Outline and assess the view that in school factors have the main influence on the educational achievement of different social classes (50 Marks)
INSIDE
- The Curriculum
What is taught in schools disadvantages working class pupils. The knowledge taught in school is different to the cultural experiences of working class pupils. For example, History deals with the ruling class such as kings, queens and politicians, rather than the majority of ordinary people.
Cultural Bias of the hidden curriculum favours middle class pupils. This may lead the underachievement and truancy of those from working class backgrounds. Ramsay argues that knowledge is used as a form of social control and that there is a hidden curriculum behind the subjects of Maths and English to keep the working class in their place. Ramsay argues that truancy is a protest against this pressure.
- Teacher Labelling
Interactionists study the interactions between teacher & student and student & student. Their explanations are based on a “labelling theory”. Teachers judge students not by their ability or intelligence, but by characteristics such as class.
Keddie – “Classroom Knowledge”
Keddie studied classroom interactions in a large, socially mixed comprehensive school in London. She had found that teachers categorised and evaluated classroom knowledge. The knowledge that teachers gave pupils was based on their assessment of the pupil’s ability to cope with the knowledge.
Pupils that were categorized as “bright” were given greater access to knowledge in contrast to those less able. Those who were labelled as bright were those who submitted to teacher’s authority, without challenge. These students were typically middle class.
Keddie found that teachers categorised pupils based on their social backgrounds; WC pupils typically put on C streams, whilst MC pupils were typically placed on “A” Streams.