Ethnic Differences In Achievement

Question 1

What are the three main external explanations for ethnic differences in achievement?

Answer 1

Cultural deprivation, material deprivation and racism in wider society

Question 2

What are the three main aspects to the cultural deprivation argument?

Answer 2

Language, family structure and parental support, attitudes and values

Question 3

How can intellectual and linguistic skills affect educational achievement? (Language)

Answer 3

-Bereiter and Engelmann argue that the language of low income Black American families is disjointed and ungrammatical and thus inadequate for educational success.

Question 4

Evaluate Bereiter and Englemann’s argument that language acts as a barrier for ethnic minority achievement?

Answer 4

Children who do not speak English at home perform better than those whose first language is English
-Argue that Bereiter and Englemanns view is an example of anti-black linguistic racism that labels black speech as inferior and white speech as superior although there is no evidence for this. They are equally valid but ‘white speech’ just dominates the education system and wider society, this does not mean it is better (Baker-Bell)

Question 5

How can attitudes and values affect education achievement of ethnic minorities?

Answer 5

Some minority ethnic groups are socialised into subcultures that instil a fatalistic attitude that does not value education leaving them unequipped for success.
Whereas children that are socialised into mainstream culture are instilled with aspirations, and willingness to achieve long term goals.

Question 6

Evaluate the view that attitudes and values can affect educational achievement in ethnic minorities

Answer 6

Studies have shown that ethnic minority pupils have higher aspirations. Platt and Parsons found that among 7-14 year olds, EM boys AND girls had higher aspirations than their white counterparts and were more likely to aspire to highly paid jobs.
Archer- found that minority ethnic groups said that racism was a bigger barrier to their success than low aspirations

Question 7

How can family structure and parental support affect the education achievement of ethnic minorities?

Answer 7

Cultural deprivation theorists argue that EM socialise their children inadequately, due to a dysfunctional family structure.
Moynihan- as black SPH are mostly matrifocal, the children are deprived of adequate care as the mother has to provide financially as there is no male breadwinner. Additionally, boys lack a male role model so lack of adequate image of what male success looks like which leads to delinquency and thus school failure

Question 8

Evaluate the view that family structure and parental support can explain EM underachievement

Answer 8

Driver criticises monyihans theory by suggesting he ignores the positive effects of the matrifocal SPH. For example, in black Caribbean households, girls are presented with a positive female role model, highlighting independence. Driver suggest this can explain why black girls tend to be more successful than black boys

Question 9

How does Sewell believe family structure and parental support can influence the achievement of EM?

Answer 9

He argues that the lack of ‘tough love’ in the absence of fathers in black households means that boys are not well equipped to deal with the emotional and behavioural difficulties in adolescence. Street gangs will offer fatherless boys ‘perverse love and loyalty’.
-Black boys are further influenced by ‘the ultra ghetto superstar’ image reinforced through rap videos.
This culture leads to anti-educational peer group pressure of which speaking proper English and doing well in school is viewed as ‘selling out’ by peers

Question 10

What is a criticism of Sewell view?

Answer 10

It downplays the impact of racism. Gilbourn argues it is the institutional, racism that produces the failure in black boys

Question 11

Explain the external reason for the achievement of Asian students?

Answer 11

Indian and Chinese Students benefit from supportive families (Asian work ethic), that place a high value on education.
Lupton- the adult authority in Asian households is similar to that in schools so behaviour such as being respectful to the adults in school was expected and normal to them.

Question 12

Explain reasons for underachievement in white working class students

Answer 12

Low level of aspirations and achievement can be due to lack of parental support
Lupton- found that teachers reported poorer levels of discipline and bahevaiour in white working class schools as parents had a negative attitude towards the education system whereas EM parents are more likely to see it as a way up in society

Question 13

Give one example of compensatory education to tackle cultural deprivation in EM?

Answer 13

Aiming high scheme- focused on increasing the participation of EM in higher education by emphasising the use of resources such as learning mentors

Question 14

Criticisms of the cultural deprivation theory

Answer 14

Victim blaming- Argues that minority groups are culturally different not culturally deprived, they underachieve because schools are ethnocentric and are biased in favour for the dominant white culture
Labelling theorists- Teachers racism stereotypes and low expectations lead to underachievement
Critical labelling theorists- the whole education system is institutionally racism and are built in a way that produces underachievement for minority ethnic groups

Question 15

Define material deprivation

Answer 15

Refers to poverty and a lack of resources that are essential for day to day life

Question 16

Give 4 reasons why ethnic minority pupils are more likely to suffer matieral deprivation linked to housing and low income

Answer 16

• almost half of children from ethnic minority groups live in low income households, compared to a quarter of white children
• members of ethnic minority groups are almost twice as likely to be unemployed than white people
• EM households are around 3x as likely to be homeless
• Almost half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earned under £7 an hour compared to only a quarter of white British workers

Question 17

What evidence is there that ethnicity may sometimes be more important than class in pupils achievement?

Answer 17

Even Indian and Chinese pupils that are materially deprived still do better than most.
Chinese girls on FSM performed better than white girls who were not on FSM [2011]

Question 18

How does racism in wider society lead to social exclusion in housing?

Answer 18

Minorities are more likely it be forced into substandardised accommodation than white people of the same class

Question 19

How does racism in wider society lead to social exclusion in emplyement?

Answer 19

Wood sent three closely matched job applications for almost 1000 job vaccanicies using names associated from different ethnic groups. Wood found that only 1/16 EM job applications were offered an interview compared to 1/9 ‘white’ applications

Question 20

How does Gilborn And Mirzas study challenge cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 20

They found that Black children were the highest achievers on entry to primary school yet by the time it came to secondary school they had the worst results of any ethnic group
-this goes against the argument that external factors can explain the underachievement of black students, there must be some internal influence

Question 21

How does labelling and teacher racism affect educational achievement of black students?

Answer 21

Teachers often see Black and Asian students as being far from the ideal pupil. Black students are seen as disruptive.
Gilbourn and Youdell- Black students more likely to be disciplined compared to to others exhibiting the same behaviour. this is a result of ‘racialised expectations’ as teachers expect black students to be disruptive and so interpret their behaviour as challenging or threatening.
Leads to conflicts, exclusions, being placed in lower sets and streams and thus underachievement

Question 22

How does labelling and teacher racism affect Asian pupils?

Answer 22

Teachers assume that they may have a poor grasp of English and so left them out of class discussions, or used simplistic language when speaking to them.
These students were then marginalised and prevented from participating

Question 23

How can Pupil identities affect educational achievement?

Answer 23

Archer stated that teachers dominant discourse (way of seeing things) created three pupil identities.
- the idea, pupil identity: white, M/c masculinised, heterosexual identity. Achieving in the ‘right way’ e.g natural ability
The pathologised pupil identity: Asian, feminised identity, asexual or sexually oppressed, ‘over achiever’ who succeeds through hard work not natural ability
The demonised pupil identity: white or black w/c, hyper sexualised identity. Unintelligent, peer led, culturally deprived underachiever
- shows that teachers are likely to pathologise or demonise ethnic minorities

Question 24

How does the teacher construction of the pathologised pupil affect Chinese students?

Answer 24

Seen as achieving the wrong way and so any achievement of theirs is seen as ‘overachieving’ meaning they will not fit the notion of the ideal pupil

Question 25

Fuller, Mirza, Sewell

How can pupil responses and subcultures affect educational achievement?

Answer 25

Pupils can respond to labels in various ways
- Fuller: Black girls channelled their anger about labelling into a pursuit of educational success, rejecting educational values but instead valuing success. They showed a lack of regard for school to their peers, in order to fit in and remained friends with other black girls in lower streams. Girls achieved highly
-Mirza: teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the advice they gave . 3 main types of teacher racism.
Colour blind( all pupils are equal but don’t challenge racism)
Liberal chauvinist ( believe black pupils are culturally deprived and so have low expectations of them)
Overt racists( black pupils are inferior and discriminate against them)
Sewell: racist stereotyping by teachers can have 4 responses in black boys
Rebels- were anti-school, often excluded, gained superiority on sexual experience
Conformists- largest group, wanted to avoid stereotyping by teachers and so had friends from different ethnic groups, wanted to succeed
Retreatists- disconnected from both school and black subcultures
Innovators- pro education but anti school. Only conformed where school work was concerned. Had credibility with the rebels but still achieved

Question 26

Give 2 criticism of the labelling theory?

Answer 26

Cannot assume that once labelled, all students fulfill their label and fail (Fuller)
The formation of the education system may be more at fault, not prejudices of individual teachers

Question 27

What is locked in inequality

Answer 27

Inequality is so historical and large that it now feeds on itself; it is self perpetuating

Question 28

How can Marketisation and Segregation affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Answer 28

Schools have more choice in which students go to their school, negative stereotypes may influence school admissions
Moore and Davenport found that primary school reports were used to screen out individuals with learning difficulties and the application process was difficult for non English speaking parents to understand

Question 29

How can the ethnocentric curriculum affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Answer 29

The national curriculum mostly only provides the option to learn European culture, leading to feelings of inferiority in EM
E.g learning about slavery may Instil a feeling that black peoples are inferior leading to low self esteem and failure.
Despite this, Indian and Chinese pupil achievement is still above the average

Question 30

How can assessment affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Answer 30

Gilbourn argues that if a black student succeeds, the assessment type will be changed to re-engineer their failure. E.g change from baseline assessment(based entirely on written tests, at the start of the year), to foundation stage profile (based on teachers judgements, at the end of reception year). Meant that black students appeared to be doing worse than white pupils

Question 31

How can access to opportunities affect education achievement?

Answer 31

-White pupils more likely to be identified as eligible for the gifted and talented programme compared to black students
-in school that had the aiming high programme (aimed to increase achievement of black Caribbean’s) black Caribbean’s were more likely than white pupils to be entered for lower gcse tiers

Question 32

How can ‘new IQism’ affects ethnic differences in achievement?

Answer 32

Teachers and policymakers more likely to make false assumptions about the ability of EM students, they believe ability is fixed and easily measureable when in reality it can change over time

Question 33

Criticisms of Gilborns view of effects of institutional racism

Answer 33

Sewell argues that racism in schools is not powerful enough to create underachievement, it is instead due to external factors (black boys subculture)
-overachievement of Indian and Chinese students negates the view of institutional racism (model minorities)

Question 34

According to Gilborn, how do model minorities conceal institutional racism?

Answer 34

Make the education system seem fair and meritocratic
Justifies the failure of black pupils, makes it seem as though they aren’t putting in enough effort
Ignores the idea that ethnic minorities still experience racism