Which are internal factors to underachievement?

• A. Marketisation
• B. Labeling, streaming, self-fulfilling prophecy
• C. Pupil subcultures
• D. Housing and nutrition

Answer: (B)

Internal factors are the processes inside the school and the student–teacher relationship that shape how a pupil learns. Labeling, streaming, and the self-fulfilling prophecy are classic examples of these mechanisms. When a teacher labels a student as "low ability" or places them in a lower-ability stream, the student receives different feedback, opportunities, and expectations. Over time, these altered interactions can reduce effort, participation, and access to challenging work, leading to lower performance. The student may start to internalize the belief about their own ability, and this expectation can become reality through their actual behavior and engagement—a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Marketisation, housing, and nutrition are external factors that come from outside the classroom or school; they affect opportunities and resources in different ways, not the direct classroom processes that alter how learning unfolds. Pupil subcultures exist within student groups, but the most direct internal mechanisms that consistently link to underachievement in the school setting are labeling, streaming, and the resulting self-fulfilling prophecy.