Ethnicity and Education

Question 1

Ethnicity

Answer 1

• Ethnicity is a concept referring to a shared culture and a way of life.
• Reflected in language, religion, material culture like clothing and cuisine, and cultural products such as music and art.
• Major source of social cohesion as well as social conflict.

Question 2

Ethnicity and Education

Answer 2

Has an impact of educational performance, depending on which is being referred to:
DofE (2018)
-The national average for A*-C in English and Maths is 63%. Chinese (82.8%) and Asian (67.2%) are above average. Mixed (62.6%), White (62.8%) and Black (59.2%) is below average.

Question 3

Ethnicity Breakdown

Answer 3

• Asian is too broad of a term. D of E is now more specific. Stats on Educational Attainment is broken down by Ethnic group, FSM and Gender
• White pupils eligible for FSM are the lowest at 50%, 47% for white FSM boys
• Gender Gap for all ethnic groups but it is the most predominant for African Caribbean Boys
• Caribbean boys are 37x more likely to be excluded than Indian girls
• Runnymede Trust (2012) If special needs and FSM they were 168x more likely to be excluded than white girls from an m/c family

Question 4

Social Class, Ethnicity and Educational Attainment

Answer 4

-Social class needs to be considered along with ethnicity
-A significant proportion of EM are concentrated in semi-structured or unskilled work hence the higher proportion of minority group suffer from relative deprivation sue to being working class.
-W/C is positively correlated with underachievement in Education
-BP and BB are 3x more likely than whites to be in the poorest 5th quartile of the population
-Unemployment is 3x higher for Caribbean, Bangladesh and Pakistani origin
-Significant m/c in British Indians and British Chinese communities therefore it is reasonable to suggest that the advantages of being middle class are passed into the children.
British Chinese even when from poor households are more likely to achieve 5 GCSEs A* - C/71% in 2011

Question 5

External Factors: Racism

Answer 5

• Resulted in certain groups experiencing greater rates of poverty, unemployment poor health and over-representation in prison and underachievement in Education
• Lower Aspirations as they feel there is little point in trying in life are reduced by either intentional or unintentional racism.
• Black Population over-represented in the Prison system and has below Educational attainment
• Noon (2007): Managers will discriminate against workers based on ethnic stereotypes. Racism existing informs EM of their position which feeds attitudes in Education, teachers and society

Question 6

External Factors: Material Differences

Answer 6

• Plays a role in ethnic differences in Educational Attainment
• Pakistani, Bangladeshi and A-C students have a higher than average rate of poverty, meaning they can’t afford school equipment. Diet and housing may not be adequate causing illness and absences from school
• British Pakistani are nearly 2x as likely to be in an unskilled job despite having graduate qualifications
• Platt (2007): Ethnic minority pupils may use their cultural capital to overcome material disadvantages

Question 7

External Factors: Cultural Capital (Chinese Students)

Answer 7

• Many cultural factors that contribute to the higher achievement of Chinese Students
• Chinese pupils were the most likely to achieve A* to C in English and Maths GCSE in 2016.
• Family Commitment to Education, High Parental Expectations, Paid Tuition, Parents competing in ‘social competition’ with other Chinese parents.
• Archer and Francis (2007) Chinese students are the highest achieving ethnic group this reflects the fact that both working class and middle-class Chinese parents invest considerable time money and energy in their children. Even poor working-class parents who have little education themselves have high aspirations for their children.

Question 8

External Factors: Cultural Capital (Indian Students)

Answer 8

• Indian pupils achieved 77% In 2016, the national average for A* to C attainment in English and Maths GCSE was 63%.
• Strand (2007) the high achievement among Indian students is due to their parent’s high expectations, high parental monitoring such as making their home was done and knowing their children whereabouts. Also mainly M/C so have the resources to provide tuition and computers

Question 9

External Factors: Cultural Deprivation (African Caribbean Boys)

Answer 9

• Most at risk of Underachievement
• 51% achieving A* to C in English and Maths GCSE in 2016 compared to the national average of 63%.
  -Family Structure is to blame. Lone parent households are common
• New Right thinkers such as Murray point to the high number of female single parent families in black communities. He believes this is why black boys are disruptive in the classroom as they lack positive black, male role models. Murray also says that black children are more likely to be socialised into a lifestyle of welfare dependency and petty crime.
  -Sewell (2010) argues that one of the reasons for black AC underperformance is the absence of fathers, which is common in the black community: 59% of black Caribbean children live in lone-parent households, compared with 22% of white children.
  Sewell claims that the lack of a male role model makes it harder for some boys to adapt to the demands of school. Instead, they relate to the male figure like Rappers. Underachievement is due to not valuing education due to the lyrics they hear.
• Moynihan stated that lone mother can’t provide emotional support for their children due to being too busy working. Doesn’t effect girls as they are seen as role models that help motivate them.

Question 10

Evaluation of External Factors: Cultural Capital and Cultural Depreivation

Answer 10

• Cultures are different, not inferior
• Murray’s views are seen as very ethnocentric. Gillborn warns against reinforcing racial stereotypes about different attitudes to education and different ability levels. Certain groups achievement is underestimated because of stereotypes. Racism leads to positive and negative stereotyping. Lack of motivation is criticised as it leads to teachers to have low expectations of certain groups leading SFP
• Many students from lone parent households are successful in education. Those who are most at risk are those in poor households. Low pay and lack of employment are the real issues not parenting
• The same point but Sewell doesn’t blame the victim, takes an interactionist approach acknowledging peers, in-school processes and street culture
• Vincent: class and ethnicity need to be considered together. Black middle-class parents who had high aspirations for their children, making efforts to meet teachers and insisting on high standards from their children. Such parents had a considerable degree of cultural capital, carrying out research to improve their own understanding of education, still found that many teachers had an assumption that they knew less about education than white parents and were seen to be less interested in education.

Question 11

External Factors: Language

Answer 11

-Bereiter and Engelmann (1966) Some EM students lack the language that is used in schools, which places them at an immediate disadvantage.
-English is not spoken at home in a high proportion of Bangladeshi families in the UK, has been linked to poorer educational outcomes.
-Complex patterns have emerged.
-2013 School Census showed that 1/6 primary school students in England (612,160) do not have English as their first language. In secondary schools 1/8.
Figures have more than doubled since 1997. Significant increase which reflects a large amount of immigration into the UK.
-Children from Bangladeshi and Pakistani households, in particular, may grow up speaking languages such as Bengali, Urdu or Punjabi.

Question 12

Language Evaluation

Answer 12

• Dustmann et al (2008) suggests that as children from most minorities where English is a second language appear to catch up with white pupils as they progress though school, this does not appear to be a disadvantage in the long run.
• Interestingly they found that black Caribbean pupils make smaller progress than any other ethnic group even though for most of them English is their first language.
• Clearly other factors at play
• Functionalism: Lack of assimilation, not learning the language, Don’t have the norms and values of achievement. Not learning the language results according to Durkheim believed that education is essential to maintain a society with a strong sense of togetherness; education is needed to build a strong sense of social solidarity. No bridge.

Question 13

Internal Factors

Answer 13

• Processes that occur in school in relation to differences in educational performance in ethnic minorities and how they experience school.
• Coard(1971) in his critique of the British education system claimed that it actually made black children become educationally ‘subnormal’ by making them feel inferior.
• The idea that in-school processes are the main reason for these differences is associated with Interactionism which focuses on processes such as teacher labelling and Institutional racism

Question 14

Internal Factors: Labelling

Answer 14

• Teachers have preconceived ideas about people of different ethnic backgrounds. Which effects the expectations and attitudes towards them.
• Labelling, attaching meaning to behaviour, is significant in shaping the likely educational outcomes of different ethnic groups.
• This can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy, where the student internalises a label and it becomes true.

Question 15

Internal Factors: Labelling (Gillborn)

Answer 15

• Argued that teachers have radicalised expectations of different EM.
• Teachers are not openly racist and try to work differently with them, it’s the processes in schools that work against them.
• Teachers make them feel as if they are at a disadvantage by blaming them and making controlling and punishing them, are a bigger priority than academia.

Question 16

Internal Factors: Labelling (Wright)

Answer 16

• Found that teachers perceived ethnic minority children differently from white children.
• Asian children were seen as a problem that could be ignored, receiving the least attention and often being excluded from classroom discussion and rarely asked to answer questions.
• African Caribbean children were expected to behave badly, were seen as aggressive and disruptive, and were more likely to be disciplined for bad behaviour than children from other backgrounds.

Question 17

Labelling Evaluation

Answer 17

• Wright and Gilborn small scale studies and are out of date
• Teacher bias is less likely given the greater emphasis put on multi-cultural education and the increased awareness of diversity.
• Asians are overachieving and black remain underachieving - so more needs to be considered like home factors as them being ignored isn’t affected them
• Caribbean boys are 37x more likely to be excluded than Indian girls
• More deviant or racism
• Fuller: Research on black A-C girls in a London comp and investigated how they responded to negative stereotypes from teachers by forming anti-school subcultures. This means that they did not try to gain approval from their teachers, who they often saw as racist. Rather, they worked hard at their school work while also appearing to reject the school rules. This suggests that students have a variety of responses to labelling and also that negative labelling by teachers does not always lead to failure or underachievement of students.

Question 18

Internal Factors: Institutionalized Racism

Answer 18

• Another interactionist explanation
• Institutional racism refers to the intentional or unintentional systematic discrimination that takes place in an organisation such as a school
• The intentional or unintentional discrimination that occurs in education may take many forms, for example, not recruiting some ethnic groups to senior management in schools or only offering certain languages in schools.
• Ethnocentric curriculum, through banding and streaming and through the hiring of fewer minority teachers

Question 19

Internal Factors: Institutionalized Racism - Ethnocentric Curriculum

Answer 19

• The curriculum focuses on the culture of one dominant group, for example, the white majority culture in Britain.
• British history and the European point of view
• EM is invisible in the curriculum during the 70s and 60s. The return to the National Curriculum marked the return of ethnocentrism.
• Ball: Described ‘Little Englandism’ which promoted the mythical age of the glorious empire. Education Minister (former) Gove sought the removal of negative aspects of British History from the curriculum. Different cultures are relegated to Culture days. “Saris, Steel Drums and Samosas,”
• The former Education Minister Michael Gove influenced the decision to allow only British writers to be taught in GCSE English at some schools. This decision was felt by many commentators to be a reflection of a culture which, at worst, discriminates against alternative cultures and, at best, does not value the contribution of key figures who are of ethnic minority descent in the UK and elsewhere.

Question 20

Internal Factors: Institutionalized Racism - Banding and Streaming

Answer 20

• Ball: Black pupils were more likely to be placed in lower sets and entered for lower tiered exams. Less likely to be apart of gifted and talented. Chinese and Indian are more likely.
• Gilborn and Youdell (2007) point out that Black Caribbean children are over-represented in the lower sets and talk of how those in the lower sets get ‘written off’ because they have no hope of achieving A-Cs.
• ‘Educational Triage’: Focus on achieving five A*-C so less attention to those who can’t

Question 21

Internal Factors: Institutionalized Racism - Experiences of Racism

Answer 21

• Sewell: Stereotypes are accepted. In lower sets even when doing well. Peer pressure to conform reinforced by the media. No gifted and talented. Ignored when doing well, only noticed when doing badly.
• Crozier (2004) examined the experiences of racism among Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils and found that the experience of racism from both the school system led to a feeling of exclusion. Discovered that Pakistani and Bangladeshi experienced: anxieties about their safety; racist abuse was a lived experience of their schooling; careers advisors at school believed South Asian girls were bound by tradition and it was a waste of time advising them
• Mac a Ghaill: 25 black and Asain students. Aspects of social class and gender are linked to issues of racism and ethnicity. Student responses to racist schooling varied considerably and were to affect by their gender, class and schools they had formerly attended. Reject SFP as too simplistic. Had survival strategies resistance within accommodation whereby they would band together to help one another get good marks but resisted conforming to school rules in terms of dress, appearance and behaviour. Others tried to get friendly with teachers who they knew were supportive and attempted to avoid racist teachers in order to avoid conflict.

Question 22

Marxism Evaluation on Internal Factors

Answer 22

-Bowles and Gintis discussed the Hidden curriculum socialises obedient workers through punctuality and coping with boredom 
Bowles and Gintis argue that the idea of meritocracy put forward by functionalists is a myth used to justify inequalities in capitalist society. Pupils are encouraged to believe that everyone has an equal chance and that those who succeed do so on merit. In reality, they argue, pupils from the working class and ethnic minorities have a much lower chance of success because the system works against them. By fostering this belief, those who fail in education are encouraged to accept dead-end jobs and low pay because they feel they deserved to fail because of their own lack of ability or effort.
-Foster racist attitudes to keep the divide to avoid them uniting and taking over. And realising.

Question 23

Evaluation on Internal Factors

Answer 23

• Davidson and Alexis: Two leading black educationalists, are unequivocal about where the blame lies when it comes to black children’s attainment arguing that ‘It is the education system that is underperforming’
• If ethnocentric then why do Asians perform better
• Black History Month/RE, PSHE and subjects that encourage critical thinking
• Black applicants are half as likely to be accepted onto teacher training programmes compared to white applicants (around 20% compared to 40% success rate) the end result of this was that in 2013, in the whole of the UK only three black people were accepted as trainee-history teachers. Professor Heidi Mirza, herself of African Caribbean origin, says there is evidence of discrimination within our education system today.
• Lack of male role models in school and at home could contribute to black underachievement.
• Tony Sewell, for example, focuses on the higher rates of single-parent households and the influence of gangsta culture on young black boys, which is far more significant than anything which goes on in-school.

Question 24

Internal and External: Marketisation

Answer 24

• The introduction of market forces within education has contributed to the widening of inequalities in the education system with regard to ethnicity.
• Some ethnic minority groups are not able to access information about schools that is made available. For example, the school brochures may only be available in English.
• Ethnic groups who experience the lowest educational outcomes are often among the poorest groups in society. As such, they suffer from a lack of cultural capital that disadvantages them in terms of getting into schools through contacts and particular forms of knowledge that make students attractive to some schools
• Material deprivation in some ethnic groups means that parents are less able to arrange transport for their children to attend out-of-catchment schools. Poorer ethnic minority parents are also less likely to be able to move into more expensive catchment areas for better performing schools. Also, parents are less able to ‘play the system’ by using the league tables.

Question 25

Conclusion

Answer 25

• Acheivment is a complex. No casual factor but a multitude
• Both factors play a part in promoting success and failure
• The education system itself contributes to this
• The problem hasn’t disappeared in 2019, The Office of Students showed huge variations in how universities in England admit, retain and award degrees to their students based on their sex, economic background and ethnicity, with the figures showing especially wide gaps in attainment for black students compared with other ethnicities.
• Less well-off white boys in England are, on average, less likely to attend university than minority ethnic groups, according to research done by the Institute for Fiscal Studies published last year. May brought to attention in 2016