Sociology: Education - Ethnicity and Achievement Flashcards
outline general findings
Some minorities have lower levels of achievement than average whilst others have higher
Pupils eligible for FSM tend to do poorer than those who are not
what did gillborn and mirza find in relation to social class
Gillborn and mirza found that in all ethnicities, children from working class backgrounds did better than working class students However, black caribbean children underperformed regardless of social class
What other reasons are there to explain why some ethnic groups achieve better results than others in education?
Cultural differences e.g. stricter rules of success
Labelling - Labelled differently based on ethnicity
Language barriers
Pupil subcultures may form based on ethnicity
Different attitudes towards the education system
to what extent do Parental attitudes have a significant impact on a childs education.
research evidence from whom supports this?
Research from archer and francis found that chinese parents placed an exceptionally high value on education, therefore it is no surprise that they are more successful than any other ethnic group
Material Deprivation: Palmer (2012)
Palmer (2012) noted that:
- Almost half of all ethnic minority children live in low-income households as against a quarter of white children.
- Pupils from these groups are two to three times more likely to be eligible for free school meals.
- Ethnic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed compared with the majority white ethnic group.
what did basit find
Basit found a link between cultural factors and educational achievement in asian communities
She found that these communities tended to place a high value on education and as a blessing because it offered more opportunities than their country of origin
Therefore even low income families input considerable effort into providing their children support with studies
Criticisms of Material Deprivation as an explanation for ethnic differences in attainment
half of ethic minority children don’t live in low income households.
Gillborn and Mirza (2000): Differences exist between different ethnic groups from the same social classes e.g. white middle-class outperform black Caribbean middle-class.
2011: 5 A*-C GCSE’s, 86% of working class Chinese girls and 65% of middle-class white girls.
African caribbean students tend to do less well evidenced by a range of factors including:
More likely to be excluded from school than other ethnic groups
Likely to be placed in bottom sets
Much less likely to be seen as gifted/talented
Cultural Deprivation: Family Life
Black Caribbean communities have a high level of lone parenthood, and this may pose financial and practical problems for such parents in supporting their children’s education.
For black Caribbean girls, who display higher levels of achievement than black Caribbean boys, the fact that women are often the primary breadwinners in many black Caribbean families may provide positive role models for girls and encourage higher levels of achievement.
Asian family life has been characterised as consisting of close-knit classic extended families, which have high aspirations for their children and very supportive attitudes to education.
External Factors: Cultural Deprivation
Some sociologists blame educational failure of some ethnic groups on cultural deprivation.
Cultural deprivation refers to a lack of norms, values, skills and attitudes needed for educational success.
There are two main aspects for the explanation of ethnic differences in achievement: language and family life.
Cultural Deprivation: Family Life - Murray (1984)
Murray, a New Right thinker, argues that lone parenthood and a lack of positive male role models is not beneficial for boys in Black Caribbean lone parent families.
Cultural Deprivation: Family Life - Sewell (2009)
Argues that the problem for boys in black Caribbean matrifocal families is a lack of fatherly nurturing or ‘tough love’ which results in black boys finding it hard to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.
Tony Sewall attributes this to the fact that many African Caribbean boys are raised by single mothers. This means that many black boys lack a father figure to act as a role model and provide discipline while they are growing up, which makes this group more vulnerable to peer pressure.
Without a father figure role model, these boys may turn to street gangs of fatherless boys and create anti-school subcultures as many black boys are subject to powerful anti-educational peer group pressure.
what does strand argue against material and cultural factors in ethnic differences in achievemnt
Strand argues that even if we take into account material and cultural barriers institutional racism leads to lack of opportunity for young black students and holds them back.
Evaluation of the role of cultural factors in explaining differences in achievement by ethnicity
Parental aspiration seems to be especially important
Cultural barriers for AC boys are greater than for AC girls.
Strand argues that it is relative poverty of Bangladeshi
and Pakistanis that explains their underachievement at
GCSE rather than cultural factors
Cultural barriers can’t explain everything as all groups except Bangladeshi women are more likely to go to university than whites.
Criticisms of explanations for ethnic differences in educational achievement
Internal factors don’t consider external factors
Half of ethnic minority children don’t live in low income households.
Generalises that all teachers label students
Functionalists believe we have equality of opportunity and meritocracy.
Marxists believe social class is the most important factor.
White pupils don’t overachieve as suggested
Can’t generalise as some ethnic minorities overachieve.
Ignores the fact that white working class males significantly underachieve.
Blaming external factors blames the victims
Generalises teachers based on outdated studies
Equal opportunities policies exist
Existence of a multicultural curriculum
