ETHNICITY Flashcards
PERCY
P-Black identities reinforced by the culture of hyper masculinity, leads to educational underachievement
E-Lack of father figures, drawn to anti school subcultures, particularly gang culture, sub culture of black masculinity provides peer support
R-Sewell, Black Machismo
C-Blaming black culture for educational underachievement, other reasons eg labelling
P- Curriculum excludes ethnic minority
E- History English, learn about white history, white playwriters
R- Ball ethnocentric curriculum
C- Pilkington, Asian highest performing groups
Fordham and Ogbu
- ‘Acting black and acting white’ found that black students’ lower academic achievement to the association between doing well in school and acting white.
- black students who do well in school risk labelling, exclusion form peer activities or ostracism and physical assault.
- They talk about fictive kinship, pressure to act a certain way
Sewell
- found that black identities were reinforced as young black students coped with racist teacher stereotypes of ‘black machismo’ by forming peer-group related, he also found that many aspects of the macho black identity of young African Caribbean’s were derived from the media, possibly due to a lack of father figures.
Cecile Wright
- Study in 4 multi ethnic primary schools
- found teacher stereotypes and labelling have a negative impact on Asian and Black Caribbean students in Primary schools
- Research methods, classroom observations and interviews with teachers, parents and students
- Although majority of staff seemed committed to the ideals of treating students from ethnic background equally, in practice there was discrimination
- Asian students were often excluded from classroom discussions as teachers thought they had poor English
- Teachers expected Black Caribbean students to be poorly behaved and expected that they should have to be punished because of it.
- Wright recites a student named Marcus who was punished for shouting out the right answer, whereas white students were not
Racism
-research by Chine et al (2002) found that racism was common among pupils in schools. A minority of pupils reported race related name calling.
Ethnicity and Educational Achievement
- Chinese and Indian students consistently have the highest grades and highest levels of attainment
- lowest achieving groups: Black Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Gypsy. Lowest attainment of ethnic groups (with the exception of white working class boys)
- Black Caribbean students more likely to be permanently excluded from school than white British students of the same sex ad to be excluded for longer for the same offence
Social class and other factors
2/5 of ethnic minorities in poverty in the UK
Higher rates of unemployment in certain ethnic minorities
Language
18% in primary schools and 13% in secondary don’t speak English
Family life and Parental support
Pilkington (1997) pupils from some ethnic minority groups enjoy greater parental support than others, Asian families have been characterized as consisting of extended families which value education
Lupton (2004) lower working class white British families in the most disadvantaged areas have a negative attitude towards education and low aspirations
Vincent et al (2001)
- Black middle class parents have the social and cultural capital to challenge stereotypes of black children within the education system in order to achieve the best outcomes for their children.
- Utilising social and cultural capital to adopt a middle class response to the problems faced within the education system. Encouraging extra curricular activities, extra tutoring and high expectations.
Moon and Ivins (2004)
- Telephone survey of 1500 parents from ethnic minority groups.
- They found a greater involvement in children’s education than in the rest of population.
- Higher proportion saw education as parent’s responsibility
- Higher proportion always attended parents evenings
- Pakistani and Bangladeshi less confident on helping with homework
Pupils responses and subcultures of resistance
Mac An Ghail (1988) carried out 2 ethnographic studies in inner city schools
- Asian warriors, African Caribbean Rasta Heads and the Black sisters
- Black sisters- never intended to study them, happy to talk to him about their views on racism though
- Chose participatory methods, became friendly with students, visited his home - time consuming
- At the time dominant theories argue that black underachievement was due to subcultures of resistance - the problem was seen as being with the students
- However, following his research he realised racism rather than the students themselves was the biggest problem in their schooling - their subcultures were a response to a racially structured institution
Teacher Expectations and educational triage
Gilborn and Youdell, schools perform a triage
1) those who will achieve anyways
2) hopeless cases
3) Borderline cases who require attention and input to get 5 C’s at GCSE’s
Black students often get neglected and seen as hopeless cases
Ethnocentric school curriculum
- Ball (1993) ‘curriculum of the dead’
- under John Mayor, New right influences were more evident than before in government education policy
- Ball argues that cultural restorationism has a populate appeal to politicians and parents by virtue of nostalgia
- Students have to study old white men, who are dead, rather than multicultural figures
- Students from ethnic minorities feel excluded from the curriculum
Ethnocentric school curriculum
- Troyna and Williams (1986), argues schools focuses on things like the 3s (saris, Samosas and Steel bands) to overcome the three R’s (Resistance, Rejection, Rebellion)
