It has been suggested that the West Indian population in Britain has a higher proportion of one-parent families compared to other ethnicities. West Indians are held to have a family life that fails to encourage children to do well in education. Ken Pryce (1979) described West Indian family life as turbulent. He states that West Indian’s lacked a group identity and tight communal form of group life based on a sense of collective interdependence and mutual obligation.
In contrast to West Indian families, Asian families are widely believed to be more close knit and supportive of their children’s education. Geoffrey Driver and Roger Ballard (1981) state that this is because Asian families were prepared to make any sacrifice so that their child would have success within the educational system.
However, John Rex and Sally Tomlinson (1979) did not find clear evidence that Asians were more interested in the education of their children that West Indians. From a sample of 400 White adults, 395 West Indians and 305 Asians, 89.1% of the White parents, 79% of West Indians and 69.4% of the Asians had made a recent visit to their children’s school.
Another aspect of family background that differs greatly between the ethnic groups is the employment status of the youth’s parents. For example Bangladeshi and Pakistani youths are more likely to have a parent in unemployment compared to those in other ethnic groups. They are also less likely to have a parent in a professional or managerial profession than White, Indian or Chinese youths. As you can see there are wide differences in the family background, therefore it is understandable that there are differences in the characteristics of the schools attended by the ethnic groups.
Schools with a poor exam performance are more likely to have a greater proportion of Afro-Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani youths in attendance compared to those schools with a good exam performance. It is also true to say that Indian youths are similarly disadvantaged even though the proportion of these youths attending good exam performance schools is higher than the aforementioned.
Bernard Coard (1971) claims that the British educational system actually makes Afro-Caribbean children or other ethnicity’s become educationally sub-normal by making them feel ‘inferior in every way’. For example Afro-Caribbean children are told that their way of speaking is second rate and unacceptable. This is also seen in some Asian households where English is not the first language used. The Policy Studies Institute (PSI) Survey, found that lack of fluency in English was a significant problem for some groups. Amongst men nearly everyone spoke English fluently, however, amongst the women only about a fifth of Pakistani’s and Bangladeshi’s were not fluent. It is feared that if the child’s first language is not English it may hold back the child.
However, the Swann Report (1985) found that language was not a significant factor in educational attainment. The Swann Report investigated the question of social class and if it related to educational achievement. As it was widely thought that members of the lower social classes gained fewer qualifications and left the education system a lot sooner than those in middle or upper class. Almost 50% of Afro-Caribbean’s are more likely to live in rented or council accommodation, which is an indication that they are in the lowest income and wealth brackets. This is also true for the Bangladeshi youths as 57% live in rented or council accommodation compared to 20% of Whites and 9% of Indian youths living in this sort of accommodation. Most of the ethnic groups form the majority of the lower class, therefore, is the poor educational performance by the ethnic groups because of their social class rather than their ethnicity.
The Swann Report found that low average levels of achievement by Afro-Caribbean children were influenced considerably by socio-economic factors. The report showed that when these factors were taken into account the level of under achievement by Afro-Caribbean children was reduced by around 50%. However, this still left the other half of the under achievement to be explained. The Swann Report thought that this might be as a result of the discrimination and prejudice in society as a whole. Traditionally this has been linked to the cultural differences of the ethnic groups.
The final area in which explanations for levels of achievement have been sought is the education system itself. Looking inside the schools there does seem to be some evidence to suggest the White teachers are unintentionally racist towards the ethnic groups. For example Anne Greens (1975) research in junior and middle schools found that some teachers favoured White boys when teaching. Unfortunately it was found that the majority of teachers appeared to have lower expectations of Afro-Caribbean’s and failed to encourage them to learn, thus resulting in a lowering of the boys self image, this is supported by Tomlinson’s research where teachers that were studied claimed that Afro-Caribbean’s were slower learners lacking in concentration and less well behaved.
However, Maureen Stone conducted a survey of 264 Afro-Caribbean children aged between 10 and 15 in Greater London and she found no evidence that Afro-Caribbean children had a lower self-concept or lacked self-esteem. Although many of the children studied were hostile to teachers and believed that they were being discriminated against did not appear to prevent the Afro-Caribbean children from maintaining a positive image of them. Therefore, it did not have an affect in the low levels of achievement. The Swann Report also examined the evidence in this area and came to the conclusion that low self-esteem among the ethnic groups was not wide spread.
Some sociologists believe in the labelling theory within the education system. This means that those labelled have little choice as to how they respond to the label, i.e. if you are defined as a failure you will fail. The research of Maureen Stone and the findings of Lord Swann both indicate that the labels given are not always accepted by those that are labelled. Some sociologists emphasise the positive and active part that pupils themselves play in determining how they react to the educational system.
In conclusion it has been shown that there are a variety of explanations in regards to educational attainment within the ethnic groups. It is shown that not one factor out-weighs the other and that they all work together in producing the lower levels of achievement in some ethnic groups. The Swann Report itself concluded that racial discrimination inside and outside of school along with social depravation were probably the main factors. However, it is not conclusive in showing that the ethnic groups were less adjusted or achieved less than the rest of the population, as it clearly stated that Asian girls are shown as being the single most successful group in the entire British state education sector.
From the evidence provided the Swann Report seems to be the strongest argument, as it has looked at every factor and the impact that ethnicity has had on education attainment. Although it strongly suggests that racial discrimination and social deprivation are the main factors in low educational attainment it also acknowledges that cultural factors can also play a part in explaining these differences between ethnic groups and the rest of the population.
Bibliography
M. Haralambos with R.M. Heald, Sociology themes and perspectives.
M. Haralambos and M. Holborn, Sociology themes and perspectives, Third edition.
Haralambos and Holborn, Sociology themes and perspectives, Sixth edition.
Stephen Moore with Stephen P. Sinclaire, Sociology and introduction.
