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Interactionism/labelling theory & Education - Coggle Diagram
Interactionism/labelling theory & Education
A Micro theory- looks at individuals rather than society.
It looks at the importance & effects of labelling in society & how this may impact an individual with regards to opportunity & success within education
JANE ELLIOTT-Blue/brown eyes experiment: Conducted on school children. She catergorised them by eye colour. She then emphasised that blue eyes were better which created a divide in the classroom. Blue eyes started to bully brown eyes & blue eyes did better on tests.
SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY: Labelling can have an impact on self esteem & people can start to live up to the labels they are given
BECKER- The ideal pupil: MC teachers have an ideal pupil & use this as a standard by which to judge all pupils. Positive labels were given based on things such as a smart appearance & language (links to elaborated speech code), not intelligence. This gave MC pupils positive self esteem & WC pupils negative self esteem This could lead to a self fulfilling prophecy.
HARGREAVES- The halo effect: Refers to one possible impact of positive label being applied to pupils by teachers. If a pupil has been labelled positively, perhaps as an ideal pupil then their behaviour will be interpreted differently than the same behaviour might be for a different pupil. As such they're less likely to be disciplined
REIFICATION: This is the process of taking assumptions about who is a good or bad pupil, and acting as though they were true. It is the process where the teacher's prejudice & labelling are considered to be the truth
COOLEY- The looking glass self: Our reflection of how we think we appear to others. If someone perceives the teacher as not liking them then they might not try as hard
CICOUREL & KITSUSE: Suggested that factors which affect teacher counsellor assessment of students, could well be on the basis of appearance, manners & clothing. These are all identifiers of social class. This work has been supported by much subsequent research. It's probable that teachers do evaluate children on the basis of their social class and on features other than their ability levels
ROSENHAL & JACOBSON: Gave random/IQ test results of pupils to teachers & picked random children they predicted would progress well. Tested them a year later- "growth spirits" had made accelerated progress
AO3- MIRTZA- SELF REFUTING LABEL: The schools they were in were poorly resourced & teaching was stretched. The young women sat in the back of the classroom & got on with their work. They often pretended to not be working, but did their homework. Most of all they had to stay on longer & go to college to achieve academic success. What Mirtza found is that these young girls rejected the label of being poorly educated & worked harder for longer to achieve, therefore achieving meritocracy
EVALUATION
STRENGTHS
Micro= well evidenced & good research
WEAKNESS
There's limited evidence- all of the studies based on small samples & are underepresentative so we can't generalise them
It's deterministic- students are not as passive as it suggests, not every student is affected negatively by a negative label, some try hard to prove the teacher wrong (Mirtza)
It blames those in power (teachers) for failure of underachieving groups, arguing they are biased. Today teachers are probably the least sexist/racist/classist professionals of all & they're amongst the most well trained at avoiding discrimination
We can negotiate our labels- sexuality (plummer & gay men in prison)