class underachievement and weren't concerned by it

-teachers believed they could ‘‘overcome’’ middle-class underachievement

Question 6

Name other reasons of how teachers dealt with ‘‘working class’’ pupils that were underachieving
(labelling)

Answer 6

• Entering working class pupils for easier exams
• Underestimated their potential
• Set extension work for underachieving middle class pupils

Question 7

What did Rist find?

labelling

Answer 7

-Found teachers used information about home background and appearance to place them in separate groups

Question 8

Name the labelled groups in the classroom:

labelling

Answer 8

Tigers- ''fast learners'' middle class
Cardinals and clowns- Mostly working class and given lower level books and they had to read as a group

Question 9

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 9

A pupil is labelled, then internalises that label and eventually becomes that label

Question 10

What did Rosenthal and Jacobson find…

self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 10

• used a test to predict the children who would make academic progress
• both the tests and predictions weren’t true
• One year later many of the children predicted to do well had made significant progress

Question 11

What is streaming?

streaming and setting

Answer 11

-Splitting pupils as young as six into classes based on ability

Question 12

What is setting?

streaming and setting

Answer 12

-Putting groups of similar ability together for certain lessons

Question 13

What did Douglas find?

streaming and setting

Answer 13

• children placed in lower stream at age of 8 had suffered a decline in IQ by age 11
• children placed in higher streams had improved

Question 14

What is pupil subculture?

pupil subculture

Answer 14

a group of people who share norms and values in opposition to the wider society

Question 15

How do pupil subcultures emerge?

pupil subculture

Answer 15

They form in response to the ways in which students are labelled or streamed

Question 16

What does Lacy (1970) explain

pupil subculture

Answer 16

-uses concepts of differentiation and polarisation to explain how subcultures emerge

Question 17

What is ‘differentiation’’

pupil subculture

Answer 17

-process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability and treating them based on that

Question 18

What is ‘‘polarisation’’

pupil subculture

Answer 18

-Student response to differentiation by moving towards opposite extremes

Question 19

Describe ‘Pro school’ subculture

pupil subculture

Answer 19

• committed to school values
• gain status through academic success
• high stream pupils

Question 20

Describe ‘anti school’ subculture

pupil subculture

Answer 20

• reject system

- low self esteem leads to negative ways of gaining status for example smoking, drinking, rudeness

Question 21

Nike identities are…

Answer 21

a group of pupils who invest in styles to make them feel like their being themselves