Ethnicity and Education

Ethnicity and education inequality

Research has shown that IQ and inherited ability are not major contributing factors to a student's academic performance – rather, their social, economic, and cultural backgrounds may be more important.

As much as we may like it to be otherwise, education and educational outcomes are affected by factors such as ethnicity. A pupil's ethnic background can, at least to some extent, determine their degree of success in school. This is especially the case if they come from an ethnic minority group that faces inequality in society.

Sociologists are interested in studying why this is the case. Let's take a look at how ethnicity can impact education.

Ethnicity and education: statistics

Official statistics and data show that educational achievement is at least somewhat correlated to one's ethnic identity. Pupils from certain ethnic backgrounds underperform in assessments such as exams, while those from other ethnicities overperform.

This does not mean that some ethnic groups are inherently smarter or more capable – it means that some pupils do not get to achieve their full academic potential, simply because of their ethnicity.

Let's look at some governmental statistics of the GCSE results of pupils in England for the 2020-21 academic year:

• The national average Attainment 8 score (a student's average score across 8 GCSE results) was 50.9 out of 90

• The highest Attainment 8 scores were obtained by Chinese pupils (69.2)

• Asian groups each achieved around or higher than the national average, scoring 55.8 collectively

• Black pupils collectively achieved around the national average (50) but Black Caribbean and “Black other” pupils underachieved (scoring 44 and 48.3 respectively)

• Mixed and White groups both perform around the national average, but Mixed White/Black Caribbean students underperform (45), as well as Roma (22.7) and Irish Traveller (30.7) pupils

Academic outcomes differ by ethnic group in the UK. Freepik.com

Issues with statistics

While statistical data are important sources of information, there are some problems that can arise with using such statistics that you may have noticed yourself. For instance:

• Some categories used in official statistics can be too broad (or too narrow!) and difficult to understand. An example of this is that in the UK, the category of “Asian” usually refers to certain South Asian groups such as Indians, Bangladeshi, Pakistanis and “Asian others”, without specifying who the “others” are. Additionally, in other parts of the world, “Asian” may refer to East Asian groups rather than South Asians.

• Using just one identity category such as ethnicity can obscure the impacts of other parts of a pupil's background and experience. For example, a student's social class or gender can also significantly shape their educational attainment.

Ethnicity and education as cultural factors

Research has shown that other, non-biological factors may be more important in explaining why different ethnic groups succeed at different rates. In 1985, the Swann Committee, appointed by the UK government, stated that IQ scores are not a cause of differing results among ethnic minorities.

Now that we've established that educational outcomes can differ by ethnicity, and that they are not due to biological differences, let's look at how social class and culture can play a part in educational attainment.

Familial and social class backgrounds

Reid (1996) argued that a pupil's social class, both in and of itself and combined with their ethnicity, may explain differences in academic achievement. Many ethnic minority pupils may come from immigrant families, whose class position is often largely dictated by the (often working-class) occupations that were available to them when they first came to the UK.

Also, their class background, level of income, resources, etc. before they immigrated also plays a part in their current social class.

Therefore, it is clear that many of the factors that affect working-class students also impact ethnic minority students, simply because ethnic minorities may also be working-class.

Put simply, many minority students have to face the “double bind” of ethnicity as well as class on their educational achievement and outcomes.

Cultural differences

An explanation for why some ethnic groups under perform centres around cultural differences. Pupils of non-White, non-British cultures and backgrounds may find it difficult to assimilate within academic institutions, norms, values, and behaviours that are generally overwhelmingly White and British.

Additionally, there may be language barriers for minority students whose first language is not English. Children who were raised speaking other languages at home will most likely face disadvantages compared to those who were raised speaking English.

However, the academic success of Asian students, particularly those of Indian heritage, points to the fact that language may not be a significant obstacle. In fact, being raised bilingual or multilingual may make some children more flexible, which can aid in learning.

Parental expectations

Differences in educational attainment have also been attributed to parental expectations and attitudes. Some sociologists suggest that the level of encouragement and/or pressure to do well in their studies pupils experience from their parents translates to their actual performance.

In this vein, it is argued that the underachievement of some ethnic minority students is partly due to the lack of parental expectations they face.

This view has been disproven several times, though:

• For one, it has been extensively documented how Asian families often expect their children to succeed and have very high academic standards of them. According to the Inner London Education Authority (1987), Indian parents pressured their children to achieve highly, and this positively translated to Indian students' results.
• Even Asian parents who were not very well-educated or high-achieving themselves adamantly wished for their children's success (Bhatti, 1999). However, Bhatti also found that the parents in her study were frustrated at their lack of expertise or understanding about the British education system, which typically made no effort to include them in their children's education.
• African-Caribbean parents have also established Saturday schools in concern over their children's academic underperformance. The African-Caribbean community in Bristol expressed lofty aspirations for their children's educational attainment (Pryce, 1979).

Ethnicity and the role of the school in achievement

When considering ethnicity and educational attainment, it is vital to consider the impact of the school environment.

Type and quality of school

Some sociologists have suggested that it is not the pupil's ethnicity, social class, or culture, but the type of school they attend that determines their educational outcomes.

Smith and Tomlinson (1989) studied 18 comprehensive schools and pointed out a range of factors that significantly impacted the performance of ethnic minority students, including:

• the quality of teaching

• the available educational resources

• the commitments and policies established to create equal opportunities for all students

The researchers argued that if these factors were all sufficient, there would be no reason for ethnic minorities to underperform. In other words, ethnic minority students would attain similar results to White students if they went to high-quality schools that prioritised diversity, inclusion, and their success.

The nature and quality of the school can potentially affect the performance of ethnic minority students more than other factors. Freepik.com

Labelling and teacher expectations

As we have discussed previously in our Educational Achievement and In-School Processes Affecting Achievement articles, the opinions and expectations of teachers can play a crucial role in students' academic performance.

Particularly, teacher labelling – when a teacher labels a student positively or negatively based on pre-conceived notions about them and their behaviour – can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is when, after having a label applied to them, the person actually begins to conform to the label.

Sociologists argue that labels like that of a "delinquent" can often be influenced by stereotypes and bias based on the student's ethnicity, social class and gender. This means that certain ethnic groups, classes, and genders are more likely to be negatively labelled, leading to them underperforming.

For instance, studies show that some teachers believe that African-Caribbean boys are less academically inclined. They have lower expectations of these pupils and therefore devote less time to them.

Conversely, due to cultural stereotypes of Asians as being more studious and passive, teachers may have higher expectations of Asian pupils, labelling them "good" students.

The hidden curriculum in education

Within schools, we do not just have the official curriculum of subjects and topics to be taught. There is also the hidden curriculum, which refers to the unacknowledged cultural biases and leanings of the education system that may show up in textbooks, terminology and attitudes to certain topics. The hidden curriculum can affect a student's self-image or sense of belonging, thereby affecting their participation or performance in school.

For instance, subjects such as history may be taught through an exclusively White, British, or European lens, e.g. events such as European colonialism may be presented positively or neutrally. Academic materials could have stereotypical depictions of ethnic minorities, or may leave them out entirely. All of this contributes to the ethnocentric curriculum.