5 - class and attainment - internal factors

Becker 1963 was one of the first sociologists to apply labeling Theory to education ways in which this is prevalent

• Teachers label students based on characteristics like appearance social class behavior will perceived ability Becker found that teachers often hold an image of the ideal people typically a middle class while behaved and academically able

• working class students when will likely to be labeled as trouble makers less able or disinterested in education these labels can create a self-refitting prophecy where students internalized labels and behaving ways that confirm them

What can teacher labeling effect in schools

Setting and streaming students labeled as less able maybe placed in Lower sets limiting the access to higher level knowledge or opportunities

discipline students in a disruptive may receive harsher punishments

expectations lower expectations can reduce students confidence effort and achievements

rist 1970 and hargreaves 1975

teachers classify pupils early on based on social class, gillborn and youdell 2000- black carribean boys were more likely to be negatively labelled, affecting educational outcomes.

strengths

Highlights the power of teacher expectations and everyday classroom interactions in shaping educational outcomes and it offers a micro level understanding of processes often ignored by structural theories like Marxism and functionalism and helps to on cover how class ethnicity and gender stereotypes operates subtly within schools

Limitations

• Deterministic suggests students possibly accept labels without considering the ability to resist overjack them in reality not all students conform to teachers expectations

• neglect wider structural inequalities failed to explain why teachers hold these labels in the fast place marxists like bowles and gintis 1976 argue that labeling reflect broader capitalists interests

• Focuses too much on the school and overlooks the role of family background peer groups and cultural capital

• based on small scale studies and findings may look generalizability to all schools or the contemporary UK education system

Pygmalion effect

Self-fulfilling prophecy demonstrated by jacobson and rosenthal in 1968

Streaming

Students are groups by ability for all or most of the subjects so student will be in top set for all of this subjects with topset being the most academic and bottom being the least

Streaming

The practice of grouping students based on perceived ability for particular subjects

Limitations - context

Some minority ethnic groups are overrepresented in Lower sets this can be due to institutional racism the school could face negative sanctions such as poor press parental complaints or reduced admissions

setting and streaming can have a negative impact on our students performance and on the south as theme many lowest sets are not allowed to enter high tier exams and it is assumed that the students aren't capable of achieving researchers would need to show empathy and approaching these students

students in the top set will speak quite highly of the scores decision to certain stream and this must be taking into account when the researchers conducting the research the parents will also be very positive as their children are seen as Gifted and only collecting these views could lead the research to be that objective and may alter the validity of the research

students place in two sets and streams based upon the perceived ability however those in the lower sets often they're based upon behavior this may be a challenge to the Research to investigate the students in the bottom set as a result of polarization and differentiation may have formed anti-school attitudes

The consequences of setting and streaming

Denise equality of opportunity to those in Lower sets they may not be entered for higher level exams as a result and placement into sets is often based on teacher stereotypes rather than ability it's tends to be the working classes boys and ethnic minorities especially black boys to get put into our sets and being placed in Lower stats can produce anti-school attitudes in those students placed in them and streaming and setting this reproduce social class gender and ethnic inequalities in Educational attainment and reduces school cohesion and togetherness

Advantages of mixed ability teaching

There will probably be a broader socio cultural mix of students which may help Foster consensus in Society

it gives lower ability students more exposure to hire ability students which could help them progress faster

recognises that ability isn't fixed and students can spurt any time in the rather than them being stuck in the wrong set for the ability for a year or more

teachers can differentiate viability within a mixed ability class by setting stretch and challenge activities

Ball beachside comprehensive study

Participant observation three years in the south coast school investigating changing systems selection and socialization of two cohorts moving through the school

one group was bounded by ability and another was taught by mixed ability

despite comprehensive Ethos of the school many students were allocated to Bands on basis of social class background

teachers use positive or negative labels in relation to High and Low bands provoking disruptive behaviour

replacement of band system to mix the ability however this wouldn't affect the negative labeling issue

he also found evidence of more good behavior from naughty students when they were this past subdivided mixed group into higher slash lower abilities students

Gillborn and youdell 2001 - educational triage

Safe borderline and hopeless cases the triage shaped streaming and learning organization through extra classes educational progress meetings and targeted homework labeling is built into the triage setting and streaming and tearing create a hidden ceiling on achievement selective grouping often produces no overall gain higher groups may benefit but lower groups suffer from low expectation and the stigma highlights how GCSE tearing acts as a built-in ceiling

Anti school subculture

Groups of students who rebel against the school for various reasons develop and alternative set of delinquent values attitudes and behaviors in opposition to the academic aims Ethos and rules of a school in an anti-school subculture trurancy playing up to teachers messing about breaking the rules avoiding doing schoolwork and generally disrupting the smooth running of the school they become a way of getting back at the system and gaining status among peers

Counter school cultures

Are closures of resistance or anti-lining cultures and participation in can be a means of gaining status among one's peers the more deviant and acts the most status you gain

Willis 1977 learning to labour which he observed 12 working class boys to find out why they spent all the time at school massaging around rather than working

Pro school subculture

Those which accepts the values and Ethos of the school and winning the conform to its rules they tend to be students in higher set to your aspire to High academic achievement and are prepared to work hard and work with the teachers to achieve these goals

ghaill 1994 find two different types of pro subculture in his participant observation study the academic achievers were mainly middle class and pursuing success to traditional A-level subjects and then new Enterprises who were from working class backgrounds and pursuing success through vocational subjects such as business studies

What does sewell argue about anti-school subcultures

Argues that they get that anti-school subculture from outside of school

macho lads

Non academic students who have been placed in bottom sets and they were much like the lads in willis's classic study they saw school as a hostile authority making pointless demands on them based around acting tough having a laugh and looking after your mates more likely to see physical work as real work

.

Mirza -study on young black female girls ..

Studied 62 black girls and women aged between 15 and 19 and two secondary schools and found that they had positive attitudes towards achieving success in school however many also thought that some teachers were racist and so forms of Cultures based on the ethnicity which valid education but had little respect for the school which was seen as a racist institution

Gangsta masculinity

Louise Archer a viewed more highly traditional masculinity

Pupil identities

How students receive themselves and Opposite by others within this environment influencing this off concept academic achievements and overall well-being these identities are shaped by various internal and external factors including social class ethnicity gender and interactions with teachers and peers

Archer et al (2010)

Find that due to this status not received from the school they seek it elsewhere such as from their peers and therefore they thought of Educational successes being attributed to middle-class and they felt would need to loose their working class identity to become academic and therefore would not push themselves to access University or professional careers

Nike identities

Archer also fun many people's work conscious of the way society in the school made them subject to symbolic violence and this led them to seek alternative ways of creating status and value therefore they form Styles or identities especially through branded clothing like Nike this aladem to be themselves without feeling in authentic often strongly turned this style performances were heavily policed by peers and they're not conforming we're seeing as social suicide the right appearance on allow them to earn somebody capital from peers however this clashed with the school's dress code and so these street Styles as bad taste or even a threat to the schools middle class habituous Archer argues at the school's middle fest habitus stigmatizes working class identities so the pupils have no choice but to seek other ways of recognition whilst the middle class see this as tasteless to young people it is a measure of wealth they also play a part in how the working class rejects higher education

unrealistic they say it is not for people like us but for Richer pocha clever people and they would not fit in they also see it as unaffordable under risky investment

undesirable it would also not suit the preferred Style or habitus for example they do not want to live on student loan as they want to be able to afford Street Styles that gave them their identity

as a result they self eliminate and exclude themselves from education

Relationship between internal and external factors

Working class pupils habitus and identities are formed outside of school may conflict with the schools middle class have Bitters resulting in symbolic violence and pupils feeling education is not for them

restricted speech codes may cause labeling by Teachers which leads to suffering prophecy

Dunne and Gazeley show that white Pages believe about a working class pupils home backgrounds actually produces underachievements

poverty may lead to to bullying and stigmatization by peer groups and lead to truanting or failure

evans (200 9)

Successful working class girls often shows local universities over elite ones to avoid feeling out of place reflecting soft exclusion based on anticipated cultural Clash

relationship between external and internal factors within school

material deprivation douglas - 1964, smith and noble 1995. lack of money for resoruces, poor housing, part time work, affecting attendance and attainment

cultural deprivation - Bernstein 1975 and sugarman 1970

working class students may lack the language codes, values like deffered gratification and parental interest that middle class students benefit from

cultural capital - bordeiu 1984, sullivan 2001 (questionnaire showing middle class pupils have higher levels of cultural capital)

middle class famillies pass on knowledge, attitudes and values that give students an advantage in navigating school

examples of internal factors that affect class differences in achievement

labelling and self fuffiling prophecy becler 1971 and gillborn and youdel 2000 (found that WC pupils labelled negatively and placed in lower tiers due to the A-C economy in marketized education)

teachers may label working class students negatively, affecting their confidence and achievement

setting and streaming - ball 1981 (beachside comprehensive study of setting/streaming and class labelling)

working class pupils are disproportionatley placed in lower sets, limiting access to higher tier knowledge and exams

pupil subcultures willis 1977 and hargreaves 1967

anti school subcultures may form in response to labelling, affecting motivation and achievement

school ethos and hidden curriculum (ball, 1981)

schools reflect middle class values, disadvantaing working class students

use phrases like…

this suggests external factors such as material deprivation increase tge likelihood of being negatively labelled within school

however, this process is reinforced by internal mechanisms like setting, which further limits opportunities

therefore, class inequalities in attainment result from a complex interplay between factors both inside and outside school