labelling +selffulfilling prophecy

• labelling theory

  •This is an interactionist theory (looks at small-scale interactions between people)•Labelling = to attach a meaning or definition to a student, e.g. They’re thick, clever, hardworking, lazy etc.•Some pupils are labelled positively, others negatively by teachers – often based upon stereotypes about class background (and ethnicity and gender too).
• labelling


  •Studies show that some teachers attach labels based more on class rather than on actual ability, and attach negative labels to working class and positive to middle class.•Howard Becker carried out a study of labelling. After interviewing 60 Chicago high school teachers he found that they judged pupils according to how closely they fitted an image of the “ideal pupil”.•The teachers often saw middle class students as the closest to ideal and working class children as furthest away.•
• Labelling starts from the outset of a child’s educational career

  •Ray Rist (1970)- studied an American kindergarten, and used info about children’s home background and appearance to place them into different groups:–Tigers - fast learners, M/C and neat/clean in appearance, placed nearest to her and showed them greatest encouragement–Clown - W/C, lower level books to read, fewer opportunities to demonstrate their abilities
• self fulfilling prohpecy


  •This is a prediction that comes true simply because people believe it and behave as though it will come true.•If a teacher believes a child to be a failure, they can actually make them a failure.
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• eval

  •AO3: We should not assume all pupils accept the labels they are given as this is overly deterministic (ignores the free will students have) - some pupils try to detach themselves from the label and prove the teacher wrong (a self-refuting prophecy).