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INTERNAL FACTORS (2) INSTITUTIONAL RACISM - Coggle Diagram
INTERNAL FACTORS (2) INSTITUTIONAL RACISM
CRITICAL RACE THEORY
Sees racism as an ingrained feature of society - it not only involves the intentional actions of individuals but nmore importantly institutional racism
HAMILTON institutional racism is 'less overt & more subtle'
LOCKED-IN INEQUALITY
ROITHMAYR- institutional racism is a 'locked-in inequality'
the scale of historical discrimination is so large that there no longer needs to be any conscious intent to discriminate (inequality becomes self-perpetuating)
GILLBORN applies concept of locked-in inequality to education & sees ethnic inequality as 'so deep rooted and so large it is a practically inevitable feature of the education system
ETHNOCENTRIC CURRICULUM
Curriculum that reflects the culture of one ethnic group- usually the dominant culture
many sociologists see this as a prime example of institutional racism because it builds a racial bias into everyday workings of schools and colledges
EXAMPLES
LANGUAGES, LITERATURE & MUSIC:
TROYNA & WILLIAMS note the meagreprovison for teaching asian languages as compared with European languages
DAVID ndescribes the national curriculum as a 'specifically British' curriculum that largely ignores non-europeans ;languages, literature & music
HISTORY:
BALL criticises the national curriculum for ignoring ethnic diversity and promoting an attitude of 'little englandism'
e.g the story curriculum trues to recreate a 'mythical age of empire and past glories' while ignoring the histories of Black and Asian people
COARD explains how the ethnocentric curriculum may cause underachievement
e.g in history,the British may be presented as bringing civilisation to the primitive peoples they colonised
he argues that tis image of black people as inferior undermines black children self-esteem and leads to their failure
HOWEVER its not clear what impact the ethnocentric curriculum has
e.g while it may ignore asian cultures & languages, Indian and chinese pupils achievement is above the national average
ASSESSMENT
GILLBORN argues that 'the assessment game' is rigged to validate the dominant cultures superiority
if black children succeed as a group, 'the rules will be changed to re-engineer failure'
e.g in the past, primary schools used baseline assessments when they started compulsory schooling
however this were replaced in 2003 by a new way of measuring pupils ability, using the foundation stage profile
The result of this change was that overnight black pupils now appeared to be doing worse than white pupils
he explains this reversal as a result of 2 related institutional factors:
the FSP is based entirely on teachers judgements, whereas baseline assessments often used written tests aswell
A change in the timing: the tsp is completed at the end of reception year, whereas baseline assessments were done at the start of primary school
He argues that both of these factors increase the risk of teacher stereotyping affecting the results
E.G a study of GCSE by SANDERS & HORN found that where more weighting was given to tasks assessed by teachers than written exams, the gap between ethnic groups widened
MARKETISATION & SEGREGATION
GILLBORN argues that because marketisation gives schools more scope to select pupils, it allows negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions
GILLBORNS view is supported by MOORE & DANVENPORTS research t
they show how a selection procedures lead to ethnic segregation with minority pupils failing to get into better secondary schools due to discrimination
E.G they found primary school reports were used to screen out pupils with language difficulties while the application process was difficult for non English speaking parents to understand
These procedures favoured white pupils & disadvantaged those from ethnic minority backgrounds
MOORE & DAVENPORT conclude that selection leads to an ethnically stratified education system
ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES
THE GIFTED AND TALENTED PROGRAME: - created with the aim of meeting the needs of more able pupils in inner-city programmes
GILLBORN points out that official statistics show that white pupils are over twice as likely as black Caribbean pupils to be identified as gifted & talented, and five times more likely than black African pupils
EXAM TIERS:
TIKLY ET AL found that in 30 schools in the 'aiming high' initiative to raise black caribbean pupils achievement, black pupils were more likely to be entered for low their GCSE
STRAND suggests ethnic differences in entry to test tiers reflect teachers expectations, leading to the self fulfilling prophecy
THE 'NEW IQism'
accesss to opportunities such as higher sets or the gifted and talented programme depend heavily on teachers assessment of the pupils ability
This works against black pupils because as gill born notes, 'when teachers are asked to judge the potential of their students, they place disproportionate numbers if black students in low ranked groups
Teachers place students in sets not only on the basis of prior attainment but also on disciplinary concerns and perceptions of their attitude
Gillborn and yodel found that teachers has racialised expectations that black pupils would pose more discipline problems
in what gillborn calls the new 'IQism, he argues that teachers and policy makers make false assumptions about the nature of pupils 'ability' or 'potential
they see potential as a fixed quality that can easily be measured- and once a pu[pils ability has been measured, they can be put into the right set or stream, onto the giften=d and talented program etc
gillborne and youdell note that secondary schools are increasingly using old-style intelligence tests to allocate pupils to different streams on entry
For Gillborn, howver there is no genuine measure of potential- all a test can do is tell us what a person has learnt already or can do now
he concludes that the education system is institutionally racist from is analysis of school assessment methods, programmes for gifted children and attempts to measure pupils potential
CRITICISMS OF GILLBORNE
BLACK BOYS UNDERACHIEVEMENT
Critical race theorists argue that institutional racism is the main cause of underachievemnt
however sociologists such as Sewell reject this view and argues racism within schools isnt powerful enough to prevent pupils from succeeding
rather, heatgues we need to focus on external factors such as boys anti-school attitudes, the peer group and the nurturing role of the father
'MODEL MINORITIES': INDIAN & CHINESE PUPILS ACHIEVEMENT
GILLBORN responds by saying that the image of these groups as hardworking 'model minorituies'performs an ideological function
it conceals the fact that the education system is institutionally racist
it makes the system appear fair and meritocratic- that Indian and chinese pupils succeed because they make the effort and take advantage of the opportunities offered to them
it serves to justify the failiure of minorities such as black pupils by making it appear that they are unwilling to make the effort needed to succeed due to their supposingly 'unaspirational' home culture
it ignores the fact that 'model minorities' still suffer from racism in schools e.g chinese students report similar levels of harassment to black carribeans
If chinese and Indian pupils do so well, how can there be institutional racism in education as critical race theorists claim