ethnicity and differential achievement

Question 1

patterns of ethnicity and achievement

Answer 1

• Chinese and Indian pupils outperform the white majority
• Pakistani, Black Caribbean and Gypsy children do the worst
• white w/c boys do worse than any other group
• girls and m/c outperform regardless of ethnicity

Question 2

strengths (evidence) for ethnic minorities experiencing material deprivation

Answer 2

• Flaherty - Pakistani and Bangladeshis are 3x more likely to be in poorest 1/5 of the population
• unemployment 3x higher for African and Pakistani/Bangladeshi families than whites
• 15% of minorities likely to live in overcrowding housing compared to 2% of whites
• many Muslim families do not have dual incomes as women do not work
• Swann Report suggests 50% of achievement difference based on ethnicity are to do with class as ethnic groups that do the worst are from the lowest classes

Question 3

weaknesses (evidence against) ethnic minorities experiencing material deprivation

Answer 3

• still differences when comparing pupils of same class but different ethnicities (86% Chinese girls on FSM got 5 A-C GCSEs compared to 65% of white girls on FSM)
• ignores factors such as cultural deprivation or language barriers

Question 4

Murray - black SPFs (New Right)

Answer 4

believes black children fail in education because they are more likely to be from a SPF, so the lack of a positive male role model for black boys leads them to underachieve

Question 5

Sewell - black boys ‘tough love’

Answer 5

black children have an overly feminised upbringing and lack ‘tough love’ or fatherly nurturing and loyalty to street gangs offer an alternative to this, as well as allowing them to conform to the stereotype of anti-school black masculinity

Question 6

Pryce - resistance to racism

Answer 6

black culture is less resistant to living in a racist society due to the legacy of slavery, whereas Chinese and Indian culture was not stripped by slavery so they are more resistant and more likely to succeed

Question 7

Taylor - importance of primary socialisation

Answer 7

Afro-Caribbean parents lack an understanding of the importance of play and interaction in early years of development, and children may often be placed with low quality childminders who stunt their educational development

Question 8

Driver and Ballard - attitude of Asian parents

Answer 8

being a member of an Indian community is an advantage in educational achievement due to the supportive nature of their communities

Question 9

Lupton - family differences

Answer 9

• Indian/Chinese families have strong respect for adults and place a higher value on education
• Pakistani/Bangladeshi families’ gender roles may require female children to help with domestic tasks and their aspirations may be marriage and childcare
• teacher put down white w/c children’s misbehaviour on a lack of parental interest and attitude and few aspired to go to university

Question 10

Evans - white w/c street culture

Answer 10

white w/c children’s tough street culture includes learning how to intimidate others and withstand intimidation and this may be disruptive at school, leading to failure

Question 11

evidence for language barriers causing underachievement

Answer 11

• DfES pointed out when standard English was an additional language children have lower attainment
• Bereiter found the dialect of English by black American families left them unprepared for the m/c English they experience in the classroom

Question 12

evidence against language barriers causing underachievement

Answer 12

• Driver and Ballard found that Asian children whose main home language was not English were at least as competent in English as their English classmates
• DfES report showed that differences in attainment were visible at KS1 and a majority have since disappeared

Question 13

strengths of cultural deprivation theory

Answer 13

• official statistics support that almost half of Afro-Caribbean families are SPFs and over 90% are headed by women
• lots of evidence that English is not the first language of ethnic minority groups (ONS - 54.1% of pupils in inner London were EAAL)

Question 14

weaknesses of cultural deprivation theory

Answer 14

• some descriptions of ethnic groups are just stereotypical images
• ignore internal factors
• does not take into account improved multi-culturalism

Question 15

examples of internal factors influencing patterns of attainment and ethnicity

Answer 15

• labelling and teacher racism
• setting and streaming and racism
• pupil responses and subcultures
• institutional racism - ethnocentric curriculum

Question 16

Gilborn and Youdel - black students and labels

Answer 16

teachers saw Afro-Caribbean behaviour as threatening even when this was not intended, meaning they often be punished for things that would go unnoticed by white children, leading to lower self esteem and conflict within school

Question 17

Wright - Asian students and labels

Answer 17

Asian children would receive the least attention in school as teachers assumed they were not confident or could not speak enough English, as well as disapproving of their customs and mispronouncing names which left them feeling isolated, leading to underachievement due to marginalisation

Question 18

Sewell - black male subcultures

Answer 18

studied Afro-Caribbean boys in a single-sex comprehensive and identified 4 main responses:
- rebels (18%) were the most visible group and had a black macho aggressive masculinity, seeing themselves as superior to other groups
- conformists (41%) accepted the values of schooling and conformed to them
- innovators (35%) accepted education was the root to success but rejected schooling and were anti-school but tried to stay out of trouble
- retreatists (6%) loners who kept themselves inconspicuous and many were SEN children

Question 19

Mac an Ghaill - why black lads form subcultures

Answer 19

students are aware that teachers treat them differently and they suspect racism, leading them to feel marginalised and could lead them to anti-school subcultures and acting out a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 20

Mirza - black female subcultures

Answer 20

many A-C girls are pro-education and are determined to succeed but their educational achievements are underestimated, so they maintain a low profile with teacher to maintain self-respect, but this can lead to them not totally fulfilling their potential

Question 21

Archer - labelling and identity

Answer 21

teachers hold stereotypical labels that they place upon ethnic minority students
- ideal pupil identity - a white m/c heterosexual identity who achieves through a combination of ability and initiative
- pathologists pupil identity - Asian pupils, feminised asexual or oppressed sexuality, will achieve through conformity rather than ability
- demonised pupil identity - w/c white or black, underachieving, hypersexual, challenging behaviour, unintelligent and peer led

Question 22

strengths of labelling and subcultural theory

Answer 22

• avoids blaming home external home factors
• avoids stereotyping about minority culture but does demonstrate teachers’ stereotypes can affect achievement

Question 23

weaknesses of labelling and subcultural theory

Answer 23

• ignores external factors
• overly deterministic of self fulfilling prophecy
• does not take into account wider internal factors (institutional racism, ethnocentric curriculum etc)

Question 24

institutional racism

Answer 24

racial discrimination is built into the way schools and colleges operate

Question 25

Moore and Davenport - selection procedures

Answer 25

ethnic minorities failed to get into the best secondary schools in the USA due to discrimination, such as the application process being difficult for non-English speaking parents

Question 26

ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 26

education is biased towards white culture and ignores and misrepresents ethnic minorities

Question 27

Coard - black/white in reading

Answer 27

the implication in reading schemes is that white = good (eg unicorns) and black = bad (eg pirates), which places black children in a subservient position, leading to low self esteem, low expectation and self fulfilling prophecy

Question 28

Gilborn - institutional racism

Answer 28

institutional racism may operate in a number of ways:
- assessment - when black children overtake white groups the government will change how progress is measured to resort white superiority
- access to opportunities - statistics show white children are 2x as likely to be in gifted and talented programmes

Question 29

strengths of institutional racism theory

Answer 29

• Coard/Gilborn provide us with substantial evidence that the curriculum is ethnocentric

Question 30

weaknesses of institutional racism theory

Answer 30

• cannot be the sole cause of differential achievement
• outdated approach due to increased multiculturalism
• subjective research