Topic 2 - Class Differences in Achievement (Internal Factors)

Question 1

Labelling

Answer 1

• INTERACTIONIST
• To attach meaning or definition to an individual
• Stereotypical assumptions about their class background: labelling working class pupils negatively and middle class positively

Question 2

BECKER

Answer 2

• Labelling
• Interviewed 60 Chicago high school teachers, found they judged pupils based on how far they fitted the image of the “idea pupil”
• Pupils work, appearance, and conduct were key factors influencing teachers judgement.
• Teachers saw pupils from middle class backgrounds as being the ideal pupil and pupils from working class backgrounds being the furthest away

Question 3

Labelling in primary school - RIST

Answer 3

• Labelling occurs right at the the beginning of a child’s education as he studied American Kindergartens
• Found that teachers used information about a child’s home background and appearance to place them into groups, seating each group at a different table:
• THE TIGERS fast learners: middle class and clean appearance, seated closest to teacher
• THE CLOWNS AND THE CARDINALS two groups seated furthest away from her, most likely to be working class, low level books and fewer opportunities to show their ability

Question 4

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 4

• Prediction that come true simply because it has been made
• Interactionists argue labelling pupils affects their achievement by creating SFP

Question 5

SFP process

Answer 5

1 Teacher labels pupil, then make predictions based on the label
2 Teacher treats the pupil accordingly, as if the prediction is already true
3 Pupil internalises the expectation which becomes part of their self concept so they because the pupil they are expected to be

Question 6

ROSENTHAL and JACOBSEN

Answer 6

• SFP
• Study of a school: new test to identify pupils that would spurt ahead, normal IQ test
• The tested the pupils then picked 20% of them randomly and told the school they were spurters
• On returning a year later they found 47% of those identified had made significant progress

Question 7

A03 SFP

Answer 7

• Labelling theory too deterministic: assumes all children that are labelled with fulfil their prophecy and become the label (FULLER)
• MARXISTS: ignore wider structural inequalities that create the labels and stereotypes

Question 8

Streaming

Answer 8

• Putting children into ability groups
• Each class is taught separately
• Studies show SFP are likely to occur when children are streamed

Question 9

BECKER (streaming)

Answer 9

• Teachers place working class pupils into lower streams
• Once a child is streamed it is difficult to move up to higher streams as their teachers have set expectations of them

Question 10

GILLBORN and YOUDELL (A-C economy)

Answer 10

• Teachers are less likely to see working class and black pupils as having ability
• Placed into lower streams = denies opportunity to learn = widens class gap further
• EDUCATIONAL TRIAGE = those who will pass anyway, borderline C/D pupils, hopeless cases

Question 11

Pupil subcultures

Answer 11

• A group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns
• Emerge as a response to the way pupils are labelled and in particular as a response to streaming

Question 12

LACEY

Answer 12

• Uses concepts of differentiation and polarisation to explain how subcultures in schools emerge

Question 13

Differentiation

Answer 13

• The process in which teachers categorise pupils according to perceived ability, streaming is a form of this

Question 14

Polarisation

Answer 14

• Pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite poles
• Led to pro school and anti school subcultures

Question 15

Pro-school subcultures

Answer 15

• Pupils in high streams (largely middle class) tend to remain committed to the values of the school
• Gain their status from approved channels = academic success

Question 16

Anti-school subcultures

Answer 16

• Lower streams (largely working class) suffer a loss of self-esteem by being viewed as being inferior
• Not achieving status through approved channels they opt for alternate ways of gaining status
• Inverting the rules, get rules from their peers

Question 17

A03 Abolishing streaming

Answer 17

• BALL basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed and the influence of the anti-school subculture declined
• Polarisation disappeared but teachers still differentiated pupils and were more likely to label middle class pupils as ideal
• Middle class pupils achieve more as they internalised positive beliefs of teachers = SFP
• WOODS found that pupils responded in 4 ways: ingratiation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion

Question 18

Ingratiation

Answer 18

Being teachers pet

Question 19

Ritualism

Answer 19

Going through the motions and staying out of trouble

Question 20

Retreatism

Answer 20

Daydreaming and mucking about

Question 21

Rebellion

Answer 21

Outright rejection of everything the school stands for

Question 22

Process of labelling

Answer 22

Labelling = SFP and streaming = Subculture

Question 23

Pupils class identities and the school

Answer 23

• ARCHER ET AL interactions between social groups and school. Build on work of BOURDIEUs theory of habitus

Question 24

ARCHER

Answer 24

• Argues those who have similar habitus to the teachers receive symbolic capital = status from their teachers as they have the same values of the school
• Working class students experience symbolic violence = BOURDIEU process in which school withhold symbolic capital for working class students as they see their tastes as being inferior
• Working class students view education as alien
• Working class pupils felt society looked down on them = class identities (Nike identities)

Question 25

Nike identities

Answer 25

• Unrealistic: university for richer, posher people, risky and unaffordable
• Undesirable: would not suit their preferred lifestyle

Question 26

A03 Working class identity and educational success

Answer 26

• INGRAM studied two groups of Catholic boys from a deprived neighbourhood in Belfast (one group from grammar school and the other from the local school)
• Working class community placed high value on fitting in, grammar boys feeling tension being habitus of working class and middle class culture at school
• One boy was ridiculed for coming to school in a tracksuit = symbolic violence where pupils are forced to abandon their working class values if they want to succeed
• Link SUGARMAN

Question 27

Class identity and self exclusion

Answer 27

• EVANS studied a group of working class groups from south London and found they were reluctant to apply to Russell group universities
• The girls felt a strong attachment to their community
• Self exclusion from elite universities narrows options for many working class pupils = limits success

Question 28

A03 Class identity and self exclusion

Answer 28

• These studies show a consistent pattern of middle class education system that devalues the experiences and choices of working class pupils and worthless or inappropriate
• Working class pupils are forced to choice between maintaining their working class identity, or abandoning them and confirming to the middle class habitus of education in order to succeed