Ethnicity and Achievement - External Factors

Question 1

Material Deorivation

Answer 1

• Bangladeshi and Pakistani often don’t do well because they suffer from material deprivation.
• Chinese and Indian students tend to come from middle class families, so they have economic capital.

Question 2

Cultural Deprivation

Answer 2

• Gypsy and traveller community generally do not value an education system run by non-gypsies.
• They tend to see education as unimportant, as success at school is not necessary to achieve their goals.
• The priority of the boys is to find a manual job and earn a living.
• Priority of the girls is to look good and find a husband.
• Chinese and Indian families tend to see education as important. They are middle class families cultural capital.

Question 3

Family Structure

Answer 3

• Black Caribbean boys don’t do as well as black Caribbean girls because they lack a male role model.
• BC children live in female-headed single parent families.
• Mum is a positive role model for daughters, motivates them to work hard.

Question 4

Language

Answer 4

• Bangladeshi students don’t hear English at home. EAL is a barrier to success.
• If english isn’t spoken at home, it puts students at a disadvantage.
• This isn’t as much a problem for Eastern Europeans moving to the UK because they tend to learn English at school in their home country.

Question 5

Discrimination in Wider Society

Answer 5

• Racism has led to certain groups experiencing greater rates of poverty, unemployment, poor health and over-representation in prisons.
• Discrimination leads to lower aspirations in some ethnic groups such as Pakistanis and BC.
• Discrimination may make them feel like theres no point in trying.
• Employers will openly discriminate based on assumptions (not considering someone with a foreign names.)
• Children may not want to try hard because they think they’ll only be able to get low paid, low status jobs.