Topic 2: Class - Factors inside the education system Flashcards
What is believed about in-school factors?
That the way the school is organised and how students are treated can affect differences in attainment.
What do Perry and Francis (2010) claim about Govts and Ofsted?
A lot of emphasis has been placed on improving “failing schools”.
- Well-organised schools who motivate students can make all the difference.
What do interactionists examine?
How pupils and teachers react to one another.
Does the reaction of the teacher hold power?
Yes, the way the teacher sees a student can impact the student’s self-concept.
What do interactionists claim teachers do?
They label students and actually treat pupils differently due to the labels they assign to them.
How do Hargreaves, Hester, and Mellor (1975) suggest that labelling has a negative impact?
The way students act or appear can lead to them being labelled as "good" or "bad". Working class students = Bad. Middle class students = Good.
After teachers have labelled students, how do teachers interpret the student’s behaviour?
Well, a teacher will label a students as good or bad and will then interpret any kind of behaviour in terms of the label.
What do Hargreaves, Hester, and Mellor (1975) say about how students reacted to labelling?
They will live up to the label and act in the way predicted.
This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
How does class affect labelling by teachers?
Middle class pupils fit the ideal pupil stereotype whereas working class pupils are seen as lazy or deviant.
Why might working class kids be labelled negatively because of their attitudes and appearance?
Because they do not have the correct cultural capital that the education system favours - middle class students do. This is a marxist theory by Bourdieu.
Labelling can lead to what in terms of setting and streaming?
They usually occupy the lower sets and are seen as less able or disruptive.
What was the experiment of Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)?
They gave teachers the inverted IQ of pupils.
The teachers expected the higher IQ (actually had lower IQ) students to do better. Hence they received more encouragement.
The students that were believed to have higher IQs made more progress.
What does Rosenthal and Jacobson’s experiment reveal about teacher expectations?
It reveals that the way students are viewed by teachers can massively impact how well they do. Again, it is an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
One feels more capable if the teacher has more confidence in one.
What did Harvey and Slatin (1976) demonstrate surrounding how teachers label students?
Teachers were given photos of students from different classes. Pupils from higher classes were expected to do better merely on appearance - lower class students at a massive disadvantage.
How might one criticise the work of Rosenthal and Jacobson, and Harvey and Slatin?
Well, their work was conducted in the 1960s and 1970s.
Those prejudiced views of teachers may no longer be relevant now - lower set students may receive more encouragement than previously.