Ethnicity

Question 1

What is race?

+ what is ethnicity?

Answer 1

grouping by physical or genetic traits

+ people who share common history, customs & identity and in most cases, language and religion

Question 2

What are the three main perspectives on ethnicity & race?

Answer 2

1) Functionalist
- ethnic & race differences exist as this performs an important function in society
- we can use these to categorise people

2) Conflict
- racism is about exploitation of minorities
- way of dividing the group to reduce power

3) Interactionism
- labelling reduces complex individuals to stereotypes

Question 3

What are the trends in the UK surrounding ethnicity & educational achievement?

Answer 3

1) African-Caribbean students are generally low achievers compared to other ethnic groups
2) Black male pupils are most likely to be excluded from schools than any other minority
3) Chinese & Indian pupils outperform all other ethnic groups at GCSE & A-Level
4) Pakistani heritage pupils perform the most poorly out of Asian minorities
5) Gypsy/Roma pupils are the lowest achievers in GCSEs
6) White WC boys have demonstrated the least improvement in GCSE results since 2000
7) white students slip to 13th place by the time they take their GCSEs
8) girls in all ethnic groups do better than boys

Question 4

EXTERNAL FACTORS

What is the material deprivation theory for BAME underachievement?

Answer 4

• BAME groups in the UK are more likely to experience poverty because adults are more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid jobs
• their families are more likely to occupy poor-quality & over-crowded housing in economically depressed areas w severe social problems
• poverty experienced by BAME families is often underpinned by racism

Question 5

What studies support the material deprivation theory?

Answer 5

+ (Palmer) over 50% of BAME children live in low-income families
+ Bangladeshi & African-Carribean boys are twice as likely to be excluded from school
+ (Ireson & Rushforth) BAME parents from higher economic backgrounds use their higher income to hire private tutors for their kids
+ Bangladeshi families are the most likely to be low-income yet are not the highest claimants of FSM

Question 6

What are some evaluative points for the material deprivation theory?

Answer 6

• (Stokes et al) BAME pupils often perform better than white pupils from the same backgrounds. However (Gillbourn) found white boys are 3x as likely to achieve 5 GCSEs compared to Gypsy/Roma kids
• some feminists argue gender may be more important than social class as an influence on educational performance
• BAME pupils are more likely to go to university than white pupils

Question 7

What is the cultural deprivation theory for BAME underachievement?

Answer 7

• argue children benefit from culture & parental attitudes that value education highly & respect teachers (Asian families)
• argue some black children are socialised into a fatalistic & immediate gratification subculture
• argue African-Carribean boys lack a positive male role model so they may turn to deviant role models e.g gangs (these tend to be anti-authority & especially anti-school)

Question 8

What studies support the cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 8

+ (Archer & Francis) Chinese parents see education as a ‘family project’ and invest lots of time & money into it
+ (Sewell) claims African-Carribean boys w single-mothers lack the discipline of a father so may be attracted to gangs
+ (Pryce) Asians are higher achievers as their culture is more resistant to racism & cohesive
+ (Bereiter & Engelmann) language barrier is an issue
+ (Lupton) looked at 4 different mainly WC schools- teachers reported poorer behaviour in the white WC schools
+ (McCulloch) suggested white WC students have lower aspirations

Question 9

What are some evaluative points for the cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 9

• (Lawrence) black pupils underachieve because of racism
• (Evans) white boys’ achievement levels have fallen whilst BAME pupils’ has risen
• (Keddie) minorities underachieve as schools are ethnocentric e.g Ebacc
• CE policies are imposing white culture
• Indian children (less likely to come from LI families) do much better than Bangladeshi children in school (MD is the issue)
• BAME students who are EAL can still do as well (Gladstone Primary)
• media presents a negative portrayal for many BAME people- lack of encouragement