ethnicity

• berieter and engelmann

  language spoken by low income black families is inadequate for British curriculum
• Moynihan

  most black families are lone parent families

  boys lack male role model
• sewell

  black boys lack father figures

  need more fatherly love / tough love

  leads to black pee pressure form gangs - anti-school subcultures
• palmer

  material deprivation

  almost half of all children from minority ethnic backgrounds live in low income households
• Francis

  argue Chinese pupils place high value on education

  parents aim to send them to uni
• archer

  found 3 different pupil identities

  1. ideal pupil- white mc
  2. pathologised pupil- asian, wc, conformists, passive
  3. demonised pupil- black, wc
• gillborn and youdell

  found teachers were quicker to discipline black students
• wright

  teachers labelled asian pupils as being unable to grasp English language

  left them out of class discussions
• fuller

  studied black girls in London school

  found they rejected the negative label given to them
• mirza

  studied black girls who faced teacher racism

  found 3 types of racist teachers

  1. colourblind- passive against racism
  2. liberal chauvinists- believe black pupils are culturally deprived - low aspirations
  3. overt racists- actively discriminate towards black pupils
• noon

  discrimination in wider society

  employers will actively discriminate against job applicants with foreign sounding names
• external factors

  • material deprivation
  • cultural deprivation - language, attitudes and values
  • discrimination in wider society
  • family structure
• internal factors

  • labelling
  • teacher racism
  • pupil identities
  • marketisation policies
• ethnocentric curriculum


  a type of educational curriculum that is based on the cultural values and perspectives of a particular ethnic or cultural group.

  education within the United Kingdom has traditionally been centered on a dominant White Eurocentric curriculum
• gillborn

  marketisation policies leads to disadvantage for BAME pupils

  schools choose more favourable students - white mc
• David

  describes national curriculum as 'specifically British' ignores non-europeans academics
• sewell - generating genius 


  created a 'nurturing programme' for students from disadvantaged backgrounds
• attainment 8 scores 


  scores measure how far pupils have progressed in their eight major government approved GCSE subjects over five years of secondary schooling compared to the average progress of all pupils.
• which ethnic group has highest attainment 8 score

  Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi
• which ethnic group has the lowest attainment 8 score

  gypsy, Irish, Black Caribbean