Ethnic differences in achievement - EXTERNAL

Question 1

Ethnicity

Answer 1

Refers to a shared culture identity and history.

Question 2

Ethnic Group

Answer 2

A group of people who see themselves as a distinct group based for example on religion geography or language.

Question 3

Ethnic Differences in Achievement

Answer 3

Patterns of ethnic achievement are complex cross cut by gender and social class.
- For example: Black and Pakistani pupils do worst, Chinese and Indians do best. White pupils are very close to the national average.

Question 4

External Differences in Achievement

Answer 4

Cultural deprivation, material deprivation and class and racism in wider society.

Question 5

Cultural Deprivation

Answer 5

• Under achievement of some ethnic groups is caused by inadequate socialisation in the home.
• Main aspects: Intellectual and language skills and attitudes values and family structure.

Question 6

Intellectual and Language Skills

Answer 6

The cultural deprivation theory claims children from low income black families lack intellectual stimulation and fail to develop reasoning and problem solving skills.

Question 7

Bereiter and Englemann (Intellectual and Language Skills)

Answer 7

• Say that the language of poorer black families is disjoined so children are unable to express abstract ideas a major barrier to success.

Question 8

Attitudes, Values and Family Structure

Answer 8

Differences in attitudes and values towards education may be the result of differences in socialisation.

• Most children are socialised into the mainstream culture, which instils competiveness and the desire to achieve.

Question 9

Fatalism and Immediate Gratification

Answer 9

• Cultural deprivation theorists claim the subculture black children are socialised into is fatalist and focused on immediate gratification resulting in the lack of motivation to succeed.

Question 10

The Lack of a Male Role Model

Answer 10

African Caribbean boys may turn on an anti-educational macho ‘gang culture’.

Question 11

Murray (New Right) (Lack of a Male Role Model)

Answer 11

• Argues that high rate of lone parents and lack of positive male role models leads to the underachievement of some minority pupils.

Question 12

Culture of Poverty (Moynihan)

Answer 12

Moynihan argues that the absence of male role in black lone parent families produces inadequately socialised children who fail at school become inadequate parents themselves and perpetuate a culture of poverty.

Question 13

The Impact of Slavery (Pryce)

Answer 13

Pryce says that Black Caribbean culture is less resistant to racism because of the experience of slavery. As a result black pupils have low self esteem and under achieve.

Question 14

Asian Families (Sewell)

Answer 14

Sewell argues that Chinese and Indian pupils benefit from supportive families with an ‘Asian work ethic’. He contrasts this with black lone parent families.

Question 15

Fathers, Gangs and Culture (Sewell)

Answer 15

Sewell argues that the lack of fatherly nurturing leads to black boys underachieving.

• Street gangs offer them alternative peverse loyalty and love. Successful black boys felt the greatest barrier to success was peer pressure.

Question 16

White Working Class Pupils

Answer 16

White working class pupils also under achieve this may be because they have lower aspirations than many other ethnic groups and this may be a result of white working class culture.

Question 17

Working Class Schools (Lupton)

Answer 17

Lupton studied four w/c schools within different ethnic compositions.
- Teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in white w/c schools which they linked to have lower levels of parental support and the negative attitudes of white w/c parents towards education.

Question 18

Street Culture (Evans)

Answer 18

Evan argues that street culture in white working class areas can be brutal and is brought into school.

• The result is a strong pressure to reject education.

Question 19

Compensatory Education

Answer 19

Is an educational policy that aims to counter the effects of cultural deprivation e.g. Operation Head Start and Sure Start.

Question 20

Operation Head Start Was established in the USA to compensate children for the cultural deficit they suffered because of deprived backgrounds.

Answer 20

Was established in the USA to compensate children for the cultural deficit they suffered because of deprived backgrounds.

Question 21

Sure Start

Answer 21

In the UK aims to support the development of pre-school children in deprived areas.

Question 22

Criticisms of Cultural Deprivation

Answer 22

Cultural deprivation theory has been criticised as an explanation of ethnic differences in achievement the factors include Victim blaming, cultural exclusion and cultural domination.

Question 23

Victim Blaming (Keddie)

Answer 23

Keddie argues that it is a victim blaming explanation. Minority ethnic group children are culturally different not deprived. They underachieve as schools are ethnocentric (Biased in the favour of white culture).

Question 24

Cultural Exclusion (Ball)

Answer 24

Ball argues that minority ethnic group parents are less aware of how to negotiate the British education system.

• This results in cultural exclusion rather than deprivation. Gerwitz says complex school application forms are an example.

Question 25

Cultural Dominatio

Answer 25

Compensatory education imposes the dominant white middle class culture on minority ethnic group pupils own culture.

Question 26

Material Deprivation and Class

Answer 26

Material deprivation is a lack of physical or economic resources essential for normal life in society.

• Argue that educational failure is the result of material factors such as housing and income which ethnic minorities are more likely to face.

Question 27

Racism in Wider Society

Answer 27

It may be the product of racism in wider society which affects pupils achievement.

• Members of minority ethnic groups face direct and indirect discrimination at work and in the housing market.
• More likely to have low pay or be unemployed