Ethnicity and Education

• Internal factors for ethnic differences in educational achievement


  - Teacher labelling/racism (institutional)

  - Ethnocentrism in the curriculum
• External factors for ethnic differences in educational achievement


  - Material/cultural deprivation

  - Family structure
• Murray - Lack of a male role model


  African Caribbean boys may turn on an anti-educational macho 'gang culture'. Murray argues that high rates of lone parents and lack of positive male role models leads to the underachievement of some minority pupils - part of the 'underclass
• Bereiter and Engelmann (1996) - Intellectual and language skills


  The language of poorer black families is disjoined so children are unable to express abstract ideas, a major barrier to success. They fail to develop reasoning and problem solving skills.
• Pryce - Impact of slavery


  Black Caribbean culture is less resistant to racism because of the experience of slavery. As a result, black pupils have low self esteem and underachieve.

  - generational trauma

  - self-fulfilling prophecy
• Archer and Francis (2007) - Chinese pupils


  - Chinese parents from all social classes placed a very high value on education, as did their children

  - University was seen as a 'must' - all 80 pupils interviewed wanted to go

  - Education was a 'family project' as family status in local communities was related to educational achievement
• Basit (2013) - Asian families


  - Three generations of Asian families saw education as important and a 'blessing' because it offered children more opportunities than available in their native countries

  - The most deprived families managed to provide resources needed for successful studying e.g. desks, internet etc.

  - Mostly M/C grandparents whose children landed M/C jobs
• Modood - Asian 'reservoir'


  - Jobs of minority Asian groups after migrating tend to be lower status compared to previous jobs, meaning they have a 'reservoir' of cultural capital

  - Migrants have the desire to improve their situations, so encourage their children to study and get good grades in order to get good jobs
• Sewell - Matrifocal families


  - High number of matrifocal families means many African Caribbean boys lack a father who can provide 'tough love' - nurtured support as well as respectful discipline

  - These boys bring challenging behaviour to school and clash with teachers who they don't see as relatable role models

  - Gang culture also reinforces anti-education peer pressure
• AO3: Matrifocal families


  Deterministic

  - Implies you will certainly become a criminal if you lack a father

  
  

  Reductionist

  - Limited explanation to one thing

  
  

  Further criticism

  - Blames black mothers and African Caribbeans for their underachievement

  - Doesn't provide solutions for racism and other inadequacies in school
• Wanless Report (1997)


  - Black pupils are more likely to be excluded from school

  - 1.5x more likely to be identified with behavioural special needs

  - Disproportionately put in bottom sets despite ability

  - Less likely to be identified as gifted
• Gillborn and Youdell - Rationing Education study


  Researched two London secondary schools and found that black pupils were more likely to be placed in lower sets and lower-tier exams, due to being seen as disruptive and lacking parental support

  
  

  'Clough School' - 4% of black students achieved C+ in core subjects compared to 18% of white students

  
  

  'Taylor School' - 37% white students achieved C+ in core subjects, no black students achieved this
• AO3: Rationing Education


  - Small sample (two schools)

  - 0% achievement is very rare

  - The schools may generally just have more white people than black people
• Gillborn and Mirza - Black pupils from primary to GCSE


  In one local authority black children were the highest achievers on entry to primary school (20% higher than average) but by GCSEs they had the worst results of any ethnic group (20% behind)
• Gillborn and Youdell - Effect of marketisation on Black pupils


  Schools, having become more selective, tend to accept M/C students and those expected to get good grades. With black students being labelled negatively, they are ignored in favour of white and 'model minority' students (Indian and Chinese).
• Jasper - White teachers


  The expectations white (female) teachers have of black boys' behaviour dictates how they teach them
• O'Donnell - Reactions of different ethnic groups


  - Black males react angrily to negative labels and the white-dominated education system, subsequently rejecting them

  - Indians, whilst also being angry, don't reject the education system, explaining why they perform better
• AO3: Gillborn and Youdell - Racialised expectations (labelling)


  - Difficult to prove teachers have racialised expectations - G&Y may have interpreted such behaviour in their observations

  - Sewell argues black boys are treated differently because they behave differently

  - It could also be argued that material factors play a bigger part
• Ethnocentrism in the curriculum (internal)


  The idea that both the formal and hidden curriculum is biased towards a particular culture - usually white, European culture - so that we see the world around us and explain it from one point of view e.g. in history, art, English
• Coard (1971) - Disengagement


  An ethnocentric curriculum can undermine the self esteem of black pupils and lead to disengagement. This may then lead to poorer effort outside of the classroom, lower level of work in the classroom, with an overall effect of underachievement.
• Troyna & Williams - Languages


  Lack of Asian languages being taught in comparison to European languages
• David (1993) - Ethnocentric curriculum


  Describes the National Curriculum as a 'specifically British' curriculum that largely ignores non-European languages, literature and music
• Mirza - Young Female and Black


  - Found that black girls outperformed black boys and white pupils

  - Argues that their achievements are underestimated

  - Critical of the labelling theory, arguing that negative labelling had little effect on black girls' self esteem

  - All black girls in her study were self-confident and had high expectations

  - 'Myth of underachievement
• Sewell: Four ways Black boys responded to labelling


  1: The rebels (18%)

  Developed a 'culture of resistance' e.g. rejected rules; got excluded; acted macho

  
  

  2: The conformists (41%)

  Keen to succeed; obeyed rules; accepted school's values.

  
  

  3: The retreatists (6%)

  Dropped out of both school and Black culture - disconnected from other groups.

  
  

  4: The innovators (35%)

  Pro-education but anti-school (similar to Fuller's girls)
• Archer - Nike identities


  Young working class pupils constructed their own identities based on branded sportswear and gained symbolic capital despite being looked down on by middle class pupils and teachers

  
  

  Drew worth from brands associated with black masculinity because they were promoted by sports stars who they looked up to