DIFFERENTIAL EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT - Ethnicity

What is the achievement of Pakistani students?

58% with 5 passes at GCSE.

Below average reading skills.

Lower attainment.

Less likely to attain higher GCSE grades.

What is the achievement of African-Caribbean students?

63% with 5 passes at GCSE.

Below average reading skills.

More likely to be excluded.

Overrepresented in lower sets/special schools.

Less likely to stay on post-16.

What is the achievement of Indian students?

77% with 5 passes at GCSE.

More likely to attend university.

Higher GCSE + A-Level results.

More likely to stay on post-16.

What is the achievement of Chinese students?

85% with 5 passes at GCSE.

Most likely to be in top sets.

Best GCSE performance.

More likely to stay on post-16.

What is the achievement of Gypsy/Roma students?

15-21% with 5 passes at GCSE.

Higher exclusion rate.

Lower attendance - mainly girls.

Poor GCSE performance.

Below average reading skills.

Less likely to stay on post-16/18.

Overrepresented in lower sets.

More likely to do vocational courses.

What was Sewell’s study?

Teachers are more subconsciously biased towards black students so tell them off more frequently than they would white students who do the same behaviours. This leads to black students being labelled which causes self-fulfilling prophecies.

What is Hall’s ‘culture of reistance’?

Black boys experience so much racism in society and in the school system that they then reject school as a way of combating this racism, but ultimately it just causes them to live up to the stereotypes placed on them.

What do the Swann reports show?

Language differences affect educational achievement.

African-Caribbean students more likely to be in lone parent families.

Asian households have more families involvement due to community lifestyle.

Institutional racism is prevalent through teacher labelling.

What does the DfES stand for?

Department for Education and Skills.

What does the DfES find about differences in educational achievement?

There are more conflicts between white teachers and black students.

Language differences are often look down upon or penalised.

What did Bourdieu study?

Minorities are separated from British education due to lack of cultural capital so they do not relate to what they are taught - this is known as an ethnocentric curriculum.

What did Wright (1992) study?

African-Caribbean pupils are often labelled as ‘aggressive’ or as ‘troublemakers’.

What are internal factors that affect ethnic differences in educational achievement?

Labelling/Self-fulfilling prophecies

Institutional racism

School subcultures

Ethnocentric curriculum

Setting/Streaming

How does labelling/self-fulfilling prophecies affect ethnic differences in achievement?

There are higher expectations placed on Asian students which causes more pressure for them to achieve.

There is also subconscious racism towards African-Caribbean students which leads to self-fulfilling prophecies.

How does institutional racism affect ethnic differences in achievement?

More conflicts between white teachers and black students means that AC students are told off more and are seen as aggressive - self-fulfilling prophecies.

How do school subcultures affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Asians create pro-school subcultures whereas AC students create anti-school subcultures as a result of racism.

How does an ethnocentric curriculum affect ethnic differences in achievement?

There is a hidden curriculum which focuses on British culture that ethnic minorities may not be able to relate to.

How does setting/streaming affect ethnic differences in educational achievement?

There is an overrepresentation of AC and Gypsy-Roma pupils in lower sets - self-fulfilling prophecies.

What are external factors that affect ethnic differences in educational achievement?

Material/Cultural deprivation

Language

Primary socialisation

Parental involvement/Family life

External subcultures

How does material/cultural deprivation affect ethnic differences in achievement?

2/3 of Pakistani pupils are in poverty.

AC pupils 2x more likely to be disadvantaged.

Gypsy-Roma students are classified as disadvantaged.

Indian families are more likely to be middle-class.

How does language affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Having English as a Second Language can lead to negative labels, e.g. Creole being penalised for being ‘bad grammar/slang’.

Restricted code.

How does primary socialisation affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Different ethnic groups have different views/attitudes/behaviours towards school.

How does family life and parental involvement affect ethnic differences in achievement?

AC pupils are more likely to be in lone-parent families but parents are supportive when possible.

Asian families have big communities so there is lots of support however there is also more pressure for achievement.

How do external subcultures affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Hall’s ‘culture of resistance’ shows how racism in society creates subcultures which reject all institutions of oppression - including school.