Name: ______________
Essay plan:_____ marks
Structure:
P: This is your POINT, (your starter sentence) it introduces your argument. Use the
wording from the question to showcase your point- it’ll show the examiner you know
what you’re doing J REMEMBER SHORT AND SIMPLE- you want to make sure your point is
clear otherwise you’ll confuse yourself and the examiner.
e.g.‘One reason why there may be differences in educational achievement between
social groups is due to in-school factors such as pupil labelling’.
E: Now it’s time to EXPLAIN what you meant. You should first explain any specialist
terms you used in your point ‘pupil labelling’ to show you know what you’re talking
about. Then, you should use a Sociologist to provide EVIDENCE and their study to
reinforce your argument- make sure it relates to what you’re talking about.
REFERENCE BY LAST NAME ONLY- saying the first name makes you look weird K
e.g.‘labelling means to attach a meaning to a certain individual, where it be
positive or negative. Becker studied 60 Chicago schools and found that teachers
label pupils according to how well they fit the image of the ‘ideal pupil’, it was
found that middle-class pupils were the closest to the image, but working-class
pupils were furthest from it.
, Name: ______________
E: Now here it gets a bit tricky but don’t worry, your halfway J. This is the bit
where you explain the impact the findings from the study have to the scenario the
question has given you.
e.g. ‘This means that teachers will interact with these pupils differently and have
different expectations for students from different social groups. As pupils are
faced with a self-fulfilling prophecy where they can choose to internalise the
label and live up to its standards or reject it completely. Therefore, schools
produce ‘working-class’ underachievement as teachers ‘normalise’ their expectations
of those pupils which adds to the differences in educational attainment between
social groups as working-class pupils are more likely to live up to the low
expectations due to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
L: This is your LINK where you should counter your argument. You need to either
support or criticise the argument you have made and judge whether your argument is
viable. Think of this as a mini-conclusion, you have got to judge what you have
stated and argue whether it is a valid point or not.
e.g. ‘However, this theory is limited as teachers are actually the least racist/
sexist and classist professionals of them all, and so they avoid discrimination
rather than actively discriminate pupils- therefore, pupil labelling is not a valid
explanation for the difference in attainment between social groups’.
Essay plan:_____ marks
Structure:
P: This is your POINT, (your starter sentence) it introduces your argument. Use the
wording from the question to showcase your point- it’ll show the examiner you know
what you’re doing J REMEMBER SHORT AND SIMPLE- you want to make sure your point is
clear otherwise you’ll confuse yourself and the examiner.
e.g.‘One reason why there may be differences in educational achievement between
social groups is due to in-school factors such as pupil labelling’.
E: Now it’s time to EXPLAIN what you meant. You should first explain any specialist
terms you used in your point ‘pupil labelling’ to show you know what you’re talking
about. Then, you should use a Sociologist to provide EVIDENCE and their study to
reinforce your argument- make sure it relates to what you’re talking about.
REFERENCE BY LAST NAME ONLY- saying the first name makes you look weird K
e.g.‘labelling means to attach a meaning to a certain individual, where it be
positive or negative. Becker studied 60 Chicago schools and found that teachers
label pupils according to how well they fit the image of the ‘ideal pupil’, it was
found that middle-class pupils were the closest to the image, but working-class
pupils were furthest from it.
, Name: ______________
E: Now here it gets a bit tricky but don’t worry, your halfway J. This is the bit
where you explain the impact the findings from the study have to the scenario the
question has given you.
e.g. ‘This means that teachers will interact with these pupils differently and have
different expectations for students from different social groups. As pupils are
faced with a self-fulfilling prophecy where they can choose to internalise the
label and live up to its standards or reject it completely. Therefore, schools
produce ‘working-class’ underachievement as teachers ‘normalise’ their expectations
of those pupils which adds to the differences in educational attainment between
social groups as working-class pupils are more likely to live up to the low
expectations due to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
L: This is your LINK where you should counter your argument. You need to either
support or criticise the argument you have made and judge whether your argument is
viable. Think of this as a mini-conclusion, you have got to judge what you have
stated and argue whether it is a valid point or not.
e.g. ‘However, this theory is limited as teachers are actually the least racist/
sexist and classist professionals of them all, and so they avoid discrimination
rather than actively discriminate pupils- therefore, pupil labelling is not a valid
explanation for the difference in attainment between social groups’.
