Labelling and the rights of all students to access education
In educational settings, labeling refers to categorising children on the basis of their exceptionality for educational purposes (Henley, Ramsey, & Algozzine, 2008, Winzer, 2008); thus, labeling constitutes the foundation of special education. In most areas in Australia, the educational setting in which a student can be educated is that preferred by the parent. In the best circumstances, parents and schools can agree upon a setting appropriate to the student’s abilities and needs. However, there are many instances where this issue creates significant conflict. A minority of parents want either to keep their child in a Special School to get the higher staff to student ratio, or to protect and care for them, when they …show more content…
Conversely, labelling theorists have had their work criticised on many levels, and these criticisms must be examined before any evaluation of the contribution of the labelling theorists to the sociology can be made. Becker himself examines some of the criticisms made of the theory in Labelling Theory Reconsidered (1974). Firstly, he points out that, rather than being an all-encompassing theory, labelling was created as a way of looking at a general area of human activity. It is not, he claims "a theory, with all the achievements and obligations that go with the title, nor focused so exclusively on the act of labelling as some have thought". Nevertheless, this aside, Becker mentions some of the criticisms given of the theory, for example, he states how interactionist theories have been accused or giving aid and comfort to the enemy, be the enemy those who would upset the stability of the existing order or the Establishment. In reply to this, however, we have already mentioned the suggestion of Erikson that abnormality is a necessary part of society, showing the difference between right and wrong, and encouraging the majority of
In educational settings, labeling refers to categorising children on the basis of their exceptionality for educational purposes (Henley, Ramsey, & Algozzine, 2008, Winzer, 2008); thus, labeling constitutes the foundation of special education. In most areas in Australia, the educational setting in which a student can be educated is that preferred by the parent. In the best circumstances, parents and schools can agree upon a setting appropriate to the student’s abilities and needs. However, there are many instances where this issue creates significant conflict. A minority of parents want either to keep their child in a Special School to get the higher staff to student ratio, or to protect and care for them, when they …show more content…
Conversely, labelling theorists have had their work criticised on many levels, and these criticisms must be examined before any evaluation of the contribution of the labelling theorists to the sociology can be made. Becker himself examines some of the criticisms made of the theory in Labelling Theory Reconsidered (1974). Firstly, he points out that, rather than being an all-encompassing theory, labelling was created as a way of looking at a general area of human activity. It is not, he claims "a theory, with all the achievements and obligations that go with the title, nor focused so exclusively on the act of labelling as some have thought". Nevertheless, this aside, Becker mentions some of the criticisms given of the theory, for example, he states how interactionist theories have been accused or giving aid and comfort to the enemy, be the enemy those who would upset the stability of the existing order or the Establishment. In reply to this, however, we have already mentioned the suggestion of Erikson that abnormality is a necessary part of society, showing the difference between right and wrong, and encouraging the majority of