Sociology Essay - Ethnicity and Education

1274 Words6 Pages
Sociology Essay - Education Item A states that "ethnic differences in educational achievement are primarily the results of school factors". Most studies have found out that, overall, ethnic minorities tend to do less well than other members of the population, in educational performance 73% of pupils of Indian origin pupils achieved 5 A* - C passes at GCSE level compared to 56% of white pupils and 47% black pupils. In-School Factors such as teacher expectation, institutional racism, ethnocentric curriculum and finally the selection process have a big effect on different ethnicities. However there are also other factors outside of school that affect educational achievement such as cultural, material and linguistic deprivation. Most pupils are labelled by teachers when they come into a classroom for the first time, the majority of the time the labels given to the pupils are unintentional and based on racist stereotypes and prejudice. Wright (1986) went to 4 inner-city primary schools and gathered research based on classroom observations which he found that teachers perceived and treated ethnic minority students differently to white students. Asian children, especially young Asian pupils were often ignored and received less attention than other students. Asian students were often excluded from classroom discussions and rarely got asked questions by the teacher. Teachers assumed that the Asian students lacked language skills which allowed them to join in class activities; teachers thought they were insufficient for full participation in classroom tasks. However this is not the case as Asian students are highly motivated and well disciplined, studies have provided evidence that Asian students are achieving higher than other ethnicities. Wright also found that teachers had placed afro-Caribbean students in lower sets and were entered for lower tier exams even though
Open Document