3. Ethnicity And Educational Achievement

Question 1

Ethnicity

Answer 1

People who share common history, customs and identity as well as in many cases language and religion

Question 2

2017/18 data on ethnicity in education

Answer 2

• Pupils from Chinese ethnic group most likely to get a grade 5 or above in GCSE English and Maths
• White Gypsy/Roma pupils least likely to get a 5 or above in GCSE English and Maths
• In every ethnic group girls were more likely than girls to get a 5 or above
• In every ethnic group students on free school meals were less likely to get a grade 5 or above

Question 3

What does data show

Answer 3

• White and Asian pupils do better on average than black pupils
• Gender an class differences within and between ethnic groups have an affect
• Girls do better than boys in all ethnic groups apart from Gypsy
• Middle calls in all ethnic groups do better than working class

Question 4

Stereotype

Answer 4

A misleading representation of a group composed of what is thought to be typical characteristics of that froup

Question 5

Prejudice

Answer 5

A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience

Question 6

Discrimination

Answer 6

Unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people

Question 7

External factors of ethnicity and educational achievement

Answer 7

1. Cultural deprivation
2. Material deprivation
3. Racism in wider society

Question 8

1. Cultural deprivation

Answer 8

Educational underachievement is a result of inadequate socialisation in the home. Split into 3 parts: intellectual and linguistic skills, attitudes and values and family structure/parent support

Question 9

Intellectual and linguistic skills

Answer 9

• Pupils from low income black families lack intellectual simulation and enriching experiences
• Poorly equipped for school- haven’t developed reasoning and problem solving skills
• BEREITER AND ENGELMANN: ‘language spoken by low income black American families is inadequate for educational success’
• Pupils who do not speak English at home may be held back educationally

Question 10

Attitudes and values

Answer 10

• Lack of motivation in black pupils is a major factor of educational failure
• Not socialised into mainstream culture but into subcultures that I stills the idea of living for today. No value to education

Question 11

Family structure and parental support

Answer 11

• Poor socialisation is a result of dysfunctional family structure
• Moynihan argues that because many black families are headed by a lone mother the children are deprived of adequate care and financial support
• Black boys also lack a adequate role model of male achievement
• Murray found that ‘high rate lone parenthood= underachievement’
• Pryce compared black and Asian families. Found Asian families perform better due to higher resistance of and less racism

Question 12

SEWELL: FATHERS GANGS AND CULTURE

Answer 12

• Tony Sewell argues that it isn’t the absence of the father as role models that leads black boys to underachieve but the lack of fatherly ‘nurturing’ or tough love
• This makes it hard for black boys to overcome emotional and behavioural difficulties
• In replacement of fatherly love, gangs offer black boys ‘pereserve loyalty and love’. This presents them with a anti school subculture as it doesn’t look ‘cool’.
• Sewell argues that black students do worst than their Asian counterparts because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes towards education
• One group is being nurtured by ‘MTV’ whilst the other is clocking up the educational hours

Question 13

Asian families

Answer 13

Sewell- Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families and ‘Asian work ethic’
Lupton- adult authority in Asian families is similar to model in education. Respectful behaviour expected towards adults

Question 14

White working class families

Answer 14

• Evans argues street culture in white working class areas can be brutal,so young people have to learn how to withstand intimidation and intimidate others
• School can therefore become a place where power games are played out, which can bring with it disruption which makes it hard for pupils to succeed

Question 15

2. Material deprivation

Answer 15

-Lack of physical necessities seen as essential in today’s society

Question 16

Flaherty

Answer 16

• Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are 3x more likely than whites to be in the poorest 1/5 of the population
• Africans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are 3x more likely to be unemployed than whites
• 15% of minority groups live in overcrowded homes (2% for whites)
• Pakistanis are 2x as likely to be in semi/unskilled jobs compared to Whites

Question 17

Does class override ethnicity?

Answer 17

• Even those Indian and Chinese pupils who are materially deprived still do better than most
• 2011-86% of Chinese girls who were in FSM achieved 5 A*-C compared with 65% of white girls who were not FSM

Question 18

3. Racism in wider society

Answer 18

• Mason argues that ‘Discrimination is a continuing & persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s citizens of minority ethnic origin’.
• Rex argues racism leads to social exclusion and accordingly poverty. This is shown in housing, employment & education. Racism also leads to discrimination both inside & outside the classroom.

Question 19

Wood et al

Answer 19

Sent 3 closely matched job applications to 1000 job vacancies with 3 fictitious names associated with 3 different ethnic backgrounds
•1 in 9 white applicants offered an interview
•1 in 16 ethnic minority applicants offered an interview

Question 20

Internal factors of ethnicity and educational achievement

Answer 20

1. Anti school subcultures
2. Labelling, identities and responses
3. Institutional racism

Question 21

1. Anti school subcultures and pupils identities

Answer 21

Archer- 3 different pupil identities: Ideal pupil identity, Pathologised pupil identity, Demonised pupil identity

• Ethnic minorities more likely to be seen as demonised or pathologised.
• Archer- Asian girls are quiet passive or docile.
• Shain- to go against this stereotype leads to more severe punishment

Question 22

Chinese pupils subcultures and pupil identities

Answer 22

• Chinese students both praised and viewed negatively.
• Achieved success in the ‘wrong way’
• ‘Negative positive stereotype

Question 23

How do pupils respond

Answer 23

Fuller (1984) - studied a group of Year 11 black girls in a London comprehensive school.

• Untypical - high achievers
• Girls channelled their anger into the ‘pursuit of educational success’
• Did not seek teachers approval
• Did not limit themselves in terms of friendships groups
• Conformed only in terms of schoolwork

Question 24

Mac and Ghaill

Answer 24

• Studied a group of black and Asian A Level students.
• Students who believed they had been labelled did not necessarily accept it.
• Response depended on ethnic group and gender

Question 25

2. Labelling and teacher racism

Answer 25

Gillborn and Mirza (2000) - in one local education authority, black children were the highest achievers on entry to primary school (20% points above the local average). By GCSE = the worst results of any ethnic group - 21 points BELOW average.
Strand (2010) - analysis of entire national cohort (over 530,000 7-11 year olds). Found black Caribbean boys not entitled to FSM, made significantly less progress than their white peers.
Challenges cultural deprivation theory - black children do not enter the system under prepared.

Question 26

Teacher racism

Answer 26

-Interactionists focus on the different labels teachers give to pupils from different ethnic backgrounds.
-Black and Asian pupils seen as not the ‘ideal pupil’
-Gillborn & Youdell (2000) - teachers quicker to discipline black pupils than others for
the same behaviour.
-‘Racialised expectations’
-Higher level of exclusions from school for black boys: Bourne (1994) - schools see
black boys as a threat. Only 1 in 5 excluded pupils achieve 5 GCSEs
-Osler (2001) - black pupils more likely to suffer from unrecorded unofficial
exclusions. More likely to be placed in PRUs.

Question 27

Labelling

Answer 27

-Black pupils more likely to be placed in lower sets/streams due to negative stereotyping
-Foster (1990) - his study supports this theory in terms of negative stereotypes surrounding black pupils behaviour.
-Wright (1992) - Asian pupils can also be victims of teacher’s labelling. Studied multi-ethnic primary school. She found teachers held ethnocentric views.
-Pupils left out of class discussions or teachers used simplistic langauge when speaking to them.
-Teachers expressing disapproval of customs and mispronunciation of names,
-Asian pupils not seen as a threat but a problem that could be ignored =
marginalisation