ethnicity and educational outcomes (inside school)

Question 1

the ideal pupil; archer

Answer 1

Archer found that teachers saw white, middle class pupils with a ‘normal’ sexuality as the ideal pupil and most likely to succeed due to their natural ability and hard work. This is perceived to be ‘the right way’ to succeed

Question 2

demonised pupils; archer

Answer 2

Archer found that teachers saw Black pupils as unintelligent, peer led and culturally deprived. They assumed they would be likely to under-achieve and that they lacked aspiration to succeed in life. They also interpreted much of the pupils’ behaviour as aggressive and confrontational even if it was not intended to be so.

Question 3

assumptions about linguistic skills; wright

Answer 3

Wright found that teachers assume that Asian pupils have a poor grasp of English, and so they would leave them out of class discussion or speak in simple, childish language to them. The students were then isolated and marginalised from their classroom experience

Question 4

gillborn and youdell study

Answer 4

Found that teachers were quick to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour, this was based on ‘racialised expectations’. They found that teachers expected black pupils to present more discipline problems and misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening or as a challenge to authority. This then resulted in conflict

Question 5

self negating prophecy; fuller

Answer 5

Fuller studied a group of black girls in a London comprehensive school. Black pupils typically were low achievers in this school, but the group she focused her study on were untypical in that they were high achievers. Fuller described how instead of accepting the negative stereotypes placed on them, the girls channelled their anger and frustration at being labelled into achieving education success and proving their teachers wrong. They did not seek the approval of teachers and did not befriend other high achievers, but developed their own pro-education, anti-school subculture

Question 6

variety of boys responces; sewell

Answer 6

Sewell found that black boys respond in a variety of ways to the negative labels attached to them by teachers. The most common response he found was to ‘conform’ - to aim to succeed in education, avoid anti-school subcultures and to avoid negative stereotyping by teachers. The second most common response was to ‘innovate’ - like Fuller’s girls some of the boys formed pro-education, anti-school subcultures which valued success but did not seek approval from teachers.
Some boys responded to the negative label attached to them by ‘rebelling’ – they formed anti-school subcultures and rejected the school’s values. They also did not value educational success and instead valued misbehaving and talking back to teachers. The smallest group in Sewell’s study responded by ‘retreating’ – this group did not become part of the anti-school subcultures but they also did not engage with the aspirations and values of the school, and as such did not aspire to educational success

Question 7

marketisation and segregation; gillborn

Answer 7

argues that because marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions. His research showed how selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation, with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to racial discrimination.

Question 8

the ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 8

The term ethnocentric describes an attitude or policy which gives priority to the culture and viewpoint of one particular ethnic group, while disregarding others. The ethnocentric curriculum is one which reflects the culture of the dominant ethnic group