Internal Ethnic differences in education

Labelling and teacher racism: Black pupils and discipline

Gillborn and Youdell - found that teachers were quicker to discipline Black pupils than other pupils for the same behaviour.

This is a result of teachers’ racialised expectations and stereotypes - where teachers would expect Black pupils to misbehave and would perceive their behaviour as a challenge and threat to authority.

Black pupils felt teachers underestimated their ability.

Labelling and teacher racism: Black pupils and streaming

Gillborn and Youdell - found that in an 'A-to-C economy’, teachers mainly focus on students who they believe achieve a C at GCSE - known as educational triage / sorting.

Negative stereotypes of Black pupils’ ability led to teachers placing them in lower sets and streams.

Labelling and teacher racism: Asian pupils

Wright - studied a multi-ethnic primary school and found that Asian pupils were victims of teacher labelling.

Teachers assumed Asian pupils had poor English, leading them to be left out of class discussion and having childish, simplistic language being spoken to them.

Teachers also would express disapproval of their customs or mispronounce their names.

Asian pupils felt isolated as a result of this.

Pupil responses and subcultures: Boys responses

Sewell - found a variety of subcultures as a response to education.

The Rebels - a minority, but the most influential group. They rejected the values of the school by joining a peer group, reinforcing negative stereotypes of ‘Black Machismo;.

The Conformists - those who accepted school values and were eager to succeed.

The Retreatists - a small minority who were isolated and disconnected from subcultures and the school.

The Innovators - pro-education but anti-school. They distanced themselves from the ‘Conformists’ enough to keep credibility with the ‘Rebels’ whilst valuing educational success.

Pupil responses and subcultures: Failed strategies

Mirza - found that some pupils can not develop coping strategies for teacher racism and labelling.

Black girls would avoid certain teachers, only asking a few for help and get on with their own work without taking part in lessons.

This restricts their opportunities, causing underachievement.

Pupil responses and subcultures: Rejective negative labels

Fuller - studied a group of Black girls in year 11 from a London comprehensive school.

They were seen as untypical as they were high achievers in a school where most Black girls were placed in low streams.

Instead of accepting these negative stereotypes, they channelled their anger of being labelled into educational success.

Unlike other successful pupils, they did not seek out the approval of teachers, whom they regarded as being racist.

Institutional racism: Marketisation and segregation

Gillborn - argues that marketisation (competition between schools) gave schools more ability to select pupils.

This allows negative stereotypes to influence which pupils are chosen for a school.

Gillborn believes that minority pupils fail to get into well-performing secondary schools due to these influences.

The Commission for Racial Equality stated that racism in school admission procedures means that ethnic minority pupils are more likely to end up in less popular schools.

Institutional racism: The Ethnocentric Curriculum

Ethnocentric - an attitude or policy that gives priority to a viewpoint of a particular ethnic group - disregarding others.

The ethnocentric curriculum mainly reflects the culture of the dominant culture.

Sociologists see the ethnocentric curriculum as an example of institutional racism as it creates a racial bias in the workings of schools.

e.g - History, Languages, Literature and music mainly focus on White culture

e.g - the school practises reflects dominant White Christian culture.