Furthermore, Strand argued in a talk to the British educational research association that schools were institutionally racist. He found that teachers were less likely to enter Afro-Caribbean students for higher tier testes at 14 in science and maths; this had a knock on effect which GCSE they were entered for. This was because teachers developed stereotypes that afro Caribbean students were disruptive and made inaccurate judgements about their ability. This affects how ethnic minorities perform as how predictions teachers make about students are the actual outcome. This echoes the findings of a study conducted by the CRE which found that Asian students were put into lower sets because teacher’s judgements were used to decide which GCSE sets students would be placed in. They were placed in lower sets, even when they had the same assessment scores.
Another example of institutional racism can be found in the work of Coard. He developed the idea that the school curriculum was ethnocentric. This means that the curriculum is based around one particular cultural viewpoint whilst ignoring others. White history and white literature come to dominate the curriculum. Teachers are dismissive of non-standard English as a way of speaking and these sometimes hidden and overt messages are transferred to students. Their culture is devalued and their devalued. The resulting racism is ineffectively dealt with in school and as a result ethnic minorities’ achievement is significantly lower than other groups.
However, Sewell rejects the idea that schools are universally racist and that teachers are the problem. He argues that disruptive black students need to be excluded and removed so that other students, including ethnic minority students can progress. The idea of institutional racism helps to provide black youth with an excuse. He is arguing that black misbehaviour is a fact and not a social construct that the problems stem from outside the classroom and not inside the classroom.
In a study of students of white and black Caribbean descent by Haynes et al it was argued that students of mixed heritage are often misunderstood by schools and teachers. Teachers believed that these students had identity issues and low expectations. All these fed through to how they treated this group. This operates in addition to socio-economic disadvantages this group faces and helps to explain their relative failure and high level of exclusion.
The impact of the organisation on the way in which schools are organised will also have a consequence for ethnic minority students. Ethnic minority students will not just accept the labels give to them. Studies by Fuller show that students labelled as failures may become more determined to succeed, in order to prove the teacher wrong. It is difficult to call all schools and all teachers racist. Many schools treat racism very seriously and actively promote equal opportunities. While research shows that Indian and Pakistani students perform very differently, it is difficult to believe that a racist education system or racist teachers would be able to differentiate between these two groups. Also, research like Wright’s is based on observations of classrooms, which will be thought by some positivists to be subjective and biased.
Moreover, material deprivation refers to a lack of physical necessities that are essential for functioning in today’s society. Material deprivation theorists argue that educational failure results from ethnic minorities not having the adequate materials for achievement. Flaherty found that Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were three times more likely to be amongst the poorest fifth of the population, they were more likely to engage in low paid word and twice as likely to be in low skilled low paid work.
Another factor of why there are differences between ethnic groups in educational achievement is because of labelling pupils; this is when you attach a definition to a pupil. Internationalists found show that teachers see black and Asian pupils far from their ideal pupil and these negative labels can disadvantage them in the future. Gillborn et al found that teachers were quick to discipline black students over white students for the same behaviour. Gillborn argued this is because teachers have expectations in that they expect black students to present more behaviour problems and often react to their own misinterpretations of behaviour which leads to conflict between students and teachers, which leads to more exclusion for black students.
This shows that pupils can still achieve even when negatively labelled and these labels need not lead to self-fulfilling prophecy. However Mirza did find evidence of teacher labelling and even racism in some cases. She argues that there are three types of teacher racism: Colour blind teacher who see students as equal but allow racism to occur, Liberal chauvinists who believe black pupils are deprived so have lower expectations for them, Overt racists who see blacks as inferior and discriminate against them. These subtypes of teachers can lower the achievement levels as Mirza found that girls would avoid teacher interaction and be selective about which staff they seek help form. This can reduce their possibilities and lead to poorer outcomes. Overall there seems to be several in school factors implicated in ethnic differences in achievement. However in order to fully understand why these differences occur the external factors need to be considered as the internal factors fail to take into account the fact that home environment such as language, material and cultural deprivation need to be considered. However, Sewell rejects the idea that schools are universally racist and that teachers are the problem. He argues that disruptive black students need to be excluded and removed so that other students, including ethnic minority students can progress.
Since the Swann report found that class has a 50% effect on educational achievement this must be an explanation of ethnic differences in achievement. However Gillborn and Mirza argue that social class factors do not override the effects of culture as even when social class has been accounted for ethnic differences in achievement still exist.
by
raj-kaur (student)
