Transcript Ethnicity and Educational Achievment

Ethnicity and
Educational Achievment
What are the patterns of Ethnic
Minority attainment?
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An ethnic group is one that
sees itself and is viewed as
culturally distinct from other
groupings
Everyone belongs to an ethnic
group
Sociologists have been
concerned about wide gaps in
attainment between different
ethnic groups
Statistically, Chinese and
Indian pupils tend to do very
well educationally in this
country whereas black pupils
tend to very poorly
Statistical evidence
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In 2004, people from Bangladeshi, black Caribbean and Pakistani
groups were less likely than white British people to have a degree or
equivalent
Among men, Bangladeshis and black Caribbeans were the least
likely to have a degree (11% for each group)
Among women, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis were the least likely to
have a degree (5% and 10% respectively)
The groups most likely to have degrees were Chinese (31%), Indian
(25%) and White Irish (24%) compared to White British (17%)
These figures are drawn from young people recently educated in
British schools and colleges and have a high correlation with GCSE
results
Source: adapted from National Statistics on line
Why do some ethnic minorities
underperform?
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David Gillborn (1990) believes
a change of attitude is needed
“Educationalists speak of the
underachievement of AfroCaribbean pupils rather than
the underachievement of the
educational system”
In his view, school factors,
particularly teachers’ attitudes
and aspects of the curriculum
are crucial explanations of
different achievement patterns
though home factors do also
have some influence
What “home” factors have been
linked to attainment?
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Innate ability – some Psychologists such as Eysenck and Jensen,
claimed that American black people had lower intelligence than
white people. This was later discredited as the black students tested
came from more disadvantaged backgrounds than the white
students. The tests themselves were created by white people and
likely to favour white culture.
Language – Language differences may partly explain the lower
attainment of students born abroad. Even though they used the
English language, their use of English may be different due to
dialect. Coard (1971) suggested that white teachers often thought
that these children were stupid because they failed to respond
correctly to instructions.
How does this relate to Bernstein’s theory of “restricted and
elaborated codes” ?
Home factors continued
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The Swann Report (1985)
suggested that the tightly knit
Asian family structure may be
responsible for the high levels
of achievement in some Asian
groups such as Chinese. Few
women of Asian origin are
single mothers compared to
those of Afro-Caribbean or
white origin.
New Right commentators such
as Charles Murray associate
children of single parents with
underachievement
Acitivity
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Murray states that when mothers bring up their
children alone, often working as well, children
receive inadequate parental stimulation and
supervision and this leads to poor performance
at school.
 Task: Can you think of other reasons why
children of single parents might do less well at
school?
 Financial considerations may provide a clue.