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Unlock This CourseAn earlier lesson showed the broad patterns: pupils from some ethnic groups tend to achieve higher results than others, and the pattern differs from country to country. This lesson looks at the explanations. Some are about what happens inside school, and some are about home and community. Remember, ethnicity means belonging to a group with a shared culture, language, history or traditions.
Key terms:
This is unfair treatment built into the normal rules and routines of an organisation. Applied to schools, it could mean unfair discipline, or fewer pupils from some groups being put in top sets. Nobody has to intend it for it to have an effect.
If lessons, books and examples mainly come from the majority culture, minority pupils may feel their history and identity do not count. They may then feel less interested in school and less welcome in it.
A role model is someone whose behaviour others copy. If pupils rarely see teachers or successful adults from their own ethnic group, they may find it harder to picture themselves succeeding. Seeing people like themselves do well can raise aims.
A label is a judgement put on a person, and it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If teachers hold lower expectations of pupils from some ethnic groups, those pupils may be given easier work or less encouragement and then achieve less.
Another in-school factor is the ethnic sub-culture. Pupils from the same ethnic group may form friendship groups that share their values. If these are pro-school, pupils support each other to do well. If a group feels unwelcome or unfairly treated, some pupils may turn away from school and form an anti-school group. Pro-school and anti-school sub-cultures were explained in an earlier lesson, so you only need to apply them here.
Pupils who speak another language at home may have to learn lessons, and sit exams, in a second language. This can hold back results, especially in the early years. This is a different idea from Bernstein's class-based speech codes: here the issue is a different first language. Over time many pupils who start with a different first language catch up, and some bilingual pupils gain an advantage.
Material factors are about money and resources, cultural factors are about values and attitudes, and social factors are about contacts and support. Applied to ethnicity:
The family and community can support learning. Some communities run language classes, homework clubs and weekend schools, and elders may urge young people to stay in education. A strong community can give pupils the support and confidence to succeed even when schools treat them unfairly.
Strengths: these explanations can be linked to real experiences, such as language difficulties or a curriculum that ignores a pupil's culture. They show that both school and home matter.
Limitations: ethnic groups are not all the same. Some minority groups achieve as highly as, or higher than, the majority group, so being from a minority cannot explain low achievement by itself. Ethnicity also overlaps with social class, so it can be hard to tell which one is causing a difference. Not every teacher holds low expectations, and not every curriculum is ethnocentric.
Writing "all ethnic minority pupils underachieve". The patterns differ between groups, and some groups do very well. Also, do not just name an explanation. Say how it leads to a difference in achievement, for example "teachers expect less, so pupils get easier work and achieve less".
(a) Define the term ethnocentric curriculum. [2 marks]
(b) Give two examples of in-school factors that may affect the achievement of pupils from ethnic minority groups. [2 marks]
(c) Explain three reasons why pupils from some ethnic minority groups may achieve less than pupils from the majority group. [6 marks]
(a) A curriculum that mainly reflects the history, culture and viewpoint of the majority ethnic group (1), so that the cultures of minority groups are left out or given little attention (1).
(b) Any two from: teacher labelling (1); institutional racism (1); an ethnocentric curriculum (1); anti-school or ethnic sub-cultures (1); lack of role models (1).
(c) First, linguistic factors: a pupil who speaks another language at home may find lessons and exams harder in a second language (1), so they may achieve less, especially in early years (1). Second, labelling: if teachers expect less of a pupil because of their ethnic group (1), the pupil may be given easier work and achieve less, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (1). Third, material factors: if a family is on a low income (1), the pupil may live in crowded housing or be unable to afford books, so they fall behind (1).
In part (c), use the pattern "reason, then because, then so": name the factor, say how it affects the pupil, then say what happens to their results. Each reason earns marks only if you explain it.