differences in educational achievement

Question 1

ethnicity

Answer 1

belonging to a group of people who share a common nationality, history, cultural heritage, customs, language and physical features associated with race

Question 2

explanations for ethnic group differences in achievement

Answer 2

• combination of external and internal factors working together
• influences of ethnicity work alongside social class and gender
• in every ethnic group, middle class pupils outperform working class pupils
• girls outperform boys
• social class remains the most important influence on educational achievement

Question 3

external factors

Answer 3

• racism in society
• family life
• cultural deprivation
• parental support
• language skills
• social class and material factors

Question 4

internal factors

Answer 4

• racism among pupils
• subcultures of resistance
• teachers expectations and educational triage
• intentional/ unintentional racism of teachers (stereotyping, labelling, preferential treatment)
• ethnocentric curriculum

Question 5

external factors - social class and material factors

Answer 5

• minority ethnic groups are more likely to live in low income households and be poorest
• pakistani and bangladeshi groups have the highest rates of poverty, followed by black and caribbean
• pakistani and bangladeshi groups, pupils are more likely to: have parents who are unemployed, live in poorest areas, be on FSM, live in poor quality housing, live in overcrowded homes
• % of indian and chinese pupils who can have FSM is below the average for all pupils
• indian and chinese pupils are best achieving ethnic groups overall
• gillborn and mirza point out social class explanations don’t give full picture

Question 6

external factors - language

Answer 6

• according to 2019 stats, 17% of primary pupils and 14% of secondary pupils don’t have english as their first language (EAL pupils)
• pupils who english isn’t their first language have lower levels of attainment
• language differences can cause problems, not communicating with teachers, not understanding the work
• non standard english may be penalised in classroom
• the swann report (1985) found language differences didn’t negatively impact most children
• the DFes (2005) found any impact declined as children got older and are rapidly overcome

Question 7

external factors - family life and parental support

Answer 7

• bhatti’s research found indian, pakistani and bangladeshi parents are v supportive and interested in their children’s education
• black caribbean communities have high lone parenthood which causes problems supporting kids financially
• vincent et al found black middle class parents involved in their children’s education and encouraged loads of extra activities
• moon and ivins found ethnic minority parents more involved in their children’s education than the population as a whole
• modood said in 2013, 24% of accepted uni applicants were from ethnic minority backgrounds

Question 8

EAL pupils

Answer 8

english as an additional language

Question 9

internal factors - ethnocentric curriculum

Answer 9

• historically, education in england has been focused on white britishness
• curriculum policies and updates haven’t significantly encompassed this, meaning ethnocentric curriculum is deep rooted in the system
• celebrations and subjects are concentrated on white british society
• most role models are white - portray white as ‘good’ and black as ‘bad’
• contributes to culture clash that exists in the white, middle class environment
• appear as if everton has equal opportunity in education but system is not neutral

Question 10

multicultural education

Answer 10

many schools do attempt to overcome these factors
most schools also have strong equal opportunities policies to tackle racism

Question 11

marketisation of education

Answer 11

• tied to privatisation
• services which were previously controlled by government/ local authorities are given freedom of control to operate like an independent business

Question 12

the 1988 education reform act

Answer 12

• before 1988 parents had choice amongst local schools but it wasn’t encouraged/ expected to go anywhere but the most local school
• conservative party (new right) favoured neo liberalism ideology of marketisation of education based on idea of competition and choice promotes better services and improves standards
• meant control, including budgets and decisions was removed from local education authority (LEA) to the school themselves

Question 13

key aims of 1988 education reform act

Answer 13

• reduce direct control from state and local authorised and provide more control to schools and parents
• raise educational standards through competition between schools, government funding and parental choice
• create and identical curriculum across the country (national curriculum)
• make schools accountable through ofsted inspections and league tables

Question 14

parentocracy

Answer 14

• the key element of marketisation of education
• means a child’s education depends on the choices of parents rather than ability of pupils
• parentocracy is a sociological concept that reflects political ideology - the ideology of neoliberalism and the new right
• should enable all parents to make free choices for their children’s education, more affluent parents are able to make more effective choices than others (ball, gerwitz)