SOCIAL CLASS INTERNAL FACTORS

SOCIAL CLASS INTERNAL FACTORS

1. SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY

   • A PROPHECY IS A PREDICTION ABOUT SOMETHING
     • Rosenthal and Jacobson went to a school that they knew had a new test system to identify those pupils who would ‘spurt’ ahead.
     • Teachers create self fullfilling prophecies through the label they attach to students

2. SUB CULTURES

   • Colin Lacey findings of differentiation and polarisation explains how pupil subcultures develop.
   • Differentiation: This is the process by which the teachers judge and rank pupils in terms of their academic ability and the behaviour. The middle class are labelled ‘more able’ and is given high status by being placed in a high stream. Whereas the working class are labelled ‘less able’ and is given an inferior status by being placed in a low stream.
     • Polarisation: is the process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite ‘poles’ or extremes
   • Pro-school subculture: The good boys ‘more able’ were placed in high streams and were committed to the norms and values of the school. They gained their status in the approved manner, though academic success.
     • pro -School
       • 100% attendance Always do homework and handing it in on the due date Contributing in class Doing extension work etc.

3. Anti school

   • Anti-school subculture: the bad boys ‘less able’ suffer a loss of self-esteem. They adjusted to their status as failures and started to rebel against the schools norms and values. They form an anti-school subculture, as a mean of gaining status among their peers
   • By answering back to a teacher in a rude manner Truanting not doing homework Smoking Drinking or stealing
   • The ‘ear holes’ formed pro-school subculture. They conformed to the schools values and were labelled positively
     • Paul Willis studied a group of 12 working class boys- the ‘lads’. The lads developed anti-school subculture. There behaviour reflected their expectations of failure employment and they brought working class subculture to school with them. The lads were keen to leave school as soon as possible and look forward to ‘real’ work. School was a waste of them to them.
   • Key thinker : PAUL WILLIS
     • The ‘Warriors’ were a group of Asian students. They were strongly critical of the college they went to because of the racism. School work to the Asians were meaningless. However they didn't want the stereotype the teachers placed on them, so they changed and became pro-school subculture.
     • Key thinker: Martin Mac an Ghaill

4. LABELLING

   • meaning or definitions we attach to someone or something to make sense of them
   • Labelling is too deterministic: not all pupils who are labelled as failures fulfil the prophecy - some reject the label and succed. nor do all teachers label working class pupils negatively
   • SECONDARY SCHOOL LABELLING
     • Mairead Dunne : - teachers assumption, judge pupils based on home background , working class pupils that do well are labelled as over achieving
     • They label working class parents as not interested in their child education
     • Dunne an Gazely concluded that the way teachers handled underachievement created class difference in attainment
   • PRIMARY SCHOOL LABELLING
     • RAY RIST conducted a study in american kindergarten high achievers were labelled as tigers while low achiever were labelled as clowns
       • middle class are labelled as bright - motivated- cooperative
     • smarter students seated at the front
   • Teachers consciously and unconsciously communicate the positive and negative labels to the pupils using facial expressions, tone and voices, encouragement, comments about work, use of praise and discipline

5. STREAMING

   • once students were placed in lower sets they were unable to portray their true ability as they ddnt get much attention
     • CHAIN OF REASONING
       • students who are placed in the lower sets are unable to move up or show their true ability they are shown less attention by the teachers and are given lower tier work which causes them to get the message that they are hopless , the students no longer try or take interest in school , they start to bunk and miss lessons they join gangs and get no education or they get excluded and end up failing
   • Becker argues that teachers label middle class children as 'ideal pupil' and prefer to teach them , teachers are middle class

6. streaming and A-C economy

   • Gillborn and Youdell link streaming to the policy of publishing exam league tables. These rank each school to its exam performance e.g. the percentage of what student gain 5A*- Grades. Schools must achieve good grades in order to maintain their position on the league table; this is why schools are keener to accept middle class students as they believe that these students will gain these results for them. In other words schools focus their time, effort and resources on those pupils they see as having potential to give them the 5 grade Cs
   • Gillborn and youdell call this process ‘education triage’ – sorting The term means that schools categorise pupils into three types: Those who will pass anyways and can get on with it Those with potential who can be helped to get the Grade Hopeless cases who are doomed to fail