WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology Revision Guide

51 Ethnicity and educational achievement Support for the argument that ethnicity affects educational achievement is: Some ethnic minority groups perform really well at GCSE and A level whereas other ethnic minority groups underperform. In 2018, on average, pupils from the Chinese, Asian and mixed ethnic groups scored higher than the national average for Attainment 8. In 2018, white pupils and black pupils scored below the national average for Attainment 8. In 2018, pupils from the Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller ethnic groups had the lowest average score for Attainment 8. Knowledge check 1. Describe what is meant by ethnocentric. (2 marks) 2. Explain two reasons why pupils from ethnic minorities may join or form an anti- school subculture. (5 marks) 3. Outline ways in which parental values and ethnicity can influence a child’s attitude to education. (8 marks) 4. ‘Inside school factors are the main cause of differences in the educational achievement of pupils of different ethnicities.’ Do you agree? Why? (15 marks) Evidence against the argument that ethnicity affects educational achievement is: Pupils eligible for free school meals from Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi backgrounds are performing higher than white students on free school meals. Margaret Fuller found that Afro- Caribbean girls in London resisted negative labelling and worked hard to gain success. Some schools in working-class inner-city areas have a lot of ethnic minority students enrolled. These may not do as well as schools in more middle-class areas that may attract better quality teachers, have better resources and higher levels of parental support. It might be that it is social class rather than ethnicity that is the crucial factor here. Support for the argument that language differences affects educational achievement is: Language can be a problem for immigrant families when they first arrive in UK. For many children from immigrant homes, the main language of the home is generally the country of origin. Therefore, their studies are carried out in a ‘foreign’ language. Carl Bereiter and Siegfried Engelmann say that language is a major barrier in educational achievement. CecileWright says Asian children may be excluded from classroom discussions and therefore discriminated against due to teachers’assumptions about their level of English. Afro-Caribbean males may receive more negative attention from teachers than their white peers. All of this will contribute to pupils from an ethnic minority background being at a disadvantage in education. T h i n k l ink When writing about ethnicity, try to think of ways of bringing in social class, as this is closely linked to ethnicity. Think about the impact of free school meals eligibility and material deprivation and how they are closely linked to ethnicity and educational achievement. Evidence against the argument that language differences affects educational achievement is: Saeeda Shah of Leicester University says that some ethnic minority children may start school with limited English vocabulary as it is not spoken in their homes, but once in school they develop language quickly and then they appear to make more rapid progress in educational achievement compared to white British pupils. The Swann Report says that language is not a major factor in educational achievement. Heidi Mirza says that Indian children do very well despite often not having English as their home language. Support for the argument that parental expectations affect educational achievement is: It can be argued that parents from some ethnic minority groups are less interested in their children’s education than parents from other groups. Some sociologists believe that some black children are raised with a fatalistic attitude. Some sociologists believe that some ethnic minorities do not value education. Evidence against the argument that parental expectations affect educational achievement is: A study by the Inner London Education Authority reported that Indian families put pressure on their children to succeed and this has affected their performance in a positive way. In a number of areas, Afro- Caribbean parents set up Saturday schools as they were worried about their child’s underachievement. According to Ken Pryce, Afro-Caribbean parents have very high aspirations for their children. Ghazali Bhatti states that for some Asian parents, who were often poorly educated themselves, there was a strong desire to help their children’s education more. Many parents from ethnic minority families make sacrifices to pay for private tutoring of their children despite limited resources.