Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that factors and processes within the school are the main cause of differences in the educational achievement of different social classes:

There are many internal factors which affect the educational achievement of children within a school. Internal factor are factors inside the education system which explain class differences in achievement, such as poor teaching, type of school and how students are treated.

Labelling plays an important role in different achievement between classes. To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to someone, these could be positive or negative. As it says in Item A positive or negative labelling of pupils by teachers can have important effects on performance. Studies have shown that teachers often attach labels regardless of the pupil’s actual ability or attitude. Instead, they labelled the pupils on the basis of stereotyped assumptions about their class background, labelling working- class children negatively and middle- class children positively. A self- fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true simply by the virtue of having being made. Interactionists argue that labelling can affect pupils’ achievement by creating a self- fulfilling prophecy. For example a teacher labels a pupil and on the basic of this label makes predictions about him. The teacher treats the pupil accordingly, acting as if the prediction they made is already true. The pupils then internalises the teacher’s expectation which becomes part of his self- concept or self- image, so that he now becomes the kind of pupil the teacher believed him to be in the first place.

Streaming involves separating children into different groups according to their ability, these are often called “streams”. Each ability is then taught separately from the others for all subjects. Studies show that