2.2 differential educational attainment - ethnicity Flashcards
1
Q
Which ethnic groups performed the highest in GCSEs in 2013/2014?
A
- Chinese and Indian
2
Q
Which ethnic groups performed the lowest in GCSEs in 2013/2014?
A
gypsy/roma and black Caribbean
3
Q
What ethnic group performed the highest in GCSEs in 2015/2016?
A
Chinese
4
Q
What ethnic groups performed the highest in GCSES in 2021/22?
A
Chinese and Indiam
5
Q
What ethnic group performed lowest in GCSEs in 2021/22?
A
Gypsy/Roma
6
Q
How can cultural deprivation explain differences in educational attainment with different ethnicities?
A
- low income black families lack intellectual stimulation, fail to develop reasoning and problem solving skills
- children who don’t speak English at home may be held back educationally
7
Q
What is a criticism of children who don’t speak English at home’s low attainment?
A
the Swan Report (1985) = language isn’t a major educational factor
8
Q
What does Bereiter and Engelmann (1966) argue about cultural deprivation?
A
the language of poorer black American families is ungrammatical and disjointed
- their children are unable to express abstract ideas, thus there is a major barrier to educational success
BUT this is outdated and harmful
9
Q
What other cultural deprivation arguments are there?
A
- the subculture into which some black children are socialised is fatalistic
- the lack of a male role model for some African or Caribbean boys - encourages an anti-educational macho gang culture
- high rates of lone parenthood + lack of positive role models leads to the underachievement of Black Caribbeans
10
Q
What did Moynihan (1965) argue about differential educational attainment?
A
- the culture of poverty:
- the absence of a male role model produces inadequately socialised children
- then they become inadequate parents themselves
- perpetuates a culture of poverty
11
Q
What did Pryce (1979) argue about differential educational attainment?
A
- the impact of slavery:
- Black Caribbean culture is less resistant to racism because of the experience of slavery
- many black people have low self-esteem and underachieve
12
Q
What did Khan (1979) argue about Asian families?
A
- the Asian family is an obstacle to achievement especially for girls, because it takes a controlling attitude towards them
- as a result they do less well than boys
13
Q
What are some criticisms of Khan?
A
- some Asian familes have more positive attitudes towards their education and that adult authority in them is similar to that in school
- Asian parents are more likely to support the school’s behaviour policies
14
Q
What are some criticisms of Khan?
A
- some Asian familes have more positive attitudes towards their education and that adult authority in them is similar to that in school
- Asian parents are more likely to support the school’s behaviour policies
15
Q
What did Stephen Strand find in his analysis of data from the 2004 Longitudinal Study of Young People?
A
- Indian students are the ethnic group:
- most likely to complete homework 5 times a week
- less likely to truant
- less likely to be excluded
- parents were more likely to say that they knew where their children were
- this suggests that higher parental and student aspirations offset the disadvantaging effects from social and economic factors
16
Q
What did Stephen Strand find in his analysis of data from the 2004 Longitudinal Study of Young People?
A
- Indian students are the ethnic group:
- most likely to complete homework 5 times a week
- less likely to truant
- less likely to be excluded
- parents were more likely to say that they knew where their children were
- this suggests that higher parental and student aspirations offset the disadvantaging effects from social and economic factors
17
Q
What did Francis and Archer (2005) argue about British Chinese students and parents?
A
- the high value placed on education by parents, coupled with a strong cultural tradition of respect for one’s elders, which facilitates the transmission of high educational aspiration from parents to children, and that students derive positive self-esteem from constructing themselves as good students
18
Q
What does Lupton (2004) argue about WC white pupils?
A
- teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in the white working class schools
- they linked this to lower levels of parental support
19
Q
What did Evans(2006) argue about white WC pupils?
A
- street culture in white areas can be brutal and can be brought into school
- the result is a strong pressure to reject education
20
Q
What does Martin Mac an Ghail argue about white WC boys?
A
- there is a crisis in masculinity with white WC boys
- loss of jobs in a post-Fordist society due to globalisation, there was a loss of jobs previously seem as ‘masculine’ to other countries
- leaves some boys with lower aspirations, no hopes, no future and underachieve at school
21
Q
What did Paul Willis find?
A
- the white WC ‘lads’ living in deprived council estates, seek status through the gang of lads -> anti-school subculture
22
Q
What policies were introduced to try to combat cultural deprivation?
A
- Operation Head Start
- Sure Start centres
- the EMA
- Pupil Premium
- Tony Sewell’s Generating Genius programme
23
Q
What are some criticisms of cultural deprivation?
A
- victim blaming
- cultural exclusion
- cultural domination of white MC culture
- Keddie= minority ethnic groups are culturally different, not culturally deprived
24
Q
How can it be argued that material deprivation leads to differential educational attainment between ethnicities?
A
- for many minorities e.g. Pakistani and Bangladeshi, unemployment is higher, pay is lower and overcrowding in the home is more likely
- Indian families are more likely to be wealthier and therefore more likely to pay for tuition
- white MC are more likely to go to university
- Black Caribbean lone parent families only have one salary
25
What is an argument against material deprivation?
- Chinese students on FSM still perform higher than other ethnic minorities not on FSM
26
What is an argument against material deprivation?
- Chinese students on FSM still perform higher than other ethnic minorities not on FSM
27
What are some internal factors that affect ethnic differences?
- labelling
- pupil subcultures
- institutional racism
28
How have **Gillborn and Youdell (2000)** argued that labelling affects attainment?
- teachers had **racialised expectations** about black pupils and expected more discipline problems and saw their behaviour as threatening
- black pupils were more likely to be punished than others for the same behaviour
- black boys were 7 times more likely to be excluded
29
What did **Wright (1992)** argue about Asian primary kids and labelling?
- they were treated differently, assumed that they would have a poorer grasp of English and use simplistic language
- teachers mispronounced children’s names
- the girls were marginalised and prevented from participating fully, affecting their self-esteem
30
What did **Sewell (1998)** argue about pupil subcultures?
- **conformists** = keen to succeed, accepted the school’s goals
- **innovators** = pro-education but anti-school, valued success but not teacher’s approval
- **retreatists** = disconnected from school and black subcultures outside of it
- **rebels** = very small, aim to achieve status of ‘street hood’, rejected school rules, this was how most teachers saw all black boys, despite this group being the smallest
31
What did **O’Donnell and Sharpe (2000)** find about Asian subcultures?
- found a macho ‘warrior’ response similar to the rebels among some Asian boys who despised more conformist Asian youths as ‘weaklings’
32
What did **Fuller (1984)** find about black girls?
- black girls in year 11 of a London comprehensive
- they maintained a positive self-image by rejecting teachers’ stereotype of them
- didn’t seek the teachers’ approval, and they maintained friendship with black girls in lower streams
33
What did Mac an Ghail find about labelling?
- black and Asian a-level students at a sixth form college did not necessarily accept teachers’ labels
- using participant observation
34
What did **Mirza (1992)** argue about black girls’ strategies for dealing with teacher labelling?
- black girls’ strategies for dealing with teachers’ racism sometimes restricted their opportunities e.g. not asking certain staff for help
- as a result, even though they did not fulfil the prophecy to accept the labels, they were still disadvantaged
35
What different types of teacher did Mirza identify?
- **the colour blind** = claim to believe all pupils are equal but in practice left racism unchanged
- **the liberal chauvinists** = see black students as culturally deprived and have low expectations of them
- **the overt racists** = see black pupils as inferior and treat them differently
36
How does critical race theory see racism?
- as ingrained in society
- there is locked in inequality in the structures of society i.e. the education system
37
What did **Gillborn (2008)** argue about assessment?
- the ‘assessment game’ is rigged so as to validate the dominant culture’s superiority
- if black children succeed as a group ‘the rules will be changed’
- e.g. in the past, primary schools used baseline assessments which tested pupils when they started school but this was replaced in 2003 with the **Foundation Stage Profile** + overnight, black pupils now appeared to be doing worse
- the FSP was based entirely on teachers’ judgements which increased the risk of teachers stereotyping students
38
How did restricted access to opportunities affect attainment?
- Gillborn points out that official statistics show that white students were over **twice as likely** as Black Caribbean students to be identified as **Gifted and Talented** and **five times more likely** than Black African pupils
39
How do exam tiers cause differential educational attainment?
- **Tikly (2006)** = in 30 schools taking part in the ‘Aiming High’ initiative to raise Black pupils attainment, **black students were still more likely than white students to be entered for the lower tier exams** - often because the black students were in lower sets
40
How have **Troyna and Williams** argued that the curriculum is ethnocentric?
- the ethnocentric curriculum gives priority to white culture and the English language, literature and music
41
How did **David** argue that the curriculum is ethnocentric?
- the national curriculum is a ‘specifically British’ curriculum that teaches the culture of the ‘host community’
42
How did **Ball** argue that the curriculum is ethnocentric?
- sees the history curriculum in British schools as recreating a ‘mythical age of empire of age and past glories’
- while at the same time ignoring the history of black and Asian people
43
What is the problem with an ethnocentric curriculum?
- minority ethnic group pupils feel that they and their culture and identity are not valued in education and this diminishes their sense of self-esteem which has a negative effect on their educational achievement
44
Evaluation of the ethnocentric curriculum
- although the school curriculum largely ignores Asian culture, Indian and Chinese pupils’ achievement is still above average
- **Stone** argues that there is no evidence that black pupils actually suffer from low self-esteem due to the ethnocentric curriculum
45
How does setting and streaming affect attainment?
- **The Commission for Racial Equality (1992)** study of ‘Jayleigh’ school found that Asian pupils were consistently placed in lower sets than their ability warranted and were less likely to be entered for GCSE exams
- similarly, the working of the A*-C economy meant that black pupils were placed in lower sets
46
How did **Hatcher (1996)** argue that governing bodies affect attainment/
- found that schools’ governing bodies:
- gave low priority to ‘race’ issues
- failed to deal with racist behaviour
- and often lacked formal channels of communication with ethnic minority parents
47
What did the **Commission for Racial Equality (1993)** find about schools admissions procedures?
- there was a lack of information or application forms in minority languages
- there was bias in entrance interviews
48
What did Gerwitz find about self-segregation?
- found that Asian parents made active choices to avoid ‘rough’ schools with a reputation for racism
- opting instead for ones they perceived as ‘safe’ and with firm discipline
