AQA Sociology - Education - Ethnic Differences in Achievement

Ethnicity

Refers to a shared culture, identity and history.

Ethnic Group

A group of people who see themselves as a distinct group based for example on religion, geography or language.

Ethnic Differences in Achievement

Patterns of ethnic achievement are complex, cross cut by gender and social class. For example: Black and Pakistani pupils do worst, Chinese and Indians do best. White pupils are very close to the national average.

Explaining Differences in Achievement

There are two sets of factors, internal factors such as pupil-teacher interaction and external factors such as home and family background.

External Factors and Ethnic Differences

The main external factors affecting ethnic differences in achievement are cultural deprivation, material deprivation and class and racism in wider society.

Cultural Deprivation

This theory claims that the under achievement of some ethnic groups is caused by inadequate socialisation in the home. This has two main aspects: Intellectual and language skills and attitudes, values and family structure.

Intellectual and Language Skills

The cultural deprivation theory claims children from low income black families lack intellectual stimulation and fail to develop reasoning and problem solving skills. Bereiter and Englemann say that the language of poorer black families is disjoined so children are unable to express abstract ideas, a major barrier to success.

Attitudes, Values and Family Structure

Differences in attitudes and values towards education may be the result of differences in socialisation. Most children are socialised into the mainstream culture, which instils competiveness and the desire to achieve.

Fatalism and Immediate Gratification

Cultural deprivation theorists claim the subculture black children are socialised into is fatalist and focused on immediate gratification, resulting in the lack of motivation to succeed.

The Lack of a Male Role Model

African Caribbean boys may turn on an anti-educational macho 'gang culture'. Murray (New Right) argues that high rate of lone parents and lack of positive male role models leads to the underachievement of some minority pupils.

Culture of Poverty

Moynihan argues that the absence of male role in black lone parent families produces inadequately socialised children who fail at school, become inadequate parents themselves and perpetuate a culture of poverty.

The Impact of Slavery

Pryce says that Black Caribbean culture is less resistant to racism because of the experience of slavery. As a result, black pupils have low self esteem and under achieve.

Asian Families

Sewell argues that Chinese and Indian pupils benefit from supportive families with an 'Asian work ethic'. He contrasts this with black lone parent families.

Fathers, Gangs and Culture

Sewell argues that the lack of fatherly nurturing leads to black boys underachieving. Street gangs offer them alternative peverse loyalty and love. Successful black boys felt the greatest barrier to success was peer pressure.

White Working Class Pupils

White working class pupils also under achieve, this may be because they have lower aspirations than many other ethnic groups and this may be a result of white working class culture.

Working Class Schools - Lupton

Studied four working class schools within different ethnic compositions. Teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in white working class schools, which they linked to have lower levels of parental support and the negative attitudes of white working class parents towards education.

Street Culture - Evans

Argues that street culture in white working class areas can be brutal and is brought into school. The result is a strong pressure to reject education.

Compensatory Education

Is an educational policy that aims to counter the effects of cultural deprivation, e.g. Operation Head Start and Sure Start.

Operation Head Start

Was established in the USA to compensate children for the cultural deficit they suffered because of deprived backgrounds.

Sure Start

In the UK, aims to support the development of pre-school children in deprived areas.

Criticisms of Cultural Deprivation

Cultural deprivation theory has been criticised as an explanation of ethnic differences in achievement, the factors include Victim blaming, cultural exclusion and cultural domination.

Victim Blaming

Keddie argues that it is a victim blaming explanation. Minority ethnic group children are culturally different, not deprived. They underachieve as schools are ethnocentric (Biased in the favour of white culture).

Cultural Exclusion

Ball argues that minority ethnic group parents are less aware of how to negotiate the British education system. This results in cultural exclusion rather than deprivation. Gerwitz says complex school application forms are an example.

Cultural Domination

Compensatory education imposes the dominant white middle class culture on minority ethnic group pupils own culture.

Material Deprivation and Class

Material deprivation is a lack of physical or economic resources essential for normal life in society. The material deprivation explanations of ethnic differences in achievement argue that educational failure is the result of material factors such as housing and income, which ethnic minorities are more likely to face.

Racism in Wider Society

It may be the product of racism in wider society which affects pupils achievement. Members of minority ethnic groups face direct and indirect discrimination at work and in the housing market. As a result, they are more likely to have low pay or be unemployed, and this affects their children's educational opportunities.

Internal Factors and Ethnic Differences

Sociologists focus on the impact of factors within school and the education system as causing ethnic differences in achievement, these include: Labelling, pupil subcultures and ethnocentricity and institutional racism.

Interactionists

Focus on small scale, face to face interactions, such as those between pupils and teachers.

Labelling

As a result of negative racist labels, teachers may treat ethnic minority pupils differently by bring about a self fulfilling prophecy that leads to their underachievement.

Black Pupils - Gillborn and Mirza

Found that in one area, black children were the highest achievers on entering primary school, yet by GCSE they had fallen to 21 points below average. This suggests schooling is to blame.

Black Pupils - Gillborn and Youdell

Found teachers had 'radicalised expectations' about black pupils and expected more discipline problems and saw their behaviour as threatening. Pupils felt their teachers underestimated their ability and picked on them. They conclude that conflict between white teachers and black pupils stems from racist stereotypes teachers have. This can cause underachievement as it leads to higher levels of exclusions for boys and black pupils being placed in lower sets or streams.

Asian Pupils

Wright found that Asian primary school pupils were stereotyped by their teachers and treated differently. Teachers would assume children had a poor grasp of English so used a simple language speaking to them. They mispronounced children's names and say them as a problem they could ignore. As a result Asian pupils were prevented from participating fully, affecting self esteem.

Connolly found primary school teachers saw Asian pupils as passive and conformist. Both teachers and pupils saw Asian boys as more vulnerable and less able to protect themselves.

Pupil Subcultures

Pupils react in different ways to racist labelling, including forming subcultures. Sewell found that black boys adopted a range of responses to teachers racist labelling of them as rebellious and anti-school. He also argues that factors external to school are more important in producing underachievement than internal factors. Subcultures include: Conformists, innovators, retreatists and rebels.

Conformists

Were the largest group. They were keen to succeed, accepted the school's goals and had friends from different ethnic groups.

Innovators

Were the second largest group. They were pro-education but ant-school. They valued success, but not teachers approval.

Retreatists

Were a tiny minority of isolated individuals disconnected from both the school and black subcultures outside it.

Rebels

Were a small but visible minority of black pupils. They rejected schools rules and conformed to the stereotype of the 'black macho lad'. Their aim was to achieve the status of 'street hood.'

Rejecting Negative Labels

Studies show that not all minority ethnic pupils who are negatively labelled accept and conform to the label. Some may remain committed to succeeding. This includes Fullers and Mac an Ghaills study.

Year 11 Black Girls - Filler

Studied these girls in a London comprehensive, the girls maintained a positive self image by rejecting teachers stereotypes of them. They were determined to succeed and didn't seek teachers approval.

Black and Asian Students - Mac An Ghaill

Studied these students at a sixth form and found they did not necessarily accept teachers negative labels.

Black Girls Strategies - Mirza

Found their strategies for dealing with teachers racism was not asking for help, which restricted opportunities. Even though they didn't accept labels, they were still disadvantaged as a result.

Institutional Racism

Sociologists say we must focus on institutional racism, discrimination against ethnic minorities that is built into the way institutions (e.g. schools) operate, rather than the intentions of individual teachers.

Critical Race Theory

CRT sees institutional racism as deep-rooted 'locked in' feature of the education system. CRT see the education systems as institutionally racist in several ways.

Ethnocentric Curriculum

Many sociologists argue that the curriculum of UK schools is ethnocentric. Troyna and Williams note that it gives priority to the white culture and English language. David argues that National Curriculum is a 'specifically British' curriculum that teaches the culture of the 'host community'. Ball sees the history curriculum in schools as recreating a mythical age of empire and past glories, ignoring black and Asian people's history. This may make minority groups feel they are not valued in education and diminishes their self esteem, having a negative effect on their achievement.

Selection and Segregation - Gillborn

Argues that marketization gives schools more scope to select pupils, negative stereotypes can influence decisions about admissions.

Assessment - Gillborn

Argues that assessment is rigged to validate the dominant white cultures superiority.

Access to Opportunities

Whites are twice as likely to be identified as gifted and talented than black pupils. Tikly and Strand found blacks were more likely to be entered for lower tier exams, because of teachers expectations and as they were in lower sets.

The New IQism

Secondary schools are increasingly using old style intelligence (IQs) to allocate pupils to different streams on entry. Black pupils are more likely to be placed in lower streams as a result.