Y12 M4

• Ingram: working class identity and educational success?

  • Studied 2 groups of working class catholic boys in a highly deprived Belfast neighbourhood
  • One group passed 11+ to grammar school, the other failed to local secondary
  • Working class boys at the grammar school felt pressure to 'fit in' and conform, tension between working class and middle class habitus
• Sarah Evans - Class identity and self-exclusion study?

  • Studied 21 working class girls from a south London comprehensive taking A-Levels
  • Found working class pupils reluctant to apply to Oxford (hidden barriers, not fitting in)
  • Found girls had strong attachments to their locality
• Bourdieu - class?

  • Many working class people think of Oxbridge as being 'not for the likes of us'
• Reay et All - class?

  • Self-exclusion from elite or distant universities narrows the options of many working-class pupils and limits their success
• Ethnic differences in achievement - cultural deprivation factors?

  • Intellectual and linguistic skills
  • Attitudes and values
  • Family structure and parental support
• What is the relationship between ethnicity and GCSE performance?

  • Pakistani, black carribbean and Roma Sinti are the only ethnic groups under the national achievement
  • Highest achievers are Chinese, followed by Indian
  • White students are average
• Intellectual and linguistic skills?

  Children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching families, leaving them poorly equipped for school because they have not been able to develop reasoning and problem solving skills
• Intellectual and linguistic skills - statistic?

  2010: pupils with English as a first language were only 3.2 points ahead of those without (55.2% to 52%) when gaining 5A*-C GCSEs
• Intellectual and linguistic skills - Bereiter and Englemann?

  Consider language spoken by low-income black american families as academically inadequate: ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas
• Intellectual and linguistic skills - Gillborn and Mirza?

  Indian pupils do well despite not having English as a first language
• Attitudes and values?

  • Lacking motivation is the major cause of failure for black children
  • Children in mainstream culture are socialised to ambition, competitiveness and a willingness to sacrifice for long term
  • Black children's culture socialises them into fatalistic 'live for today' attitudes that do not value education
• Family structure and support - Moynihan?

  • Many black families are female lone parent families, children are deprived of care with her forced to be the breadwinner
  • Lack male role model
• Family structure and support - Murray?

  • Argues a high rate of lone parenthood/lack of a male role model leads to the underachievement of minorities
• Critical race theory?

  Suggests racism is deeply ingrained into society through institutions, not simply the actions of individuals
• Ethnocentric curriculum?

  The idea that our curriculum is centred around 'Britishness'
• Institutional racism?

  Race-based discrimination that is built into the way institutions such as school and colleges operate
• How is the curriculum ethnocentric?

  • Teaching about British history
  • Learning European languages
  • Learning western music and sport
  • Having breaks for just Christian holidays
• Troyna and Williams - ethnocentric curriculum?

  The provision for non-western languages is meagre
• Miriam David - ethnocentric curriculum?

  Describes the National Curriculum as a 'specifically British' curriculum that largely ignores non-European language and music
• Ball - ethnocentric curriculum?

  Criticises National Curriculum for ignoring ethnic diversity and for promoting an attitude of 'little englandism'
• Ethnicity and marketisation?

  Schools may prioritise some ethnicities because:

  • already prejudiced reports from primary schools
  • racial bias at interviews for school places
  • lack of information and application forms in foreign languages
  • BEM parents may not be familiar with the system
• Gillborn - ethnicity and marketisation?

  Marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions
• Moore & Davenport - ethnicity and marketisation?

  • Researched how selection procedures led to segregation
  • Minority pupils fail to get into better schools because of discrimination
  • Primary school reports were used to screen out pupils with language difficulties
  • Application was difficult to understand
• Commission for Racial Inequality findings?

  Racism in schools admissions meant ethnic minority children are more likely to end up in unpopular schools because:

  • reports from primary schools that stereotype minority pupils
  • racist bias in interviews for school places
  • lack of information and application forms in minority languages
  • ethnic minority parents are often unaware of how the waiting list system works and the importance of deadlines
• Ethnicity internal factors - Mirza?

  Studied ambitious black girls who didn't achieve aims. Found three types of teachers:

  • colour blind - believed all students were equal but allowed racism unchallenged
  • Liberal chauvinists - believed black pupils are culturally deprived and have low expectations for them
  • Overt racists - believed black pupils are inferior and actively discriminate
• Ethnicity internal factors - Sewell?

  Studied Black boys' strategies to cope with racism, found 4 categories:

  • Rebels - small but influential group who openly halted school, often excluded
  • Conformists - largest group who tried to fit in / avoid being stereotyped
  • Retreatists - smallest group, isolated from school and subcultures, despised by rebels
  • Innovators - second largest group, anti-school but pro education
• Ethnicity internal factors - Fuller?

  Studied high achieving Black girls in London comprehensive:

  • Challenged heir labels by striving for educational achievement
  • Unlike other high achievers, they didn't seek teacher approval
• Ethnicity internal factors - Wright?

  Brings awareness of how Asian pupils can be negatively affected by labelling

  • Primary school study found teachers often assumed a poor grasp of English leading them to being talked to simplistically / left out of class discussions
  • Teachers expressed disapproval of their customs and got annoyed when they mispronounced their names
• The gender gap in education - external factors?

  • The impact of feminism
  • Changes in the family
  • Changes in women's employment
• Differences in gender achievement - girls motivations?

  • Mothers are more likely to read to their children, making it seem like a feminine activity
  • Girls have 'bedroom culture' staying in and talking with friends, whereas boys are more likely to play computer games or football
• What is the gender gap in education?

  59% of boys achieve A*-C in English GCSE compared to 73% of girls
• Decline of traditional mens jobs?

  1980s saw a decline in the manufactoring industry. This included mining, ship building, steelwork etc which have been relocated to countries like China
• Sewell - feminisation of education?

  • Schools do not nurture masculine traits but instead celebrate qualities more associated with girls
  • Suggests boys tend to have traits such as competitiveness, risk taking and leadership, whereas girls are more methodical and attentive
• DFES - teachers?

  16% of primary school teachers are male
• YouGov - teachers?

  Majority of boys felt they behaved better with a male teacher and 42% said they worked harder
• Francis - teachers?

  most 7-8 year olds feel teachers gender doesn't matter and some feel male teachers treat boys more harshly
• Epstein - social pressures?

  Found working class boys were labelled as 'sissies' if they appeared to be 'swots'
• Francis - gender in education, social pressures?

  Laddish culture becoming more widespread as girls move into more masculine careers
• Social pressures?

  • Working-class culture equated with doing tough manual work
  • Schoolwork therefore viewed like non-manual work as effeminate and inferior
• Oakley - subject choice?

  Gender role socialisation, the learning of expected behaviour for males and females in society