Ethnic differences in achievement

Question 1

Murray (1984)

Answer 1

argues that a high rate of lone parenthood and a lack of positive male role models lead to the underachievement of some minorities

Question 2

Scruton (1986)

Answer 2

sees the low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting from a failure to embrace mainstream British culture

Question 3

Pryce (1979)

Answer 3

he claims asains are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self worth. Black caribbean culture culture is less cohesive and as a result they have low self esteem and underachieve

Question 4

Sewell (2009)

Answer 4

argues that it is not the absence of fathers as role models that lead to black boys underachieving but the lack of fatherly nurturing or tough love - results in black boys finding it hard to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence

Question 5

Gillborn - peer pressure

Answer 5

argues 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 6

McCulloch

Answer 6

found that ethnic minority pupils are more likely to aspire to go to university than white british pupils

Question 7

Rex (1986)

Answer 7

shows how racial discrimination leads to a social exclusion and how this worsens poverty faced by ethnic minorities

Question 8

Gillborn and Youdell - black pupils

Answer 8

found that teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour

Question 9

Osler - black pupils

Answer 9

black pupils appear more likely to suffer from unrecorded unofficial exclusions and from internal exclusions where they are sent out of class.

Question 10

Archers pupil identities (3)

Answer 10

1. Ideal pupil - white heterosexual middle class masculine identity
2. Pathologised pupil - asian deserved poor feminised identity - either asexual or oppressed sexuality
3. Demonised pupil - black or white working class hypersexualised - unintelligent culturally deprived

Question 11

Mary Fuller (1984)

Answer 11

studied group of black girls in comprehensive school - girls were labelled and placed in lower streams but instead of self fulfilling prophecy and underachievement they channelled that behaviour and achieved high

Question 12

Mirza (1992) - Racist teachers

Answer 12

found that racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the kind of advice they gave them about careers.

Question 13

Mirza - 3 types of teacher racism

Answer 13

1. The colour blind - teachers who believe all pupils are equal but in practice allow racism to go unchallenged
2. The liberal chauvinists - teachers who believe black pupils are culturally deprived and who have low expectations of them
3. The overt racists - teachers who believe blacks are inferior and actively discriminate against them.

Question 14

Sewell - black boys responses

Answer 14

1. Rebels - most visible and influential group
2. Conformists - largest group - keen to succeed but were anxious to avoid being stereotyped
3. Retreatists - disconnected from both school and black subcultures
4. Innovators - pro education but anti school - valued success but did not seek approval of teachers

Question 15

Gillborn (1997) - marketisation

Answer 15

argues that because marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions

Question 16

What is meant by ethnocentric

Answer 16

describes an attitude or policy that gives priority to the culture and viewpoint of one particular ethnic group while disregarding others.

Question 17

Ethnocentric curriculum - language and history
Ball
Coard

Answer 17

the national curriculum is British - ignores non European languages, literature and music

Ball criticises national curriculum for ignoring ethnic diversity and promoting an attitude of “little englandism”

Coard explains how the ethnocentric curriculum may produce underachievement

Question 18

Gifted and Talented programme

Answer 18

Created with the aim of meeting the needs of more able pupils in inner city school. Gillborn points out that official statistics show whites are over twice as likely as Black Caribbeans to be identified as gifted and talented and five times more likely than black Africans

Question 19

Criticisms of Gillborns view that ethnic differences in achievement are the result of institutuional racism

Answer 19

1. Sewell argues that racism is not powerful enough to prevent individuals from succeeding and therefore need to focus on external factors like anti school subcultures
2. Overachievement of indian and chinese pupils - they do well so how can racism be a problem when they also face harassment

Question 20

Evans - ethnicity. class and gender

Answer 20

argues that to fully understand the relationship between ethnicity and achievement - need to look at how ethnicity interacts with class and gender

Question 21

Connolly study - ethnicity, class and gender

Answer 21

study of 5 and 6 year olds - teachers saw black boys as disruptive underachievers - punished them more and channelled energy into sport - boys responded by seeking status non academically

teachers saw Asian boys as passive, keen and academic - when they misbehaved it was seen as immature rather than “threatening”

Question 22

What effect does Connolly’s study show?

Answer 22

Interactions effect