Discuss The View That Schools Are The Main Cause Of Differences In Education

ociology

Asses the views that factors and processes within the school are the main cause of differences in educational achievement of different social groups.

Within educational institutions it is clear that inequities exist between different social groups, an example of this being ethnicity, where we find that many groups do extremely well such as, those of Chinese and Indian heritage, who outperform their white counterparts, however Pakistani Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean, do significantly worse in examinations and are underrepresented in Universities. Inequalities also exist between gender, whereby girls now outperform boys at every level, as well as with class, where those from working class backgrounds, tend to underachieve in comparison

They say that labelling occurs through three distinct steps, being speculation, elaboration, stabilisation, which then allow teachers to interpret behaviour of the student in terms of label and may feel they know what makes the student ‘tick’. Teachers may find labelling useful to ‘pigeon hole’ types of students and form a sense of their class, however, labels are not always a good thing and can lead to serious consequences. Once a label is attached it can be ‘sticky’ and difficult to loose, as teachers screen out behaviour that does not match their expectations of that particular student, which intern may impact the experiences children have within the institutions such as, being allowed on school trips and assignation to lower exam tiers or sets. The a problem then arises where students then start to believe the label and internalise it as part of their identity, creating a self- fulfilling

As a result they subvert the schools culture to gain access to a higher status. Some also argue that anti-school subcultures are used as a coping strategy for the constraints placed on the different group. These different processes result in individuals being disruptive and challenging due to the subverted culture, which leads to them being excluded from the institution, creating inequalities within class.

Teacher expectations within educational institutions can also impact social groups achievement. Becker talks about the ideal students. She interviewed 60 Chicago high school- teachers finding that their expectations of the ideal student had similar characteristics. This can be drawback to those who do not meet their expectations of being ‘ideal student’ due to possible factors such as class, gender or ethnicity. As a result they may subject to the self-fulfilling prophecy, due to negative labelling, leading to a high rate of underachievement in certain social