Ethnic Differnces In Achivement - Internal Factors Flashcards
1
Q
Internal factors
A
- according to gillborn and mirza (2000), in one local education authority, black children were the highest achievers on entry to primary school, yet by the time it came to GCSE they had the worst results of any ethnic group - 21 points below average
- similarly strands (2010) analysis of the entire national cohort 530,000 7-11 yr olds shows how quickly many black children fall behind after starting school. He found that black Caribbean bouts not entitled to FSM, especially the more able pupils, made significantly less progress than their white peers
- if a group can begin their compulsory schooling and the highest achievers yet finish as the lowest achievers, to can suggest that factors internal to the educational system itself may be playing a major part in producing ethnic differences in achievement. These internal factors include: labelling and teacher racism, pupil identifies and pupil responses and subcultures.
2
Q
- Labelling and teacher racism
A
- to label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them
- when looking at ethnic differences in achievement, interactionists focus on the different labels teachers give to children from different ethnic backgrounds. Their studies show that teachers often see black and Asian pupils as being far from the ‘ideal pupil’ e.g black pupils are often seen as distributive and Asians as passive
- negative labels may lead to teachers to treat ethnic minority pupils differently. This disadvantages them and may result in their failure
3
Q
Black pupils and discipline - gillborn and youdell
A
- gillborn and youdell (2000) - they found that teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour
- they argue that it is the result of teachers ‘racialised’ expectations. They found that teachers expected black pupils to present more discipline problems and misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening or as a challenged to authority. When teachers acted on this misperception, the pupils responded negatively and further conflicted resulted.
- in turn, black pupils felt teachers underestimated their ability and picked on them
- gilborn and youdell concluded that much of the conflict between white teachers and black pupils stems from the racial stereotypes teachers hold, rather than pupils actual behaviour
- this may explain the higher level of exclusions from school of black boys
4
Q
Black pupils and discipline -bourne (1994)
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- bourne found that schools tend to see black boys as a threat and label them negatively, leading eventually to exclusion. Exclusions affect achievement - only 1 in 5 excluded pupil’s achievement 5 GCSE
5
Q
Black pupils and discipline - osler (2001)
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- in addition to higher rates of official exclusions, black pupils appear more likely to suffer from unrecorded unofficial exclusions and from ‘internal exclusions’. Where they are sent out of class. They are also more likely to be placed in pupils referral units that excluded them from access to the mainstream curriculum
6
Q
Asian pupils
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- wrights (1992) study of a multi ethnic primary school shows that Asian pupils can also be victims of teacher labelling. She found that despite the schools apparent commitment to equal opportunities, teachers held ethnocentric views: that is, they took for granted that British culture and standard English were superior
- this affected how they related to Asian pupils. E.g, teachers assumed they would have a poor grasp of English and left them out of class discussion or used simplistic, childish language when speaking to them
- Asian pupils also felt isolated where teachers expressed disapproval of their customs or mispronounced their na,es
- in general, teachers saw them not as a threat but as a problem they coukd ignore. The effect was that Asian pupils, especially the girls, were marginalised - pushed to the edged and prevented from participating fully
7
Q
Black pupils and streaming
A
- gilborn and youdell found that in the ‘a to c economy’, teachers focus on those students who they believed are most likely to achieve grade c at GCSE - ‘educational triage’ or sorting. As a result, negative stereotypes about black pupils ability that some teachers hold means they are more likely to be placed in lower streams or sets
- similarly foster (1990) found that teachers stereotypes of black pupils as badly could result in them being placed in lower sets than other pupils of similar ability
- streaming black pupils on the basis of negative stereotypes about their ability or behaviour can result in a self flufiling prophecy of underachievement
8
Q
- Pupil idenities
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- teachers often define pupils as having stereotypical ethnic identities. According to archer (2008), teachers dominant discourse defines ethnic minority as lacking the favoured identity of the ideal pupils
- archer describes how the dominant discourse constructs three different pupil identities:
1. The ideal pupil identity
2. The pathologised identity
3. The demonised pupil identity - for archer, ethnic minorities pupils likely to be seen as either demonised or pathologised pupils. E.g, from interviews with teachers ans students she shows how black students are demonised as loud, challenging, excessively sexual and with ‘inspirational’ home cultures
9
Q
What is the ideal pupil identity?
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- a white middle class, masculine identity, with a normal sexuality. This is seen as achieving in the ‘right’ way through natural ability and initiative
10
Q
What is the pathologised pupil identity?
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- an Asian, ‘deserving poor’, feminised identity, either asexual with an oppressed sexually. Thus pupils is seen as a plodding, conformist and culture bund ‘overachiever’, a slogger who succeeds through hard work rather than natural ability
11
Q
The demonised pupil identity
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- a black or white, working class, hyper sexualised identity. This pupil seen as unintelligent, peer led, culturally deprived under achiever
12
Q
Pupils identities in archers further study
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- in a further study, archer (2010), found that teachers stereotyped Asian girls as passive and docile
13
Q
Pupil identities - Shain (2003)
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- notes when Asian girls challenged this stereotype by misbehaving, they are often dealt with more severely than other pupils
14
Q
Chinese pupils
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- archer argues that even those minority pupils who perform successfully can be pathologised. E.g, Chinese students were simmaneously praised and viewed negatively by the teachers.
- while successful, therefore, Chinese students were seen as having achieved success in the ‘wrong way’ - through hardworking passive conformism rather than natural individual ability. This meant they could never legitimately occupy the identity of the ‘ideal pupil’. Archer and Francis (2007) sum up the teachers view of them as a ‘negative stereotype’
- teachers stereotyped Chinese families as ‘tight’ and ‘close’ and used this to explain the girls supposed passivity. Teachers also tended to wrongly stereotype their Chinese’s students as middle class
- the result of the distinctions that archer identifies is that even the successes of ethnic minorities will only be seen as ‘over achievement’ - since ‘proper’ achievement is seen to be the natural preserve of the privileged white, middle class ideal pupil
15
Q
Fuller study on rejecting negative labels
A
- study of black yr 11 girls of a London comprehensive school. The girls were untypical because they were high achievers in a school were most black girls were placed in low streams
- fuller describes how, instead of accepting negative stereotypes of themselves, the girls channeled their anger about being labelled into the pursuit of educational success.
- however, unlike other successful pupils, they did not seek the approval of teachers, many of whom regarded as racist. Nor did they limit their choice of friends to other academic achievers.
- instead, they were friends with other black girls in lower streams
- also unlike other successful pupils, they conformed only as far as the schoolwork itself was concerned. They worked conscientiously, but gave the apprentices of not doing so, and they showed a deliberated lack of concern about school routines. They had positive attitude to academic success but rather then seeking the approval of teachers, they preferred to rely on their own efforts and the impartiality of external exams
- fuller sees the girls behaviour as a way of dealing with the contradictory demands of succeeding at school while remains friends with black girls in lower streams and avoiding the ridicule of black boys.
