Ethnic differences in achievement (I) Flashcards
(17 cards)
1
Q
What are the internal factors based on individual racism that affect achievement?
A
- labelling
- pupil identities
- pupil responses
2
Q
How does labelling and teacher racism affect achievement?
A
- interactionists studies show that teachers often label black & Asian pupils as being far from ‘the ideal pupil’ e.g. black people seen as disruptive & Asian students seen as passive
- these labels may lead teachers to treat children from MEB differently
3
Q
How do Gillborn & Youdell show the impact of labelling on black pupils?
A
- they found that teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour
- they argue that this is as a result of teachers ‘racialised expectations’
- found that teachers expected black pupils to present more discipline problems & misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening or challenging authority
- pupils responded negatively, and this causes underachievement as it leads to:
- higher rates of exclusions
- black boys being placed in lower streams or sets
4
Q
How do Gillborn & Youdell show the effect of streaming on black pupils?
A
- e.g. Gillborn & Youdellfound that in the ‘A to C’ economy teachers focus on those students who they believe are most likely to achieve a Grade C at GCSE, a process they call ‘educational triage’
- negative stereotypes about pupils ability that teachers hold means they are more likely to be placed in lower streams
- results in a self-fulfilling prophecy of underachievement
5
Q
Evaluation of Gillborn and Youdell on teacher labelling & streaming
A
- pupils can resist label e.g. fullers study
- Sewell argues that racism within schools is not powerful enough to prevent individuals from succeeding rather its external factor > peer groups and family
- Sewell > there are a variety of pupil responses, not all give up to teachers expectations e.g. conformists & innovators
6
Q
How does Wright’s study show the effect of labelling on Asian pupils?
A
- Asian peoples can also be victims of teachers labelling
- found that teachers held ethnocentric views (British culture> superior)
- this affected how they related to pupils as they assumed they would have a poor grasp of English > used simplistic language
- Asian pupils also felt isolated when teachers mispronounced their names
- saw them as problem that they could ignore
- as a result, Asian pupils were marginalised & prevented from participating fully affecting their self esteem
7
Q
How does pupil identities affect ethnic differences in achievement?
A
- teachers often define pupils as having stereotypical identities
- Archer> teachers dominant discourse defines MEG pupils identities as lacking the favoured identity of the ideal pupil
- Ideal pupil identity > white, m/c, masculinised identity & heterosexual > achieved in the right way through ability
- pathologized pupil identity > an Asian ‘deserving poor’ feminised identity > seen as conformist & overachiever > achieved through hard work
- Demonised pupil identity > white or black w/c hyper-sexualised identity > seen as unintelligent & a under achiever
8
Q
How does pupils response (FULLER) affect ethnic differences in achievement?
A
- research suggest that pupils can respond to teacher racism & negative labelling in a variety of ways e.g. becoming disruptive or withdrawn or rejecting label
- Fuller study of black girls who were high achievers but instead of accepting negative teacher labels the girls challenged their anger into the pursuit of educational success > negative labelling does not always lead to failure
9
Q
How does pupils response (SEWELL) affect achievement
A
- Sewell notes how responses to schooling e.g. racist stereotyping from teachers can affect achievement > response
- rebels> small minority of black pupils who conformed to anti-school ‘black-macho lad’, rejected both goals & rules of school
- conformists> largest group, who were keen to succeed & accepted schools goals
- innovators > pro education but anti-school > conformed only in schoolwork
- Sewell argues a small minority fit in the rebels > teachers see all black boys this way which contributes to their underachievement
10
Q
Evaluation of pupils response to labelling
A
- not all students fit neatly into categories, responses may change
- can’t generalize Sewell & Fullers findings due to small sample
- emphasis on how students respond shifts the burden on the individual (victim blaming) rather than addressing (policy reform) the issues that created the problem e.g. **Gillborn **> institutional racism
11
Q
What do critical race theorists argue about the education system?
A
- see institutional racism as an ingrained feature of the ES
- Gillborn > sees ethnic inequality as so deeply rooted & large that and thus an inevitable feature of the education system
12
Q
What are the internal factors based on institutional racism that affect achievement?
A
- marketisation & segregation
- ethnocentric curriculum
- assessment
- access to opportunities & the ‘new IQism’
13
Q
How has marketisation & segregation affected ethnic achievement?
A
- Gillborn > marketisation creates system of covert selection which allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about admissions
- e.g. selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, where minorities fail to get into better schools due to discrimination e.g. primary school reports used to screen out pupils with language difficulties
- BARTLETT > silt shift & cream skimming
- procedures favour white people & leads to an ethnically stratified education system
- link to A-C economy here
14
Q
Evaluation of Marketisation & segregation affecting achievement
A
Ball supports > argues that policies like league tables encourage schools to prioritize high achieving pupils to boost rankings > ethnic minorities silt shifted into low performing schools
- ethnic minorities can resist challenges
15
Q
How does the ethnocentric curriculum & assessment affect ethnic differences in achievement?
A
- curriculum gives priority to the culture & viewpoint of one ethnic group while disregarding others
- e.g. ignores the history, language, literature of Asian & Black people
- MEG feel that their identity & their culture is not valued in education as the image of them in history is inferior > this undermines their self-esteems & leads to their failure
- Gillborn > assessment game is rigged to validate dominant cultures superiority
- if black people succeed the rules will be changed to re-engineer their failure e.g. the change to new test FSP (based on teacher judgements) which had black children now ranked low compared to them being high achievers before
EVAL : ASIANS ( NDIAN & CHINESE) STILL ACHIEVE HIGH DESPITE CURRICULUM CHANGES/ ETHNOCENTRIC CURRICULUM
16
Q
How does access to opportunities and the new IQism affect ethnic achievement?
A
- gifted & talented programme > created to meet needs of more able pupils in inner city schools > Gillborn points that OS show white pupils are over twice as likely than black pupils to be identified as gifted & talented
- black people still more likely than white pupils to be entered into lower tier GCSE
- Gillborn >access to opportunities depend on teachers assessments of a pupils ability (New IQism) ( teachers have racialised expectations)
- use old style IQ tests as they believe potential can be measured > black ppls likely to be placed in lower streams as a result
17
Q
Evaluation of how access to opportunities & new IQism has affected ethnic achievement
A
- critics argue that there is overachievement of model minorities such as Asian pupils who do better than the white majority > education system cannot be institutionally racists as the critical race theorists claim
- improvement in training has increased awareness of biases so unlikely the new IQism influences achievement
- changes in educational policy e.g. multicultural education & assimilation policies
