WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology Revision Guide

Ethnicity and educational achievement Chapter 3 Education 50 Look at the charts showing the percentage of pupils attaining A* to C in English and Maths GCSE by ethnicity found at https://www.ethnicity -facts-figures. service.gov.uk/education-skills- and-training/11-to-16-years-old/ percentage-achieving-a-c-in- english-and-maths/latest. What can you learn from them? What questions might sociologists want to ask after looking at these charts? What are some of the possible answers to these questions? AO2 Apply Take it further A recent study by UCL indicates that black pupils are more likely than white pupils to be in the bottom sets for Maths. Using your knowledge on class, ethnicity, labelling and streaming explain why some researchers believe that this is evidence that institutional racism still exists today in schools. Ethnic background and differences in educational achievement A child’s ethnicity can affect their educational achievement. Generally, children from Indian and Chinese backgrounds achieve higher at school than other ethnicities. In 2015–16, Chinese pupils were most likely to achieve A*–C in GCSE Maths and English whereas Gypsy/Roma pupils were the least likely. Bangladeshi andWest Indian children tend to underperform. Students from some ethnic minority groups in Britain, such as Chinese, Indian, Black African and Bangladeshi have significantly improved their grades over the last two decades. They are achieving higher than the national averages, pointing to improving social mobility from ethnic groups who have traditionally struggled to get good grades at GCSE. Link to textbook pp 96–101: Differences in attainment in ethnic groups Spec spotlight 3.2 Processes inside school affecting educational achievement 3.3 Patterns of educational achievement: patterns of attainment by ethnicity 3.4 Factors affecting educational achievement: ethnicity Reasons for different levels of educational achievement There can be different expectations of different ethnic minority groups – this is linked to labelling theory. According to David Gillborn teachers may negatively label black students. Afro-Caribbean children can be seen as a challenge to authority and are more likely to be excluded. They can be seen as less academic than children from other ethnic backgrounds. Teachers expect less, so black pupils are not as encouraged as others. In contrast, teachers may hold high expectations of Asian students as they can be considered to be more capable and hard working. Both can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. Hidden/ethnocentric curriculum – schools are structured in a particular way including such aspects as school assemblies, history and language which reflect the culture of the majority. The curriculum fits white, middle-class cultures. Students learn European languages, history lessons are focused on that culture, school holidays fit around certain times, especially religious festivals. Textbooks may have stereotypical views or ignore contributions of black people. IQ tests can be ethnocentric – sometimes they ask things that aren’t a test of your IQ but are a test of cultural knowledge. However, with the increase of multiculturalism some things may have got better – for example, more coverage of different cultures. Teachers from ethnic minorities are significantly under represented in schools. There are fewer role models and they are less likely to be in positions of authority. Ethnic minority teachers may be confined to teaching certain subjects, for example, offering language support to classroom teachers. This may give the impression that school is a ‘white’experience, so limiting their chance of success. Policies and attitudes of the school may be racist. This can include both intentional and unintentional racism. This attitude can come from teachers as well as other students. As a result of teacher’s attitudes, some black students may be more likely to be placed in lower sets or streams and to be entered for lower level papers. There is also the role of discrimination in setting – ethnic minorities are more likely to be in lower sets. Outside school factors Inside school factors Social class, language spoken at home, parental expectations, material deprivation/poverty, cultural deprivation, lack of male role models due to higher rate of lone-parent families in Afro- Caribbean families Labelling, teacher expectations, hidden curriculum, racism, Black teachers under represented, ethnocentric curriculum, possible anti-school subculture Many ethnic groups are in lower social classes so suffer material deprivation associated with the lower classes, such as poor housing and lack of resources. For example, the Bangladeshi children who underachieved tended, on average, to be from poorer homes.