Ethnicity and Educational Achievement
Core Study guide
Paper 1: Education with Theory and Methods
Specification Area:
Differential educational achievement of social groups by social class,
gender, and ethnicity in contemporary society.
Name:
,Introduction
Ethnicity refers to a shared culture, identity, and history. An ethnic group is a group of people who see
themselves as a distinct group based for example on religion, geography, or language. An ethnic minority
group may be of a different skin colour from the majority group but not necessarily so. However, in the
case of Britain, the largest minority groups are non-white: mainly of African, Caribbean, or South Asian
origin. Today, children from ethnic backgrounds make up about 21% of the pupils in English schools
KEY POINT! Gender and class differences exist within and between ethnic groups. Remember that
everyone has a class, an ethnicity and a gender, and their achievement is affected by the interplay of all
three.
Most of the information from topic 3 (social class) is
relevant to this topic as many ethnic minorities find
themselves in the working class, and therefore suffer
from the same issues. However, it is essential to note
that not all ethnic minorities are in the working class.
You will see that Indian and Chinese families are
generally perceived to be middle class, and therefore
you need to be extremely careful when discussing ethnicity as there are so many different groups with
their own distinctive issues.
Patterns of ethnic achievement are complex, cross-cut by gender and social class. For example,
- Black, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi pupils do worst; Indians do best.
- White pupils are very close to the national average, but this is because they form the majority of
the school population.
- Working-class black girls do better than working-class white girls.
- White pupils make less progress between 11 and 16 than black or Asian pupils.
- Research conducted by the DfE (2013) found that Chinese children tend to be the highest
achievers at GCSE level. The research found that around 80% achieved 5 A*-C’s at GCSE,
interestingly enough Indian children came a close second with just under 80%. These two ethnic
groups significantly outperform even the White majority (around 55%). You need to consider that
this statistic may be slightly disproportionate as the majority of Chinese and Indian children in the
UK are from the middle class, whereas it could be argued that a large proportion of the White
majority are working class which would certainly have an effect on the overall statistic education.
- The lowest achieving group in education are children from the travelling community, however there
is a distinct lack of sociological literature on this group, which is why they are not discussed within
our specification.
The aim of this topic is to study the trends with regards to these ethnic differences in achievement. Just as
with topic 3, in this topic we need to discuss the internal and external factors with regards to the
educational achievement of different ethnicities. If this terminology confuses you, flick back to the
introduction of topic 3.
1
, External Factors
The external
factors that are influential with regards to the educational success of ethnic minorities are:
Material deprivation
Cultural deprivation
Racism in wider society
Material Deprivation
Key Theorists Key Theorists AO3 Evaluation
Palmer Sutton Trust
Gillborn and Mirza
Howard
Flaherty
As we saw from topic 3, material deprivation can have a significant effect on members of the working class.
As mentioned in the introduction, many ethnic minority groups find themselves in the working class and
therefore suffer from the same issues.
Palmer identifies three ethnic minority groups that are most likely to be materially deprived, these are the
Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African groups and this can be substantiated by the following points:
- Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are over three times more likely than whites to be in the poorest fifth
of the population.
- Unemployment is three times higher for African and Bangladeshi/Pakistani people than for whites.
- 15% of ethnic minority households live in overcrowded conditions, compared with only 2% of white
households.
- Pakistanis are nearly twice as likely to be in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs compared to whites.
Ethnic minority workers are more likely to be engaged in shift work.
- Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are more likely to be engaged in low-paid homeworking,
sometimes for as little as £1.50 per hour.
Palmer continues by explaining why some of these trends occur, these include:
Ethnic minorities tend to live in deprived, inner city areas
Cultural factors such as in traditional Muslim households, the tradition of the purdah which
prevents women working outside the home
2
Core Study guide
Paper 1: Education with Theory and Methods
Specification Area:
Differential educational achievement of social groups by social class,
gender, and ethnicity in contemporary society.
Name:
,Introduction
Ethnicity refers to a shared culture, identity, and history. An ethnic group is a group of people who see
themselves as a distinct group based for example on religion, geography, or language. An ethnic minority
group may be of a different skin colour from the majority group but not necessarily so. However, in the
case of Britain, the largest minority groups are non-white: mainly of African, Caribbean, or South Asian
origin. Today, children from ethnic backgrounds make up about 21% of the pupils in English schools
KEY POINT! Gender and class differences exist within and between ethnic groups. Remember that
everyone has a class, an ethnicity and a gender, and their achievement is affected by the interplay of all
three.
Most of the information from topic 3 (social class) is
relevant to this topic as many ethnic minorities find
themselves in the working class, and therefore suffer
from the same issues. However, it is essential to note
that not all ethnic minorities are in the working class.
You will see that Indian and Chinese families are
generally perceived to be middle class, and therefore
you need to be extremely careful when discussing ethnicity as there are so many different groups with
their own distinctive issues.
Patterns of ethnic achievement are complex, cross-cut by gender and social class. For example,
- Black, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi pupils do worst; Indians do best.
- White pupils are very close to the national average, but this is because they form the majority of
the school population.
- Working-class black girls do better than working-class white girls.
- White pupils make less progress between 11 and 16 than black or Asian pupils.
- Research conducted by the DfE (2013) found that Chinese children tend to be the highest
achievers at GCSE level. The research found that around 80% achieved 5 A*-C’s at GCSE,
interestingly enough Indian children came a close second with just under 80%. These two ethnic
groups significantly outperform even the White majority (around 55%). You need to consider that
this statistic may be slightly disproportionate as the majority of Chinese and Indian children in the
UK are from the middle class, whereas it could be argued that a large proportion of the White
majority are working class which would certainly have an effect on the overall statistic education.
- The lowest achieving group in education are children from the travelling community, however there
is a distinct lack of sociological literature on this group, which is why they are not discussed within
our specification.
The aim of this topic is to study the trends with regards to these ethnic differences in achievement. Just as
with topic 3, in this topic we need to discuss the internal and external factors with regards to the
educational achievement of different ethnicities. If this terminology confuses you, flick back to the
introduction of topic 3.
1
, External Factors
The external
factors that are influential with regards to the educational success of ethnic minorities are:
Material deprivation
Cultural deprivation
Racism in wider society
Material Deprivation
Key Theorists Key Theorists AO3 Evaluation
Palmer Sutton Trust
Gillborn and Mirza
Howard
Flaherty
As we saw from topic 3, material deprivation can have a significant effect on members of the working class.
As mentioned in the introduction, many ethnic minority groups find themselves in the working class and
therefore suffer from the same issues.
Palmer identifies three ethnic minority groups that are most likely to be materially deprived, these are the
Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African groups and this can be substantiated by the following points:
- Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are over three times more likely than whites to be in the poorest fifth
of the population.
- Unemployment is three times higher for African and Bangladeshi/Pakistani people than for whites.
- 15% of ethnic minority households live in overcrowded conditions, compared with only 2% of white
households.
- Pakistanis are nearly twice as likely to be in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs compared to whites.
Ethnic minority workers are more likely to be engaged in shift work.
- Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are more likely to be engaged in low-paid homeworking,
sometimes for as little as £1.50 per hour.
Palmer continues by explaining why some of these trends occur, these include:
Ethnic minorities tend to live in deprived, inner city areas
Cultural factors such as in traditional Muslim households, the tradition of the purdah which
prevents women working outside the home
2
