Vulnerability – Labels and Labelling

Abstract

Labelling is the product of imposing one's perceptions on the comparatively powerless, and it damages those who label as well as those to whom labels are attached. This chapter concentrates on the latter, although it does contain messages and advice for those who label. While damage is rarely intentional, it is substantial and inevitable and can be avoided with the application of little more than common sense, professional awareness and human decency. We know that statistical trends are not statements of absolute truths, yet many teachers and senior staff make decisions based on just that misapprehension – whether with regard to ethnicity, gender, age, [dis]ability and other socially constructed categories – and can even be influenced by such non-educational trivia as surnames and post codes. The statistics do not lie, they simply tell us exactly what they tell us and that is almost nothing about any particular school student. Labelling is easy; we all do it in various contexts, and it is immensely damaging. This chapter explains how and why that is the case, and offers an alternative approach.

Citation

Leighton, R. (2022), "Vulnerability – Labels and Labelling", McGovern, W., Gillespie, A. and Woodley, H. (Ed.) Understanding Safeguarding for Children and Their Educational Experiences, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 33-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-709-120221004