ethnic differences in education

• External factors


  - Material deprivation

  - Cultural deprivation
• Material deprivation in relation to ethnicity

  - Almost half of all ethnic minority children live in low-income housing

  - Ethnic minorities are 2x as likely to be unemployed compared to white people

  - Ethnic minority workers generally earn significantlyless, compeared with their white counter parts
• Internal factors


  - Labelling and teacher racism

  - Pupil identities

  - Institutional racism

  - The ethnocentric curriculum

  - Rejecting negative labels

  - Failed strategies for avoiding racism

  - The variety of boys responses
• Labelling and teacher racism

  - Gillborn and Youdell

  - Foster

  - Wright
• Gillborn and Youdell


  - Teachers are quicker to dicipline black pupils

  - They misinterpret behaviours as threatening
• Foster


  - Such stereotypes of black children as less diceplined, leads to them being put in lower set classes
• Wright


  -Asian pupils labelled as "will not speak very good English"

  - Asian pupils labelled and passive and unthreatening

  - This a, along with disapproval of certain customs, lead to marginalisation
• Public Identities


  Archer
• Archer


  - The ideal pupil identity

  - Pathologised pupil identity

  - The demonised pupil identity

  - Chinese pupil identity
• The ideal pupil identity

  - White

  - Middle class

  - Masculine identity

  - 'Normal' sexuality

  - Natural ability and initiative
• Pathologised pupil identity


  - Asian

  - 'Deserving poor'

  - Feminised identity

  - Asexual or with an oppressed sexuality

  - Conformist and culture-bound 'over-achiever'

  - Succeeds through hard work rather than natural ability.
• The demonised pupil identity

  - A black or white

  - Working-class

  - Hyper-sexualised identity

  - Unintelligent

  - Peer-led

  - Culturally deprived under-achiever.
• Chinese pupil identity


  - Homogenous

  - Quiet

  - Effeminate

  - Subordinate

  - Achieve success in the 'wrong' way/ by being passive conformists
• Insitutional racism


  Discrimination that is built into the way institutions such as schools and colleges operate
• The ethnocentric curriculum


  A Curriculum that reflects the culture of one ethnic group - usually the dominant culture. Subjects such as History and English
• Rejecting negative labels (Fuller)


  - Studied a group of black girls in year 11

  - Instead of accepting negative stereotypes of themselves they used the anger to pursuit educational success

  - Did not seek aproval from teachers

  - Conformed only as far as schoolwork was concerned, worked constantly but gave the impression of doing no work.

  - They avoided ridicule from black boys (anti-school subculture)
• Rejecting negative labels (Mac an Ghaill)

  - Studied black and asian A-level students

  - Students who believed teachers had labelled them negatively did not always accept

  - How they responded depended on factorsb such as their ethnic group and gender and nature of their former schools
• Failed strategies for avoiding racism (Mirza)

  - Studied ambitious black girls who faced teacher racism

  - Found there were different types of teacher racism

  - Most of the girls time at school was spent trying to avoid the racist teachers affect

  - Stratagies included;

  - being selective about who they ask for help from

  - getting on with work

  - not choosing subjects
• The variety of boys' responses (Sewell)

  - The rebels

  - The conformists

  - The retreatists

  - The innovators
• The rebels (Sewell)


  Most visible and influential group. ANTI SCHOOL
• The conformists (Sewell)


  Largest groups. Keen to succeed and do not want to be stereotyped.
• The retreatists (Sewell)


  A tiny minority of individuals who are disconnected from school and black subcultures
• The innovators (Sewell)


  Pro education but anti-school and very much want to succeed.
• Cultural deprivation in relation to ethnicity

  - Intellectual and linguistic skills

  - Attitudes and values

  - Family structure and parental support

  - Sewell: fathers, gangs and culture

  - Asian families

  - White working-class families

  - Criticisms of cultural deprivation theory

  - Multicultural education

  - Anti-racist education

  - Racism in wider society
• Intellectual and linguistic skills

  - Children from low-income black families lack interlectual stimulation and often speak in 'ungrammatical' ways

  - Childrent that dont speak english at home are held back educationally

  - however, Gillborn and Mirza found that indian pupils do well in school despite often not speaking ebglish at home
• Attitudes and values


  - Some black children are are socialised in a subculture that instils a 'live for today' attitude

  - This attitude does not value education and therefore does not lead to educational success
• Family structure and parental support

  - Moynihan, many black families are headed by a lone mother; and the children are therefore deprived of adequate care and socialisation

  - Scruton, low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities is due to a failure to embrace mainstream British culture
• Sewell: fathers, gangs and culture

  - A lack of a father figure in many black boys lives, leads to lack of discipline

  - Their role models become 'ultra-tough ghetto superstar' who promote anti-school subcultures
• Asian families


  Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from a supportive family that value of education
• White working-class families


  Families are not supportive and have a negative attitudes towards education
• Criticisms of cultural deprivation theory

  - Geoffrey Driver criticises cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effect on ethnicity on achievement. Shows that Black Caribbean family provides a positive role model for girls

  - Errol Lawrence challenges Pryce's view that black pupils fail because their culture is weak and they lack self-esteem, he argues that black pupils underachieve because of racism

  - Keddie sees cultural deprivation as a victim-blaming explanation, the ethnic minority children are just different
• Multicultural education


  Policy that recognises and values minority cultures and include them in the curriculum
• Anti-racist education


  A policy that challenges the prejudice and discrimination that exists in schools and wider society.
• Racism in wider society


  - Not accepted for certain jobs

  - Stop and searches

  - Anti-school subcultures
• What percentage of ethnic minority children live in low income households?

  Almost half
• What percentage of white children live in low income households?

  Only a quarter
• How much more likely are ethnic minority adults to be unemployed compared to white households?

  Almost twice as likely
• How much more likely are ethnic minority households to be homeless compared to white households?

  Around three times more likely
• What percentage of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earn under £7/hour?

  Almost half
• What percentage of white British workers earn under £7/hour?

  Only a quarter