Topic 2- Class Differences in Achievement Internal Factors

Question 1

what are the 5 main internal factors that affect class differences in achievement?

Answer 1

• labelling
• the self fulfilling prophecy
• streaming
• pupil subcultures
• pupils’ class identities and the school

Question 2

what did dunne and gazeley 2008 argue about schools and working class underachievement?

Answer 2

• that schools persistently produce working class underachievement because of the labels and assumptions by teachers

Question 3

what did ray rist 1980 find after studying a kindergarten?

Answer 3

• teachers would judge children based on home life and background
• they separated them and labelled them clowns and cardinals
• got less attention and less challenging work

Question 4

what is the self fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 4

• teacher labels a pupil eg being intelligent and then makes predicitons about them eg will progress quickly
• teacher treats pupil accordingly as if the label is already true
• pupil internalises the teachers’ expectation which becomes part of their self image

Question 5

what did rosenthal and jacobson discover after their research?

Answer 5

• teachers feed the self fulfilling prophecy and children either excel or under achieve as a result
• what people believe to be true will have real affects

Question 6

why is streaming different to sets?

Answer 6

• placed into one stream for every subject
• hard to move from your stream

Question 7

what are the negative affects of streaming?

Answer 7

• pupils in lower stream are less confident and then self fulfilling prophecy occurs negatively

Question 8

what is the educational triage?

Answer 8

pupils split into 3 different categories
* those who will pass
* borderline C and D
* hopeless cases

Question 9

what are colin lacey’s two concepts that explain how subcultures develop?

Answer 9

• differentiation
• polarisation

Question 10

what is differentiation?

Answer 10

• process of teachers categorising children like streaming

Question 11

what is polarisation?

Answer 11

• process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving to one ‘pole’

Question 12

what are the twp types of subculture?

Answer 12

• anti school
• pro school

Question 13

give 3 features of a pro school subculture

Answer 13

• placed in high streams
• remain committed to the values of the school
• gain status through academic success

Question 14

give 3 features of anti school subcultures

Answer 14

• placed in low streams
• low self esteem about school
• inverts school values

Question 15

what did ball 1981 find in his study on abandoning streaming?

Answer 15

• basis of subcultures was largely removed
• differentiation continued

Question 16

what are the 4 other responses to labelling and streaming other than subcultures?

Answer 16

ingratiation- teachers pet
ritualism- staying out of trouble
retreatism- daydreaming and mucking about
rebellion- rejecting everything the school stands for

Question 17

what is a habitus?

Answer 17

• ‘taken for granted’ ways of thinking shared by a particular class