Class Differences in Achievement - internal [2]

Class Differences in Achievement - internal [2]

1. Pupil Subcultures

   • Is a group of pupils who share similar values & behaviour patterns
   • Lacey's concepts of differentiation & polarisation to explain how pupil subcultures develop:
     • Differentiation
       • The process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and/or behaviour
       • Streaming is a form of differentiation
         • Since it categorises pupils into separate classes
       • Those deemed 'less able' and placed in low streams are given an inferior status
     • Polarisation
       • Is the process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite 'poles' or extremes
   • Pro-School Subculture
     • Pupils placed in high streams (mainly M/C) tend to remain committed to the values of the school
       • Gain their status in the approved manner, through academic success
         • Working hard, respectable & wearing uniform
       • Their values are those of the school: they tend to form a pro-school subculture
   • Anti-School Subcultre
     • Lacey found those placed in low streams (mainly W/C) suffer a loss of self-esteem
       • The school has undermined their self-worth by placing them in a position of inferior status
         • This label of failure pushes them to search for alternative ways of gaining status
     • Pupils form anti-school subcultures as a means of gaining status among their peers
       • E.g. cheeking teachers, truanting, not doing homework, smoking, drinking or stealing
     • Joining an anti-school subculture may solve the problem of lack of status, it creates problems for pupils involved
     • Joining an anti-school subculture is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy of educational failure
   • Abolishing Streaming
     • Ball found that when the school abolished banding, the basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed and influence of anti-school subculture declined
       • However, teachers continued to categorise pupils differently and were more likely to label M/C pupils as cooperative and able
         • The positive labelling was reflected in their better exam results, suggesting the self-fulfilling prophecy occured
     • Since the Education Reform Act, there has been a trend towards more streaming and towards a variety of types of school
       • This has created new opportunities for schools & teachers to differentiate between pupils on the basis of class, ethnicity & gender
   • Variety of Pupil Responses
     • Pro and anti-school subcultures are two possible responses to labelling/streaming
     • Peter Woods argues there are other possible responses:
       • Ingratiation: Being the 'teacher's pet' (Pro-school)
       • Ritualism: Going through the motions and staying out of trouble (Pro-school)
       • Retreatism: Daydreaming and mucking about (Anti-school)
       • Rebellion: Outright rejection of everything the school stands for (Anti-school)
   • Limitations of Labelling Theory
     • Cultural deprivation theorists assume that schools are not neutral instituitions
     • Has been accused of determinism
     • It assumes that pupils who are labelled have no choice but to fulfil the prophecy and will inevitably fail.
       • Marxists argue that labels are not merely results of teachers' individual prejudices but from the teachers' work in a system that reproduces class division

2. Marketisation & Selection Policies

   • Schools operate within a wider education system
   • Marketisation brought in:
     • A Funding Formula - that gives a school the same amount of funds for each pupil
     • Exam League Tables - that rank each school according to its exam performance * make no allowance for the level of ability of its pupils
     • Competition - among schools to attract pupils
   • The A-to-C Economy & Educational Triage
     • The changes explain why schools are under-pressure to stream and select pupils
     • The policy of publishing league tables creates what Gillborn & Youdell call the 'A-to-C economy'
       • This is a system where schools ration their time, effort & resources, concentrating on the pupils they perceive as having the potential to succeed - boosting the schools league table
         • Gillborn & Youdell call this process 'educational triage'
           • Triage means 'sorting'
       • Schools categorise pupils into 'those who will pass anyway' , 'those with potential' & 'hopeless cases'
     • Gillborn & Youdell's notion of 'triage' or sorting is very similar to Lacey's idea of differentiation
   • Competition & Selection
     • Bartlett argues that marketisation leads to popular schools:
       • Cream-skimming: selecting higher ability pupils, who gain the best results and cost less to teach
         • Silt-shifting: off-loading pupils with learning difficulties, who are expensive to teach and get poor results
     • Marketisation explains why schools are under pressure to select more able, largely M/C pupils who will gain the school higher ranking in the league tables
     • An Image To Attract Middle Class Parents
       • Schools have responded to marketisation bycreating a 'traditional' image to attract M/C parents and this has reinforced class divisions
       • Marketisation and selection processes have created a polarised education system:
         • Popular, successful, well-resourced schools with more able, largely M/C intake at one extreme
         • Unpopular, 'failing', under-resourced schools with mainly low-achieveing W/C pupils ar the other