Ethnicity and educational attainment Flashcards
Racism in schools
-The hidden curriculum affects the experience of education for ethnic minority groups in a range of ways. Racism plays some part in the black experience of schooling
there are two types of racism in schools ; Overt (open) , Cultural racism
Overt (open) Racism
-Minority ethnic groups may encounter abuse and harassment from their peers in schools. In some countries such as the United Kingdom this is related to negative attitudes among parts of the majority population towards immigrants, who are often blamed for social problems.
- Many minority ethnic group students affected by this negative labelling are however not themselves immigrants. Racism can shape peer-group interaction and minority students’ experiences of education. Mirza sees the development of Supplementary (Saturday) Schools as evidence of a general lack of satisfaction, among black parents and children, with ‘white institutions’ and teachers that seem often to fail them.
Cultural racism
Cultural racism (ethnocentrism) is a more subtle form expressed in areas such as:
-An ethnocentric curriculum that involves teaching practices and expectations based on cultural norms, histories and general cultural references unfamiliar to many ethnic-minority students.
-Role models: Blair et al. (2003) point to a lack of role models within schools for ethnic-minority students.
- Ross (2001) estimated that in the United Kingdom only 5% of teachers are drawn from ethnic minorities, while around 15% of UK school students have an ethnic-minority background.
The Runnymede Trust (1998)
The Runnymede Trust (1998) claimed that a range of hidden processes occur within schools that deny equal opportunities and negatively affect the educational performance of ethnic-minority students. These processes include high levels of control and criticism from teachers, as well as stereotypes of cultural differences, communities and speech that reveal negative and patronising attitudes.
Reasons why black African Caribbean boys in the uk academic performance is lower than most groups
-Masculinity being defined in terms of rebellion against ‘white’ schooling and teachers. The over- representation of Black Caribbean boys in low sets and bands is the result of unacceptable behaviour rather than any particular lack of academic ability.
-Discipline: Hinsliff (2002) has argued that teachers do not always challenge disruptive behaviour, leading to a serious situation which results in Black boys being excluded from school. Black Caribbean boys are more frequently excluded than any other ethnic group.
-Family structure: children from single-parent families generally have the worst educational experiences across all ethnic groups. Black Caribbean families have the highest rates of single parenthood and the lowest rates of educational achievement. Of the broad ethnic groups, the Black ethnic group has the highest proportion of lone parent households, at 13%. (Statistics available at Families and households, accessed 15 January 2019.)
How does labelling and stereotyping influence ethnic experiences of education?
-The various forms of labelling and stereotyping do seem to influence ethnic experiences of education.
-Figueroa (1991) suggested that teachers frequently limit ethnic-minority opportunities through the use of culturally biased forms of assessment, such as how students are expected to speak and write, and by committing students to lower bands and sets on the basis of teacher assessment.
-Teachers also have lower opinions of the abilities of some ethnic-minority groups, which results in a self-fulfilling prophecy or vicious circle of underachievement. The low expectations of teachers transmits to students, who come to see themselves as having little talent or ability.
-These students stop trying to achieve because they believe there is no point if their teachers have already given up on them. The resulting failure to achieve simply confirms the initial teacher assessment.
Types of teacher Tony Sewell (1997) - study of a boys school 11-16 yr olds in britain
Types of teacher Tony Sewell (1997), a Black Caribbean researcher, studied a boys’ 11-16 school in Britain and found that Black Caribbean boys were singled out for punishment. For example, they made up 32 per cent of the student population but comprised 85 per cent of those excluded from school.
Sewell divided the teachers into three groups in terms of their relationships with Black Caribbean students:
Sewell divided the teachers into three groups in terms of their relationships with Black Caribbean students:
- Supportive teachers did their best to support and guide students and usually established good relationships (about 10 per cent of staff).
-2. Irritated teachers could be supportive but felt firmer discipline was needed. They blamed the boys’ street culture for many of the school’s problems (about 60 per cent of staff).
-3. Antagonistic teachers were either openly racist or objected to black caribbean street culture eg hairstyles. Their relationships were strained and sometimes hostile (30% of staff)
teachers views of black caribbean boys
-Relationships with teachers were often strained and difficult.
-According to Sewell, teachers were sometimes frightened by the physical size and aggression of some of the more assertive students. There was a tendency to lump all Black Caribbean boys together.
- Those who conformed to the school’s values and those who rebelled against them were often judged and treated in terms of the same negative stereotypes.
How are schools institutionally racist according to Gillborn (2002)
-However, Gillborn (2002) argues that schools are Institutionally racist, especially terms of curriculum developments ‘based on approaches known to disadvantage black pupils’:
- selection by setting - black students are routinely assigned to the lowest sets
- schemes for ‘gifted and talented’ students where white students are over-represented
- vocational schemes for ‘non-academic’ students where black students are over-represented.
-Gillborn claims that teachers ‘generally underrate the abilities of black youngsters’ based on dated racial stereotypes about ability, intelligence and effort (young black males characterised as ‘lazy’, for example). This leads to them being assigned to low-ability groups, a restricted curriculum and entry for lower-level exams.
Gillborn and Youdell (2000,2001)
-Gillborn and Youdell (2000,2001) argue that with the increasing concern with league tables and marketisation, some students are sacrificed to the more important goal of raising attainment in the league table statistics. The students ‘sacrificed’ tended to be working class and Black Caribbean heritage. These students were seen as ‘less able’ and placed in lower sets.
-students in higher sets had the most experienced teachers and were given more teacher time, support and effort. students in lower sets were systematically neglected/
Cultural explanations for links between ethnicity and educational attainment
ideas of cultural advantage and disadvantage used to explain differences in achievement within minority ethnic groups.
The relative failure of black UK working class boys in the uk has been related to:
-The relative failure of Black Caribbean working-class boys in the UK, for example, has been related to:
-the high number of female-headed single-parent families meaning a lack of male role models for male children
- the development of ‘anti-education’ subcultures and the
effects of large-scale unemployment. (Ball et al. (2012) report that with black unemployment currently running at 50% in the UK, there is little chance of boys getting paid work as adults so they see little point to educational qualifications.)
Sewell (2010) Black children’s education performance is weakened by:
Sewell (2010) summarises this general argument when he suggests that black children’s educational performance is weakened by:
-poor parenting
-‘anti-school’ peer-group pressure
-a lack of ability to take responsibility for their own ‘anti-school’ behaviour.
Chua (2011) & Uk asian minorities achieving more highly
-Students from the UK’s Asian minorities achieve more highly .
-This is explained in terms of cultural and family values of educational success and extended family structures that support children throughout their schooling.
-Chua (2011) also suggests that the higher achievements of Chinese students can be partly explained by ‘tiger mothers’, who push their children constantly towards educational success.
Language (a cultural explanation of lower attainment by minority ethnic groups)
-Another cultural explanation of lower attainment by minority ethnic groups relates to language.
-As minority ethnic groups are more likely to be working class, Bernstein’s arguments about language code, and in particular the need to use the elaborated code for school work, apply. In the USA, the use of a dialect (Black English Vernacular) by African-American students when the school requires the elaborated code may be a factor.
-Labov’s long-term participant observation with African-American children showed that their dialect was different but equal.
-They had the same basic vocabulary, possessed the same ability for conceptual learning, and used the same logic as anyone else who learns to speak and understand English.
-Yet the value of the way they spoke was not recognised by the school system, and led to labelling and underachievement.
Steve Strand (2015) parental factors
-Steve Strand (2015) used a longitudinal study of 15 000 students in England to analyse the differences in attainment between various ethnic groups.
-However, he found that class, ethnicity and gender were not sufficient to explain differences in attainment.
-Other factors included parental attitudes and behaviour, which were “significantly associated with attainment’. Parents’
expectations that students would continue their education after age 16 were particularly important, as were providing a computer for their children and a private tutor.
-In general, ethnic minority parents were more likely than White British parents to have positive attitudes and behavior towards education.
saunders (1990 - New Right) view on education failure relating to ethnic minorities
-New Right arguments suggest that it is the out-of-proportion representation of ethnic minorities in the underclass that explains educational failure. They believe that some black ethnic minorities disadvantage themselves through dysfunctional family structures.
-Saunders (1990) argues that underclass life, both black and white, is characterised by dependency cultures involving a passive acceptance of low status. This creates a cycle of deprivation that carries from parents to children in the form of low educational and work expectations.
Ethnicity and subcultures
Sewell (2000) examined how black youth in the UK adapted to the experience of schooling in terms of four main responses:
-Passive accepters were those African-Caribbean boys who unconsciously accepted the white cultural values of the school. They were generally pro-school and accepted the conventional wisdom that it was ‘black kids’ who gave the school a bad name.
-Active acceptors ‘acted white’ in the school. Sewell found this to be the most common pro-school strategic response.
-Passive resistors developed original ways of maintaining a delicate balancing act between satisfying the demands of their peer-group through minor acts of deviance, while simultaneously avoiding direct and open confrontation with teachers. This type was particularly characteristic of black girls and was neither pro- nor anti-school.
-Active resistors used what they saw as the racist assumptions of the school to rebel against their teachers.
Shain (2003) examined the subcultural responses of Asian girls in UK schools:
The Gang were generally anti-school. They adopted an ‘Us and Them’ approach that involved a positive claim of Asian identity. They generally opposed the dominant culture of the school, which they saw as white and racist.
-The Survivors were pro-education and pro-school. They were generally seen as ‘ideal pupils’, who worked hard to achieve success, avoided confrontation and were positively labelled by teachers as ‘nice girls’ and ‘good workers’. This group played up to the stereotype of Asian girls as shy and timid, while being actively engaged in a strategy of self-advancement through education.
-The Rebels were generally pro-school and their rebellion was against their own cultural background. They adopted Western modes of dress and distanced themselves from other Asian girl groups. Their survival strategy was one of academic success, and they connected school with positive experiences that they did not find in their home life.
-Faith girls developed their identities around religion rather than ethnicity. They were pro-education in the sense of promoting positive relations with staff and students and pursuing academic success. They were, however, aware of racism in the school as a major source of oppression and this made some of them anti- school.
Sewell (1997) - Ethnicity
-Sewell (1997) identified four main groups of Black students in the school he studied which reflect different versions of black masculinity:
-Conformists, the largest group, made up 41 per cent of the sample. They saw education as the route to success and conformed to the norms and values of the school.
-Innovators (35 per cent) also saw education as important but rejected the process of schooling and the demands they saw it as making on their identity and behaviour. Although anti-school, they attempted to keep out of trouble.
relationship between ethnicity, social class and gender
-There is necessarily an interplay between them and each category is affected by the others. There are, however, important arguments about their relative significance - that is, whether we should see them in combination or as separate categories.
-Combination approaches are particularly associated with Marxist perspectives. They argue that class is the primary source of educational disadvantage, with gender and ethnicity as secondary sources that appear within classes
Evaluation of Sewell
-Critics argue that Sewell blames Black Caribbean males for their underachievement. They suggest that, in the process, Sewell has diverted attention from what they regard as the real cause of Black underachievement - a racist society, a racist education system and economic deprivation.
-Supporters of Sewell reject this criticism. They argue that he is attempting to describe and explain rather than to allocate blame.
-In addition, his research rejects the stereotype of the young aggressive Black male personified by the Rebels by showing that they formed only a relatively small minority (18 per cent)
of the Black Caribbean boys in the school he studied.
