To What Extent Do Factors Within The School Affect Educational Achievement?

Many sociologists have debated that differences in educational achievements are a result of factors within the school; on the other hand others have said that it is the result of differences in their home background/

School factors can be used to explain the poorer educational achievement of working class pupils. Examples of these are teacher expectations, labelling, subcultures, setting and streaming and the ‘ideal pupil’. Some sociologists believe that teachers are more likely to have lower expectations of working class pupils; they are also more likely to negatively label them and subsequently place them in lower sets/lower tier exams.

Many Interactivist sociologists have carried out research into the factors within schools that can lead to working class underachievement. These researchers include Becker who shows that teachers have a preconcepted image of the ‘ideal pupil’ who is polite and hard working. Becker argues that teachers compare pupils to this ideal pupil and middle class pupils are far more likely to reach this expectation than working class pupils.

Other interactionists have shown how labelling can also have an impact on the performance of a student. These labels can carry on to self-fulfilling prophecy; therefore the idea of labelling shows us the power that teachers have to influence the behaviour and achievement of students. Teacher expectation is another factor that occurs within schools that can lead to differential achievement between working class and middle class pupils. Rosenthal and Jacobson carried out an experiment to try and test the power of teacher expectations. Their findings showed the impact it has. Teachers can transmit low expectations to groups of pupils in a number of ways such as ignoring them in the classroom, paying less attention to them than others, setting a lower level of work and failing to encourage them. Although the concept of teacher expectations can be faulted in many ways, for example many questioned the ethics of Rosenthal and Jacobson work. Also teacher expectations are often justifiable.

When considering the extent to which factors within the school affect educational achievement, you must also consider setting and streaming. This is common in most secondary schools. Harqreaves and Lacy identified the way middle class pupils were over represented in higher sets and working class in lower ones. Keddie found that streaming was often based in how well pupils matched the ‘ideal pupil’ image. Keddie believes that working class pupils are more likely to challenge teachers and therefore will be labelled and placed in lower sets. Keddie’s view represents the Marxist view.

Several sociologists have also highlighted the formation of subcultures as an important factor that occurs within the school, which can lead to differential achievement. For example Willis found that the ‘lads’ (working class boys) developed behaviours to help them deal with their school situation. However, critisms of Willis can be made as his sample only involved 12 boys; therefore representativeness and reliability of his research can be questioned. Also it can be argued that Willis romanticised these boys as working class heroes.

The marketisation of education has also had an affect on factors within the schools. Barlett argues that the schools ‘cream’ the weaker ones in order to improve their market position. You can see therefore that teachers within the school do affect educational achievement to some extent. However home factors can also play a major part. These cultural deprivations include different levels of parental interest as shown by Hyman who identified a difference between the working class and middle class. Middle class are seen to place more emphasis on achievement and draw on their cultural capital. Bourdieu also showed this by saying that middle class parents are more likely to attend parents’ evenings and help with homework. But research in this area can be seen to show working class families as failing their children. Material deprivations need to be considered otherwise we have a ‘victim blaming’ situation that ignores the wider picture.

Basil Bernstein argued that language has a major influence on achievement. He identified two codes of language; the restricted code used primarily by the working class and the elaborate code used by the middle class. The elaborate code is universalistic and is used by schools. Many shun the working class about their code but as Labor put it; “The working class language is simply different.”

Charles Murrey has recently identified the underclass, which have a distinct set of norms and values. He claims that these stem from many single parents, welfare dependency and poor socialization. Again criticisms can be made of all these factors. The working class do not share all share the same beliefs just as the middle class don’t, both middle class and working class values are diverse and varied.

In conclusion, many sociologists argue that factors within the school play a major part in educational achievement to a large extent, on the other hand there are many who believe outside factors need to be considered before jumping to any conclusion. All factors are difficult to measure; therefore consideration of both sides must be taken into account when determining the factors that affect educational achievement