Assess the importance of school factors such as racism and pupils responses to racism in creating ethnic differences in educational achievement. Many sociologists would argue that internal factors are the most important factors when referring to racism and responses from the pupils as the school is where most of this would take place where different ethnicities are treated in different ways. However, some sociologists would disagree and say that external factors are more important than the internal factors which have an effect creating pupils to face racism at school and their responses in a particular way. Firstly, to start with, labelling in school factor and teacher racism is the first internal factor. Gillborn (1990) found that teachers were quick to discipline black pupils than any other raced pupils for the same behaviour.
Streaming involves separating children into different ability groups or classes called 'streams'. Each ability group is taught separately from the other for all subjects. Howard Becker (1971) carried out a study and found that teachers judged pupils according to how closely they fitted an image of the 'ideal pupil, he found that teachers do not usually see working class children fit in that criteria, they were often labelled as non-academic and ‘difficult’ they tend to see them
t identifies two groups that are similar and comparisons are made- it seeks to discover cause and effect, avoids artificiality, can be used to study past events, no ethical problems . If studying labelling in schools which is a social process of teachers attaching positive or negative labels to students and students also doing this to teachers, this is best understood in the context of social interaction in the classroom. This would eliminate lab experimentation and would be favoured by interactionists using a field experiment approach. Main ideas concepts Some researchers have used laboratory experiments-Harvey and Stains, they looked at whether teachers had preconceived ideas about pupils of different social classes. The study indicated labelling goes on and that the labels are used to pre-judge pupils potential.
For example, achievement is greatly influenced by class background rather than ability. Furthermore, interactionist Dennis Wrong(1961) argues that functionalists have an ‘over-socialised view’ of people as mere puppets of society. Functionalists wrongly imply that pupils passively accept all they are taught and never reject the school’s values. Marxists, on the other hand, argues that education is mainly there to serve the needs of capitalism. Althusser, sees education as an ideological state apparatus that reproduces and legitimates class inequality, ensuring working-class pupils end up in working-class jobs, and that they accept their exploited role.
If an individual pushes in a queue then they are frowned on. Norms are also built up in schools as how individuals are expected to act as important, such as the UK value human life. The education system socially controls individuals similar to the family. This can be demonstrated through certain types of lessons and the curriculum (formal control) but also through peer groups (hidden or informal social control). A boy would be expected to do engineering and football as it demonstrates manual, aggressive traits.
Assess the strengths and limitations of unstructured interviews for the study of pupil subcultures A subculture is a group of people within society who share norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes that are in some ways different from or opposed to the mainstream culture e.g. an anti-school subculture formed by pupils in lower streams. In this essay I will be asses the strengths and limitations of unstructured interviews for the study of pupil subcultures. An unstructured interview is that mainly open ended questions with no fixed set questions that produces qualitative data and is free flowing like a guided conversation. There are a number of strengths and limitations of using unstructured interviews to study pupil subcultures.
As it says in Item A, a subculture is a group of pupils who share similar values and attitudes. Some subcultures are pro-school, while some are anti-school. An unstructured interview is when the interviewer has freedom to vary the questions they ask. There are a number of strengths and weaknesses of using unstructured interviews to interview children, and they will be examined below. Unstructured interviews allow the interviewer to build rapport with the pupils, unlike questionnaires where there is no chance to build rapport because the researcher has limited contact with the pupils.
The processes that take place within the school are classification of pupils, labelling, typing and the self-fulfilling prophecy, banding and streaming and pupil subcultures and identities. Within the school there are major social class, gender and ethnic differences in how pupils do, with much debate about the reasons for these differences. Many sociologists argue that the processes and the factors within the school are the main cause of differences in the educational achievement of different social groups. The positive and negative labelling of pupils by teachers can have important effects on pupil’s performance, this is a good example of how the differences in the educational achievement of different social groups effect in different ways. Hargreaves interviewed teachers and did a classroom observation.
Who says society and social class has to define one’s education and identity? An article in the “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon points out that students in certain social classes have schools which are tailored to prepare children from the social class which they come. “Changing American Families” by Judy Root Aulette examines how the stratification systems of class mold our society. Rick Santorum in “It Takes a Family: Conservation and the Common Good” states that one’s identity is based from their family and upbringing. Equally important “In The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, he expresses that he knew he was different, that his family life and his academic life was opposed and when he reads Hoggarts description of the scholarship boy he realized there where others like him whom did not fit the mold defined by society.
Abstract Forming impressions of people can be biased from order effects. Those motivated to think are less susceptible to primacy effects compared to those low in motivation to think. Presented study revealed a reduced primacy effect amongst those who are motivated to think. Teachers and assessors alike, where marking exams are part of work life, should be aware of any bias impressions that can be formed of their students during exam marking. As Rosenthal & Jacobson’s (1968) famous classroom study revealed, teachers impressions of their students can affect the level of encouragement they give.