Topic 3: ethnic differences in achievement

• External factors: cultural deprivation-intellectual and linguistic skills


  Lack of intellectual and linguistic skills is a major cause of underachievement for many minority children

  • Kids from low income, black families, lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences
  • This leaves them poor equipped for school because they have not been able to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills
  • Bereiter and engleman see language spoken by BAME As inadequate for educational success, non-standard English may be penalised as most teachers are white and mc
• (External factors) cultural deprivation- attitudes and values

  Cultural dep the lack of motivation as a major cause of the failure of many black children

  • Most children are socialised into the mainstream culture, which instill ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve long-term goals
  • Equip them for educational success
  • However, theorist argues some children are socialised into a subculture that is fatalistic attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success
• (External factors) cultural deprivation- family structure and parental support

  Theories argue this failure to socialise children adequately is the result of a dysfunctional family structure

  • Moynihan because black families are headed by alone mother, their kids are deprived of adequate care as she has to struggle financially due to absence of male breadwinner
  • Lack of father means boys have no role model of male achievement
• (external factors) cultural deprivation- family structure and parental support

  New right

  • murray- Augies high rate of loan parenthood and lack of positive male role model leads to under achievement
  • scruton- sees low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting from a failure to embrace mainstream British culture
• (external factors) cultural deprivation- family structure and parental support


  pryce Argues Asians are higher achievers cus their culture is more resistant racism giving them a sense of self-worth, black Caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism so black peoples have low self-esteem and underachieve

  • He argues the difference is the result of the different impact of colonialism on the two groups he argues the experience of slavery was culturally devastating for black people
• (external factors) cultural deprivation- family structure and parental support

  Pryce

  • Being transported and sold into slavery meant they lost their language, religion and entire entire fam system
  • By contrast Asian family structure, languages and religions were not destroyed by colonial rule
• (external factors) cultural deprivation- fathers, gangs and culture

  Sewell- argue it’s not just the absence of fathers as role models that leaves black boys to underachieve, he sees the problem as a lack of fatherly nurturing or tough love. This results in Blackboys finding it hard to overcome emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.

  • In the absence of the restraining influence of a nurturing father, street gangs of fatherless boys or a black boys perverse loyalty and love presenting the boys with a mete inspired role of anti-school black masculinity
• (external factors) cultural deprivation- fathers, gangs and culture


  arnot describes The media inspired role model as the ultra tough ghetto superstar an image constantly reinforced by the media

  • most black boys are thus subject to powerful anti-educational peer group pressure most of the academically successful boys that sewell interview felt that the greatest buried success was pressure from other boys
  • Speaking in standard English and doing well at school were often viewed with suspicion by their peers seen as selling out to the white establishment
• (external factors) cultural deprivation- fathers, gangs and culture

  sewell , the black students do worse than their Asian counterparts because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes to education

  • One group is being nurtured by MTV. The other is clocking up the educational hours
  • He argued black children needs to have greater expectations placed on them to raise their aspirations
  • Critical race theorist gillborn argues it’s not peer pressure but institutional racism within the education system itself that produces the failure of black boys
• (external factors) cultural deprivation- Asian families

  In sewells view Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have an Asian work ethic and place a high value on education

  • Lupton argues that adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools
  • She found respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from children which had a knock on effect in school
• (External) cultural deprivation- white wc families

  White wc families often underachieve and have low aspirations e.g. a study of 16,000 pupils by mcCulloch found the ethnic minority pupils are more likely to aspire to go to uni than white British pupils
• (external) cultural deprivation- white working class families

  This low level of aspiration and achievement may be the result of a lack of parental support eg lupton studied four mainly wc school (two predominantly white, one serving a largely Pakistani community and the fourth drawing pupils from an ethnically mixed community)

  • She found teachers reported poor levels of behaviour and discipline in the white working class schools despite the fact they had fewer children on fsm
• (external) cultural deprivation- compensatory education


  The main policy that’s been adopted to tackle cultural deprivation is compensatory education

  • E.g. operation Headstart in the USA was to compensate kids for the cultural deficit they are said to suffer because of deprived backgrounds
• (external) cultural deprivation- criticisms

  Driver- fails to recognise positive effects of ethnicity and achievement e.g. single mother families, daughter may work hard to be like their independent mothers

  • keddie- cultural deprivation is victim blaming she argues ethnic minority children are culturally different not culturally deprived, they underachieve because of school are ethnocentric
• (external) cultural deprivation- criticisms

  Critics oppose compensatory education as they see it as an attempt to impose the dominant white culture on children who already have coherent culture of their own and proposed to main alternatives-

  • Multicultural education, a policy that recognises values minority cultures and includes them in the curriculum
  • Anti-racist education- policy that challenges, prejudice and discrimination that exists in schools and wider society
• (external) material deprivation and class

  Material deprivation sees educational failure as resulting from factors such as substandard housing and low income

  • Indian and white families have higher social class position than Bangladeshi, which is reflected in education and could be due to access to resources
  • Almost half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earned under £7 an hour compared with only a 1/4 of white British workers
  • Ethnic minority household are around three times as likely to be homeles
• (external) material deprivation and class

  Reasons why ethnic minorities are at a greater risk of material deprivation

  • Live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wage rates
  • Lack of language skills and foreign qualifications aren’t recognised by UK employers. Members of establish minority groups are fluent in English.
  • Asylum seekers may not be allowed to work
  • Racial discrimination in the labour market and housing market
• (external) material deprivation and class

  Inequalities in ethnic minorities being at a greater risk of material deprivation is reflected in the proportion of children from different ethnic groups who are eligible for free school meals

  • Material deprivation explanation argues that such class differences explain why Pakistani pupils tend to do worse than Indian and white pupils
  • Indian pupils who’s achievements are above average are likely to come from better off backgrounds e.g. they are the ethnic group most likely to attend private school 2x the rate of whites 5x the race of black people
• (external) material deprivation and class- does class override ethnicity

  If we fail to take the different class positions of different ethnic groups into account when comparing their educational achievements, there’s a danger we may overestimate the effect of cultural deprivation and underestimate the effect of poverty and material deprivation

  • However, even Indian and Chinese pupils who are materially deprived still do better than most suggesting that material deprivation and social class factors don’t completely override the influence of ethnicity
• (external) racism in wider society


  Sociologist argue poverty itself is the product of racism

  • rex- Racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and worsen the poverty faced by ethnic minorities e.g. in housing discrimination means minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard housing than white people
  • This happens in employment wood sent three closely matched job applications to almost 1000 job vacancies these came from fake applicants using names associated with different ethnic groups wood found that only one in 16 ethnic minority applications were offered an interview
• External- racism in wider society

  Racism in employment, companies hiring white people people over others mean ethnic minorities have to go for lower paid and lower skilled jobs stopping them from having money to spend on their kids education- wood
• (Internal) labelling and teacher racism

  Black peoples are often seen as aggressive and Asian peoples are seen as passive. This can be internalised and affect the way the child behaves and views themselves.
• (internal) labelling and teacher racism- black pupils, and discipline

  Gillbourn and youdell argue teachers are quick to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour which is internalised.

  • it’s due to racialised expectations- teachers expected black peoples to present more discipline problems and misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening or as challenging to authority
  • When teachers acted on this perception. Peoples responded negatively and further conflict resulted.
  • Peoples felt teachers pick on them which came from teacher races and viewing normal behaviour as bad
• (internal) labelling and teacher racism-black pupils, and discipline


  This makes explain the higher level of exclusions from school of black boys bourne schools tend to see black boys as a threat and label them negatively leading to exclusion which affects achievement

  • Osler Black peoples appear more likely to suffer from unrecorded unofficial exclusions and from internal exclusions centre of class and are more likely to be placed in pupil referral units that exclude them from access to mainstream curriculum
• (Internal) labelling and teacher racism- peoples and streaming

  Gillbourne and youdell found in A-C economy teaches focus on those students they believe are most likely to achieve grade C the process they call educational triage

  • Negative stereotypes about black pupils ability that some teachers hold mean they are likely to be placed in lower streams
  • Foster found black peoples were placed in Lett due to their perceived behaviour rather than their knowledge which results in sfp
• (internal) labelling and teacher racism- Asian pupils


  wrights study of a multi ethnic primary school shows the Asian peoples can also be the victim of teacher labelling

  • She found teachers held ethnocentric views and saw British culture and standard English as superior
  • This affected how they related to Asian pupils, e.g. they assume they would have a poor grass with English and left them out of discussions
  • Asian pupils felt isolated if teachers showed disapproval of their pronunciation or mispronounced their names
  • Teachers saw them as a problem they could ignore
• (internal) pupils identities


  Teachers often define peoples as having a stereotypical ethnic identity. Archer are you teachers way of saying something defines ethnic minority Pupils identities as lacking the favoured identity of the ideal pupil. She identifies three different people identities.

  • The ideal pupil- white, mc, achieves the right way, normal sexuality
  • Pathologised pupil identity- Asian, deserving poor, asexual, plodding conformist, overachiever
  • Demonised pupil identity- black/white wc , hyper sexualised, unintelligent, culturally deprived
• Internal- Pupil identities

  Archer argues, ethnic minority pupils are likely to be seen as either demonised or pathologised pupils

  • E.g. from studies with teachers and students she shows how black students are demonised as loud, challenging, excessively sexual and with an aspirational home cultures
  • In a further study, archer found that teachers stereotyped Asian girls as quiet passive or docile shain notes when Asian girls challenged this stereotype by misbehaving they are dealt with more severely than other groups
• (internal) pupils identities- Chinese pupils

  Archer argues that even those minority peoples who perform successfully can be pathologised e.g. Chinese students with simultaneously praised and viewed negatively by the teachers who saw them as successful but achieving in the wrong way through hard work, passive conformism rather than natural individual ability

  • This meant they could never leg occupy the identity of the ideal pupil
  • Archer and Francis argued the teachers view of them was a negative positive stereotype
• (internal) pupils identity- Chinese pupils

  teachers Stereotyped Chinese families as tight and close and use this to explain the girls supposed passivity

  • Teachers also tending to wrongly stereotype their Chinese students as middle class
  • The result of the distinctions the archer identifies is that even the success of ethnic minority pupils will only be seen to be the natural preserve of the privileged white, middle-class ideal pupil
• (internal) people responses and subcultures

  pupils respond to negative labelling and teacher racism in a variety of ways e.g. they may respond by becoming disruptive or withdrawn

  • Alternatively peoples may refuse to accept the label and even decide to prove it wrong by working extra hard
  • Negative labels don’t automatically turn into sfp
• (Internal) pupil responses and subcultures- fuller and Mac and Ghaill rejecting negitive labels 


  example of pupils responding by rejecting negivtive labels is fullers study of a group of black girls at a London comprehensive

  • the girls were untypical as they were high achievers in a school where most black girls were placed in low streams
• (internal) people responses and subcultures- fuller, rejecting negative labels


  instead of internalising negative stereotypes they challenge their anger into educational success by not seeking approval of teachers who are racist, maintaining relationships with lowest streams, only conformed the schools work not rules, relied on own efforts to pass

  • argued the girls behaviour was a way of coping with contradicting demands of white middle-class education system while avoiding the ridicule of black boys and maintaining relationships with black girls in lower streams
• (internal) Mac an Ghaill rejecting negative labels

  Mac an Ghaill’s study of black and Asian A-level students at a six form college reach similar conclusions

  • Students who believed teachers had labelled them negatively didn’t necessarily accept the label
  • How they responded depended on factors such as their ethnic group and gender and the nature of their former schools
  • Some girls felt that their experience of having attended and all girls school gave them a greater academic commitment that helped them overcome negative labels
• (internal) people responses and subcultures- Mirza failed strategies for avoiding racism


  Mirza Studied ambitious black girls who faced teacher racism, she found that racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the kind of advice they gave them about career options

  • Most teachers held racist attitudes, Mirza identifies three main types of teacher racism
  • The colour blind, believe all pupils are equal but don’t challenge racism
  • The liberal chauvinist, black peoples are culturally deprived and have low expectations of them
• (internal) people responses and subcultures- Mirza failed strategies for avoiding racism


  The final form of teacher racism is

  • The overt racists, teachers who believe black pupils are inferior and discriminate them
  • Most of the girls time at school we spent trying to avoid the effect of teachers negative attitudes
  • The strategies they employed to do this included being selective about which staff to ask for help, getting on with their own work in lessons without taking part and choosing certain options to avoid certain teachers with racist attitudes
• (internal) pupils responses and subculture- sewell the variety of responses


  Sewell Focuses on the absence of fathers and the influence of peer groups in the under achievement of black boys however he notes that their responses to schooling including racist stereotyping teachers can affect their achievement
• (internal) pupil identity and subcultures- sewell the variety of boys responses


  He identifies four responses

  • The rebels-small group, rejected goals and rules, anti-authority, black macho lad, believed in their own superiority based on the idea that black masculinity, they were contemptuous of white boys who they saw as a feminist and the missive of conformist black boys
  • The conformist-large group, except goals/rules, keen succeeded and want to avoid stereotypes
  • The retreatists- tiny minority of isolated individuals, disconnected from school and black subcultures and despised by rebels
• (internal) pupil responses and subculture- Sewell the variety of boys responses

  The final response is

  • The innovators- 2nd largest group, pro education but ant school, value success but don’t seek approval of teachers, only conform to schoolwork, distance themselves from conformist and allowed them to maintain credibility with rebels
  • sewell shows only a small minority fit the stereotype of black macho lad. But teachers tend to see all black boys in this way which contributes to under achievement of many boys.
• (internal) pupon responses and subcultures- evaluation of labelling and pupil responses

  Rather than blaming home background as cultural deprivation theory does, labelling theory shows how teacher stereotypes can be a cause of failure

  • However, there’s a danger of seeing these stereotypes as simply the product of an individual teachers prejudice rather than of racism in the way that the whole education system operates
  • Also a dangerous assuming that once labelled pupils will be victim to sfp