Topic 2 - Ethnic Differences in Achievement

• Ethnicity


  Shared culture, identity and history. An ethnic group is a group of people who see themselves as a distinct group based for example on religion, geography or language
• Minority ethnic groups in Britain are mainly of African, Caribbean or South Asian origin
• Deciding who is in which ethnic group is a problem
• Patterns of ethnic achievement


  • Black and Pakistani pupils do worst
  • Chinese and Indians do best
  • White pupils are very close to the national average
• Factors affecting ethnic differences in achievement


  • Internal factors within schools and the education system
  • External factors outside the education system
• Cultural deprivation theory (CDT)


  Claims the under-achievement of some ethnic groups is caused by inadequate socialisation in the home
• Cultural deprivation theory


  • Has three main aspects: language, attitudes and values, and family structure and parental support
• Language


  Lack of linguistic skills may be a major barrier to educational progress
• Children whose first language is not English perform slightly better than those who speak only English
• Language barriers were less important than school factors such as institutional racism
• Attitudes and values


  Differences in socialisation may result in differences in attitudes and values towards education
• Minority ethnic parents often place a higher value on education than White parents
• Family structure and parental support


  The lack of a male role model at home for some African-Caribbean boys may encourage them to turn to an anti-educational macho 'gang culture'
• Academically successful Black boys felt the greatest barrier to success was peer pressure: speaking Standard English and doing well at school were seen as 'selling out'
• Asian families benefit from supportive families with an 'Asian work ethic'
• White working-class pupils under-achieve due to lower aspirations and lack of parental support
• Compensatory education


  Educational policy that aims to counter the effects of cultural deprivation
• Compensatory education has been criticised for focusing on 'fixing' individuals supposedly low aspirations rather than on institutional racism
• Criticisms of cultural deprivation theory


  • Victim-blaming
  • Cultural exclusion
  • Cultural domination
  • Ignores class, gender and parenting
  • Ignores material factors
• Material deprivation


  Lack of the physical or economic resources essential for normal life in society
• Almost half of minority ethnic group children live in low-income households
• Minority ethnic groups are almost twice as likely to be unemployed
• Minorities face discrimination in the housing and labour markets
• Racism in wider society affects the material deprivation of minority ethnic groups, which in turn affects their children's educational opportunities
• Labelling


  The impact of the labels that teachers give to children from different ethnic backgrounds
• Black pupils were more likely than others to be punished for the same behaviour
• Teachers had 'racialised expectations' (labels) about Black pupils and expected more discipline problems and saw their behaviour as threatening
• Teachers stereotyped Asian primary school pupils and treated them differently, marginalising and preventing them from participating fully
• Pupil subcultures


  Pupils' reactions to racist labelling in school, including conformists, innovators, retreatists, and rebels
• Despite only a small minority of Black boys actually fitting the stereotype of the 'Black macho lad', teachers tended to see them all in this way
• Some minority ethnic pupils who are negatively labelled remain committed to succeeding despite the labels
• Institutional racism


  Discrimination against minority ethnic groups that is built into the way institutions such as schools and colleges operate
• The curriculum of British schools is ethnocentric, prioritising White culture and the English language
• Selection, segregation, assessment, and access to opportunities in the education system show evidence of institutional racism
• The image of hardworking 'model minorities' like Indian and Chinese students performs an ideological function, making the education system appear fair and meritocratic