Ethnicity Flashcards
External Factors in Ethnicity [6]
Material Deprivation
Cultural Deprivation: Family Structure
[Stretch] Lack of Parental Support
Cultural Deprivation: Attitudes + Values
Cultural Deprivation: Intellectual + Linguistic Skills
Racism in Wider Society
Internal Factors in Ethnicity [9]
Racialised Expectations - Labelling
Pupil Identities
[Stretch] Pupil Responses + Subcultures
Institutional Racism
Marketisation: Policies + Selection
Assessment Game
New IQ’ism
Ethnocentric Curriculum
[Stretch] Ethnicity, Class + Gender
External: Material Deprivation
Poorest 5th + 3x more likely to be homeless: Pakistanis Bangladeshis (low paid unskilled jobs)
Employment 3x higher: African Caribbean, P + B
due to lack of language skills/foreign qualifications not recognized/racial discrimination so these students unable to buy material goods to help with achievement
However B have high poverty but average grades
Gov. introduced policies to tackle this, eg. Bursaries/Pupil Premium
External: Cultural Deprivation: Family Structure
Moynihan (New Right): many black families headed by a lone mother child deprived of adequate care/incorrect socialization
Murray: underclass theory - cycle = BC fail and become inadequate parents themselves
However Pilkington: white cultural explanations have some merit should be cautious of ethnocentrism (viewing other cultures is inferior), just different + distract from failing in education system
External: [Stretch] Lack of Parental Support
Sewell: not absence of fathers as role models that leads be boys underachieving, but a lack of fatherly nurturing or tough love
So find hard to overcome emotional and behavioural difficulties in adolescence
Street gangs offer BB preserve loyalty and love, present boys with music inspired role models of anti-school black muscularity reinforced to in rap lyrics + vids, so feel pressured to conform to this identity impacting achievement
However Gilborn: not peer pressure but institution racism that fails a larger number of BB
External: Cultural Deprivation: Attitudes + Values
Black families (some argue) have fatalistic issues to education, not socialised into mainstream culture
However unrelated to ethnicity, attitudes emerged from class/ treatment by society
Asian families -
Driver and Ballard: parents have high expectations + value on education
Lupton: parent-child relationships mirror teacher-students, respectful behaviour expected in school
However does not explain why Pakistanis performed below average at GCSE
External: Cultural Deprivation: Intellectual + Linguistic Skills
Asian students: view that those who do not speak English at home are held back. The Policy Studies Institute (PSI) - 1/5 of P+B were not fluent
However not major factor as people’s with English as the first language only 3.2 points ahead of those without
Gilbourn + Mirza: Indian pupils show very high attainment, ESL is not a barrier
Black students: Berieter + Engelmann: lang spoken by low-income BF are inadequate for educational success, lacks stimulation and enriching experience so poorly equipped for school, not developed reasoning and problem solving (Maths + Science)
External: Racism in Wider Society
Mason: “Discrimination is a continuing and persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s citizens of minority ethnic origin.”
Wood et al: sent 3 fake job applications to approx. 1000 vacancies, all equally qualified - 1 white and 2 ethnic minority groups.
Found 1 in 9 ‘white’ applicants were invited to interview compared to 1 in 16 minority ethnic applicants.
Therefore, negative effect on their children’s educational prospects
However changes in equal opportunities legislation to help tackle:
Positive discrimination - companies give more opportunities to those who are discriminated against - diversity quota
Equality Act 2010 - discrimination is illegal
Internal: Racialised Expectations - Labelling
Mac an Ghaill: teachers hold racialized expectations of students that may affect how they treat the pupils leading to inequality of opportunity
Gilbourn + Youdell: racism continues to disadvantage ethnic minorities in education system
Teachers expect BP to present more discipline problems, misinterpret behaviour as threatening, so they feel they underestimated their ability + picked on them
Gilbourn + Youdell: A-C economy -teachers focus on those believed will achieve a grade C at GCSE
Educational triage - expectations of BS comparatively low, systematically denied access to the sets, groups + exams that would give best chance of success
However Fuller labelling doesn’t always lead to SFP BG in research rejected labels + vowed to prove their teachers wrong, knew exams were external so would be treated objectively thus be able to succeed without teachers help
Internal: Pupil Identities
Archer: teachers’ ‘dominant discourse’ often leads to EMs being seen as less than ‘ideal’ pupils
Pupil identities constructed:
Ideal PI - white, MC, masculinised and heterosexual. Achieve in the ‘right’ way by natural talent + good work ethic
Pathologised PI - Asian ‘deserving poor’, feminised and asexual/oppressed sexuality. Seen as conformist, culture-bound, and only succeed through hard work not talent
Demonised PI - black/white, WC, hyper-sexualised. Unintelligent, peer-led, culturally deprived underachiever
Archer believes ethnic minority pupils are more likely labelled as pathologised/demonised
Internal: [Stretch] Pupil Responses + Subcultures
Sewell: BB responses to schooling, stereotypes by teachers can affect achievement
He identifies 4 responses to negative labelling:
The rebels - most visible groups but only small minority of BP. Reject goals + rules of school, and conform to anti-school ‘black macho lads’. Dismiss conformists
The conformists - largest group, accept school’s goals, anxious to avoid being stereotyped, and not friends with other ethnicities
The retreatists - tiny minority, isolate/disconnected with school + black subcultures
The innovators - 2nd largest pro-education but anti-school, value success but not don’t seek approval at teachers, only do up to schoolwork. Distanced from conformists, maintain credibility with rebels
Sewell shows the stereotype of ‘black macho lads’ only fits small minority nevertheless teachers treat all BP this way thus contributing to underachievement
However Sewell argues that factors external to school, role of peer groups + lack of other father figure more important in producing under achievement
Internal: Institutional Racism
Institutional racism = discrimination built into the way institutions operate,
internal workings of school reinforce inequality between different ethnicity groups (dress codes)
Hatcher: school placed low priority on dealing with race issues and failed to adequately tackle instances of racist bullying
However Smith and Tomlinson: schools are tolerant of all ethnic groups, lack of antagonism between students from different ethnic groups
Internal: Marketisation: Policies + Selection
Gilbourn + Youdell: racism continues to disadvantage EMs in educational systems, more scope to select pupils - allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions
Ofsted and League Tables: tells parents which schools best
Open Enrolment: apply to any school, not just local
Best schools are oversubscribed: to maintain League Table position, pick those most likely to succeed
Educational Triage takes place, ethnic groups offered more = high achievers, others = attend lower performing schools
Internal: Assessment Game
Reflects white superiority, when BS begin to achieve within similar standards with WS, rules of assessment changes
eg. primary school assessments change from baseline test to the Foundation Stage Profile FSP
FSP based entirely on teacher’s opinion of students
BC who originally tested as achieving higher than their white peers, now ranked as underachievers
RTS: Sanders + Horn: BC tend to do worse in subjects where teachers mark the work, compared to subjects with external exams
However this was in ‘95 - 30 years old so it’s less credible/impactful
Internal: New IQ’ism
Teachers decide who enters for higher set/gifted/talented programmes - lead to discrimination against BS
Discipline affects access to opportunity as educational achievement further disadvantages BS due to beliefs about their discipline levels
He argues teachers and policymakers make false assumptions about people’s nature in ‘ability/potential’, called new IQ’ism
Teachers close off opportunities to students by seeing potential as a set quality measurable. He criticizes - sees test as only showing what can be done now, not in future
