Education and Ethnicity Flashcards
Ethnic differences in achievement
Black and Pakistani pupils do worst, Chinese and Indian do best
White pupils close to national average because they are the majority of the school population
Intellectual and language skills
Low income black families lack intellectual stimulation so fails to develop reasoning and problem solving skills
Language of poor black American families is ungrammatical and disjointed so unable to express abstract ideas
Children who do not speak English at home maybe held back
Attitudes values and family structure
Black children are socialised into fatalism and focused on immediate gratification
Lack of male role model for African Caribbean boys may encourage them to turn to Mucho gang culture
Black pupils have low self esteem due to culture being less resistant to racism because of slavery
Black lone parent families contrast Asian work ethic
White working class pupils
Lower aspirations due to white working class culture including lack of parental support
Lupton
4 mainly working class schools, teachers reported poorer discipline and behaviour in white working class schools linked to parental support and negative attitudes of parents towards education
Compensatory education
Operation head start in USA - compensate children for cultural deficit due to deprived backgrounds
Sure start in UK - support development of pre school children I’m deprived areas
Criticisms of cultural deprivation
Keddie
Victim blaming - culturally different not deprived, underachieve because schools are ethnocentric
Ball
Cultural exclusion - minority ethnic group parents are at disadvantage as less aware how to negotiate the British education system
Material deprivation and class
Half of ethnic modify children live in low income households
Ethnic minorities twice as likely to be unemployed
Minorities face discrimination in housing and labour markets
Labelling in black pupils
Gillborn and Mirza
Black children were highest achievers in primary school but by GCSE’s has fallen 21 points below average - schooling is to blame not background
Gillborn and Youdell
Teachers had labelled expectations - assumes more problem with discipline and behaviour is threatening so pupils were more likely to be punished for same behaviour, they felt teachers picked on them and underestimated their ability
Labelling in Asian pupils
Wright
Teachers:
- Assumed poor English so used simplistic language
- Mispronounced names
- Saw as problem they could ignore
So pupils especially girls were marginalised and prevented from full participation, affecting self esteem
Pupil subcultures
Sewell
Responses to labelling
- Conformists
- Innovators
- Retreatists
- Rebels
Teachers saw all black boys as a rebel which led to underachievement as a result of discrimination
Rejecting negative labels
Fuller
High achieving black girls maintained positive self image by rejecting labels.
Only conformed with school work and working hard. Didn’t seek teachers approval and maintained friendships with black girls in lower streams
Mac an Ghaill
Black and Asian a level students rejected labels - some girls felt all girls school they attended gave them greater academic commitment
Institutional racism
Selection - as marketisation increases, negative stereotypes of ethnic minority students influence schools selection of admissions
Assessment
Access to opportunities
The new IQism
