Ethinc Differnces In Achievement

Question 1

What are external factors for ethnic differences?

Answer 1

1. Cultural deprivation : family structure/parental support
2. Material deprivation and class
3. Racism in the wider society

Question 2

Breiter and Engelmann

Answer 2

Language that low income Black American families speak leads to educational failure as it is ungrammatical and disjointed.

Question 3

Mirza

Answer 3

Not having English as a first language can hold you back but Mirza found that Indian pupils still do well even though English is not their first language

Question 4

Explain attitudes and values in cultural deprivation.

Answer 4

Lack of motivation leads to education failure. Black pupils adopt a ‘fatalistic attitude’ which leaves them unequipped for success.

Question 5

What did Moynihan say about family structure?

Answer 5

90% of lone parent families are headed by a black mother. This leads to financial struggles (women get paid less) and the deprivation of adequate care.

Question 6

Consequence of lack of male role models? (Abbott)

Answer 6

Leads to underachievement for EM boys In school. The development of ‘gangsta culture’ is a result of this - Abbott

Question 7

What did Lupton say? (Tiger mums)

Answer 7

Asian families have authoritarian parents that mimic styles of schools (mum=headteacher). ‘Tiger mums’ push students to achieve.

Question 8

Evaluation of CD - Keddie

Answer 8

CD is victim blaming, just because they are culturally different. Schools are ethnocentric and against EM.

Question 9

Evaluation of CD- Lawrence

Answer 9

Black pupils fail not because of their culture or low-self esteem but it is because of institutional racism.

Question 10

Evaluation of CD

Answer 10

Doesn’t explain how cultural barriers are greater for Caribbean boys than Caribbean girls.

Question 11

What does Palmer say about material deprivation?

Answer 11

Palmer says 1/2 of EM live in low-income households compared to 1/4 whites. EM are also 2x likely to be unemployed (due to discrimination in job markets). Wages are low for EM.

Question 12

Why is EM at a greater risk of material deprivation?

Answer 12

Many live in poor areas with high unemployment and low wages, asylum seekers unable to work, racial discrimination in housing an job markets (forced to take first house even if it has poor conditions). EM have limited choice.

Question 13

How can we under-estimate the effect of poverty and MD?

Answer 13

86% of Chinese girls on free school meals achieve 5 or more higher GCSE grades compared to 65% of white girls NOT on free school meals.

Question 14

Evaluation of MD- Madood

Answer 14

White people are more affected by low-income rather than EM

Question 15

Evaluation of MD- Indian origin

Answer 15

Children of Indian origin suffer higher levels of poverty than white children yet still outperform them suggesting MD is not a sustainable factor for explaining EM In underachievement

Question 16

Racism in wider society- Rex

Answer 16

Racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and worsens poverty EM face e.g. in housing, they are forced in substandard housing (poor conditions) than white people of the same class.

Question 17

Racism in wider society- Wood et al

Answer 17

Sent 3 job applications to over 1000 job vacancies, fake names were associated with the EM and one name was from a ‘white applicant’. Found that 1 in 16 EM were offered a job interview compared to 1 in 9 whites.

Question 18

Ethnic differences- Internal factors (5 points)

Answer 18

1. Labelling and teacher racism
2. Pupil responses and subcultures
3. Ethnocentric curriculum
4. Institutional racism
5. Selection and segregation

Question 19

How does labelling happen?

Answer 19

If you don’t meet the image of the ‘ideal pupil’ you are negatively labelled by your teachers.

Question 20

Gillborn and Youdell

Answer 20

Teachers are quick to discipline black pupils than any other students for the same behaviour. ‘Radicalised expectations’ - means that teachers view Black students as negative and misinterpret their behaviour as threatening. This leads to pupil teacher conflict as the pupil feels they are being picked on.

Question 21

Wright

Answer 21

Teachers at primary schools of ‘equal opportunity’ had ethnocentric views- believed white curriculum and culture was superior. They left Asians out by leaving them out of discussions or using childish language when speaking to them leading to marginalisation. Mispronunciation of their names led to them being left out

Question 22

Fuller (pupil responses and subcultures)

Answer 22

Studied y11 black girls that were ‘untypical’ as they were high achievers in school where black pupils made the majority of bottom sets - girls rejected negative labels and did gain good results.

Question 23

Mac an Ghail

Answer 23

Found Black and Asian a-level students didn’t accept negative labels and responded based on gender and experience of old schools - e.g. all girls school showed greater academic commitment to overcome negative labels.

Question 24

Mirza (3 types of racism

Answer 24

1. Overt-racists
2. Colour-blind
3. Liberal chauvinists

Question 25

Sewell

Answer 25

The teachers stereotypes of ‘black machismo’ - sees them as rebellious. Found 4 responses - Rebels, Conformists, Retreatists and innovators.
This challenges the idea that negative labelling leads to failure.

Question 26

Criticism of labelling (Fuller)

Answer 26

Not all labels lead to the SFP - Fuller shows that pupils can reject labels and achieve in education - but racism can limit opportunity.

Question 27

What is the ethnocentric curriculum?

Answer 27

‘white man curriculum’ - based around British ideas only. This British curriculum prioritises white culture e.g. British history, British literature and European languages.

Question 28

Consequence of ethnocentric curriculum? Coard

Answer 28

Creates racial bias and is a clear example of institutional racism.
Coard said that British history mentions that the British civilised ‘primitive people’ which makes the image of Black people inferior and lowers their self-esteem. This ultimately leads to failure.

Question 29

Evaluation of Ethnocentric Curriculum?

Answer 29

Impact of EC is not clear as it still ignores Asian culture but Indians still achieve above the national average. This suggests that EC is not a reliable reason for the underachievement of EM.

Question 30

What is institutional racism?

Answer 30

Discrimination is built into schools and the EC is a clear example of this. This increases the EM underachievement. Schools and colleges give low priority to race issues and fail to deal with pupils racist behaviour. The lack of communication between schools and EM parents means that problems aren’t solved properly.

Question 31

What is a contemporary example of institutional racism (Shukri Abdi)?

Answer 31

She was a black Somali EM at a predominantly white school and was bullied which affected her concentration at school. The failure to deal with consequences and sort out these issues led to further racism escalating resulting in serious consequences (death).

Question 32

Gilborn - marketisation
Selection and Segregation

Answer 32

Marketisation has allowed greater scope for schools to put EM at disadvantages. Selection of pupils gives opportunity for negative stereotypes to influence school admissions.
E.g. white people seen as ‘gifted and talented’ - so they are accepted and black people seen as disruptive and labelled as ‘underachievers’ so they are rejected or put in ‘clearing’.

Question 33

Evaluation of selection

Answer 33

school selection policies aren’t the only cause of segregation as the active choice of parents affects this (skilled choosers).
If black people are so ‘disruptive’ why do white m/c parents still send there children to schools with them.

Question 34

Gillborn ‘Assessment game’

Answer 34

The ‘assessment game’ is rigged to validate dominant cultures superiority. If Black people succeed, the rules will be changed to re-engineer failure.
Past- they used baseline assessments to measure pupil abilities (Black people did well) but this was replaced by Foundation stage profile. The results changed overnight and black people went from highest achievers to lowest achievers in all the development areas measured.

Question 35

Consequences of foundation stage profile

Answer 35

-Teacher judgement influences FSP but ‘baseline assessments’ used written exams.
- Change in timing, FSP done at the end of the year and baseline assessments done at start of primary school.
- This increase teachers stereotypes and that weighting of overall grade was based on teacher judgement rather than written exams.
This led to the EM gap in educational achievement to widen.