educational differences in class

- attaching a meaning of definiton to someone

(Becker 1971)

found that teachers judged pupils according to how closely they fit an image of the 'ideal pupil'.

teachers saw middle class students as a close fit to the 'ideal pupil' and working class students as the furthest away.

study- (Amelia Hempel-Jorgenson 2009)

working class school- children were judged on their behaviour not ability

middle class school- judged on their personality and ability, rather than being seen as a misbehaving student

prediction that comes true simply by believing it.

• teachers label a pupil and make predictions
• teacher treats the pupil accordingly with this label
• pupil becomes the label

teachers expectations (Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968) -study

They told students they were doing a test to see spurters in the class, this was untrue.

The researchers chose students at random and gave them a false result and told them they were 'spurters'

A year later they found these false 'spurters' had actually made significant progress.

- a group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns but differ from the norm

(Lacey 1970)

• diffrentiation - teachers categorising pupils on how they see their ability
• polarisation - process in which pupils respond to streaming

pro-school subculture... pupils placed in high streams tend to remain comitted to the values of school. They gain status through academic success.

anti-school subculture... those placed in low streams suffer a loss of self-esteem, this encourages them to seek status in other way, misbhehaving or not doing work.

-seperation of children into different ability groups called 'streams'

working class - teachers do not usually see working class pupils as an 'ideal pupil' and tend to have low expectations

middle class - tend to benefit from streaming. They are placed in a higher stream and gain confidence and improve.

• (David Gillborn and Deborah Youdell 2001)

Argue streaming is a system in which schools focus their time and rescources on those pupils they see as having potential and will boost the schools league table position.

Louise Archer 2010

- class feel schools look down on them

- working class pupils seek other ways to gain self-worth and identity

- working class pupils seek other ways to gain self-worth and identity

- wearing brands is a way of 'being me'

- conflicts with school uniform is seen as rebelious- gaining status

- middle class see brands as tasteless - working class see it as gaining capital