Ethnic Differences In Achievement

Question 1

Explaining ethnic difference

Answer 1

• On average, whites and Asians do better than black pupils, however there are significant differences among Asians (Chinese and Indian pupils achieving above national average, but Pakistani pupils achieving below national average)
• White pupils’ achievements are very close to the national average (however white working-class pupils tend to achieve lower than that of any other ethnic group)
• According to a DfES study (2010) only 23% of white boys on free school meals gained 5 A*-C grades at GCSE, and according to Steve Hastings (2006) white pupils make less progress between the ages of 11 and 16 than Black or Asian pupils
• External Factors: factors outside the education system, such as the influence of home and family background and wider society
• Internal Factors: factors within schools and the education system, such as interactions between pupils and teachers, and inequalities between schools.

Question 2

External factors & ethnic differences in achievement

Answer 2

Ethnic differences in achievement = best described by looking at factors outside school. Main explanations are cultural & material deprivation, class & racism in wider society.

Question 3

Cultural deprivation: intellectual and linguistic skills

Answer 3

Cultural deprivation theorists argue that many children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences. This leaves them poorly equipped for school with a lack of reasoning and problem-solving skills. Bereiter and Engelmann see the language spoken by low-income black American families as inadequate for educational success. They see it as ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas.
There is also concern that pupils who do not speak English at home (as their first language) will do worse than those who do. However, statistics show that in 2010, pupils with English as their first language (55.2%) were only 3.2 points ahead of those without English as their first language (52.0%) when it came to gaining 5 A*-C GCSEs 9inc. English and Maths).

Question 4

Cultural deprivation: attitudes and values

Answer 4

Lack of motivation is often seen as a major cause of failure in many black children. Most children are socialised into culture which highlights ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make sacrifices in order to reap rewards, however it is suggested some black children are socialised into a subculture that instils a fatalistic ‘live for today’ attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success.

Question 5

Cultural deprivation: Family structure and parental support

Answer 5

Moynihan (1965) argued that because many black families are headed by a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care because she struggles financially in the absence of the male breadwinner. The lack of a father also means the boys do not have an adequate male role model. He sees cultural deprivation as a cycle whereby inadequately socialised children from unstable families go on to fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves.
Charles Murray (1984) of the New Right perspective also argues that a high rate of lone parenthood and lack of positive male role models lead to the underachievement of some minorities.
Ken Pryce (1979) compared black Caribbean pupils and Asian pupils and claims that Asians are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self-worth. Whereas black Caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism, and as a result many black pupils have low self-esteem and underachieve.

Question 6

… Sewell (2009)

Answer 6

Sewell (2009) argues the problem isn’t the absence of the father for black boys that leads to underachievement; it’s a lack of ‘tough love’ and adequate discipline. Street gangs of other fatherless boys offer black boys ‘perverse loyalty and love’, who present boys with a media-inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity. He concludes that because this leads to black boys thinking that speaking in standard English and doing well at school being viewed with suspicion and is seen as ‘selling out’ to the white establishment, black children (particularly boys) need to have greater expectations placed on them to raise their expectations.

Criticism of Sewell (2009)- Gillborn (2008) argues that it is not peer pressure, but institutional racism within the education system itself that systematically produces the failure of large numbers of black boys.

Question 7

CD- Asian families

Answer 7

Asian Families: Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have an ‘Asian work ethic’ with a high value of education. Lupton (2004) argues that adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools i.e. respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from the children, and in turn parents were more likely to be supportive of school behaviour policies.

Question 8

CD- white working class families

Answer 8

Lupton studied 4 mainly working-class schools 92 white, 1 largely Pakistani and 1 ethnically mixed) and found that teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour from the white working-class schools despite the fact they had fewer free school meals pupils. Teachers blamed this on the low level of parental support and negative attitude of the white working-class parents towards education. By contrast, ethnic minority parents were more likely to see education as “a way up in society”.

Question 9

Cultural deprivation- compensatory education

Answer 9

Main policy adopted to tackle cultural deprivation= Compensatory education
Aim of operation head start in USA = compensate children for cultural deficit, they’re said to suffer because of deprived backgrounds.

Question 10

Criticisms of the cultural deprivation theory

Answer 10

Driver (1977) criticises the cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. The black Caribbean family could actually provide girls with positive role models of strong independent women. He argues that this is why black girls tend to be more successful in education than black boys.
Errol Lawrence (1982) argues that black pupils underachieve not because of low self-esteem, but because of racism.
Keddie sees cultural deprivation as a victim-blaming explanation. She argues that ethnic minority children are culturally different, not culturally deprived. They under-achieve because schools are ethnocentric (biased in favour of white culture and against minorities).

Question 11

Material deprivation & class- dos class override ethnicity?

Answer 11

Fail to take different class positions of ethnic groups into account when comparing educational achievements= danger of estimating effects of poverty & MD.
Even those Indian & Chinese pupils who are MD still do better. 201- 86% Chinese girls who got free meals got 5+ high grade GCSEs = MD & social class factors don’t completely override influence of ethnicity.

Question 12

Racism in wider society

Answer 12

• Mason (2000): Argues that poverty itself is the product of racism. ‘Discrimination is a continuing and persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s citizens of minority ethnic origin.’
• Wood et al (2010): In employment - direct and deliberate discrimination, study used names of different ethnicities & found only 1 in 16 offered a job. This could be why they face more unemployment and low pay.
• Rex (1986): shows how racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and that this worsens poverty for ethnic minorities e.g. in housing, ethnic minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard housing than white people of the same class.

Question 13

Material deprivation

Answer 13

According to Guy Palmer (2012):
- Almost 1⁄2 of all ethnic minority children live in low-income households, as against 1⁄4 of white children
- Ethnic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed compared with whites
- Ethnic minority households are around three times more likely to be homeless
- Almost 1⁄2 of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earned under £7 per hour, compared with only 1⁄4 of white British workers

Question 14

reasons why some ethnic minorities may be at greater risk of the material deprivation that results from unemployment:

Answer 14

• Many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wage rates
• Cultural factors such as the tradition of purdah in some Muslim households, which prevents women from working outside the home
• A lack of language skills, and foreign qualifications not recognised by UK employers (but this affects a minority, typically refugees)
• Asylum seekers may not be allowed to take work
• Racial discrimination in the labour market and housing market

Question 15

Internal: Labelling (attach a meaning or definition to someone) and teacher racism

Answer 15

Studies show that teachers often see black and Asian pupils as being far from the ‘ideal pupil’ i.e. black pupils are seen as disruptive and Asians as passive. Gillborn and Youdell (2000) found that teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour. This is because the teachers expected the black pupils to present more discipline problems and misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening or as a challenge to authority. Black pupils are therefore also more likely to be streamed into lower sets because this negative label, which in turn may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy of underachievement. It has been found that Asian pupils were often spoken to in a childish language because teachers would assume they had no real grasp on the English language and left them out of class discussions. They were seen then not as a threat (like balck pupils may be) but as a problem the teacher could ignore.

Question 16

pupil identities

Answer 16

Archer describes three different pupil identities:
- The ideal pupil identity: a white, middle-class masculinised identity, with a normal sexuality. This pupil is seen as achieving in the ‘right’ way through natural ability and initiative
- The pathologised pupil identity: an Asian, ‘deserving poor’, feminised identity either asexual or with an oppressed sexuality. This pupils is seen as a plodding, conformist and culture-bound ‘over-achiever’, a slogger who succeeds
through hard work rather than natural ability
- The demonised pupil identity: A black or white, working-class, hyper-sexualised identity. This pupil is seen as unintelligent, peer-led, culturally deprived under-achiever
Chinese students have been seen to be praised, but viewed negatively as they have been seen to achieve success in the ‘wrong way’ through hardwork, passive conformism rather than natural ability. Teachers stereotyped Chinese families as ‘tight’ and ‘close’ and used this to explain the girls’ supposed passivity. Teachers often also wrongly stereotyped the Chinese students as being middle-class.

Question 17

Pupil responses and subculture

Answer 17

Sometimes, pupils may choose to reject their labels and decide to prove it wrong, rather than accepting the label and becoming withdrawn. Fuller (1984) Study of group of black girls in yr11 of London comprehensive school = high achievers & placed in low streams. Instead of accepting negative stereotypes they channelled anger of labels into educational success. They didn’t seek approval of teachers & were friends with other black girls in low streams. They conformed only to schoolwork & gave appearance of not doing so. Had positive attitude to academic success & preferred to rely on own efforts & external exams. Fuller sees their behaviour as way of dealing with contradictory demands of succeeding at school. Were able to maintain positive self image by relying on own efforts rather than accepting teachers negative stereotypes. Pupils succeed when they refuse to conform & negative labelling doesn’t always lead to failure.

6 / 19

Question 18

Mirza (1992)

Answer 18

Found that racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the kind of advice they game them about careers and option choices, and identified three main types of teacher racism as a result:
- The colour-blind: teachers who believe all pupils are equal but in practice allow racism to go unchallenged
- The liberal chauvinists: teachers who believe black pupils are culturally deprived and who have low expectations of them.
- The overt racists: teachers who believe blacks are inferior and actively discriminate against them.

Question 19

Sewell

Answer 19

Focussed on the absence of fathers, but also noted that their responses to schooling, including racist stereotyping by teachers can affect their achievement. He identified 4 such responses:
- The rebels: a small minority of black pupils, often excluded from school, rejected the goals and rules of the school and conformed to the ‘black-macho-lad’ stereotype
- The conformists: the largest group, keen to succeed, and accepted the school’s goals and rules
- The retreatists: tiny minority of isolated individuals, disconnected from both school and black subcultures, despised by the rebels
- The innovators: the second largest group, pro-education but anti-school, value success but do not seek approval of teachers.

Question 20

Labelling and teacher racism: black pupils & streaming

Answer 20

Gillborn & Youdell found - in A-C economy, teachers focused on students who will get a C at GCSE - educational triage/sorting. Negative stereotypes about black pupils’ ability = more likely to be placed in low sets.
Foster 1990 - teachers’ stereotypes of black pupils as bad behaved = placed in low sets. Streaming them based on stereotypes about ability/behaviour = SFP.

Question 21

Internal factors: institutional racism

Answer 21

Individual racism is racism that results from the prejudiced views of individual teachers and others. Whereas institutional racism is discrimination that is built into the way institutions such as schools and colleges operate.
The ‘Critical Race Theory’ can be explained in education by Gillborn (2008), who applies the concept of ‘locked-in equality’ to education. on. He sees ethnic inequality as “so deep rooted and so large that it is a practically inevitable feature of the education system”.

Question 22

Marketisation and segregation

Answer 22

Moore and Davenport (1990) show how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination e.g. they found that primary school reports were used to screen out pupils with language difficulties, and the application process was difficult for non-English speaking parents to understand. These procedures favoured white pupils and disadvantaged those from ethnic minority backgrounds. Thus they concluded that selection leads to an ethnically stratified education system.
The commission for Racial Equality (1993) identified similar biases in Britain. The report identified the following reasons that admissions is made harder for ethnic minorities and means they are more likely to end up in unpopular schools:
- Reports from primary schools that stereotype minority pupils
- Racist bias in interviews for school places
- Lack of information and application forms in minority languages
- Ethnic minority parents are often unaware of how the waiting list system works and the importance of deadlines

Question 23

The ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 23

Languages, literature and music: Troyna and Williams note there is a meagre provision for teaching Asian languages as compared with European languages. David (1993) describes the National Curriculum as a ‘specifically British’ curriculum that largely ignores non-European languages, literature and music.
History: Ball (1994) criticises the National Curriculum for ignoring ethnic diversity and for promoting and attitude of ‘little Englandism’ e.g. the history curriculum tries to recreate a ‘mythical age of empire and past glories’, while ignoring the history of black and Asian people.
Bernard Coard (1971; 2005) says the ethnocentric curriculum may cause underachievement by presenting, in History for example, the idea that the British bringing civilisation to the ‘primitive’ peoples they colonised. He argued that this image of black people as inferior undermines black children’s self-esteem and leads to their failure.

Question 24

Assessment

Answer 24

Gillborn (2008) argues that ‘the assessment game’ is rigged to validate the dominant culture’s superiority. Independent ‘baseline assessments’ in primary schools have been replaced by the foundation stage profile (FSP in 2003. Overnight, black pupils now appeared to be doing worse than white pupils e.g. in one local authority where black pupils had been the highest achievers in 2000, by 2003 the new FSP had black children ranked lower than whites across al six developmental areas that it measured. However Gillborn explains the reversal as a result of two related institutional factors:
- The FSP is based entirely on teachers’ judgements, whereas baseline assessments often used written tests as well
- A change in the timing: the FSP is completed at the end of reception year, whereas baseline assessments were done at the start of primary school.

Question 25

Access to opportunities

Answer 25

Gifted and Talented: created to meet the needs of more able pupils in inner-city schools, but is not seen as equal because whites are over twice as likely as black Caribbeans to be identified as gifted and talented, and 5 times more likely than black Africans
Exam Tiers: 30 schools in the ‘Aiming High’ initiative to raise black Caribbean pupils’ achievement, blacks were nevertheless more likely than whites to be entered for lower tier GCSES exams, often because blacks had been placed in the lower sets

Question 26

The new IQism

Answer 26

Teachers see potential as a fixed quality that can be easily measured so they can be put into the ‘right’ set or stream, or onto G&T etc. Secondary schools are increasingly only using old-style intelligence tests (IQ) to allocate pupils to different streams. But this no measure of ‘potential’, all it tells us is what a person has already learnt to do or what they can do, not what they may be able to do in the future. Gillborn concludes that the education system is institutionally racist, creating an environment in which ethnic minority pupils are routinely disadvantaged.