ethnic differences in achievement

• ethnicity statistics

  • on average, Chinese, Asian and mixed ethnic group pupils score higher than the national average for Attainment 8 and get better A level results
  • the lowest achieving groups are Black and mixed Caribbean, Black African who generally have lower levels of achievement, especially amongst boys
  • the worst performing ethnic group of all are Gypsies/Travellers
  • lowest performing majority ethnic group are white w/c boys
• ethnicity trends

  • boys overall get excluded more than girls
  • Black Caribbean boys are most likely to get permanent exclusion
  • Indians are the least likely to get permanent exclusion
  • Chinese girls get the highest grades at GCSE
  • Black boys achieve the lowest GCSE grades
• Bereiter and Englemann


  Language spoken in black families is ungrammatical/disjointed and doesn't express abstract ideas - inadequate for educational success
• Sewell (2009)


  Black boys underachieve because a lack of a fatherly nurturing/tough love - instead these boys will turn to street gangs where they get perverse loyalty and love
• Sewell (2009)


  Indian and Chinese benefit from supportive families that place high value in education
• Moynihan (1965)


  Black lone mothers struggle with finances without a breadwinner - children deprived of care and a model of male achievement
• evaluation of CD - ethnicity

  • Driver (1961) - it ignores the positive impact of ethnicity on achievement, as Black Caribbean families giving girls strong female role models
  • Keddie - myth of cultural deprivation
• material deprivation - ethnicity

  • Palmer (2012) - almost a half of ethnic minority children are from low income households, compared to one quarter of white children
  • FSM eligibility rates - Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black pupils have the highest - this explains Indians higher achievement due to them being a more wealthy minority
• racism in wider society

  Mason (2000) - material deprivation is just another factor of racism in wider society which is the main cause of ethnic minorities underachievement in education

  Rex (1986) - shows how racial discrimination is what leads to social exclusion and worsens the poverty a minority faces e.g ethnic minorities given worse accommodation than white people within the came class
• labelling and teacher racism - black pupils


  Gillbourn and Youdell (2000) - study found teachers are quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour due to - racialised expectations - pupils respond negatively and reinforce initial label

  Bourne (1994) - linked the high level of exclusions of black boys to schools seeing them as a threat

  Osler (2001) - black pupils are more likely to be internally excluded from class
• labelling and teacher racism - asian pupils


  these students are more likely to be seen as passive rather than a threat

  • Wright (1992) - found that teachers held ethnocentric views: that is they took for granted that British culture was superior
  • this left asian students marginalised as teachers assumed they had poor english
  • Archer (2008) - teachers say ethnic minority pupils do not fit the stereotypical ideal pupil - either demonised or pathologised
• institutional racism


  this is discrimination that is built into how institutions such as schools operate
• the ethnocentric curriculum

  • language, literature and music - Troyna and Williams note that European languages are the priority and David (1993) says the national curriculum is specifically British because it ignores literature that is non-European
  • history - Ball (1994) says the national curriculum ignores ethnic diversity and other cultures history
• assessments - ethnicity


  Gillborn (2008) - argues the assessment game is rigged to validate white pupils superiority

  • she found that in 2000 black children were the highest achievers when baseline assessments were used
  • when these were changed to foundation stage profiles, they were ranked lower than whites across all developmental areas
  • FSP is based entirely based on teacher's judgements
• evaluation of Gillborn


  Sewell - racism in schools is not enough to prevent pupils form succeeding

  • external factors are more impactful such as boys anti-school attitudes and role of the father

  ignores that Indian and Chinese pupils still achieve
• access to opportunities

  • Gifted and Talented programme was created to help disadvantaged students who were seen to have potential - although, Gillborn (2008) found whites were 5x more likely to be chosen that Black africans
  • Tikly et al (2006) found that in 30 schools in the 'Aiming High' initiative to raise Black Caribbean pupils achievement, however blacks were still more likely to be entered into lower tier exams
  • new IQism - Gillborn argues teachers and policy makers see potential as a fixed quality measured by racialised expectations
• pupil responses to teacher racism

  • Fuller (1984) - did a study on yr 11 black girls in a comprehensive in London
  • she found they did not accept the negative stereotypes about low ability given to them by teachers but instead channeled their anger into motivation to achieve academic success
  • Sewell (2009) - variety of boys responses
  • rebels, conformists, retreatists, innovators
  • shows how only a small minority of black boys are rebels