Differential Educational Achievement 3.Ethnicity It is not a simple case of ethnic minorities not doing well at school. There are many variations between

Differential Educational Achievement 3.Ethnicity

It is not a simple case of ethnic minorities not doing well at school.

There are many variations between and within ethnic groups

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Differential Educational Achievement 3. Ethnicity

• Britain is said to be a multicultural society – but what does this mean?

• Modern Britain is made up of many different ethnic groups i.e. groups with shared traditions and history making them distinct from other groups.

• Statistics suggest that not all ethnic groups do equally well in education.

In a study by the Policy Studies Institute in 1997 Modhood et al found the following patterns in educational achievement:

• Chinese, African Asians and Indian groups were more qualified than whites.

• Ethnic minorities were more likely to stay on in education after 16 than whites

Differential Educational Achievement 3. Ethnicity

Modhood et al 1997

• Bangladeshi and Pakistani women were the least well qualified of all female groups and Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Afro-Caribbean men were the least well qualified of all male ethnic groups.

• Afro-Caribbean boys are more likely to be excluded from school and placed in lower streams than any other ethnic groups.

• It is important to remember that these are average statistics and therefore individual students can go against the trend of their respective ethnic groupings

Differential Educational Achievement 3. Ethnicity Modhood et al 1997

• Coard found evidence of low self esteem• amongst ethnic minorities. • He believed that schools made ethnic • minorities ‘feel inferior in every way’. • Black people and their achievements are ignored in the curriculum, ‘white’ is

associated with good and ‘black’ with evil. • This all led to low self esteem for ethnic minorities.• However this study is over 30years old and other researchers have argued that things

have much improved.

Differential Educational Achievement 3. Ethnicity Inside School factors Coard 1971

• Commission For Racial Equality 1988

• In a study at a school they called ‘Jayleigh’ the CRE found that teacher assessment meant that white pupils were entered for a greater number of GCSE’s than Asian students.

• Also, more Asian students were placed in lower sets throughout their school careers.However this study is over 30years old and other researchers have argued that things have much improved.

Differential Educational Achievement 3. Ethnicity Inside School factors

• Gillborn 1990• Gillborn found that labelling played a significant part in

the performance of different minority groups.• Teachers had different expectations of different ethnic

groups and particularly saw black males as more ‘trouble’


• Gillborn 1990• they were the ones more likely to challenge authority and consequently

more likely to be thrown out of lessons and ultimately excluded from school. • Gillborn called this the ‘myth of the black challenge’ and the labelling led to

a self-fulfilling prophecy.• However this study is 20 years old and other researchers have argued that

things have much improved.


• Wright 1992• Wright found evidence of institutional racism in the policies and attitudes of education.

• Even though teachers in her study were committed to equal opportunities they gave less attention to Asian girls

• (particularly in class discussions where wrong assumptions were made about their English not ‘being good enough’)

• and punished Afro-Caribbean boys more and sent them out of class.


Mason 1995 • Mason says that education is not ‘racist’ but it is

ethnocentric• (i.e. showing an ignorance and disregard for other cultures) • consequently non white cultures are not promoted despite

the modern emphasis on ‘multi-culturalism’


Mirza 1992• Mirza found that negative labelling did not necessarily lead to low

self esteem for ethnic minority students. • She found that black girls had positive self images and high

aspirations. • Some teachers were well meaning but paradoxically held back black

girls by over compensating for them and not pushing them enough.


Mac An Ghaill 1992• Mac An Ghaill studied 25 Afro-Caribbean and Asian A level students and

found that all had experienced some problems due to racism in school but had adopted ‘survival strategies’ to deal with them.

• They avoided teachers with particular reputations, kept their heads down in some lessons and confided in other teachers whom they trusted. The most successful students were the ones who learnt to steer themselves through these obstacles.


Swann Report 1985• This report found that social and economic factors were the

most important explanations for some ethnic minority groups failing in education.

• Levels of poverty, standards of housing and parental involvement were far more important than any IQ differences.

Differential Educational Achievement 3. Ethnicity Outside School factors

Driver and Ballard (1981)- Language

• Found that Asian children whose first language was not English were as good at English as their class mates by the age of 16.

• Labelling theorists have argued that accent rather than language has influenced teacher expectations and lead to negative labeling.

• Also European languages are seen as superior to non European languages, French and German are given a higher status than Chinese or Gujarati.


Cultural Deprivation• As with social class, cultural deprivation (the idea that working class and

ethnic minorities are deprived of the values needed for school success) has been cited as a reason for the failure of some ethnic minorities.

• However, Pryce attacked this in 1979 and stated that many Afro-Caribbean parents did take a large interest in their children’s education and sent them to extra schooling sessions on Saturday mornings


Smith And Tomlinson 1989• argue that class background of pupils was more important than

ethnicity in explaining poor academic success.• Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afro-Caribbean groups are more likely

to be in lower social class positions • whereas Chinese, African Asian and Indian groups are more likely

to be in higher social class positions.


Driver & Ballard 1981 - Family Life

• suggest that the tight knit extended families and high parental expectations amongst Asian communities are significant factors in academic success.

• Lupton 2004 agrees and says that the respectful nature of Asian parent-child relationship helps in the pupil-teacher role

• Others point to the high percentage of single families in Afro-Caribbean families and the resulting material deprivation as being significant.


• Conclusion• Mac An Ghaill says that we need to move away from mono-causal explanations and look at the inter-relationship of class,

gender and ethnicity.• Gillborn and Gipps 1996 argue that terms such as ‘white’ ‘black’ ‘Asian’ etc prevent a real understanding of the differences.

Such terms are social creations and are no longer useful. • Many English people would see their culture as very different from Polish people yet could be lumped together under the

banner ‘whites’. • Similarly the terms ‘Black’ or ‘Asian’ cover a whole host of groups with different culture, language identity etc.• Post Modernists take this further and suggest that society is so diverse it is impossible to explain educational attainment in

terms of such categories as class, gender, ethnicity etc. • Generalisations do more harm than good

• We need to make more of an attempt to understand the complex nature of culture and identity in modern society


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Differential Educational Achievement 3.Ethnicity It is not a simple case of ethnic minorities not doing well at school. There are many variations between