Outline and assess the view that what happens in schools is the most influential factor in students' educational attainment

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Outline and assess the view that what happens in schools is the most influential factor in students' educational attainment

Educational attainment is a measure of a person's educational achievement. Many social factors can influence this attainment. Some examples being; Class, Gender, Ethnicity and Peer group. Everybody should have an equal chance to succeed regardless of these. However, many sociological evidence has proven otherwise and shown that what occurs in schools can more or less determine how a student will emerge from the other end of the education system.

One approach which examines interaction and the daily occurrences in school is the interpretivist approach. This approach assumes that people interpret the world in terms of meanings, which are constructed in interaction situations. In terms of education, it focuses on classroom interaction, meanings which direct that interaction, and the relationships, which develop from it. Social classification is an important part of this approach. Beynon examined how classified each other's within the first three months of secondary school. Their classifications included, good kids, teacher's pets, bullies, and weirdoes. On the basis of these, the boys formed friendship groups. These classifications are important as they define what a person is and what others think about and expect from them.
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Labelling is another major identifying characteristic of a person. This can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Whereby, if a student is labelled a troublemaker, this will not only affect them in a negative way but may also result in the student living unto this label and behaving badly. This also may have a negative effect with teachers, as it is then likely that all that students actions will be interpreted in terms of this label so even if they behave well on occasions, this will be judged as unusual for their character.

David Hargreaves examined how teachers ...

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