Ethnicity & Education: Home Factors (AQA GCSE Sociology)

Statistics on ethnicity & educational achievement

• Statistics show that students from some minority ethnic groups (such as Chinese and Indian) achieve better results in public examinations than others (such as Black Caribbean and Pakistani)

• Research shows that some of the differences in achievement between ethnic groups may reflect social class differences

• White working-class boys achieve the lowest GCSE grades compared to other ethnic groups

Problems with using statistics

• One problem is that in some studies the categories used to classify ethnic groups are too general

  • Studies using the term 'Asian' would not allow us to see the differences in achievement between Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students

• An additional issue is that the majority of the statistics generated do not enable us to investigate the potential impact of social class background on ethnicity

Material deprivation

• Students from some minority ethnic groups (such as Black Caribbean and Bangladeshi) are more likely to experience material deprivation than white British pupils

• Educational failure results from economic factors such as substandard housing and low income as:

  • almost half of ethnic minority children live in low-income households compared to a quarter of white children

  • ethnic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed

• There are several reasons why some ethnic minorities may be at greater risk of material deprivation that stems from unemployment and low pay:

  • Many live in areas with high unemployment

  • A lack of language skills and foreign qualifications not recognised by UK employers

  • Racial discrimination in the labour and housing market

• These inequalities are reflected in the proportion of children from different ethnic groups who are eligible for free school meals

• Indian pupils, whose achievements are generally above average, are likely to be from wealthier backgrounds

• Therefore, it is important to take into consideration social class differences of ethnic minority groups when comparing their educational achievements

Cultural differences and cultural capital

• Cultural factors may influence the achievement of some ethnic minority groups as schools are perceived as institutions where white, 'mainstream' norms and values dominate

  • Consequently, ethnic minority students may be disadvantaged as their cultural norms and values may differ

• The language spoken at home may also be an important factor affecting achievement

  • Children who don't speak English at home may be held back educationally

  • However, this may not be a major factor, as research shows that Indian students do very well educationally despite often not having English as their first language

• White middle-class parents are likely to have the right kind of cultural capital that influences their children's progress at school

  • They may draw upon their own learning to help with homework

  • Their knowledge of the UK education system places their children at an advantage

  • Parents who were educated outside of the UK may not be able to support their children to the same extent

Parental expectations

• According to some sociologists, a child's level of parental or carer support can explain why they succeed or fail in school

• It is argued that parents from some minority ethnic groups are more interested in their children's education than parents from other groups

• Research shows that:

  • British Chinese parents value education so their children develop high educational aspirations out of respect for their elders

  • Indian families put pressure on their children to succeed and this affects their performance positively

  • Some Asian parents who were poorly educated themselves have a strong desire to support their children's progress in school