Differential Achievement By Ethnicity

• Differential achievement by ethnicity refers to the fact that pupils from some ethnic backgrounds perform better in school than others
• Ethnic groups and their GCSE performance

  • Chinese heritage (74% 5 A*-C in 2014)
  • Indian (73% 5 A*-C in 2014)
  • White British (56% 5 A*-C in 2014)
  • Pakistani (51.4% 5 A*-C in 2014)
  • African Caribbean (47% 5 A*-C in 2014)
  • Irish traveller (14% 5 A*-C)
  • Roma/Gypsy (8% 5 A*-C)
• Out-of-school factors that can impact differential achievement by ethnicity

  • Language barriers for first generation immigrants
  • Family emphasis on education and educational success in some communities (e.g. Chinese, Indian)
  • High levels of divorce and single parenthood in some communities (e.g. African Caribbean)
  • Social class differences between ethnic groups
• While high expectations and close-knit families might explain Indian and Chinese high achievement, such factors also exist in Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities yet they tend to underperform
• Once adjustments are made to take account of social class, there does not appear to be a significant correlation between having a lone parent and educational underachievement
• In-school factors that can impact differential achievement by ethnicity

  • Ethnocentric curriculum and school structure (e.g. focus on European/white British content, Christian calendar)
  • Racism and racial stereotypes informing teacher labelling and expectations
  • Institutional racism in school policies and procedures
  • Pupil subcultures (anti-school or pro-education)
• Labelling theory


  Teachers applying labels to pupils in relation to their ability, potential or behaviour, which can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy
• Labelling theory is an interactionist theory, so there is no suggestion that differential achievement is solely due to labelling
• Findings from Heidi Safia Mirza's study "Young, Female and Black" (1992)


  • Black girls in the study got better results than white pupils and black boys
  • Black girls had high self-esteem despite some teacher racism and low expectations
  • Black girls were generally pro-education and wanted to achieve, forming a pro-education subculture
• An ethnocentric curriculum and school calendar does not fully explain differential achievement by ethnicity, as white British and European pupils are not the most successful
• Theories relating to subcultures struggle to explain why certain social groups are more likely to form anti or pro-school subcultures than others
• Social class appears to be the most important factor in explaining differential achievement, more so than ethnicity or gender
• Stent patterns relating to ethnicity, rather like with gender it is not a straightforward case of the more powerful social groups achieving higher results. And those differences are not as acute as those relating to social class in any case. What makes this section of the specification interesting is that different identities and kinds of social stratification interact and intersect and it is impossible to entirely consider one without the others.