Ethnic Differences In Achievement-institutional Racism

Question 1

Define individual racism

Answer 1

Results from the prejudiced views of individual teachers and others

Question 2

Define institutional racism

Answer 2

Discrimination that is built into the way institutions such as schools and colleges

Question 3

Critical race theory

Answer 3

Sees racism as an ingrained feature society
This means that it involves not just the intentional actions of individuals, but more importantly, institutional racism.

Question 4

Daria Roithmayr (2003) ‘locked- in equality’

Answer 4

• institutional racism is ‘locked- in inequality’
• the scale of historical discrimination is so large that there no longer needs to be any conscious intent to discriminate- the inequality becomes self- perpetuating: it feeds on itself

Question 5

Gillbourn (2008) (locked-in inequality)

Answer 5

• Applies the concept of locked-in inequality to education
• he sees ethnic inequality as ‘so deep rooted and so large that it is a practically inevitable feature of the education system’

Critical race theorists see the education system as institutionally racist in several ways

Question 6

Gillbourn(1997) and marketisation

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Moore and Davenport’s(1990) American research

Answer 7

• They show how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination
• they found that primary school reports were used to screen out pupils with language difficulties, while the application process was difficult for non- English speaking parents to understand

These procedures favoured white pupils and disadvantaged ethnic minorities

Moore and Davenport conclude that selection leads to an ethnically stratified education system

Question 8

The commission for racial equality(1993)

Answer 8

Noted that racism in school admissions procedures means that ethnic minority children are more likely to end up in unpopular schools
The report identifies the following reasons:
- 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 9

Ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 9

• many sociologists see the ethnocentric curriculum as a prime example of institutional racism because it builds a racial bias into the everyday workings of schools and colleges

Question 10

Examples of the ethnocentric curriculum:

Answer 10

•languages, literature and music
- Troyna and Williams note the meagre provision for teaching Asian languages as compared with European languages
-Miriam 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 an attitude of ‘little Englandism’
Eg, the history curriculum tries to recreate a ‘mythical age of empire and past glories’, while ignoring the history of black and Asian people

Question 11

Bernard Coard(1971;2005)

Answer 11

-explains how the ethnocentric curriculum may produce underachievement
- Eg, I’m history the British may be presented as bringing civilisation to the ‘primitive’ peoples they colonised
- he argues that this image of black people as inferior undermines black children’s self esteem and leads to their failure

Question 12

Criticisms of ethnocentric curriculum as a cause of underachievement

Answer 12

• it’s not clear what impact the ethnocentric curriculum has
• it may ignore Asian culture, but achievement is above the national average
• Maureen stone argues that black children do not suffer from low self esteem

Question 13

Assessment - Gillbourn(2008)

Answer 13

• argues the ‘assessment game’ is rigged so as to validate the dominant culture’s superiority
• if black children succeed as a group, ‘the rules will be changed to re-engineer failure’
• eg, in the past primary schoolers used baseline assessments which tested pupils when they started compulsory schooling . However these measures were replaced in 2003 by foundation stage profile
• the result was that overnight black pupils seemed to be doing worse than white pupils

Question 14

Gillbourn reasons for whites doing better than blacks over night

Answer 14

1) FSP is based on teacher judgements
2) FSP completed at the end of revelation year

Both these factors increase the risk of teachers stereotyping affecting resujts

Question 15

2 access to opportunities

Answer 15

• the ‘gifted and Talented’ programme was created with the aim of meeting the needs of more able pupils in inner-city schools(Gillbourn shows whites are twice as more likely to be identified as gifted than blacks)
• Exam tiers
- Tikly (2006) found that in 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 GCSE exams

Question 16

Steve Strand’s (2012)

Answer 16

• analysis of large scale data from the longitudinal study of young people
• shows a white- black achievement gap in maths and science tests at age 14
• he found this to be the result of black pupils being systematically under-represented in entry to higher tier tests
• strand suggests that ethnic differences in entry to test tiers reflect teachers’ expectations, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 17

Gillbourn, the ‘new IQism’

Answer 17

Argues that teachers and policymakers make false assumptions about the nature of pupils’ ‘ability’ or ‘potential’

Question 18

Criticisms of Gillbourn(black boys’ underachievement)

Answer 18

Sewell rejects the view of institutional racism and so on. He argues that it is not powerful enough to prevent individuals from succeeding
- in sewell’s view, we need to focus on external factors such as boys’ anti school attitudes, the peer group and the nurturing role of the father

Question 19

Criticisms of Gillbourn(model minorities)

Answer 19

-Gillbourn argues that they are labelled as ‘overachievers’
- Asians perform better than the white majority
- in other words, if these two groups do so well, how could there be institutional racism?

Question 20

How does Gillbourn respond to critics that don’t agree with model minorities and institutional racism

Answer 20

• arguing that the image of Indians and Chinese as hardworking ‘model minorities’ performs an ideological function
• conceals the fact that the education is not institutionally racist
  • makes the system appear fair and meritocratic
  • justifies the failure of other minorities
  • ignores the fact that ‘ model minorities’ still suffer racism in schools

Question 21

Gillian Evans and criticism of Gillbourn

Answer 21

-she argues we need to look at how ethnicity interacts with gender and class
- Paul Conolly(1998) study of 5 and 6 year olds in a multi-ethnic inner-city primary school
- Conolly showed teachers saw black boys as disruptive under-achievers. They channelled their energies into sport and in non- academic ways
- by contrast, Asian boys were seen as passive, keen and academic. Needed protection from bullying

Connolly argues that there is a bigger gap between the achievements of white middle-class and white working- class than between black middle class and black working class