Ethnicity & Achievement: Internal Factors (AQA A Level Sociology): Revision Note

Teacher labelling & racism

• Sociologists argue that internal or school-based factors help explain why some ethnic groups underachieve in comparison to others

• One of these factors includes teacher labelling

• Interactionists claim that teachers often label students based on racial stereotypes, e.g.,

  • Black pupils (particularly boys) are labelled as disruptive or threatening (Gillborn & Youdell, 2000)

    • Black boys were often dismissed as 'no-hope' students and were more likely to be given detentions

    • Black boys were placed in lower sets, even when their behaviour was similar to white students

    • Black girls were labelled as potentially disruptive but good at sport

  • Teacher labelling of Asian pupils is more mixed than black students (Wright, 1992)

    • Asian girls may be seen as passive or too compliant, whereas Asian boys are seen as immature

    • Wright (1992) found that Asian students felt they weren't allowed to participate fully in class discussions

    • Gillborn (2008) argued that Chinese and Indian students are labelled as 'ideal students' because of their positive attitudes towards school

• These labels shape teacher expectations and interactions, which can impact achievement through a self-fulfilling prophecy

Pupil subcultures & responses

Students react differently to labelling:

• Fuller (1984) found Black girls in London rejected negative labels by working hard and achieving academically, without conforming to school rules

  • This shows that a label doesn't inevitably produce a self-fulfilling prophecy

• Mirza (1992) identified ambitious black girls who avoided racist teachers but were selective in their classroom participation

  • This strategy was unsuccessful as it limited their progress

• Sewell (1998) identified a variety of black boys' responses, such as:

  • rebels: reject school values

  • conformists: keen to succeed and avoid stereotypes

  • innovators: pro-education but anti-school

  • retreatists: reject the values of school and black subcultures

• Sewell found that only a small minority of black boys identified as 'rebels', yet teachers tend to see all black boys in this way, and this contributes to their academic underachievement

Pupil identities and ideal pupils

• Archer (2008) found that teachers construct three types of pupil identities:

  • Ideal pupil: white, middle-class, masculine, achieving through natural ability and initiative

  • Pathologised pupil: Asian, feminine, conformist, achieving through hard work, not ‘natural ability’

  • Demonised pupil: black or white working-class, hyper-sexualised identity, seen as aggressive and unintelligent

• Archer claims that ethnic minority pupils are likely to be seen as either demonised or pathologised pupils

• Stereotypes can affect how pupils are perceived, treated and assessed

Evaluation of teacher labelling and pupil subcultures

Strengths

• Reveals how schools are not neutral institutions

  • Labelling theory is useful in showing how teacher expectations, often based on social class, ethnicity or perceived ability, can shape pupil identity and influence achievement

  • It challenges the cultural deprivation view that blames working-class underachievement on the home

• Backed by valid qualitative data

  • Much of the research is based on classroom observation and interviews, which allows interactionists to explore meanings and behaviour in depth

  • This approach gives insights into how labels are applied and internalised

Criticisms

• Too deterministic

  • Labelling theory has been criticised for assuming that once a pupil is labelled, they will inevitably live up to that label (a self-fulfilling prophecy)

  • However, not all students internalise labels, and some resist them; e.g., Mirza found that black girls often rejected negative labels and strived for success despite racism

• Overlooks wider structures of power

  • Marxists argue that labelling theory fails to explain why teachers label some groups negatively in the first place

  • It ignores the influence of the wider capitalist system and how schools function to reproduce class inequality

• Observation may influence behaviour

  • Critics argue that observing teachers and students may lead to artificial rather than natural behaviour, reducing the validity of the findings

• Alternative explanations for underachievement

  • Sewell (1997) argues that labelling is only one part of the picture

  • He suggests that external factors—such as the absence of fathers, peer pressure, and street culture—play a bigger role in black boys’ underachievement

• Racism may not be as widespread

  • Some critics challenge the assumption that racism is widespread among teachers

  • Professional ethics, legal consequences, and peer disapproval act as deterrents against overt racist behaviour

Institutional racism

• Another internal factor that might be responsible for black pupils' underachievement in schools is institutional racism

• Institutional racism is the hidden, unconscious and unintended discrimination embedded in:

  • admissions policies

  • the marketing of the school

  • the curriculum and staffing

• Institutional racism lowers the self-esteem of ethnic minority students and undermines their academic performance

• Critical race theory views racism as a deep-rooted feature of the education system itself, which is self-perpetuating

Marketisation

• Gillborn (1997) argues that schools use selection methods that disadvantage Black pupils as negative stereotypes influence school admissions

• Tikly (2006) found that teacher decisions to enter students for either Higher or Foundation tier GCSEs resulted in ethnic inequalities in achievement

• Gillborn (2008) found that schools use old-fashioned ability measures to determine streams or ‘Gifted and Talented’ access, often benefiting white pupils

• Racialised expectations lead to inequality in discipline, access to opportunities, and teacher assessments

Staffing

• There is a lack of positive ethnic minority teachers as role models in schools

  • 17% of students in the UK are from ethnic minority backgrounds, whereas only 7% of teachers are

• Sewell (1997) sees this as the main in-school cause of the underachievement of black boys

• Ranson (2005) claims that school governing bodies are disproportionately white, middle-aged and middle-class

The Ethnocentric Curriculum

• Coard (2005) argues that the school curriculum tends to reflect white British culture

  • Literature, music, and history focus on white European narratives

  • Languages and religious studies often exclude minority cultures

• Ball (1994) argues that the National Curriculum ignores ethnic diversity

  • This may lead to feelings of exclusion among ethnic minority students

• Tikly (2006) found that black students were aware of their invisibility in the curriculum and were frustrated by the focus on white people and Europe

Evaluation of institutional racism

Strengths

• Explains patterns of underachievement

  • The concept of institutional racism provides a framework for understanding the persistent underachievement of some minority groups

  • E.g., black Caribbean boys, even when class is controlled for

Criticisms

• Overstates the role of racism

  • Sewell (1997) argues that although racism hasn't disappeared from schools, it is not powerful enough to prevent individuals from succeeding

  • He believes we must focus more on external factors such as peer group pressure, street culture, and the absence of father figures

• Model minorities challenge the claim

  • Indian and Chinese students often outperform white British pupils

  • This challenges the idea that schools are uniformly racist against all minorities

• Gender may be a more important factor

  • Girls tend to outperform boys across all ethnic groups

  • This suggests gender may intersect with ethnicity in more complex ways than institutional racism alone can explain

• Class still matters

  • Pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM), regardless of ethnicity, are less likely to succeed

  • This suggests that social class, material deprivation, and poverty may play a greater role in educational achievement than racism alone