Labeling
Becker and R.C Rist
Teachers assessed their pupils in terms of an 'ideal type'
'Ideal type' considered to be conscientious, self disciplined and hard working
Tended to be middle class kids
Seen as the most able pupils
Self-fulfilling prophecy
- Rosenthal & Jacobson and Margaret Fuller
- Rosenthal & Jacobson conducted a field experiment; told teachers that the 20% of pupils they randomly selected would make rapid academic progress
- 1 year later same 20% of pupils had performed better in tests
- teachers believed in them so they believed in themselves
Interactionist concepts
- Labeling - Becker and R.C Rist
- Self-fulfilling prophesy - Rosenthal & Jacobson and Margaret Fuller
- Banding/Streaming - Stephen Ball
- Sub-cultures - Hargreaves, Willis, Mac & Ghaill and Sugarman
Banding/Streaming
- Lacey
- Those placed in low streams; were working class suffer a loss of self esteem; the school has undermined their self worth by putting them in a position of inferior status
- Labeled as a failure
- Pushes them to find other ways of gaining status so form an anti-school subculture
Differential Educational Achievement
One of the primary purposes of the education system in our society is to differentiate children, as part of the social process of their passage into the wider society
Internal factors affecting educational achievement
Willis
- Aimed to combine a study of individual actions with the social structure
- Studied a group of 12 working class boys over their final year and a half and briefly into employment
- The boys despised school and they knew they were going to fail
Sub-cultures
Hargreaves
- Found similar findings to Lacey in a secondary modern school
- Boys in the lower streams were triple failures; failed their 11+, placed in low streams, and they had been labeled as 'worthless louts'. They formed an anti-school sub-culture