Ethnicity and Educational Achievment

What are the patterns of Ethnic Minority attainment?  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  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?  David Gillborn (1990) believes a change of attitude is needed  “Educationalists speak of the underachievement of Afro- Caribbean 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?  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  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  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.