Class differences in achievement (INTERNAL)

Question 1

Becker

Answer 1

• Interactionist study
• 60 Chicago High school teachers
• Judged pupils according to how close they fitted the image of the ideal pupil

Question 2

Hempel- Jorgensen

Answer 2

Found that notions of the ideal pupil vary according to the social class make up of the school:

• working class Aspen primary school: discipline major problem, ideal pupil defined as quiet, passive and obedient. Defined in terms of behaviour.
• middle class Rowan primary school: pupil defined in terms of academic ability rather than personality.

Question 3

Dunne and Gazeley

Answer 3

Argue that schools persistently produce working class underachievement because of the labels and assumptions of teachers.
- Interviews in 9 English state secondary schools - teachers normalised underachievement of working class pupils.
- home backgrounds, less interest
The way teachers explained and dealt with underachievement constructed class differences

Question 4

Ray Rist

Answer 4

Study of American kindergarten shows.
- fast learners ‘tigers’
- working class ‘cardinals’ or ‘clowns’
Read as groups, not individuals, given easier work and books.

Question 5

Rosenthal and Jacobson

Answer 5

• California primary school
• Self fulfilling prophecy
• Fake test, just an IQ, 20% random spurters, false, those who were falsely told to be spurters, made more progress.
• interaction

Question 6

Gillborn and Youdell

Answer 6

Shows how teachers use stereotypical notions of ‘ability’ to stream pupils.

• working class and black pupils = less likely to have ability, lower streams
• A to C economy
• Educational triage

Question 7

Lacey

Answer 7

Concepts of differentiation and polarisation to explain how pupil subcultures develop.
pupil subcultures

Question 8

Hargreaves

Answer 8

Found the response to labeling and streaming:

saw boys in the lower stream as triple failures: failed 11+, placed in lower streams and labelled as ‘worthless louts’

Question 9

Ball

Answer 9

• Study of Beachside (comprehensive)
• abolishing streaming
• anti school cultures declined
• polarisation disappeared but differentiation continued.

Question 10

Woods

Answer 10

• Responses to labeling and streaming:
• ingratiation: being the teacher’s pet
• ritualism: going through the motions and staying out of trouble.
• retreatism: daydreaming and mucking about
• rebellion: outright rejection of everything the school stands for.

Question 11

Furlong

Answer 11

Observes that many pupils are not committed permanently to any one response but may move between different types of response, acting differently in lessons with different teachers.

Question 12

Archer et al

Answer 12

• focus on interaction between working class pupils’ identities and school, and how this produces underachievement.

Question 13

Ingram

Answer 13

• Study of two groups of working class Catholic boys from the same highly deprived neighbourhood
• Wanted to fit in
• tension between habitus of working class neighbourhood and that of their middle class school

Question 14

Evans

Answer 14

• studied a group of 21 working class girls from comprehensive school in London.
• reluctant to apply to elite universities - did not fit in, hidden barriers.

Question 15

Reay et al

Answer 15

• Points out that self exclusion from elite or distant universities narrows the options of many working class pupils and limits their success.