Ethnic differences in achievement sociologists

Question 1

Moynihan (1965)

Answer 1

Cultural deprivation - family structure
• Because many black families are headed by a lone mother , their children are deprived of adequate care because she has to struggle financially in the absence of a male breadwinner .

Question 2

Sewell (2009)

Answer 2

Fathers , gangs and culture - external
• It’s not the absence of fathers as role models that lead to black boys underachieving.
• It’s the lack of fatherly nurturing or “tough love”
• Black boys finding it hard to overcome difficulty of adolescence

Question 3

Palmer (2012)

Answer 3

Material deprivation - external
• Almost half of all ethnic minority children live in low income households
• ethnic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed compared to whites
• Almost half of bangladeshi and pakistani workers earned under £7 per hour , compared with only a quarter of white british workers

Question 4

Rex (1986)

Answer 4

Racism in wider society - external
• Racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and how this worsens the poverty faced by ethnic minorities

Question 5

Gilborn and Youdell (2000)

Answer 5

Black pupils and discipline - internal
• Teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour .
• Teachers misinterpreted black pupils’ behaviour as threatening or as a challenge to authority

Question 6

Wright (1192)

Answer 6

Asian pupils - internal
• Asian pupils can also be victims for teacher labelling.
• Teachers assume they would have a poor grasp of english and leave them out of class discussions

Question 7

Fuller (1974)

Answer 7

Rejecting negative labels - internal
• Black girls channelled their anger about teafher labels by succeeding in education. They did not seek approval of teachers
• Anti- school but pro education

Question 8

Mac an Ghaill (1992)

Answer 8

Rejecting negative labels - internal
• Students who believed teachers had labelled them negatively did not necessarily accept the label.
• How they responded depended on factors e.g. ethnic group , gender etc

Question 9

Mirza (1992)

Answer 9

Failed strategies for avoiding racism - Internal
3 types of teacher racism -
•Colour blind = teachers who believe students are all equal but leave racism to go unchallenged
• Liberal chauvinist = low expectations of black pupils
• Overt racism = Actively discriminating against black people

Question 10

Sewell (1997)

Answer 10

Variety of boy’s responses- internal
• The rebels : anti-school and often excluded
• The conformists : keen to succeed , accepted schools’ goals
• The retreatists : Isolated individuals who were disconnected from school.
• The innovators : Pro-education but anti-school

Question 11

Roithmayr (2003)

Answer 11

Critical race theory - internal
•Locked in equality :
The scale of historical discrimination is so large that there no longer needs to be any conscious intent to discriminate

Question 12

Gilborn (1997)

Answer 12

Marketisation and segregation- internal
• Because marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils , it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions

Question 13

Coard (1971 , 2005)

Answer 13

Ethnocentric curriculum- internal
• In history , British history is learned and other cultures are dismissed
- Presented as bringing civilisation to the “primitive” people’s they colonised

Question 14

Gilborn (2008)

Answer 14

Assessment and access to opportunity - internal
• “assessment game” is rigged as to validate dominant culture’s superiority
• gifted and talented programme
- aim of meeting the needs of more able pupils in inner schools

Question 15

Tikly et al (2006) and Strand (2012)

Answer 15

Exam tiers - Internal
- Black pupils had been placed in lower sets. The effect is that they can only gain a grade C at best
- White - black achievement gap in maths and science tests at age 14

Question 16

Gilborn and Youdell (2001)

Answer 16

Internal
Teachers had “racialised expectations “ that black pupils would create more discipline problems

Question 17

Evans (2006)

Answer 17

Ethnicity and class
To fully understand the relationship between ethnicity and achievement, we need to look at how ethnicity interacts with class

Question 18

Connolly (1998)

Answer 18

Ethnicity and class
How pupils and teachers construct masculinity differently depending on a child’s ethnicity.
Teachers saw black boys as disruptive and underachievers