Ethinicity and Achievement

Question 1

Which ethnicities are above average for achievement

Answer 1

Chinese (highest achievers), Indian, Blangladeshi and Black African

Question 2

Which ethnicity is on average for achievement

Answer 2

Pakistani

Question 3

Which ethnicity is below average for achievement

Answer 3

Gyspy and Roma (lowest achievers), Black Caribbean and White

Question 4

What are the external factors impacting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 4

Cultural deprivation
Material deprivation
Racism in wider society

Question 5

What are the three categories within cultural deprivation that impact ethnicity and achievement

Answer 5

Attitudes and values
Language
Family structure and parental support

Question 6

How do Parents attitudes and values impact ethnicity and achievement

Answer 6

Black children- parents socialise children into low aspirations = key cause of failure
Most children socialised into mainstream culture = drive for ambition and willingness to sacrafice for long term goals - leads to education success
Belief that Black children socialised into fatalist subculture - ‘whatever will be will be’ - therefore dont see value in education = unequipped for success

Question 7

What evaluation point did Platt and Parsons say to combat Black parents socialising their children into low aspirations

Answer 7

Parents dont socialise their children into low aspirations. Among 7-14 year olds, girls and boys from minority backgrounds has higher aspirations then their white counterpartners

Question 8

What does Archer argue against Parents socialising their children into low aspirations

Answer 8

It is actually racism that cause low aspirations

Question 9

What is a genral critisim for Parents socialising their children into low aspirations

Answer 9

Ethnic minority groups may see education as a ‘way up in society’ (social mobility) and so socialise their children into valuing it

Question 10

How does Language affect ethnicity and achievement

Answer 10

Ethnic minority children lack linguistic skills and interllectural stimmulation which leaves them poorly equipped for education
Bereiter and Engleman: language spoken in low-income black american families is unrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing ideas
Students who are in ethnic minorities, english may not be their first language

Question 11

How do Baker-Bell and Anti-Black linguist racism criticise Language as a affecting factor of ethnicity and achievement

Answer 11

All speech is equally valid but ‘white mainstream English’ dominates the education system and wider society. Black speeh codes are labelled as inferior

Question 12

How do official statistics critisise the theory of Language impacting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 12

Stats show that having English as a second language does not impact achievement. Indian pupils do very well depsite not havng English as their first language

Question 13

What does Family structure and parental support mean with educational achievement

Answer 13

Failure to socialise children adequately is the result of a dysfunctional family structure

Question 14

What is the Family structure and parental support in terms of black families

Answer 14

Moynihan: Many balck families are matriarchal so children are deprived from a male role model or breadwinner
Sewell: absence of a father and ‘tough love’ results in black boys turning to gangs with other ‘fatherless boys’ who offer perverse ‘loyality and love’
Murray: high rate of single parent mothers, inadequate socialisation and lack of male role models to discipline children cause the underachievement of some minorities

Question 15

What are the two critisms for Family structure and parental support affecting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 15

Driver: Black familie sare not dysfuntional, they provide strong role models for females of independant women
Gillborn: It is not peer pressure or absent fathers but institutional racism that produces the failure of a number of black boys

Question 16

How does Family structure and parental support affect Asian families

Answer 16

Pryce: Asian families are more succesful as their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them greater self-worth
Consists of adult authority wich is similar to school - parents are more likely to supprt school behavioural policies. Place high value on education

Question 17

How does Family structure and parental support affect White WC families

Answer 17

Lutons study found teachers reported poorer behavioural and discipline in white WC pupils. Teachers blamed lower level of parental support and negative attitudes towards education.

Question 18

What is the main material deprication factor affecting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 18

Students for ethnic minority groups are more likely to experience material deprivation
Almost ½ of all ethnic minority children live in low-income households as against ¼ of white children.​​
Ethnic minorities are 2X more likely to be unemployed than white people.​​​
Ethnic minorities are 3X more likely to be homeless​.

Question 19

How does material deprivation affect ethnicity and achievement

Answer 19

Ethnic minorities are more likely to be in bad housing therefore: Dont have as much space to study, increase chance of health issues due to damp conditions, Disturbed sleep causing tiredness at school leading to pupils failing school

Question 20

Why are ethnic minorities more likely to live in poor housing

Answer 20

Many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment.
Language barriers​: Foreign qualifications  may not recognised by UK employers.
Racial discrimination in employment and housing market
Cultural factors - EG purdah in some Muslim houses that prevents women from working outside the home.

Question 21

What is the supporting evidence that having better material advantages increases your achievement rate based on ethnicity

Answer 21

Chinese and Indian pupils are the highest achieving ethnic group and tend to be more ‘well off’ (Only a small amount of Indian (7%) and Chinese (9%) are eligible for free school meals)
Black Caribbean and Gypsy or Roma are the lowest achieving group based on ethnicity and are more likely to be materially deprived (Most likely to receive free school meals – Black Caribbean (37%) and Gypsy or Roma (47%)

Question 22

What is the other external factor that impacts all ethnic minority groups (material factors may only impact some)

Answer 22

Racism in wider society

Question 23

what are the two things that Racism in wider society affects that cause underachievement

Answer 23

Housing
Employment: Woods

Question 24

How does Racism in wider society affect housing based on ethnicity

Answer 24

Ethnic minority groups are more likely to be forced into inadequate housing than white people of the same class

Question 25

How does Racism in wider society affecting housing cause underachievement

Answer 25

Pupils in these minorities experience more absences form school, tiredness, could cause labelling inside school

Question 26

How did Woods find that ethnic groups are treated differently in employment

Answer 26

Sent three similar job applications to around 1,000 job vacancies with names associated with different ethnic groups (eg one application ‘appeared’ to come from a white person, the other two from ethnic minority groups).​
Only 1 in 16 ‘ethnic minority’ applications were offered an interview, compared to 1 in 9 ‘white applications’

Question 27

How do Woods finding show causing of underachievement in education

Answer 27

Less motivation, fatalistic attitude, low aspirations

Question 28

What are the internal factors affecting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 28

Teacher labelling
Pupils response to labelling
Institutionalised racism

Question 29

What did Gillborn & Youdell find with Teacher labelling and Black students

Answer 29

Teachers expected bad behavioural problems from black students
They would misinterpret black students behaviour as threatening.
Teachers act on this label causing black students to believe they are underestimating them and picking on them for their negative reaction to the label (SFP)
This may explain the higher levels of official and internal (sent out of class) exclusions of black boys – causing lost learning time
Racialised expectations about Black pupil’s ability and behaviour may result in them being labelled as ‘hopeless cases’ (in the A-C economy triage) and therefore placed in lower streams (SFP)

Question 30

What did Wright find with Asian students and labelling

Answer 30

Teachers held ethnocentric views which viewed British culture and standard English as superior
Teachers assumed Asian pupils would have a poor grasp of English so left them out of class discussion or used simplistic language when speaking to them.​
Some teachers expressed disapproval of their customs and mispronounced their names. ​
This resulted in Asian pupils feeling isolated and excluded.

Question 31

What is a general critism of Wright and teacher labelling of Asian students

Answer 31

Teacher labelling does not automatically lead to underachievement as Asian pupils achievement levels have raised

Question 32

What did Archer find out about pupil identities

Answer 32

Teachers often define pupils as having stereotypical ethnic identities which lack the favoured identity of the ideal pupil

Question 33

What are the three pupil identities Archer found teachers identify their students as

Answer 33

Ideal pupil: White MC, masculinised – assertive, heterosexuality, achieve the ‘right way’ - natural ability.
Pathologised pupil: Asian, deserving poor, feminized and passive, oppressed sexuality, conformist/overachiever, achieve success the ‘wrong way’ – hard work,
Demonised pupil: Black or white WC, hypersexualized, unintelligent, peer led, culturally deprived, underachiever

Question 34

What did Fuller find with black girls response to labelling

Answer 34

Studied Black girls in year 11 who rejected the label of being a ‘failure’ and put there anger at the school into eeducational success
It allowed them to maintain friendships with other black girls in lower streams and avoid the abuse of anti-school black boys while succeeding in education
(can be used as an evaluation of streaming/setting causing failure)

Question 35

What did Mirza find with black girls response to labelling

Answer 35

3 types of racism in school: Colour blind (all pupils are equal but allows racism to go unchallenged)
Liberal chauvinist (believes black people are cultural deprived and have low expectations)
Overt Racist (believed black people are inferior and actively discriminations)
Girls in his study rejected thee label of ‘failure’ so had better sel-esteem, they spent there time trying to avoid teacher racism (not asking questions ect) as so were at a disadvantage

Question 36

What did Sewell find with pupils response to labelling

Answer 36

Not all black students respond into anti-school subculture due to seterotyping, there are more than 2 subcultures:
Rebels: Small minority of pupils. Anti school macho lad identity, reject school rules, often excluded from school.
Conformists: Largest group. Keen to succeed, accept school rules, have friends from other ethnic groups, feared being labelled by teachers or peers.
Retreatists: Tiny minority. Disconnected from school and subcultures, despised by the rebels.
Innovators: Second largest group. Pro-education but anti-school (like Fuller’s girls). Gained credibility with rebels

Question 37

What is institutionalised racism

Answer 37

Racism that is built into the way institutions, such as schools, operate. This is often through policies and practices and can be overt or covert. 
Racism is a ’locked in inequality’ – It is not just the intentional actions of individuals; it is an ingrained feature of society

Question 38

What is Critical Race Theory

Answer 38

Argue we cannot explain ethnic differences simply as a result of individual racism (eg teacher labelling) but instead look at institutional racism. ​

Question 39

what are the topics inside Institutionalised racism as a internal factor affecting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 39

Marketisation and Segration
Ethnocentric curriculum
Assement
Access to opportunities
New IQism

Question 40

What is marketisation

Answer 40

The process of mkaing schools run like a business and making them compete for government funding. Results in better schools being over-subscribed with applications - giving them a chance to be selective with pupils

Question 41

What did Moore and Davenport find with marketisation (institutionised racism)

Answer 41

Found that many minority pupils failed to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination – creating an ethnically stratified education system

Question 42

What did The Commission for Racial Equality (1993) find for marketisation (institutionised racism)

Answer 42

Supported the above findings, claiming that discrimination occurs in the admissions process.

Question 43

How does discrimination occure in the schools admissions process

Answer 43

References from primary school’s often stereotyped minority pupils.​
Schools screened out applications with language difficulties.​
Lack of forms provided in minority languages.​
Minority ethnic groups are not made aware of how the waiting system works – eg the waiting list systems

Question 44

What does ethnocentric mean

Answer 44

An attitude or policy that gives priority to one ethnic group’s culture (usually the dominant culture) whilst disregarding others. 

Question 45

What is a general critism for Marketisation and segregation (institutionised racism)

Answer 45

Some schools and universities now have ‘widening participation schemes’ which aim to increase the numbers of students from under-represented ethnic backgrounds

Question 46

How is the education system ethnocentric

Answer 46

Languages, literature and music: National curriculum focusses on teaching European languages whilst ignoring Asian languages. ​

History: Ball criticises history for focusing on the British empire while ignoring the history of Black and Asian pupils. Within this empire is presented as bringing civilization to the people they colonized – focus on ‘little englandism’

Question 47

How does the education system being ethnocentric cause underachievement for ethnic minority students

Answer 47

Lack of representation and inclusivity portrays ethnic minority cultures as ‘inferior’, this may reduce self-esteem and motivation to study

Question 48

What does Gillborn argue about Assessments as a factor affecting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 48

The ‘assessment game’ is rigged so as to conform to dominant cultures superiority

Question 49

What is an example of the ‘assessment game’ being rigged in terms of ethnicity and achievement

Answer 49

In the past primary schools used ’baseline’ assessment which were written test pupils took when they started schooling​
In these tests black students were usually the highest achievers.
Later changed to ’foundation stage profile’ tests in 2003. The difference being, the tests were based on teacher judgements and were taken at the end of reception year. ​
Black students were achieving lower than white students (this could then be used as a ‘justification’ to put black students in lower streams with foundation papers).

Question 50

What is Sewells criticism to assessment games affecting ethnicity and achievement

Answer 50

Racism has not disappeared but it is no longer powerful enough to prevent black boys from achieving. Instead it is external factors such as matriarchal and family structure

Question 51

What is a general criticisms for Assessment which Gillborn responded to

Answer 51

How can there be institutional racism within the education system when both Indian and Chinese pupils over-achieve?​
Gillborn: ‘model minorities’ who achieve provide an ideological function: making the system seem fair.
He also argues that these pupils report experiences of racism

Question 52

How does access to opportunities effect ethnicity and achievement

Answer 52

Official statistics show white students are 2X more likely than Black Caribbeans and 5X more likely than Black Africans to be part of gifted and talented programmes
Black students were more likely to be entered in foundation exams that restrict them to a grade C. This was mainly due to these students being placed in lower streams. 

Question 53

How does access to opportunities cause underachievement for ethnic groups

Answer 53

Both of factors (gifted and talented programmes and exam tiers)  reflect teachers’ expectations and therefore could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 54

what is New IQism

Answer 54

 Teachers and policymakers see ability as a fixed quality that could be easily measured (similarly to an IQ test). This can then be used to judge which pupils can access higher sets & exams, alongside gifted and talented programmes

Question 55

What does Gillborn say about New IQism causing underachievement based on ethnicity

Answer 55

There is no genuine measure of ability as this only shows what a student has learnt already, not what they can learn in the future. ​ These judgements about ability are based on racialised expectations which result in a disproportionate number of black students being placed in low ranked groups.