Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Assess the sociological explanations for ethnic differences in educational achievement.

Extracts from this document...

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.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Sociological Differentiation & Stratification section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level Sociological Differentiation & Stratification essays

  1. Using material from Item 1B and elsewhere, assess sociological explanations of ethnic differences in ...

    Students may not feel directly targeted but books, teaching methods, the ethnicity of teachers and the subjects may mean ethnic minority students may feel isolated or alienated form their education, making them become less motivated and become distant from learning, leading to underachievement.

  2. Is the Underachievement of Ethnic Minority Children due to a Racist School System?

    and Hans Eysenck (1971) who used the evidence that black people on average score 12 to 15 points less on general IQ tests than white people to come to the conclusion that this is a clear indication that black people are substantially less intelligent and it was inherited.

  1. Outline and assess sociological explanations for class inequality.

    Weber criticises Marx for ignoring the differences and divisions between different types of bourgeoisie. He also argued that there are differences between proletariat based on the level of skill needed to do a job. Weber saw four main classes, but within these he saw many divisions based on levels of skill required.

  2. Explain the influence of social class and gender on educational achievement

    However the findings are still valuable. This argument is pursued by the cultural deprivation theory, stating that those at the bottom of the classroom are deprived or deficient in certain values, attitudes and skills essential for educational success and its affects are cumulative.

  1. How do the three factors of class, gender and ethnicity affect achievement in education?

    This included ignoring them and not believing them when they complained about the behaviour of white children. The pupils felt their teachers had low expectations of them and that they often seemed to be invisible, which reduced the motivation of pupils. Their culture, festivals and achievements were not being recognised.

  2. Assess the importance of school factors such as racism and pupils responses to racism ...

    Their studies show that teachers often see Black and Asian students as being far from the 'ideal pupil'. For example, Black pupils are often seen as disruptive and Asians as passive. To the school or institution such teacher labelling may not be seen as a major issue in creating difference in ethnic achievement, however such negative labels disadvantages such ethnicities.

  1. Assess different explanations for the causes of poverty in the United Kingdom

    If they were to get a job they would however be able to get themselves out of poverty, so a cause for poverty is clearly down to deficient individual. From looking at the individuals in society this view gives us a more accurate approach to the causes of poverty, as

  2. Examine the view that differences in educational achievement amongst ethnic minorities is a result ...

    Although I do accept that there is still a cultural influence in the curriculum I think we have to acknowledge that since the introduction of the national curriculum in 1988 there has been a much more balanced curriculum and things like the English language anthology are beginning to embrace multi-cultural poetry for example.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work