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Unlock This CourseWhile functionalists and Marxists look at the big picture of how education works in society, interactionists zoom in on what happens day-to-day in classrooms. They're interested in the small but important interactions between teachers and students and how these shape educational experiences and outcomes.
Key Definitions:
Unlike structural theories that examine education systems as a whole, interactionists look at everyday classroom interactions. They believe education isn't just about official learning but also about the countless small exchanges that shape how students see themselves and their abilities.
Interactionist perspectives help us understand why some students succeed while others struggle, even within the same school. They reveal how teacher expectations, peer interactions and classroom dynamics can dramatically affect educational outcomes.
One of the most important interactionist ideas is labelling theory. In schools, teachers often categorise students based on first impressions, test results, behaviour, appearance, or even their family background. These labels can stick with students throughout their education.
"Bright", "gifted", "hardworking"
These labels often lead to more attention, encouragement and opportunities.
"Troublemaker", "slow", "lazy"
These labels can result in less attention, fewer opportunities and stricter discipline.
"Average", "quiet", "middle-ability"
These students might receive less attention overall as teachers focus on high and low achievers.
When teachers label students, they often treat them differently based on these labels. This treatment can cause students to behave in ways that confirm the original label - creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In their famous "Pygmalion in the Classroom" study, researchers told teachers that certain randomly selected students were likely to show significant academic improvement based on a fake "intelligence test". By the end of the year, these randomly selected students actually showed greater improvement than their peers. This demonstrated how teacher expectations alone can influence student performance, even when there's no real difference between students to begin with.
Interactionists are particularly interested in the hidden curriculum - all the things students learn at school that aren't part of the official subjects. This includes social norms, values and behaviours that schools unintentionally teach.
Maths, English, Science, History, etc.
Knowledge and skills that can be tested in exams.
How to conform to authority, compete with peers, accept social hierarchies and adopt cultural values.
Gender roles, class expectations and other social norms.
The hidden curriculum teaches students "how to be" in society. For example, by raising hands to speak, students learn to respect authority. By working quietly and individually on tests, they learn that individual achievement is valued over collaboration.
Students don't just passively accept labels. Interactionists have identified several ways students might respond when they're negatively labelled:
Some students internalise negative labels and adjust their efforts and ambitions downward. They might think, "I'm just not good at maths" and stop trying.
Some students actively fight against negative labels by working harder to prove teachers wrong. This can lead to academic success despite negative expectations.
Some students reject school values entirely and form anti-school subcultures where they gain status through misbehaviour rather than academic achievement.
Willis studied a group of working-class boys (the "lads") who rejected school values and formed their own anti-school subculture. They saw academic work as pointless and "feminine," while valuing "having a laugh" and disrupting lessons. By rejecting education, they were unknowingly preparing themselves for working-class jobs similar to their fathers'. This study shows how students can actively participate in reproducing social inequalities through their responses to school labelling.
Interactionists examine how subtle differences in how teachers interact with different students can have major impacts on learning outcomes.
While interactionist views offer valuable insights into classroom dynamics, they have limitations:
Interactionists sometimes miss the bigger picture of how social structures like class, gender and ethnicity shape education. They focus so much on individual interactions that they might overlook systemic inequalities.
Interactionists might overstate how much freedom students have to reject labels. Structural factors like poverty, racism, or inadequate school resources can limit students' ability to overcome negative expectations.
Understanding interactionist ideas can help improve education by making teachers more aware of how their expectations and interactions affect students.
Many schools now train teachers to be aware of unconscious bias and the self-fulfilling prophecy. Techniques like "cold calling" (asking questions of students randomly rather than just those who raise hands) and ensuring equal wait time for all students can help combat the negative effects of labelling. Schools may also use mixed-ability grouping rather than streaming or setting to reduce the impact of labels.