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Assess the sociological explanations for ethnic differences in educational achievement.

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Introduction

Transfer-Encoding: chunked Asses the sociological explanations for ethnic differences in educational achievement. (20 marks) According to the ethnicity department for education, there are major differences in levels of educational achievement between pupils of different ethnic minorities (EM) groups, the 2014 statistics say that Chinese and Indian children achieve the highest out of the rest of the EM groups. There are both external and internal factors to explain ethnic differences in educational achievement. One external factor is, in terms of social class, those from a Black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladesh (B/C, P, B) background are more likely to be from low-income households, experiencing poverty and unemployment and as a consequence this material deprivation means that they will be unable to provide their children with the books, tuition and nutritious diet to do well at school. Whereas, in contrast, those from an Indian and Chinese (I, C) background are less likely to be eligible for free school meals as they families are more likely to be professional business middle-class. ...read more.

Middle

There are also a number of internal factors for ethnic differences in educational achievement. One internal factor is media, which plays a big role in demonising the black Caribbean EM into folk devils, Wright said that racism happens in school because of the media which gives negative labels to students and creates stereotypes, and however she also said that some teachers have stereotypes but choose not to bring it in to the class room. This contributes to racial stereotypes that teachers have of black pupils, supporting Gillborn and Youdell?s research that teachers have ?racialised expectations? of black pupils which contributes to a ?cycle of conflict? between teachers and students. As black pupils attract negative labels, they are more likely to be put in lower streams and sets and in terms of educational triage are seen as the students who either need help to achieve to cross over the C/D borderline or those with ?no hope? of achieving which consequently contributes to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. This negative perception of black pupils and association with gang culture, was highlighted in the LDA report (2004) ...read more.

Conclusion

Examples of ethnocentrism include History and other textbooks carrying degrading images of non-white people, with black people often viewed as ?evil? and white people as ?good?. Whilst others have commented on how uniform and dress requirements with arrangements for PE and games also potentially undermining the confidence of ethnic minority students for example, Muslim girls expected to wear skirts which goes against their cultural and religious expectations. To conclude, despite these concerns about racism within schools, I and C still outperform every other group despite being taught the same curriculum and being subject to the same school rules etc. Also it has to be noted that not all school teachers are racist whilst not all students end up with a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Additionally it must be noted that when looking at educational outcomes of students, ethnicity cannot be considered in isolation, social class and gender also need to be taken in account ? with research showing that social class has 5 times the impact than any other factor on educational achievement. ...read more.

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