Ethnicity Flashcards
Ethnic differences in achievement: in a nutshell
Trends in statistics have shown Chinese pupils to achieve the best in education, whereas black Caribbean and Gypsy Roma pupils have fallen behind. Some sociologists identify ethnic differences in achievement as the result of factors outside the school, such as language skills, family structure, attitudes and values, and material deprivation - which place minority ethnic groups at a disadvantage. However, some sociologists argue ethnic differences occur through factors inside the school environment - notably, the ethnocentric curriculum, labelling, pupil subcultures and institutional racism.
External factor: Linguistic skills
Some pupils speak a different language and some pupils speak an informal version of English. Bereiter and Engelmann state that the black Caribbean language is ungrammatical and disjointed, which means they cannot convey abstract ideas.
External factor: Family structure
There are higher rates of lone-parent families in black ethnicities. Moynihan found that many black families are headed by a lone mother, leading to lower achievement of black boys due to how they do not have a male role model.
External factors: Attitudes and values
Some sociologists argue that some black pupils have a fatalistic outlook on life, meaning they want immediate gratification and have limited motivation to achieve in the long term.
External factors: Material deprivation
Many minority ethnic groups are victims of racism in wider society, subsequently they face direct or indirect discrimination at work or in the housing market, and in turn, they may be in low paid jobs or unemployed. This impacts upon the children’s educational opportunities.
Internal factors: Labelling on black pupils
Gillborn and Youdell found that teachers had racialised expectations of black pupils and expected more discipline problems and saw their behaviour as threatening. Black pupils were more likely than others to be punished for the same behaviour as white pupils.
Fuller found that high achieving black girls maintained a positive self-image by rejecting teachers’ stereotypes. They did not seek teacher approval, but valued education.
Mirza found that black girls’ strategies for dealing with teacher racism still disadvantaged them. For instance, they would not ask for help.
Internal factors: Labelling on Asian pupils
Wright found that Asian primary school pupils were stereotyped and treated differently. Teachers used simple language because they assumed they would speak poor English and became frustrated when pupils pronounced their names incorrectly.
Internal factors: Pupil subcultures
Sewell found that black boys developed a range of responses to teachers racist labelling:
-Conformists: keen to succeed, accepted the school’s goals.
-Innovators: pro-education, but anti-school. Valued success, but not teacher’s approval.
-Retreatists: disconnected from the school and black subcultures outside of it.
-Rebels: rejected the school’s goals, and conformed to the stereotype of the ‘black macho lad’.
Internal factors: The ethnocentric curriculum
Troyna and Williams state that the British curriculum prioritises white culture and the English language, for example through holidays in line with the Christian calendar, and a focus on white leaders in History.
