Sociology flashcards education

Language and Under-achievement

Language is not a major factor in under-achievement, and any negative effects are likely temporary.

Positive Attitudes in Ethnic Families

Minority ethnic parents often value education highly, contradicting the idea of cultural deprivation.

Asian Families and Education

Asian families may have more positive attitudes towards education and support school behavior policies more than white parents.

Cultural Deprivation Theory

Claims children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation, hindering their reasoning and problem-solving skills.

Impact of Language on Education

Bereiter and Engelmann suggest that poor language skills in black American families hinder children's ability to express abstract ideas, affecting educational progress.

Attitudes and Values in Education

Differences in attitudes and values towards education may result from socialization into mainstream culture, impacting educational success.

Compensatory Education

Educational policy aiming to counter the effects of cultural deprivation, such as Operation Head Start in the USA and Sure Start in the UK.

Labelling and Ethnic Differences

Interactionists focus on how labels given by teachers to children from different ethnic backgrounds can lead to under-achievement through self-fulfilling prophecies.

Pupil Subcultures

Pupils may react to racist labelling by forming subcultures, as seen in Sewell's study of black boys adopting various responses to racist labels.

Institutional Racism

Discrimination against ethnic minorities built into institutions like schools is known as institutional racism, impacting educational outcomes.

Ethnocentric Curriculum

Refers to an attitude or policy in education that prioritizes the culture of one ethnic group while disregarding others, leading to institutional racism and potentially diminishing the self-esteem and educational achievement of minority ethnic group pupils.

Critical Race Theory (CRT)

Views institutional racism as deeply ingrained in the education system, with CRT proponents highlighting various ways in which the system perpetuates racism, such as through biased expectations, unequal opportunities, and discriminatory practices.

Institutional Racism

The presence of discriminatory practices, policies, and structures within institutions like schools that systematically disadvantage certain racial or ethnic groups, impacting their educational outcomes and perpetuating inequalities.

Selection and Segregation

Involves the use of negative stereotypes in school admissions decisions, leading to ethnic segregation and unequal opportunities for minority ethnic group pupils, as highlighted by scholars like Gillborn and Moore.

Assessment Bias

Refers to the unfair evaluation of students based on cultural biases, where assessment methods favor the dominant white culture, leading to disparities in academic performance between different racial groups, as argued by scholars like Gillborn.

Access to Opportunities

Describes the unequal distribution of opportunities in education, where black pupils are less likely to be identified as gifted or placed in higher-tier exams due to teachers' expectations, perpetuating a cycle of underachievement and reinforcing stereotypes.

New IQism

The practice of using outdated IQ tests to assign students to different academic streams, which often results in black pupils being placed in lower streams due to flawed assumptions about their potential, contributing to their underachievement in the education system.