Differential Achievement- Ethnicity

Question 1

What are the external factors?

Answer 1

Cultural deprivation
-Family structure, and parental support
-Attitude and values
-Intellectual and linguistic skills

Material deprivation

Racism in wider society

Question 2

What are the internal factors?

Answer 2

Racialised expectations
Pupils subcultures and responses
ethnocentric curriculum
Institutional racism
Marketisation policies and selection
Assessment game and new IQism

Question 3

Ao1 material deprivation

Answer 3

Some sociologists have argued that ethnic differences stems from material differences when we look at statistics we find that Pakistani and Bangladesh are three times more likely to be homeless and that unemployment is three times higher for African Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistanis than it is for white people

There are several reasons why some ethnic minorities may be at risk of material deprivation This includes the lack of language skills or foreign qualifications which are not recognised or racial discrimination
These inequalities parallel those seen in educational achievement

Question 4

Ao3 material deprivation

Answer 4

The government have introduced policies to tackle this problem, for example, equal opportunity registration

Question 5

Ao1 cultural deprivation, family structure

Answer 5

Moynihan believe that because many black families are headed by lone mothers the children are deprived of adequate care
This is a cycle as black children fail and become inadequate parents themselves
For example, boys are deprived of a male father role

Question 6

Ao3 cultural deprivation, family structure

Answer 6

Pilkington argues that cultural explanation should be approached with caution

There is a danger of ethnocentrism in viewing other cultures as inferior, just because they’re different, but they distract from failings in the education system

Question 7

Ao1 cultural deprivation, lack of parental support

Answer 7

Sewell argues that it’s not the absence of fathers as role models that leaves black boys underachieving it is the lack of fatherly nurturing or tough love
This results in Black Boys finding it hard to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence. The reason they join Street gangs is so that they can be offered loyalty and love.

Question 8

Ao3

Cultural deprivation, lack of parental support

Answer 8

Gilborn argues that it’s not peer pressure but institutional racism that fails a large number black boys

Question 9

Ao1 cultural deprivation, attitudes and values for black families

Answer 9

Cultural deprivation theorists argue that black children are not socialised into the mainstream culture. This causes them to underachieve. An example of this is that they gain fatalistic attitudes that does not value education.

Question 10

Ao1 and Ao3
cultural deprivation, attitude and values for Asian families

Answer 10

Driver and Ballards research suggest that Asian families have high aspirations for their children as the place, a high value on education passing on an ‘ high Asian work ethic’
Lupton that adult authority in Asian families as similar to the way schools operate, she found respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from children
An example of this was that high value was placed on education and going to the top universities and getting top jobs was important

Ao3
This is not explain why Pakistani pupils perform below average at GCSEs

Question 11

Ao1 and Ao3 cultural deprivation, intellectual and linguistic skills, Asian students

Answer 11

Ao1
There is a few that children who do not speak English at home, they may be held back in education and the psi study found that a lack of fluency in English was a significant problem for some group
However, there was also important gender differences, nearly all men spoke English fluently between a fifth of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women were not fluent

Ao3
Official statistics show that this is not a major factor, for example in 2010 pupils with English as a first language were only 3.2 points ahead of those without English
Gilborn and Mirza point out that the very high attainment of Indian pupils suggests that having English as a second language is not a major barrier

Question 12

Ao1 and Ao3 cultural deprivation, intellectual and linguistic skills, black students

Answer 12

Berieter and Engelmann considered language spoken by low income black families as inadequate for social success
School is conducted with a elaborated code, so they will not have the skills needed for educational success
An example of this is that they will speak in restricted code. This is ungrammatical and disjointed. They will be incapable of expressing their ideas.

Ao3
It is not just the external factors which influences children’s achievement, but also internal school factors, which are failing to teach elaborate code

Question 13

Ao1
Racism in wider society

Answer 13

Racism helps to explain why ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty and have low pay jobs
Mason claims that discrimination is a persistence experience of minorities that live in Britain
Wood et al sent three closely matched applications to 1000 job vacancies he found and only 1 in 16 ethnic minority applications got interview against 1 in 9 white applications.
This helps to explain why ethnic minorities are more likely to face unemployment and low pay, and this has negative effects on their children’s educational prospects

Question 14

Ao3 racism in wider society

Answer 14

Equal opportunity legislations change this and help to tackle the problem and equality act Insures that ethnic minorities are given a fair chance

Question 15

Ao1 racialised expectations

Answer 15

Mac an Ghail found that teachers hold racialised expectations of students that may affect how they treat pupils leading to inequality of opportunity.
Gilborn and Youdell argue that racism continues to play important part in disadvantaging ethnic minorities in the education system.
For example they found that teachers expect black students to have discipline problems and that their behavior is see as threatening or challenging authority.

Question 16

Ao3 racialised expectations

Answer 16

Fullers research showed that labelling doesnt always lead to self fulfilling prophecy. The black girls in her research rejected the label and fought to prove their teachers wrong as they knew exams are external and they were able to succeed without the teachers help.

Question 17

Ao1 pupil responses and subculture

Answer 17

Sewell says taht not all black boys responses to schooling can affect their achievement and he identified 4 responses to negative negative labelling.
The rebels were the most visible group and they reject both the goals and the rules in schools and form an anti school subculture.
The conformist- They are the largest group and they were keen to succeed and they avoided being stereotyped.
The retreatists- Small minority, isolated individuals and not part of any subculture.
Innovators- Value success but dont seek teacher approval

Only a small minority fit the stereotype of the black macho lads but teachers tend to view all black boys this way contributing to their underachievement.

Question 18

Ao3
pupil responses and subcultures

Answer 18

Sewell argues that factors external to school are more important to their under achievement.
For example the lack of father figure and peer pressures

Question 19

Ao1 institutional racism

Answer 19

Racism within the workings of the school explains ethnic differences in the educational system.
Institutional racism is discrimination that is built into the way that institutions operate. For example Hatcher found that schools place low priority with dealing with race issues and failed to tackle racial bullying. This shows that internal working of schools reinforces the inequality between different ethnic minorities.

Question 20

Ao3 institutional racism

Answer 20

Smith and Tomlinson found school to be tolerant of ethnic minorities with the lack of antagonism between students from different ethnic groups

Question 21

Ao1 ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 21

Subjects such as English literature, history and religious studies have been accused of being ethnocentric.
This means that they give priority to white cultures and tend to portray it as superior to others for example the national curriculum does not include black history and only european languages are taught.
This could lead to low self esteem and low motivation as they feel left out and have no sense of solidarity which negatively affects achievement

Question 22

Ao3 ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 22

Asian still achieve above average this isnt a full explanation for differential achievement.
Stone argues that there is no evidence that black students actually suffer from low self esteem. Schools often now adopt a multi cultural approach opposed to being ethnocentric

Question 23

Ao1 Marketisation policies and selection

Answer 23

Racism continues to disadvantage ethnic minorities because the education system is given a scope to select students
It allows for negative stereotypes to influence decisions and the working class are more likely not to be selected because of their underachievement .
Indian and Chinese are over achievers so they will have high chance of being selected so schools can improve league tables positions.