Ethnicity & Education: The Importance of Cultural Factors (WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology): Revision Note

Parental aspirations

• Sociologists argue that a child’s level of parental or carer support can strongly influence their success or failure in school

• Parents from some minority ethnic groups are often more committed to education and place a greater emphasis on academic success than some white British parents

• Steve Strand (2014) found that parents from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian backgrounds were more likely than white British parents to have high educational aspirations for their children and to be involved in their education

Research examples

• British Chinese parents value education highly, and their children often develop strong educational aspirations out of respect for their elders

• Indian families place pressure on their children to succeed, which tends to positively influence performance

• Some Asian parents who were poorly educated themselves have a strong desire to support their children’s schooling and progress

• High parental involvement and aspirations may explain why Chinese children on free school meals consistently outperform other ethnic groups on FSM

Cultural differences and cultural capital

• Cultural factors can influence educational achievement because schools are often seen as institutions that reflect white, middle-class norms and values

• Students from ethnic minority backgrounds may be disadvantaged when their own cultural values differ from those promoted in school

• White middle-class parents are more likely to have cultural capital — the knowledge, language, and confidence to interact effectively with schools

• They can:

  • help with homework more effectively

  • navigate the education system with confidence

  • communicate assertively with teachers and schools

• In contrast, parents educated outside the UK or with limited English may find it harder to support their children to the same extent

Language

• For some ethnic minority groups, English is not the first language spoken at home

• This has sometimes been used to explain lower attainment, particularly among Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils before 2014

• However, this explanation no longer holds as strongly

  • Bangladeshi pupils have improved significantly and now perform above the national average

  • Indian pupils, who also may not speak English at home, continue to achieve very high results

• Therefore, the language factor alone cannot explain differences in achievement

Male subcultures

• Cultural explanations have also been used to explain why some African-Caribbean boys tend to underachieve compared with other groups

• Tony Sewell (1997) found that peer pressure and the lack of a positive male role model at home were significant influences

• Many African-Caribbean boys are raised in lone-parent families, often headed by women, and may seek alternative role models in street subcultures that emphasise aggressive, rebellious, and ‘macho’ forms of masculinity

• This subculture rejects authority (teachers, police) and can discourage educational success, sometimes as a response to racism and negative stereotyping in schools

Evaluation of cultural factors

• Diversity within ethnic groups

  • It is wrong to assume all students from the same ethnic background share the same experiences or attitudes

  • Tony Sewell himself found that not all African-Caribbean boys conformed to anti-school subcultures — some were high achievers who resisted peer pressure

• Changing patterns of achievement

  • Bangladeshi pupils have made remarkable progress despite earlier disadvantages linked to language or poverty

  • This shows that cultural explanations alone are insufficient; school support and community efforts can help overcome barriers

• Peer culture and teacher labelling

  • Paul Connolly’s research on young boys found that even at primary school, racialised stereotypes were already shaping behaviour and self-image

  • White teachers sometimes treated Black boys as more threatening or aggressive, reinforcing subcultural responses and undermining academic confidence

• Language as a limited explanation

  • While language differences may create short-term barriers, they do not explain long-term patterns of underachievement

  • In fact, some white working-class pupils, who are native English speakers, have the lowest attainment of all groups on free school meals

• Interaction of cultural and structural factors

  • Cultural factors interact with economic inequality and institutional racism

  • E.g., low teacher expectations, racial bias, and lack of role models may compound cultural barriers, suggesting a multifactorial explanation for ethnic differences in achievement