The bottom-less buckets : an experience of year 6 lower-streamed primary pupils

Abstract

This study seeks to discover the experiences of pupils placed in a lower-streamed class. Attention will be focused on the exploration of how this relegation effects their self-concept and educational achievements. it also looks beneath hegemonic structures in order to understand the underlying social meanings involved within the streaming process. Such an experience could not be captured or understood through the use of a statistical inquiry. I felt it essential to have first hand experience by means of classroom observations and discussions with the pupils, teachers and members of staff. Ethnographic data has therefore been gathered from a lower-streamed class in a Primary 'B' School in a rural town in Mal ta. This data was then analysed in the light of what the social reproduction theory has to say about streaming.