DEA - Ethnicity

• Highest achieving groups

  • Chinese and Indian Asian students consistently have the highest levels of attainment and make the greatest progress.
  • They are more likely than any other group to go on to university (including the white British majority)
• Lowest achieving groups

  • Black Caribbean, Pakistani and Gypsy/Roma are more likely than any other groups to leave school without any qualification.
  •  They are less likely to stay on after compulsory education and take higher numbers of vocational courses.
• External Factors

  1. Material Deprivation
  2. Language
  3. Parental support and family life
• Material Deprivation (ethnicity)

  • About 2/5ths of of people of minority ethnic backgrounds are living in poverty
  • About 50% of Pakistani ethnic backgrounds are living in poverty.
  • About 30% of Black Caribbeans are living in poverty.
  • Black Caribbean and Pakistani people are more likely to be unemployed
  • higher proportion of students from these ethnic groups are eligible for Free School Meals.
• Language

  Pupils for whom English is a second language often have lower levels of attainment on starting school than pupils whose first language is English. 

  Around 18% of primary and 13% of secondary schools pupils do not have English as their first language or is that main language spoken in their homes.
• Language - Evaluation

  Department for Education research has found that any impact of language declines as the child get older and that preschool language differences are rapidly overcome.

  DfE statistics show that pupils with English as their second language, who speak other language in their homes, outperformed in the EBacc compared to their classmates who had English as their first language.
• Parental support and family life

  Pupils from some ethnic minority groups enjoy greater parental support than others.
• Parental Support - evaluation

  Moons and Ivins (2004) found that parental involvement with their child's education was greater in minority ethnic groups than in the population as a whole. Many saw their child’s education as mainly their responsibility NOT the schools and were more likely to engage in parents evenings. This was particularly true for Black Caribbean and Bangladeshi parents.
• Students from ethnic minorities are more likely to do ----- in education, compared to white students.

  Worse
• Low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation


  They fail to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills
• Language is not a major factor in under-achievement


  Swann Report 1985
• Bereiter and Engelmann


  Lang. of poorer black American families = ungrammatical and unjoined. Children unable to express abstract ideas. Barrier to educational success.
• Subculture which black people socialised into is ----------


  fatalistic (focused on immediate gratification - lack of motivation to succeed
• The lack of male role models for afro-caribbean boys encourages an A----E-----------M-----G---C------

  Anti Educational Macho Gang Culture
• AO3 of AEMGC: Sewell (1998)


  Only minority of afro-caribbean boys were anti-school
• Murray (1984)


  High rates of lone parenthood and lack of positive role models = underachievement among some ethnic minority groups
• AO3 of Murray: Connor (2004)


  Ethnic minority groups placed higher values on education than white parents
• Moynihan (1965)


  Culture of poverty: absence of male role models in achievement in black matrifocal lone parent families produce inadequately socialised children

  
  

  Fail at school -> Become inadequate families -> Perpetuate culture of poverty
• Pryce (1979)


  Black caribbean culture less resistant to racism (experience of slavery) - many black people have low self-esteem and underachieve
• Khan (1979)


  Asian family is an obstacle to achievement - girls have a controlling attitude towards them - do less better than boys - asian families have more positive attitudes towards education & adult authority in family is similar to school - asian parents are 2x likely to support behaviour policies
• Lupton (2004)


  Four w/c schools w/ different ethnic compositions. Poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in white w/c schools (due to lower levels of parental support) - negative attitudes towards education from white w/c parents
• Evans (2006)


  Street culture in white w/c areas is brutal and can be brought into school. Resulting in pressure to reject education
• Compensatory Education


  Education policy that aims to encounter the effects of cultural deprivation
• Examples of Compensatory Education


  Operational Head Start (USA) = compensate for the cultural deficit students suffer due to their deprived background

  
  

  Sure Start (UK) = support development of pre-school children in deprived areas
• Criticisms of Cultural Deprivation


  Victim Blaming

  Cultural Exclusion

  Cultural Domination
• AO3 of Cultural Deprivation: Victim Blaming (Keddie)


  Cultural deprivation is a victim blaming explanation. Minority ethnic groups are culturally different, not culturally deprived. Underachieve due to schools being Ethnocentric (biased in favour of white culture)
• AO3 of Cultural Deprivation: Cultural Exclusion (Ball)


  Minority ethnic groups parents are at a disadvantage (less aware of how to negotiate the British education system) - culturally excluded, rather than culturally deprived. Gerwitz - complex school application forms are an example of culturally exclusions practices inside school
• AO3 of Cultural Deprivation: Cultural Domination


  Compensatory Education imposes the dominant white m/c culture on minority ethnic group pupils' own culture
• Material Deprivation


  Lack of physical or economic resources essential for normal life in society. Educational failure may be a result of material factors (eg substandard housing or low income). It is suggested ethnic minority groups are more likely to face these problems
• Evidence of Ethnic Minorities experiencing Material Deprivation


  Pakistanis/Bangladeshis more likely to be poor. Minorities -> unemployment is higher, pay is lower, overcrowding in home is likely. Swanne Report (1985) - social class accounts for 1/2 of the difference in educational achievement between ethnic groups.
• Racism in Wider Society


  Members of ethnic minority groups face direct/indirect discrimination at work and in housing market = likely to have low pay/unemployment, affecting children's educational opportunities
• Internal Factors: Labelling


  Teachers give students different labels which may impact their educational achievement. (E.g Black pupils = disruptive, Asian pupils = passive). Teachers may disadvantage ethnic minority students as they're treated differently, bringing a self-fulfilling prophecy, causing them to underachieve.
• Gillborn and Youdell (2000): Black Pupils (educational triage)


  Teachers have 'racialised expectations' about Black pupils and expected more discipline problems and saw their behaviour as threatening. Black pupils more likely to be punished, compared to others, for the same actions. Pupils felt teachers under-estimated their ability and picked on them. Conflict between white teachers and black pupils comes from racist stereotypes that teachers have. May cause underachievement, as it leads to:

  -Higher levels of black boy exclusions

  -Black pupils placed in lower sets or streams
• Wright (1992): Asian Pupils


  Asian primary school pupils stereotyped by teachers and treated differently. Teachers assumed pupils would have poor grasp of English (would use simplistic language when communicating). Often mispronounced names and saw them as a problem that they could ignore. Asian pupils were marginalised and prevented from participating fully, affecting their self esteem.
• Connolly (1998): Asian Pupils


  Primary school teachers saw Asian pupils as passive and conformists. Asian boys seen as 'feminine', vulnerable and less able to protect themselves.
• Internal Factors: Subcultures


  By reacting to racist labelling in schools, they may join or form pupils subcultures. Sewell (1998) - black boys adopted a range of responses to teacher's racist labelling them as rebellious and anti school.
• Subculture: Conformists (Sewell)


  First largest group - keen to succeed. Accepted the schools goals and had friends from different ethnic groups.
• Subculture: Innovators (Sewell)


  Second largest group - pro-education but anti-school. They valued success but not teachers approval.
• Subculture: Retreatists (Sewell)


  Tiny minority of isolated individuals disconnected from both school and black subcultures outside of it.
• Subculture: Rebels (Sewell)


  Small but highly visible minority of black pupils. Rejected the schools goal and rules and conformed instead to the stereotype of the 'black macho lad'. Despised white boys and conformist black boys. Aim was to achieve status of 'street hood'.

  
  

  Despite only a small minority of black boys fitting this minority, teachers tended to see them all in this way. Resulted in underachievement of many black boys, not just the rebels (due to discrimination)