Education- Topic 4 Ethnicity and education Flashcards
What were the external factors for Ethnicity?
Cultural Deprivation
Material Deprivation
Racism in the Wider Society
What are the 3 broad aspects of cultural deprivation and what can lead to underachievement ?
- Intellect and Linguistic Skills
- Attitudes and Values
- Family Structure and Parental Support
Inadequate socialisation at home leads to ethnic underachievement
Expand on the Intellect and Linguistic Skills aspect of cultural deprivation
- Many children from low income black families lack intellect, stimulation and enriching experiences
- Beretier and Engelmann- consider the language spoken by black families inadequate for educational success as ungrammatical and disjointed
- Also non english speaking families at home can show to be held back
-Gilbourn and Mirza 2000- note that Indian pupils do well despite English being 2nd language
Expand on the Attitudes and Values aspect
- lack of motivation as a major cause of the failure of black children
- black children socialised into subculture that instals fatalistic ‘live for today’ attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success
Expand on the Family Structure and Parental Support aspect
- As many black families headed by lone mother, children are deprived of adequate care as she may struggle financially- father’s absence also means boys lack male role model (Daniel Moynihan)
- Failing to embrace mainstream British Culture can lead to low achievement levels (Roger Scruton)
- Compared black and Asian students- Asian students high achievers as more resistant to racism and higher self-esteem (Ken Pryce)
- Tony Sewell- argues not the absence of fathers as role models leading to underachievement, instead it is lack of fatherly nurturing or ‘tough love’
- results in black boys finding it hard to overcome emotional and behavioural difficulties
- in the absence, street gangs of other fatherless bots create ‘preserve loyalty and love’- presents with media-inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity
- Sewell also argues that black students do worse to Asian peers because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes to education
- Peer pressure seen as a large factor for black boys underachieving in school as others are suspicious if succeeding as think they are ‘selling out’ to the white establishment
Asian Families
- Sewells view sees that indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families and place high value on education
- Ruth Lupton- argues authority in Asian families is similar to what operates in education
White Working Class Families
- they have lower aspirations- may be the result of a lack of parental support
- Lupton found that teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in the white working class schools- teachers blamed this on the lower levels of parental support and the negative attitude that white working class parents had towards education
- by contrast, ethnic minority parents were more likely to see education as a “way up in society”
Criticisms of cultural deprivation AO3
- Driver 1977- it ignores the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. Black Caribbean families provide firms with positive role models which encourages success
-Lawrence 1982- argues that black pupils fail due to racism not low self esteem
-Keddie- sees it as a victim blaming- they are culturally different not culturally deprived. Underachievement is due to ethnocentric schools. Need multicultural and anti racist education
How does Material Deprivation and Class affect ethnic minorities?
- EM are more likely to be WC and therefore suffer from MD
- Guy Palmer 2012- 50% of all EM children live in low income households, 25% white children. 2x more likely to be unemployed. 3x more likely to be homeless
- There is multiple reasons why EM are at greater risk of MD:
1. economically depressed areas
2. cultural traditions prevent women from working
3. Lack of language skills
4. Asylum seekers may not be allowed to work
5. Racial discrimination in the labour market - MD explanation argues that such class differences explains why Pakistani pupils tend to do worse than Indian and White pupuls
Does Class Override Ethnicity?
Important to take class position of EM into consideration when comparing educational achievement- ensure we dont overestimate the effect of CD and MD
However- Indian pupils who are MD tend to do better
Racism in Wider Society factor
- Poverty is the product of Racism in society
- Mason 2000- ‘discrimination is a continuing and persistent feature of Britain’s EM citizens’
- Rex 1986- racial discrimination leads to social exclusion which worsens poverty for EM
- These factors have a negative effect on EM children’s education prospects
What are the Internal reasons for EM?
- Labelling and Teacher Racism
- Pupils Identities
- Pupils responses and Subcultures
What is Labelling and Teacher Racism?
- Interactionists focus on the different labels teachers give to EM children from different backgrounds- Black and Asian= far from ideal pupil, Black= disruptive, Asian= passive
BLACK PUPILS AND DISCIPLINE - teachers quicker to discipline than others for the same behaviour because of ‘racial expectations’
- teachers misinterpret behaviour as aggressive or challenging which is seen as racial stereotyping (Gillbourn and Youdell)
BLACK PUPILS AND STREAMING - Using A-C economy students achieving C are focused on by the teachers more than others
- Black pupils are stereotyped to their ability which means they are more likely to be placed in lower sets- leads to underachievement
ASIAN PUPILS - they also experience racism- despite schools apparent commitment to equal oppurtunities, WB culture and standards are superior
- This affected how teachers acted with Asian students as they thought their English was poor so they communicated with them in childish language beacuse they thought that was the only thing they understood
-They also isolated them as they had a disapproval of Asian customs- so they ignore them rather than a threat
Pupil Identities Internal Factor
- Louise Archer- teachers dominant view defines EM pupil identities as lacking the favoured identity of the ‘ideal pupil’
-Archer describes how the dominant discourse constructs 3 different pupil identities
1. The ideal pupil identity
2. The pathologized pupil identity
3. The demonised pupil identity
ASIAN PUPILS
- asian girls stereotyped as passive and docile
BLACK PUPILS
- argues they are demised as loud, challenging, excessively sexual and from un-aspirational home cultures
CHINESE PUPILS
- even the EM that perform successfully can be ‘pathologized’ in their behaviours and seen as abnormal- even while teachers praised them for academic success
- chinese students are seen as having achieved success in the wrong way- through hard work and passive conformism rather than natural ability- never can be an ‘ideal pupil’
Pupil Responses and Subcultures (key factors -summary- full on doc)
REJECTING NEGATIVE LABELS
- Mary Fuller’s study- girls were untypical because they were high achievers (Black) in a school where most black girls were placed in low streams
- Fuller explained how intead of accepting negative stereotypes they chanelled their anger about being labelled into the prusuit of their educational success
- they did not seek approval of teachers- many who were racist-
- they had a positive attitude to academic success but, rather than seeking approval of teachers, they preffered to rely on own efforts and imparcially external exams
- Highlights 2 important point:
1. pupils may still succeed even when they refuse to conform
2. negative labelling does not always lead to failure
- students who believed teachers had labelled them negatively did not necessarily accept the label
STRATEGIES TO AVOID RACISM
- Mirza did a study on girls who faced teacher racism- found teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the kind of advice they gave them about careers and option choices
- Mizra identified 3 main types of teacher racism:
1. The colour-blind: teachers who believe all pupils are equal but in practice allow racism to go unchallenged
2. The liberal chauvinists: teachres who believe black pupils are culturally deprived and who have low expectations of them
3. The overt racism: Teachers who believe black are inferior and actively discriminate against them
- Much of girls time at school was spent trying to avoid the effect of teachers negative attitudes
- strategies employed:
- being selective about which staff to ask for help
- getting on with their own work in lessons without taking part
- not choosing certain options so as to avoid teachers with racist attitudes
- Strategies were unsuccessful
BOYS RESPONSE
on the doc
Evaluation of Labelling responses AO3
Positive:
- Labelling theory shows how teachers responses can be a cause of failure for some EM groups
Negative:
- there is a danger of seeing these stereotypes as the product of 1 teacher rather than the racist system as a whole
- also a danger of assuming that once labelled pupils automatically fall victim of the SFP
What is Institutional Racism?
Racism that is built in to the normal day-to-day practices of an organisation
