Ethnicity

• Trends:

  • Asian students normally do the best in exams
  • Afro-Caribbean male students normally do the worst in exams.
  • Black Caribbean students were most likely to be expelled.
• Genetic explanations:

  • Based on the idea that intelligence is inherited, groups underachieve because they inherited low IQ.
  • Hernstein and Murray found in America some ethnic minorities have higher IQ's But many black people scored less. This study ignores the environment they were educated in.
  • The swann report found there was no significant differences however.
• Inside school factors (ethnicity):

  • Labelling theorists say they teachers have different expectations for different ethnicity groups.
  • Negative labelling could lead to a self-fullfilling prophecy which means if the Afro-Caribbean students are badly labelled they will live up to it.
• Gillborn: Teachers negatively label students from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds because they see them as a challenge to school authority. He referred to this as the 'myth of the black challenge'.
• Inside schools Factors: (Ethnocentric curriculum):

  The British curriculum could be seen as ethnocentric. It means that the curriculum only focuses on one culture meaning that if the students have heard it from another perspective they may be more likely to get the questions wrong as it it only taught from a British perspective.
• The British education system could be seen as institutionally racist because policies and attitudes unintentionally discriminate against ethnic minority groups.
• Wright: Found that even though members of staff were committed to equal opportunities, Asian girls got less attention from teachers.
• Fuller: Afro-Caribbean girls rejected their negative labels and worked hard for success.
• Outside school factors (Ethnicity)- Language barriers:

  • For the first generation it may have been harder to understand the content due to a language barrier.
  • Swann report said that this wasn't a problem for later generations.
  • Driver and Ballard: Accents cause teachers to negatively label students
• Outside school factors (Ethnicity)- Family differences:

  • Family life can vary between each ethnic group.
  • Driver and Ballard: Close-knit extended families and high parental expectations can increase achievement it Asian households.
  • Divorce and SPF could result in material deprivation which is more common in Afro-Caribbean households.
• Some ethnicity groups may be more likely to be in lower class positions which will result in their children being materially and culturally deprived.
• Chinese tiger mum: A Chinese mum who pushes their children to go for the best grades, believe a B isn't good they must get an A. Strive for perfection.
• Cecile Wright (1992): Asian pupils are victims of labelling, it is assumed they would have a poor grasp of English so were left out of discussions.
• Reasons Asian students may perform better:

  • Affluence middle class
  • Extended family structure- more help
  • Stricter parents
• Research is very generalised when it comes to black Afro-Caribbean pupils. Many go on to be successful, ethnicity can’t be the single cause of underachievement.