Institutional Racism Flashcards
overview
Troyna and Williams argue that it is not just individual racism that is the problem but also institutional racism. This refers to unconscious discrimination as part of how the school operates. Critical race theorists see racism, as an ingrained feature of society, this means that it involves not just the intentional actions of racist individuals but also institutional racism. Roithmayr argues that institutional racism is a locked-in inequality. Racism is so inbuilt in that there no longer needs to be any conscious intent to be racist. Gillborn applied CRT to education - he sees ethnic inequality as ‘so deep rooted and so large that is a practically inevitable feature of the education system’
features of institutional racism
Marketisation and Segregation
The Ethnocentric curriculum
Assessment
Access to Opportunities
New IQISM
sociologist behind marketisation and segregation
Gillborn
Moore and Davenport
marketisation and segregation
Gillborn argues that because marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions. This is supported by Moore and Davenport’s research, they found that minority pupils fail to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination. For example, they found that primary school reports were used to screen out pupils with language difficulties, while the application process was difficult for non-English speaking parents to understand, these procedures favoured white pupils and disadvantaged those from minority ethnic groups which leads to ethnic segregation. The Commission for Racial Equality identified similar biases in school admission procedures that make EM pupils end up in unpopular schools for example Lack of information available in minority language, racist bias in enrolment interviews, minority parents are often unaware of enrolment procedure
sociologists behind ethnocentric curriculum
David
Coard
the ethnocentric curriculum
The term ethnocentric describes an attitude or policy that gives priority to the culture and viewpoint of one particular ethnic group while disregarding others. The ethnocentric curriculum is a prime example of institutional racism because it builds a racial bias into the everyday workings of schools and colleges. David argues that the National Curriculum is ‘specifically British, focuses on white culture and largely ignores non-European languages and culture’. Coad argues that the ethnocentric curriculum may produce underachievement. For example, in history the British may be presented as bringing civilisation to the people they colonised, this image of black people as inferior under mines black children’s self esteem and leads to their failure
sociologist behind assessment
Gillborn
assessment
Gillborn argues that assessments are rigged to validate the superiority of the dominant culture. If black children succeed as a group, the rules will be changed to make them fail. For example, in the past primary schools used baseline assessments which tested pupils when they started compulsory schooling. However, these were replaced in 2003 by the foundation stage profile. This resulted in black students doing worse than white children. For example, in one local authority, where Black Children in 2000 had been the highest achievers, on entry to school (20% above the average) by 2003 the new FSP had black children ranked lower than white children in all developmental areas. Gillborn argues that this is due to institutional racism - The FSP is based entirely on teachers judgments, whereas baseline assessments often used written tests as well.
sociologist behind access to opportunities
Tikly
Gillborn
Access to opportunities
The gifted and talented programme was created with the aim of meeting the needs of more able pupils in inner-city schools while this may seem to benefit bright pupils from minority ethnic groups. Gillborn points out that official stats show white pupils are over twice as likely as black Caribbean pupils to be identified as gifted and talented and five times more likely than Black African pupils. Tinkly found that in 30 schools the aiming high initiative to raise black Caribbean pupils’ achievements, black pupils were nevertheless more likely than white pupils to be entered in lower tier GCSE. Strand argues that this reflects teachers’ expectations leading to SFP
sociologist behind New IQISM
Gillborn
New IQISM
Access to opportunities depends heavily on teachers’ assessments of pupils’ abilities. This works against black pupils because Gillborn argues that teachers place students in sets not only on the basis of prior attainment but also on perceptions of their attitude and because teachers hold racialised expectations that black pupils would pose problems. Gillborn calls this the new iqism, he argues that teachers make false assumptions about pupils’ abilities.
