5. internal/ex+ LABELLING & PUPIL IDENTITY

Internal and External Factors Affecting Educational Achievement

External factors

1. Material deprivation

Meaning: A lack of material resources needed to support educational achievement.

Howard: Poor housing, inadequate nutrition and financial stress may affect concentration, attendance and wellbeing. →

Parents with limited money may struggle to afford transport, revision resources or educational activities.

Evaluation: Material deprivation does not determine achievement. Some pupils from low-income families achieve highly, and school support can reduce some disadvantages.

2. Cultural deprivation

Meaning: The argument that some children are disadvantaged because they lack particular cultural experiences, attitudes or skills valued by schools.

Bernstein: Elaborated and restricted speech codes can differ in how meanings are communicated. Schools may favour the elaborated code associated with explicit explanation.

Evaluation: Cultural deprivation theories can unfairly blame working-class families. They may overlook the value of working-class cultures and the impact of inequality within schools and society.

3. Cultural capital

Meaning: Knowledge, skills, language, tastes and experiences that schools tend to value.

Bourdieu: Middle-class children are more likely to possess cultural capital that matches the expectations of the education system.

Parents who understand school procedures may be better equipped to support applications, communicate with teachers and help with academic work.

Familiarity with academic language and educational expectations can make school success easier.

Evaluation: Cultural capital is not an innate ability or exclusive possession of one class. Schools can teach academic skills, and working-class pupils can possess valuable cultural resources too.

4. Parental attitudes and socialisation

Douglas: Parental interest in education can influence children's achievement.

Parents who encourage reading, monitor homework and communicate with teachers may provide educational support.

Parents' own experiences of school can shape their expectations and confidence in dealing with educational institutions.

Evaluation: Parental involvement may reflect available time, money and familiarity with the school system rather than simply how much parents care.

5. Gender and external factors

Sue Sharpe: Her research found that girls' priorities and ambitions changed over time, with greater emphasis on careers and independence in her later research.

Changing employment opportunities, feminism and women's changing social roles have contributed to changes in girls' educational ambitions.

Socialisation can influence subject choices, confidence and expectations.

Evaluation: Gender differences vary by subject and social context; changing aspirations alone cannot explain all differences in achievement.

Internal factors

1. Labelling and teacher expectations

Becker: Teachers may judge pupils against an image of the ideal pupil, potentially favouring those whose behaviour and communication match their expectations.

Rosenthal and Jacobson: Their research on teacher expectations suggested that expectations can influence pupil performance.

Teachers may label pupils as bright, difficult or unmotivated, affecting the opportunities and attention they receive.

Evaluation: Teacher expectations do not always become self-fulfilling prophecies, and labels are only one influence on achievement.

2. The self-fulfilling prophecy

(Rosenthal and Jacobsen)A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when an expectation leads to behaviour that makes the expectation more likely to come true.

Sequence:

Teacher labels pupil as low ability → gives less challenging work → pupil develops lower confidence and engagement → achievement falls → label appears justified.

The reverse can occur when positive expectations lead to greater encouragement and opportunities.

3. Setting and streaming

Streaming: Pupils are placed into different ability groups across most or all subjects.

Setting: Pupils are grouped by perceived ability in individual subjects.

Lower groups may receive less demanding work, fewer opportunities and lower teacher expectations.

Pupils may internalise low expectations or develop anti-school identities.

Evaluation: Grouping may allow teachers to tailor work to pupils' needs, and the effects depend on how groups are taught and whether movement between groups is possible.

4. Pupil subcultures

Lacey: Identified differentiation and polarisation as processes that can contribute to pupil subcultures.

Differentiation: Teachers categorise pupils, often through ability judgements and behaviour.

Polarisation: Pupils may respond by forming pro-school or anti-school subcultures.

Willis: His study of working-class boys showed how an anti-school subculture could reject school values and prepare pupils for working-class employment.

Evaluation: Willis's research was small-scale and focused on a particular group of boys, so it cannot explain the experiences of all working-class pupils.

5. The hidden curriculum

The hidden curriculum refers to the unofficial lessons pupils learn through school routines, rules and relationships.

Pupils may learn obedience, punctuality, competition and acceptance of authority.

Bowles and Gintis: Argued that the correspondence principle links school organisation to workplace hierarchies.

This can prepare pupils to accept unequal power relationships in capitalist society.

Evaluation: Schools can also encourage critical thinking, social mobility and resistance to inequality, rather than simply reproducing class relations.

6. Institutional racism and the curriculum

School policies, teacher expectations and disciplinary practices can disadvantage some ethnic groups.

Ball: Research on the curriculum and school organisation has explored how school practices can reproduce inequalities.

A curriculum that marginalises some groups' histories and experiences may affect pupils' sense of belonging.

Evaluation: Experiences differ between schools and ethnic groups, so claims should be supported by evidence rather than assumptions about individual teachers or pupils.

What does Rosenthal and Jacobsen say about teacher expectations and how it impacts students?

Name 4 sociologists in this topic?

• Rosenthal and Jacobsen,Becker,Rist,Hargreaves

• Teacher expectations affect achievement

• Self-fulfilling prophecy

What does Becker say about this topic?

• Teachers judge pupils against an “ideal pupil”

• Middle-class pupils more likely to fit this (Due to having access to the cultural capital in line with the expectations of the education system)

• people who don’t fit this description are more likely to be put in lower sets and get lower outcomes

What does Rist say about this topic?

• Labelling influences streaming decisions

• Early labels shape outcomes(Can disadvantage students unfairly from the start)