Ethnic differences in achievement

Question 1

Define the term ‘ethnic group’.

Answer 1

‘People who share common history, customs and identity, as well as, in most cases, language and religion, and who see themselves as a distinct unit’ (Lawson and Garrod)

Question 2

How do cultural deprivation theorists argue that low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences?

Answer 2

• Poorly equipped for schools because they’ve not been able to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills
• Bereiter and Engelmann consider the language spoken by low-income black families as inadequate for educational success (ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas)

Question 3

How might it be argued that children who do not speak English at home may not be held back educationally?

Answer 3

• Pupils with English as their first language were only 3.2 points ahead of those without English as their first language

Question 4

How do attitudes and values affect educational achievement?

Answer 4

• Lack of motivation is a major cause of the failure for many black children
• Some black children are socialised into a subculture that instills a fatalistic ‘live for today’ attitude that doesn’t value education and leaves them unequipped for success.

Question 5

How does Moynihan argue that family structure and parental support affect educational achievement?

Answer 5

• Argues many black families are headed by a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care as she has to struggle financially in the absence of a male breadwinner
• Sees cultural deprivation as a cycle

Question 6

How does Pryce compare achievement in Black and Asian pupils?

Answer 6

• Asians are higher achievers because their cultural is more resistant to racism
• Due to the impact of colonialism which was culturally devastating for Black people (destroyed by colonial rule)

Question 7

How does Murray argue family structure and parental support affect educational achievement?

Answer 7

• High rate of lone parenthood and a lack of male role models leads to underachievement of some minorities

Question 8

What does Sewell argue as a reason for Black boys underachieving?

Answer 8

• Not the absence of fathers but the lack of fatherly nurturing or ‘tough love’
• Results in Black boys finding it hard to overcome the emotional or behavioural difficulties of adolescence

Question 9

What does Sewell argue Black boys experience when they lack a present or nurturing father?

Answer 9

• ‘Perverse loyalty and love’ a media inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity
• Thus subject to powerful anti-educational peer group pressure

Question 10

What is argued as a reason for achievement in Asian pupils?

Answer 10

• Lupton argues that adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools which had a knock-on effect in school

Question 11

What is a reason for White WC underachievement according to McCulloch?

Answer 11

• A survey on 16,000 pupils showed that ethnic minorities are more likely to aspire to go to university
• Low levels of aspiration and achievement in White pupils may be the result of a lack of parental support

Question 12

What main policy has been adopted to tackle cultural deprivation?

Answer 12

• Compensatory education such as Operation Head Start was to compensate children for the cultural deficit

Question 13

How does Driver criticise the cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 13

• Positive effects of ethnicity on achievement is ignored
• Black Caribbean family, far from being dysfunctional, provides girls with positive role models of strong independent women
• Argues this is why black girls tend to be more successful in education than black boys

Question 14

How does Keddie criticise the cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 14

• Victim blaming explanation
• The ethnic minority children are culturally different not deprived
• The reason why they underachieve is due to the school being ethnocentric

Question 15

Why do critics of the cultural deprivation theory oppose compensatory education?

Answer 15

• See it as an attempt to impose the dominant white culture on children who already have a coherent culture
• Propose a multicultural and anti-racist education as an alternative

Question 16

According to Palmer what four reasons make ethnic minority pupils more likely to suffer material deprivation linked to housing and low income.

Answer 16

1. Almost half of all ethnic minority children live in low-income households, as against a quarter of white children
2. Ethnic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed compared with whites
3. Ethnic minority households are around three times as likely to be homeless
4. Almost half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earned under £7 per hour, compared with only a quarter of white British workers

Question 17

What 5 reasons make ethnic minorities at a greater risk of material deprivation?

Answer 17

1. Many live in economically depressed areas
2. Tradition prevents women working
3. Lack of language skills and qualifications
4. Asylum seekers may not be allowed to work
5. Racial discrimination in the labour market

Question 18

What evidence is there that material deprivation and social class do not completely override the influence of ethnicity?

Answer 18

• Indian and Chinese pupils who are materially deprived still do better than most
• 86% of Chinese pupils receiving free school meals achieved 5 or more high grades in their GCSEs

Question 19

According to Rex, how does racism lead to social exclusion in housing?

Answer 19

Discrimination means that minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard accommodation than white people of the same social class

Question 20

According to Wood et al, how does racism lead to social exclusion in employment?

Answer 20

• Sent 3 closely matched job applications to almost 1,000 job vacancies.
• Fictitious applicants using names associated with different ethnic groups
• Found only 1 in 16 ‘ethnic minority’ applications were offered an interview, as against 1 in 9 ‘white’ applications.

Question 21

How does Gillborn and Mirza’s study challenge cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 21

• Found, in one local education authority, black children were the highest achievers on entry to primary school
• By the time it came to GCSEs they had the worse results of any ethnic group

Question 22

How does labelling and teacher racism affect educational achievement?

Answer 22

• Teachers often see Black and Asian pupils as being far from the ‘ideal pupil’
• Black pupils viewed as disruptive and Asians as passive

Question 23

How does Gillborn and Youdell illustrate the impact of labelling on Black pupils?

Answer 23

• They found teachers were quicker to discipline Black pupils
• Due to ‘racialised expectations’, teachers expected more discipline problems and misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening
• When teachers acted on this misperception pupils responded negatively resulting in further conflict

Question 24

How does Osler ague that Black pupils not only suffer from ‘official’ exclusions?

Answer 24

• They also suffer form unrecorded unofficial exclusions and from ‘internal exclusion’ where they are sent out of class

Question 25

According to Gillborn and Youdell how are Black pupils more likely to be impacted by streaming than other pupils?

Answer 25

• Negative stereotypes associated with Black pupils meaning they are placed into lower streams
• This can lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 26

How does Wright’s study of a multi-ethnic primary school show that Asian pupils can also be victims of teacher’s labelling?

Answer 26

• Despite the schools apparent commitment to equal opportunities, teachers held ethnocentric views, saw the English culture as superior
• Asian pupils felt isolated when teachers expressed disapproval, they were marginalised and left out of class discussions

Question 27

What does Archer say on how teachers define pupils?

Answer 27

• Teachers dominant discourse (way of seeing something) defines ethnic minority pupils’ identities as lacking the favoured identity of the ideal pupil

Question 28

According to Archer what 3 different pupil identities does the dominant discourse construct?

Answer 28

The ideal pupil identity = a white MC identity having natural ability and initiative
The pathologised pupil identity = an Asian who is a conformist and culture-bound overachiever who succeeds through hard work
The demonised pupil identity = a Black or White WC, hypersexualised identity and a culturally deprived underachiever

Question 29

How are Chinese pupils viewed by teachers according to Archer?

Answer 29

• Having achieved success in the ‘wrong way’ through hardworking, passive conformism rather than natural ability
• Could never legitimately occupy the identity of ‘ideal pupil’

Question 30

How can Fuller’s study of a group of Black girls be a good example of pupils responding to labels by rejecting it?

Answer 30

• The girls channeled their anger about being labelled into the pursuit of educational success
• They did not seek the approval of teachers nor did they limit their friends to other academic achievers
• They conformed only as far as schoolwork and showed a deliberate lack of concern about school routines

Question 31

What did Mirza’s study on ambitious Black girls who faced teacher racism found?

Answer 31

• Racist teachers discouraged Black pupils from being ambitious and through the kind of advice about careers

Question 32

What 3 main types of teacher racism did Mirza find?

Answer 32

1. The colourblind - believe all pupils are equal but allows racism to go unchallenged
2. The liberal chauvinists - believes black pupils are culturally deprived and have low expectations
3. The overt racists - believe Blacks are inferior and actively discriminate

Question 33

According to Sewell what were the 4 responses of Black boys to schooling and racist stereotyping by teachers?

Answer 33

1. The rebels
2. The conformists
3. The retreatists - disconnected from both schools and black subcultures
4. The innovators - pro-education but anti-school

Question 34

What is the critical race theory?

Answer 34

• Sees racism as an ingrained feature of society, involving both individual and institutional racism

Question 35

How do critical race theorists such as Roithmayr describe institutional racism?

Answer 35

• Its a ‘locked-in inequality’
• Historical discrimination is so large that there no longer needs to be any conscious intent to discriminate, the inequality itself is self-perpetuating

Question 36

How does marketisation and segregation affect different ethnic groups?

Answer 36

• Marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils allowing negative stereotypes to influence decisions
• Selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination

Question 37

What is the impact of an ethnocentric curriculum?

Answer 37

• An example of institutional racism because it builds a racial bias into schools and colleges
• According to Ball this can be done through history, languages, literature and music

Question 38

What does Gillborn say on assessments in schools?

Answer 38

• ‘The assessment game’ is rigged so as to validate the dominant culture’s superiority
• Changed baseline tests to FSP which is based entirely on teachers’ judgement

Question 39

According to Gillborn how is there an inequality in access to opportunities in school?

Answer 39

• Whites are twice as likely as Black Caribbeans to be identified as gifted and talented
• Black pupils were placed in lower tiers

Question 40

According to Gillborn what is the ‘new IQism’?

Answer 40

• Teachers and policymakers make false assumptions about the nature of pupils’ abilities or potentials
• They see potential as a fixed quality

Question 41

What are some criticisms of Gillborn?

Answer 41

• According to Sewell internal factors is not as powerful as external factors
• If Indian and Chinese pupils do so well how can there be institutional racism
• Gillborn argues they perform an ideological function of concealing the fact that education is institutionally racist