Education- ethnic differences in achievement

Why do cultural deprivation theorists see the lack of intellectual and linguistic skills as a major cause of underachievement amongst minority children?

They arguue many chidren from low-income black families lack intellectual information and enriching experiences. This leaves them poorly equipped for school as they have been unable to develop reasoning and problem solving skills. 

What do Bereiter and Engelmann argue about the language sopken by black families?

They see the language spoken by low-income black American families as inadeqate for educational success. They see its ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas.

What do official statistics show about children in education witthout English as their first language?

Official statistics show that children not having English as their first labguage is not a major factor in underachievement. For example, in 2010 children with English as there first language were only 3.2 points ahead of those without English as their first language, when it came to gaining 5 GCSE passes.

How do the attitudes and values of black children and families cause underachievement?

Cultural deprivation theorists see a lack of motivation as a major cause for the failure of black children. Some black children are socialised into a subculture which instils a fatalistic live for today attitude which does not value education and leaves then unequipped for educational success.

What does the failure to socialise children adequately lead to?

A dysfunctional family structure.

What does Moynihan argue about the structure of black families?

Because many black families are headed by a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care as she has to struggle financially due to the absence of a male breadwinner. The fathers absence also means the boys lack an adequate role model for achievement.

How does Moynihan argue cultural deprivation is a cycle?

Moynihan sees cultural deprivation as a cycle where inadequately socialised children from unstable families go onto to fail at school and become inaequate parents themselves.

How does Murray argue black family structures leads to underachievement?

He argues the high rate of lone parenthoof and a lack of positive male role models leads to the underachievment of some minorities. 

How does Pryce see the family stucture of black Caribbean pupils as resulting in underachievement?

He argues that the black caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resitent to racism. Therefore many black pupils have low self-esteem and underachieve. He argues that the experience of slavery was culturally devastating to black people. Being transported inyo slavery meant that they lost their language, religion and entire family system.

What does Sewell argue about the absence of black fathers and underachievement?

Sewell sees the problem as a lack of fatherly nuturing or tough love. This results in black boys finding it difficult to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.

What is offered in the absence of a nuturing father and how does this negatively impact black boys educational achievement?

In the absence of nuturing fathers street gangs of other fatherless boys offer black boys perverse loyalty and love. These present the boys with a media-inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity, whose ideal is described as the ultra tough ghetto superstar. Therefore, many black boys are subject to powerful anti-educational peer group pressure- most of the academically sucessful black boys Sewell interviewed felt that the greatest barrrier to success was pressure from the other boys. 

According to Sewell why do black boys do worse than their Asian counterparts?

Because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes towards education- whilst one group is being nurtured by MTV the other is clocking up educational hours.

How does Gillborn critcise Sewell?

He argues it is not peer pressure but institutional racism within the education system which systematically produces the failure of many black boys.

How do Asian families differ from black families?

In Sewells view Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have and Asian work ethic and place a high value on education.

Lupton argues that adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools. She found respectful behaviour towards adults was expected of children, parents were therefore more likely to be supportive of educational policies.

Why do white working-class children unerachieve?

It is argued that white working-class children have a low level of aspiration and achievement which may be due to a lack of parental support. They are less likely than minority pupils to aspire to go to university.

How does Lupton's research support the idea of white working-class underachievement?

Lupton studied four mainly working class schools- 2 perfominantly white, one serving a largely Pakistani community and the other ethnically mixed. She found teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour in the white worrking class schools. Teachers blamed this on the low level of parent support and the negative attitude white working-class parents held towards education. 

What polciy has been adopted to help tackle cultural deprivation?

Compensatory education- for example operation headstart which was put in place to compenstate children for the cultural deficit they are said to suffer from due to deprived backgrounds.

How can the cultural deprivation theory be criticised?

• Driver critcises the theory for ifnoring the postive effects of ethncitiy on achievement. He argues black families are far from beng dysfucntional and provide girls with positive role models of strong independent women. 
• Lawrence criticises Pryce, he argues black pupils unerachieve due to racism not a low self-esteem.
• Keddie sees cultural deprivation as victim blaming. She argues that minority children are clturally different not culturally deprived. She argues they underachieve due to schools being ethnocentric. 

According to palmer in what way do ethic minority groups experience material deprivation?

• 1/2 of al ethnic minority chidren live in low income households.
• Ethnic minorities are twice as likely to be unemployed compared with whites.
• Ehnic minority households are 3 x more likely to be homeless. 
• Half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earned under £7 per hour, compared with a quater of white British workers.

According to Palmer why are ethnic minority groups at a greater risk of material deprivation?

• Many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wage rates.
• Cultural factors such as the tradition of prudah in some Muslim households, which prevents women from working outside the home.
• A lack of langage skills and foreign qualifications not being recognised by UK employers. 
• Assylum seekers are not allowed to take work.
• Racial discriminaon in the labour market and housing market. 

What is poverty a factor of?

Racism.

How does racial discrimination and social exclusion worsen the poverty faced by ethnic minorities?

In housing for example, discrimation means that minorities are more likely to be forced in substandard accomidation than white people. 

There is also evidence of direct and delibrate discrimination in employment. Wood et al sent 3 closely matched job applications to each of 1,000 job vacancies. These came from applicants using names associated with different ethnic groups. One application appeared to come from a white person and the other 2 from ethnic minorities for each job, he found only 1 in 16 ethnic minority applicants were offered an interview oppose to 1 in 9 white applicants. This explains why ethnic minorities are more likely to face unemplyment and low pay, which in turn has a negativ e effect on childrens educational propspects.

How are ethnic minority pupils labelled?

They are labelled as being far from the ideal pupil. E.g. black pupils are seen as disruptive are Asian pupils are seen as passive. These labels lead to educational failure.

What did Gillborn and Youdell's research show about the impact of labelling on black pupils?

They found that teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour. Gillborn and Youdell argue that this is a result of teachers racialised expecations, teachers expected black pupils to presnet more discipline problems and misinterprted their behaviour as threatening or a challenge to authority. When teachers acted on this misperception pupils responded negatively and it resulted in further conflict. Therefore balck pupils felt like teachers underestimated their ability and picked on them. Gillbon and Youdell conclude that much of the conflict between white teachers and black pupils stems from racial stereotypes teachers hold, rathe than pupils behaviour. 

How does the streaming of black pupils lead to educational underacheivement according to Foster?

Foster found that teachers stereotypes of black pupils as badly behave culd result in them being placed in lower sets that other pupils of a similar ability. Streaming blaack pupills on the basis of negative stereotype abbouut their ability or behaviour can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy of underachievement. 

How are Asian pupils also victims of teacher labelling according to Wright?

Wrights study of multi-ethnic primary schools shoes that Asain pupils can be victims of teacher labelling. Despite the schools apparent commitment to equal opportunities, teachers held ethnocentric views. This affectted how they related to Asian pupils, for example teachers assued they would have a poor grasp of English and left them out of class discussions or uused simplistic, childish language when speaking to them. Asian pupils felt isolated when teachers expressed disapproval of their customs or mispronpounced their names. Teachers saw Asian pupils as a problem which they could ignore. 

According to Archer what do teachers have?

A dominant discourse (way of seeing something) which defines ethnic minority pupils identities as lacking tthe favoured identitiy of an ideal pupil. 

What are the 3 pupil identities the dominant discourse constructs?

• The ideal pupil identity- a white, middle class, masculinised indentity, with a normal sexuality. This pupil is seen as achieving in the right way throuhg natural ability and intiative.
• The pathologised pupil indentity: an asian, feminised indentity, a sexual or withh an opressed sexuality, pupil is seen as a conformist and culture bound overachiever, a slogger who achieves through hard work.
• The demonised pupil identitiy-  black or white, working class, hyper-sexualised identity. Pupil is seen as unintelligent, peer-led, culturally deprived underachiever.

What pupil indentities do ethnic minority groups have?

A patholgised or demonised identity, for example black pupils are demonised as loud, challenging, excessively sexual and with uninspirational home cultures.

How did teachers view Chinese pupils according to archer?

Chinese students were seen as sucessful, but they were seen as having achieved success in the wrong way- through hardworking, passive conformation rather than natural individual ability. This meant they could never legitimately occupy the indentity of ideal pupil. Teachers view of them was a negative positive stereotype. They see Asain pupils as iverachieveing, since proper achievement is seen to be by the ideal pupil.

How did teachers stereotype Asian families?

They stereotyped Asian families as tight and close, and used this eo explain girls passitvity, they also wrongly assumed that chinese pupils were middle class. 

What are the different ways in which pupils respond to labels?

They may respond by becoming disruptive or withdrawn. Alternatively they may refuse to accpet the label and may prove it wrong by hard work.

How does Fuller's study of black girls show an example of responding to abels by rejecting them?

The group of year 11 girls, were untypical because they were high acievers in a school werebalck girls were placed in low streams. Instead of accpeting tthe negative stereotypes, the girls chanelled their anger about being labelled into a pursui of educational success. Unlike oher succesful pupils they did not seek the approval of teachers whom they regared as racist. They did not limit their friends to other academic achievers- they wee friends with girls in lower streams. Unlike other successful pupils they only conformed as far as schoolwork itself, they worked conscientiously but gave the appearance of not doing so, and showed a deliberate lack of concern about school rountines. Instead of teahcer approval they relied on thwie own efforts and the external exams. The girls behaviourwas a way of dealinf with the demands of suceeding at schol while remaining friends with black girls of lower streams and black boys. This shows that a lable does not inevitably produce a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

What are the three types of teacher racism according to Mirza?

• The colour blind- teachers who believe all pupils are equal but in practice allow racism to go unchallenged.
• The liberal chauvinists- teachers who believe black pupils are culturally deprived and have low expectations of them.
• The over racists- teachers who belive blacks are inferior and discriminate against them. 

What did Mizra's study of teacher racism show about the effect on pupils?

Mizra found that racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitious through the kind of advice they gave tem about career and option choices. Therefore, much of the pupils time at school was spent trying to avoid the effects of teachers negative attitudes. This included being selective about staff they asked for help, getting on with individual work and not taking part in group work. This restriced their opportunities and they were unsucessful.

What are the four responses black boys have to schooling according to Sewell?

• The rebels- most visible and influential gorup, but were a small minority of black pupils. They rejected both the goals and rules of the school, and expressed their opposition through peer group membership, conforming to the stereotype of anti-school. They believed in their own superioriity base o the diea that black masculinity equates with sexual experience and virtility. 
• The conformists- largest group. These boys were keen to sucees and accpeted the schools goals and had friends from different ethnic groups. They were naxious to avoid being stereotyped by teachers or their peers.
• The retreatists- minoority of isolated individuals, who were disconnected from both school and black subcultures, they were despised by the rebels.
• The innovators- 2nd largest group. They were pro-education but anti-school. They valued sucess but only conformed as far as schoolwork this allowed them to maintain credability with the rebels. 

How can labelling be criticsed?

• There is a danger of seeing stereotypes as the produuct of iindividual teacher prejudices, rather than the institutional racism of the education system
• There is also a dnager of assuming that one labelled pupils are automatically fall victim to the self-fulfilling prophecy and fail.

What is the critical race theory?

The critical race theory sees racism as an ingrained feature of society. It involves the intentional actions of individuals and institutional racism. 

How does Gillborn apply the concept of locked-in inequality to education?

He sees ethnic inequality as so deep rooted and so large that it is an inevtiable feature of the education system. 

How does marketisation effect discrimnation in the education system according to Gillborn?

Marketisation gives schools scope to select pupils, therefore allowing for negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions. 

How is Gillborns view of discrimiation being caused by amrkketisiation supported by Moore and davenports research?

They show how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination. E.g. they found that primay schools used to screen out pupils with language difficulties, and the application process was difficult for non-english speaking parents to understand. Selection therefore leads to an ethnically stratified education system. 

What is the ethnocentric curriculum?

It is a curriculum tht reflects the culture of one thnic group- normally the dominant culture. The ethnocentric curriculum is an example of institutional racism as it builds racial bias into everday workings of schools and colleges.

What examples are there of the ethnocentric curriculum?

• Languages, literature and music- The national curriculum is specifically British and ignores non-European langauges, literature and music. 
• History- the national curriculum only teaches English history promoting an attitude of little Englandism. 

According to Coard how does the ethnocnetric curriculum produce underachievement?

The ethnocentric curriculum produces underachievement, as in hsitory for example black people are seen as inferiorwhich undermines blackk childrens self-esteem and leads to their failure. 

How can the ethnocentric curriculum be criticised?

It does not explain why Asian, Indian and Chinese pupils achievement is above national average. 

How does new assessment methods disadvantage black pupils?

If black children suceed as a group the rules will b changed eo re-engiineer failure. For example, basline assessment were replaced by the foundation stage profile. This therefore, overnight made it look like balck pupils were the lowest achievers. This is due to institutional racism, as the FSP is based purely on teacher judgements, where as the basline assessment used written tests too. The FSP is also done at the end of the year rather than at the start like baseline assessments. This inceases the risk of teachers stereotyping affecting results. 

How does access to opportunitites disadvanage black pupils?

• Gifted and talented programs- offocial statistics show that whites are twice as likely as black Caribbeans to be indentified as gifted and talented and five times more likely than black Africans.
• Exam tiers- blacks were more likely than whites to be entered for lower tier GCSE exams. This was often becuase black pupils had been put in lower sets.

How does the new IQism effect ethnic minority achievement according to Gillborn?

In the new IQism teachers and policymakers make false assumptions about the nature of pupils ability or potential. They see potential as a fixed quality which can be easily measured- once potential has been measured individuals can be put into the correct set or stream. IQ tests are noe being used more often to allocate pupils different streams. But for Gillborn there is no genuine measure of potential, all a test can do is measure what a pupil  has learnt or knows now not what they will know in the future. The education is instiutionally racist and constantly disadvnatages ethnic minorty pupils.

How does Sewell's view of black boys underachievement criticse Gillborns view of institutional racism within the education system?

Sewell rejects the view that racism is the maincause of underachievement, he arguues that racism is not strong enough to prevent pupils from achieveing. It is external factors which effect underachievement.

How does Indian and Chinese achievement criticse the idea that institutional racism cause underachivevement?

As well as the underachivement of black boys, there is the overachivement of Indian and chinese pupils. In other words, as Indian and Chinese pupils do so well how can the education system be institutionally racist.