Ethnic difference in education Flashcards
Ethnic differences in achievement
Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students do worst. Indians do best
- White pupils are very close to the national average but this is because they make up the majority of school population
- Among white and black working class pupils, girls do better than boys but among asians, boys do better than girls.
- WC black girls do better than WC white girls
Explaining differences in achievement- Internal and external factors
Internal: within schools and the education system- e.g. pupil-teacher interaction and educational policies
External: outside the education system e.g. home and family background
External factors and ethnic differences- Cultural deprivation - Intellectual and Language skills
Cultural deprivation theory claims that the under-achievement of some ethnic groups is caused by inadequate socialisation in the home. This is based on:
-INTELLECTUAL AND LANGUAGE SKILLS: children from low income black families lack intellectual stimulation. As a result, they fail to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Bereiter and Engelmann: the language of poorer black American families is ungrammatical and disjointed. As a result, their children are unable to express abstract ideas- a major barrier to educational progress
Some claim that children who do not speak English at home may be held back educationally
External factors and ethnic differences- Cultural deprivation- Attitudes, values and family structure
Most are socialised into mainstream culture which instills competition and desire to achieve, equipping them for success in education.
-Fatalism and immediate gratification: the subculture into which some black children are socialised is fatalistic and focused on immediate gratification, resulting in a lack of motivation to succeed.
- Lack of male role model: many African-Caribbean boys may encourage them to turn to an anti-educational macho gang culture. Murray (New Right) argues that high rate of lone parenthood and lack of positive male role models can leave to underachievement of minority pupils.
- Culture and poverty: Moynihan argues that the absence of male role model of achievement in black matrifocal lone parent families produces inadequately socialised children who fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves, perpetuating a culture of poverty.
- The impact of slavery: Pryce - Black Caribbean culture is less resistant to racism due to slavery. As a result, many black students have low self esteem and under-achieve.
- Asian families: Khan argues that Asian family is an obstacle to achievement especially for girls as it takes a controlling attitude towards them, As a result they do less well than boys.
External factors and ethnic differences- Cultural deprivation- White WC pupils
White pupils also under achieve. Low aspirations, due to white working class culture inclduing lack of parental support.
Lupton: studies 4 different working class schools with different ethnic compositions. Teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in white WC schools which was linked to lack of parental support and negative attitudes of white working class parents towards education.
Evans: street culture in white working class areas can be brutal and is brought into school. Result= strong pressure to reject education.
External factors and ethnic differences- Cultural deprivation- Compensatory education
An educational policy that aims to counter the effects of cultural deprivation
OPERATION HEAD START: in the USA, was established to compensate children for the cultural deficit they are said to suffer due to deprivation
SURE START: in the UK, to support the development of pre-school children in deprived areas
Criticisms of cultural deprivation
Victim blaming: Keddie argues that this is a victim blaming explanation. Ethnic minorities are culturally different, not culturally deprived, and they under-achieve because schools are ethnocentric- biased in favour of white culture
Cultural exclusion: Ball argues that minority ethnic group parents are at a disadvantage because they are less aware of how to negotiate the British education system. Results in cultural exclusion rather than deprivation. Gewirtz: complex school application forms are an example of cultural exclusion practices in some schools.
Cultural domination: Compensatory education imposes dominant white middle class culture on minority ethnic group pupils’ own culture
External factors and ethnic differences- Material deprivation - facts and figures
akistanis and Bangladeshis are much more likely than whites to be poor
For many minorities, unemployment is higher, pay is lower and overcrowding in the home is more likely
Swann Report, social class accounts for at least half of the difference in educational achievement between ethnic groups
The lowest achieving minority ethnic groups are those with the lowest social class position e.g. Bangladeshi and Pakistani pupils are more likely to be working class and more likely to do worse compared with Indian and white pupils
External factors and ethnic differences- Material deprivation- Racism in wider society
While material deprivation among minorities clearly affects pupils’ achievement, it may itself be the product of racism in wider society. Members of minority ethnic groups face direct and indirect discrimination at work and in the housing market. As a result, they are more likely to have low pay or be unemployed and this affects their children’s educational opportunities.
Internal factors and ethnic differences- Labelling
Interactionists focus on small scale, face to face interactions such as those between pupils and teachers. They are interested in the impact of the labels that teachers give to children from different ethnic backgrounds e.g. black pupils are often seen as disruptive and Asian pupils as passive.
As a result of these negative racist labels, teachers may treat ethnic minorities differently, disadvantaging them and bringing about SFP that leads to their under achievement. Sociologists have studied labelling in relation to both black and Asian pupils
Internal factors and ethnic differences- pupil subcultures
Pupils may react in variety of ways to racist labelling in school Sewell found that black boys adopted a range of responses to teacher labelling of them as rebellious and anti school
Internal factors and ethnic differences- pupil subcultures- responses to labelling
Conformists- largest groups. They were keen to succeed, accepted the school’s goals and had friends from different ethnic groups
Innovators- second largest groups. Pro-education but anti school. They valued success but not teachers approval
Retreatists- tiny minority of isolated individuals disconnected from both the school and black subcultures outside it
Rebels- small but highly visible minority of black pupils. They rejected the school’s goals and rules and conformed instead to the stereotype of the ‘black macho lad’. They despised both white boys and conformist black boys. Their aim was to achieve the status of ‘street hood’
However, despite only a small minority of black boys fitting the stereotype of the black macho lad, teachers tended to see them all in this way. This resulted in the under-achievement of many boys, not just the rebels, as a result of discrimination by teachers.
Internal factors and ethnic differences- pupil subcultures- Asian boys- O’Donnell and Sharpe
found a macho ‘warrior’ response similar to the ‘rebels’ among some Asian boys who despised more conformist Asian youths as ‘weaklings’
Internal factors and ethnic differences- pupil subcultures- rejecting negative labels- Fuller
Fuller: studied a group of high achieving black girls in year 11 of a London comprehensive. The girls maintained a positive self-image by rejecting teachers’ stereotypes of them.
They recognised the value of education and were determined to achieve, but conformed in terms of doing schoolwork, working hard without giving the appearance of doing so. They didn’t seek teachers approval and they maintained friendships with black girls in lower streams. Similar to innovators.
Mac an Ghaill’s: studie black and Asian ‘A’ level students at a sixth form college found that they did not necessarily accept teachers’ negative labels e.g. some girls felt that all-girls school they had previously attended gave them a greater academic commitment
Internal factors and ethnic differences- institutional racism-ethnocentric curriculum
Refers to the an attitude or policy that prioritises the culture of one particular ethnic group while disregarding or downgrading others. Many argue that British schools curriculum is ethnocentric.
TROYNA AND WILLIAMS: note that it gives priority to white culture and the English language
DAVID: argues that the National Curriculum is a specifically British curriculum that teaches the culture the host community
BALL: sees the history curriculum in British schools as recreating a ‘mythical’ age of empire and past glories, while at the same time ignoring the history of black and asian people.
