Throughout this presentation, I will look at how
the teacher’s expectation affects a child’s learning and development, symbolic
interactionism and social class. I will discuss how labels can effect a
child’s learning, development and behaviour during school and the attainment gap
which evidence suggests is apparent between children on free school meals (FSM) and all other students. I will show this through my web portfolio and through evidence I gathered from mainly the DfE. I have used theorists and theories to support my writing and to gain insight into why labelling may have such an affect attainment.
For many years in education there has been a correlation between working class families and
academic achievement. Research has shown that social class is one of the biggest influences on educational achievement within the UK. Free schools meals (FSM) has been used to indicate a child’s family’s socio-economical background thus allowing the percentage of ‘working class children’ and ‘middle class children’s’ attainment to be recorded (Alexander, 2010). Figure one and two in my appendices both show a link between children who receive free school meals and low achievement in England compared to children who do not. However, it can be argued that not all parents whose children are eligible for FSM apply for them; this could be due to the stigma that is attached to being eligible for FSM (Dowler and Turner, 2001).
Symbolic Interactionism: Symbolic interactionism is how humans act towards things in their world based on the meaning they have for themselves i.e. objects, situations. The meaning that humans have for such things derives from interaction in the social world and these meaning are interpreted in our own way depending on each specific person (Blumer, 1998)
Social Class: Social class can be defined as your socio-economic background, although, it is hard to define social class as Bartlett and Burton(2012) stated due to sensitivity of not wanting to highlight the social gap. Throughout this web-portfolio, I will mainly refer to social class as children eligible for FSM, or working class and middle class although they may not be seen as relevant today.
Labelling Theory: Labelling theory is one of the most important interactionist approaches. It aims to understand how crime and deviance is not a characteristic of an individual, but a process of interaction which then gets labelled as deviant. Howard Becker suggested that deviant
behaviour was reinforced through labels (Giddens, 2009). Labelling does not only effect how other see a person as an individual but it also effects how one sees themselves (ibid).
the teacher’s expectation affects a child’s learning and development, symbolic
interactionism and social class. I will discuss how labels can effect a
child’s learning, development and behaviour during school and the attainment gap
which evidence suggests is apparent between children on free school meals (FSM) and all other students. I will show this through my web portfolio and through evidence I gathered from mainly the DfE. I have used theorists and theories to support my writing and to gain insight into why labelling may have such an affect attainment.
For many years in education there has been a correlation between working class families and
academic achievement. Research has shown that social class is one of the biggest influences on educational achievement within the UK. Free schools meals (FSM) has been used to indicate a child’s family’s socio-economical background thus allowing the percentage of ‘working class children’ and ‘middle class children’s’ attainment to be recorded (Alexander, 2010). Figure one and two in my appendices both show a link between children who receive free school meals and low achievement in England compared to children who do not. However, it can be argued that not all parents whose children are eligible for FSM apply for them; this could be due to the stigma that is attached to being eligible for FSM (Dowler and Turner, 2001).
Symbolic Interactionism: Symbolic interactionism is how humans act towards things in their world based on the meaning they have for themselves i.e. objects, situations. The meaning that humans have for such things derives from interaction in the social world and these meaning are interpreted in our own way depending on each specific person (Blumer, 1998)
Social Class: Social class can be defined as your socio-economic background, although, it is hard to define social class as Bartlett and Burton(2012) stated due to sensitivity of not wanting to highlight the social gap. Throughout this web-portfolio, I will mainly refer to social class as children eligible for FSM, or working class and middle class although they may not be seen as relevant today.
Labelling Theory: Labelling theory is one of the most important interactionist approaches. It aims to understand how crime and deviance is not a characteristic of an individual, but a process of interaction which then gets labelled as deviant. Howard Becker suggested that deviant
behaviour was reinforced through labels (Giddens, 2009). Labelling does not only effect how other see a person as an individual but it also effects how one sees themselves (ibid).