2.2.1
Social Class: Internal Factors
Differences in Achievement: Social Class (Internal Factors)
Differences in Achievement: Social Class (Internal Factors)
Differences in achievement between pupils of different social classes can be divided into those that are: external of the school environment and those that are internal (or within) the school.
Becker and Keddie (1971)
Becker and Keddie (1971)
- Keddie applied the idea of labelling (developed by Becker) when looking at the operation of streaming in schools.
- She found that teachers were more likely to label children from middle class backgrounds as ‘ideal pupils’ and, as a result, they tended to be treated more favourably than working class pupils.
Impacts of labelling
Impacts of labelling
- Such positive labelling resulted in middle-class children being more likely to be put into the higher streams where teachers tended to have higher expectations of the students.
- The working class students in the lower streams were treated more negatively and were more likely to have higher level knowledge withheld from them.
Ball (1981)
Ball (1981)
- Ball (1981) found that there was a strong correlation between the bands that students were placed in schools and the occupational backgrounds of their parents. That is, students with parents who had middle class occupations were more likely to be placed in the higher bands whereas children from whose parents had working class jobs were more likely to be in the lower bands.
Link to teachers
Link to teachers
- Ball linked this situation to the process of positive and negative labelling by teachers - that teachers tended to have higher expectations of children in the higher bands and streams which resulted in a self fulfilling prophecy and differential educational achievement.
Woods (1983)
Woods (1983)
- Woods (1983) identifies a range of ways in which pupils may ‘adapt’ to their schooling environment.
- E.g. Woods argues that some pupils may adopt positive adaptations whereby they accept the school aims for academic success. He labels such an adaptation as ‘ingratiation’ whereby such students seek to ingratiate themselves with their teachers as fully as possible, whereas other students may opt for ‘compliance’ which is not as strong an adaptation but reflects a degree of conformity.
Woods: 'rebellion'
Woods: 'rebellion'
- A more negative adaptation that Woods identified is ‘rebellion’, whereby students openly reject the goals of the school and the means as to how to achieve these and this culminates in an anti-school culture.
- Woods generalised that pupil adaptations could be linked to class in that working class pupils were more likely to adopt negative non-conformist adaptations whereas middle class pupils were more likely to be positive and more conformist.
1Theory & Methods
1.1Sociological Theories
1.2Sociological Methods
2Education with Methods in Context
2.1Role & Function of the Education System
2.2Educational Achievement
2.3Relationships & Processes Within Schools
3Option 1: Culture & Identity
3.1Conceptions of Culture
3.2Identity & Socialisation
3.3Social Identity
3.4Production, Consumption & Globalisation
4Option 1: Families & Households
4.1Families & Households
4.2Changing Patterns
4.3The Symmetrical Family
4.4Children & Childhood
5Option 1: Health
5.1Social Constructions
5.2Social Distribution of Healthcare
5.3Provision & Access to Healthcare
5.4Mental Health
6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare
6.1Poverty & Wealth
7Option 2: Beliefs in Society
7.1Ideology, Science & Religion
7.2Religious Movements
7.3Society & Religion
8Option 2: Global Development
8.1Development, Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
8.2Globalisation & Global Organisations
8.3Aid, Trade, Industrialisation, Urbanisation
9Option 2: The Media
9.1Contemporary Media
9.2Media Representations
10Crime & Deviance
10.1Crime & Society
10.2Social Distribution of Crime
Jump to other topics
1Theory & Methods
1.1Sociological Theories
1.2Sociological Methods
2Education with Methods in Context
2.1Role & Function of the Education System
2.2Educational Achievement
2.3Relationships & Processes Within Schools
3Option 1: Culture & Identity
3.1Conceptions of Culture
3.2Identity & Socialisation
3.3Social Identity
3.4Production, Consumption & Globalisation
4Option 1: Families & Households
4.1Families & Households
4.2Changing Patterns
4.3The Symmetrical Family
4.4Children & Childhood
5Option 1: Health
5.1Social Constructions
5.2Social Distribution of Healthcare
5.3Provision & Access to Healthcare
5.4Mental Health
6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare
6.1Poverty & Wealth
7Option 2: Beliefs in Society
7.1Ideology, Science & Religion
7.2Religious Movements
7.3Society & Religion
8Option 2: Global Development
8.1Development, Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
8.2Globalisation & Global Organisations
8.3Aid, Trade, Industrialisation, Urbanisation
9Option 2: The Media
9.1Contemporary Media
9.2Media Representations
10Crime & Deviance
10.1Crime & Society
10.2Social Distribution of Crime
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Social Class Differences in Educational Achievement
Educational achievement differs between certain groups of people. Sociologists have identified three factors that account for the differences: social class, gender and ethnicity.
Differences
External influences
Internal influences