Differential Educational Achievment: Ethnicity (internal Factors) Flashcards
Labelling overview
Interactionists/ labelling theorists looks at how teachers label pupils from different ethnic groups differently.
Particularly focusing on how Black and Asian pupils are negatively labelled.
Racialised expectations
Gillbourn and Youdell - teachers quick to discipline black pupils than others for similar behaviour.
Teachers misinterpret behaviour and see black pupils as anti-authority creating conflict between teacher’s and pupils reinforcing stereotypes and leading to further problems.
Discipline
Osler - black students are more likely to be excluded unofficially and officially.
They are also more likely to be placed in a PRU excluding them from mainstream education.
Bourne - schools see black boys as a threat which leads to negative labelling and eventually exclusion.
Setting and streaming
Foster - teacher stereotypes of black students could result in them being put in lower sets and a self fulfilling prophecy of underachievement.
Asian pupils
Wright - study of multi-ethnic primary school showed Asian pupils also suffering from labelling.
Teachers held ethnocentric views which affected who they related to.
Asian pupils were left out of discussions or were being spoken to childishly which lead to marginalisation.
Overview of pupil identities - Archer
Teachers often define pupils by stereotypical ethnic identities which lack the favoured ideal pupil characteristics leading to negative labelling.
Teachers dominant way of looking at things shapes and defines the pupils ethnic identity. When students challenge these stereotypes they are treater harsher.
There types of identity
- Ideal pupil identity
- Pathologised pupil identity
- Demonised pupil identity
Ideal pupil identity
- White
- M/C
- Masculine identity
- Normals equality
- Achieve in the right way through natural ability and talent.
Pathologised pupil identity
- Deserving poor
- Feminised identity
- Asexual/ repressed sexuality
- Plodding conformist
- Slogger who succeeds through hard work rather than natural ability
Demonised pupil identity
- Black or white
- W/C
- Hyper sexualised
- Unintelligent
- Peer-led
- Culturally deprived
- Underachiever
Rejection of labels
- Fuller - studied a grip of black girls in year 11 who were in lower streams yet were achieving highly. These girls didn’t conform to all the schools values such as respect for teachers but did value educational success enough to push themselves.
- Mac an Ghaill - studied black and Asian A-level pupils. Each study showed how labelling doesnt always follow the same negative pattern.
Failed coping strategies - Mirza
Some pupils can’t develop coping strategies when faced with teacher racism and labelling.
3 types of teacher racism:
- Colour blind
- LIberal Chauvinists
- Overt racists
Black girls avoided these teachers by being selective about who they asked for help, getting on with their own work in lessons without taking part, avoiding certain options to avoid these tecahers.
This puts them at a disadvantage by restricting their opportunities causing under-achievemnt.
Boys responses to racist stereotypes - Sewell
- Rebels - most influential group but still a minority. Rejected values of the school and opposed the school by lining a peer group. Reinforced negative stereotypes of ‘black machismo’.
- Conformists - majority of black pupils accepted the values of the school and were eager to succeed.
- Retreatists - small minority of black pupils who accepted values of the school and were eager to succeed.
- Innovators - second largest group who were pro-education but anti-school. Distanced from conformity enough to keep credibility with ‘rebels’ whilst valuing educational success.
Critical racism theory
Racism is a feature of society.
- Roithmayer - institutional racism is a locked in inequality so large and historical; that its no longer a conscious thought.
- Gillborn - sees racism as so ingrained in education that it’s now inevitable.
Marketisation and segregation
- Gillbourn - marketisation allows for more covert selection to take place which can lead to segregation.
- Commission for Racial Equality 1993 noted that covert selection procedure led to EM students more likely to be unpopular schools.
Ethnocentric curriculum
Curriculum which reflects the culture of one ethnic group.
- Tronya and Bell - lack of teaching of Asian languages.
- Ball - Little Englandism: NC ignores black and Asian history.
Assessment
- Gillbourn - system is rigged to validate the dominant culture superiority.
- Sanders and Horn - Changing from a written test to teacher assessments leads black students to underachieving.
Access to opportunities
- In G&T programs whites are 2x as likely to be identified as G&T over ethnic minorities.
- EM’s are less likely to be entered for higher tier exams despite policies and initiatives to raise EM achievements. This is due to teacher labelling and SFP.
New IQism
Teachers and policy makers make false assumptions about the nature of pupils ability or potential.
Potential is seen as fixed and can be measured through old style IQ tests or psychometric tests however Gillborn suggests that these tests only test what is currently known or learn nt what could be.
These tests are skewed to dominant untrue.
