ABSTRACT
The meritocratic ideology, teachers are expected to be able to identify the level of a pupil's ability and to convert that ability into marketable credentials. The accuracy with which a teacher can define the ability of the pupil may have favourable or detrimental consequences for the pupil's actual achievement. Were some pupils more likely than others to be over or under-estimated? Our concern to-date has been with the status groups of ethnicity and gender within a working class school. It has been suggested that to be a white girl may attract more favourable views of pupil standing from both pupils and teachers alike. As for the sex difference within an ethnic group, boys are under-estimated compared to girls, significantly for ethnic minority pupils but not for white pupils. If the ethnic difference within a sex is considered, then ethnic minority boys are over-estimated and white boys are under-estimated, but not significantly.
