Ethnic

• Cultural Deprivation


  Theorists argue that many children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences, leaving them poorly equipped for school with a lack of reasoning and problem-solving skills
• Pupils who do not speak English at home (as their first language) do worse than those who do, but the gap is only 3.2 points in 2010 when it came to gaining 5 A*-C GCSEs (inc. English and Maths)
• Attitudes and Values

  Lack of motivation is often seen as a major cause of failure in many black children, as they are socialised into a subculture that instils a fatalistic live for today attitude that does not value education
• Reasons for ethnic minorities being at greater risk of material deprivation

  Living in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wage rates, cultural factors like the tradition of purdah in some Muslim households, lack of language skills and foreign qualifications not recognised by UK employers, asylum seekers not being allowed to work, racial discrimination in the labour market and housing market
• Racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and worsens poverty for ethnic minorities, e.g. in housing, ethnic minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard housing than white people of the same class
• Gillborn (2008) argues that it is not peer pressure, but institutional racism within the education system itself that systematically produces the failure of large numbers of black boys
• Geoffrey Driver (1977) criticises the cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement, and argues that the black Caribbean family could actually provide girls with positive role models of strong independent women
• Errol Lawrence (1982) argues that black pupils underachieve not because of low self-esteem, but because of racism
• Keddie sees cultural deprivation as a victim-blaming explanation, and argues that ethnic minority children are culturally different, not culturally deprived, and underachieve because schools are ethnocentric (biased in favour of white culture and against minorities)
• Labelling and teachers' racism


  Teachers often see black and Asian pupils as being far from the 'ideal pupil', with black pupils seen as disruptive and Asians as passive. Teachers are quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour, and black pupils are more likely to be streamed into lower sets because of this negative label. Asian pupils are often spoken to in a childish language because teachers assume they have no real grasp on English( Gil born and youdell)
• Pupil Identities


  The 'ideal pupil identity' is a white, middle-class masculinised identity. The 'pathologised pupil identity' is an Asian, 'deserving poor', feminised identity. The 'demonised pupil identity' is a black or white, working-class, hyper-sexualised identity. Chinese students have been seen to achieve success in the 'wrong way' through hard work and passive conformism rather than natural ability( Archer)
• Pupil Responses and Subculture


  Some pupils may choose to reject their labels and prove them wrong, while others may accept the label and become withdrawn. Sewell identified four main responses: the rebels, the conformists, the retreatists, and the innovators. Mira identified different racist teachers: color blind, liberal chauvinist, overt racist.
• Gillborn and Youdell argue that the policy of publishing league tables creates an A-to-C economy and leads to large numbers of black and working-class pupils being placed in lower streams or entered for lower-tier exams so it’s not due to racism
• Moore and Davenport (1990) show how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination and language diffuculties
• The Ethnocentric Curriculum


  The National Curriculum is a 'specifically British' curriculum that largely ignores non-European languages, literature and music. This may cause underachievement by presenting the idea that the British brought civilisation to 'primitive' peoples they colonised, undermining black children's self-esteem( David 1993)
• Assessment


  Gillborn (2008) argues that 'the assessment game' is rigged to validate the dominant culture's superiority. The Foundation Stage Profile (FSP) replaced independent 'baseline assessments', and overnight, black pupils appeared to be doing worse than white pupils across all six developmental areas it measured, due to the FSP being based entirely on teachers' judgements and completed at the end of reception year rather than the start of primary school
• Sewell argues that Gillborn focuses too much on the internal factors, and that we should focus more on external factors such as boys' anti-school attitudes, the peer group and the nurturing role of the father
• Connolly (2006) notes that there is an "interactions effect': class and gender interact differently with ethnicity depending on which ethnic group we are looking at, with a bigger gap between the achievements of white middle-class and white working-class pupils than there is between black middle-class and black working-class pupils
• ethnic external factors

  • Cultural deprivation ( language )
  • attidues and values
  • family structure and parental support
  • material deprivation
• internal factors

  • Labeling and teachers racism
  • pupil identies
  • pupil response and subculture
  • marketisation and segregation
  • ethnocentric curriculum
  • assesment
• Cultural deprivation

  Bereiter and Engelmann see the language spoken by low-income black American families as inadequate for educational success. They see it as ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas.
• Most children are socialised into culture which highlights ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make sacrifices in order to reap rewards, however it is suggested some black children are socialised into a subculture that instils a fatalistic live for today attitude that does not value education
• Daniel Moynihan


  The lack of a father also means the boys do not have an adequate male role model unstable families go on to fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves
• Charles Murray (1984) of the New Right perspective


  A high rate of lone parenthood and lack of positive male role models lead to the underachievement of some minorities
• Ken Pryce (1979)


  Compared black Caribbean pupils and Asian pupils and claims that Asians are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self-worth. Whereas black Caribbean culture is less resistant
• Sewell (2009)


  The problem isn't the absence of the father for black boys that leads to underachievement; it's a lack of 'tough love' and adequate discipline. Street gangs of other fatherless boys offer black boys that
• Lupton (2004)


  Adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools
• Lupton


  Teachers blamed the low level of parental support and negative attitude of the white working-class parents towards education. By contrast, ethnic minority parents were more likely to see education as "a way up in society"
• evaluaTion

  • Critisms of Sewell- Gil born said it not peer pressure but racism in school
  • cultural deprivation- Geoffrey driver said black Caribbean family provide girls with positive role models
• Evaluation of internal factors

  • Only focus on teachers not school as a whole
  • ignore success and challenge of stereotypes
  • over achievement of model minorities such as Indian and Chinese pupils