In School Factors

• In school process which may explain differential educational achievement by ethnicity include:

  Teacher labelling which can be both positive and negative (high and low expectations depending on the ethnic group)

  Pupil reactions to teacher labelling and pupil subcultures.

  Banding and Streaming, with some minority pupils being overrepresented in lower sets.

  The Ethnocentric Curriculum where what is taught in schools marginalises ethnic minorities.

  Institutional Racism, where Racism is endemic at the level of policy.
• Cecile Wright: labelling in primary schools


  Wright (1992) Found that teachers perceived ethnic minority children differently from white children. Asian children were seen as a problem that could be ignored, receiving the least attention and often being excluded from classroom discussion and rarely asked to answer questions.

  Teachers assumed their command of the English language was poor but they were highly disciplined and well motivated. African Caribbean children were expected to behave badly and received considerable attention, nearly always negative.
• David Gilborn: African-Caribbean children as a threat


  David Gilborn (1990) Found that while the vast majority of teachers tried to treat all students fairly, they tended to see African-Caribbean children as a threat when no threat was intended and reacted accordingly with measures of control. Despite the fact that teachers rejected racism their ethnocentric perceptions meant that their actions were racist in consequence.

  African-Caribbean children experienced more conflict in relationships with pupils, were more subjected to the schools detention system and were denied voice of complaint.
• Tony Sewell: Teachers threatened by Black masculinities


  Sewell was primarily interested in the experiences of black boys in education and he found that some black students were disciplined excessively by teachers who felt threatened by these students’ masculinity, because they had been socialised into racist attitudes. He also found that the boys in the study found that their culture received no positive recognition.

  Tony Sewell ultimately holds black boys themselves responsible for their underachievement but he does at least recognise that negative teacher labelling doesn’t help!
• DO TEACHERS LABEL ETHNIC MINORITIES TODAY?

  Many of the above research studies are now 30 years old and focus on labelling of black-boys. There is much less evidence that teachers negatively label black boys today. Moreover black African boys to better than white boys in school and black Caribbean boys have been closing the gap, so it’s unlikely that teacher labelling can play a role in explaining differential educational achievement
• PREVENT policy and labelling

  Since 2015 PREVENT policy has required teachers to monitor extremist behaviour in schools to prevent students becoming terrorists. There is some evidence that teachers have labelled the behaviour of Muslim children as indicating they are being radicalised into extremist views.
• Chinese students labelled as hyper-achievers


  Chinese students may well be disadvantaged by teachers labelling them as hyper-achievers (Francis et al)

  Either they are perceived by teachers as valuing education, spurred on by pushy parents, which puts added pressure on them to perform, or teachers think they work too hard, meaning they are unlikely to be pushed while some of them may need just that. Either way the ‘hyper-achiever’ label given to Chinese students may not benefit them!
• Pupil Subcultures - Tony Sewell: A culture of anti-school black masculinity


  Tony Sewell (1997) observes that Black Caribbean boys may experience considerable pressure by their peers to adopt the norms of an ‘urban’ or ‘street’ subculture. More importance is given to unruly behaviour with teachers and with other students than to high achievement or effort to succeed, particularly at secondary school.

  Among many black boys, academic success is associated with femininity and success may mark them out for bullying from their peers whereas academic failure is seen as a badge of honour.
• Mirza: Black Girls’ Responses to Teacher Labelling


  Mirza found that teachers had stereotypically low expectations of black girls and thus didn’t push them too hard in lessons and entered them for lower tier exams.

  The black girls Mirza studied did value education and wanted to work hard and do well, but they responded negatively to their teacher’s negative labelling by outwardly appearing to not care about school and care more about appearance.

  This ultimately meant they were less likely to ask for help in lessons, less likely to get it and thus this reaction harmed their achievement.
• Banding and Streaming - Steve Strand


  He noted that Black Caribbean students were less likely to be put into higher sets/ bands/ streams than their white peers and less likely to be entered for higher tier exams, and it is teachers who make decisions about banding and streaming and so ultimately teacher labelling is to blame here.
• The Ethnocentric Curriculum


  The ethnocentric curriculum is where the range and content of subjects taught in schools as part of the formal curriculum are biased towards the majority ethnic group and marginalise minority ethnic groups. In the case of the curriculum in English schools an ethnocentric curriculum would have a focus on White British culture and less of a focus on Black and Asian cultures.
• The Ethnocentric Curriculum - Swann Report


  Historical examples of the ethnocentric curriculum include:

  British history being taught from the European point of view, possibly even putting a postive spin on colonialism.

  White European languages such as French being taught as the main language subjects rather than Asian or African languages.

  Symbolic annihilation of White and Asian people through their under-representation in textbooks.

  Assemblies having a Christian focus, as well as the school holidays (Easter and Christmas).
• Institutional Racism


  When we step back and take a look at the statistics we find that Black Caribbean students are:

  two and a half times more likely to be permanently excluded than White children.

  more like to be identified with behavioural related special needs

  less likely to be identified as gifted and talented

  more likely to be put into lower sets.

  Taken together these statistics may raise our suspicions about whether schools are institutionally racist, and there have been some sociologists who have argued that they are.