This document discusses ethnicity and educational attainment by ethnicity. It defines ethnicity, notes problems with categorizing ethnic groups, and presents a chart showing the percentage of students from different ethnic groups achieving good grades in GCSE exams in 2006. The chart shows Chinese and Indian students achieving the highest results overall, followed by Bangladeshi students, with Black and Pakistani students achieving the lowest results. The document notes that differences exist within ethnic groups by gender and class.

1. And educational attainment

2. » By the end of this lesson you will be able to
» Define ethnicity
» Summarise the problems of categorisation of
ethnic groups
» Draw a chart showing educational achievement
and ethnicity
» Create a mind map of external factors of ethnic
differences in educational achievement.

3. » The term “race” relates to supposed biological
differences such as differences in skin colour, hair
texture or shape of eyes as between different social
groups.
» However it can be shown that it is perfectly
possible that if we consider at random, say, two
white people and one black person, the overall
genetic characteristics of one white person and the
black person may be more similar than those of the
two white people.

4. » For this reason most sociologists do not
consider “race” to be a meaningful concept .
» Ethnicity is a more useful concept.

6. »What is ethnicity?
˃ Write your own definition
Lawson and Garrod (2000) –
Ethnic groups are “people who share
common history, customs and identity,
as well as, in most cases, language and
religion, and who see themselves as a
distinct unit”.

7. » Problems with ethnicity?
˃ Who to include?
˃ Mixed ethnicity?
˃ How you feel or who your parents are?
˃ 2nd/3rd generations

8. » Ethnicity is not something that ‘other people’
have.
» Everyone has an ethnicity
» Ethnicity is not necessarily defined by physical
features
» Although many ethnic minority groups in the
UK are non-white, not all of them are

9. » David Crystal (2003)
» Well over 100 languages are in routine use in
the UK

10. » The UK is multicultural
» Children from ethnic minority groups make up
21% of the populations of schools

12. Boys
Girls
40
45
73
51
68
51
55
58
84
61
76
61
Percentage of pupils
gaining 5 or more GCSE
grades A* - C by ethnicity
and gender 2006
Ethnic group
Black
Pakistani
Chinese
Bangladeshi
Indian
White

13. 1. What is significant about the difference between boy’s
and girl’s performance
2. Which ethnic group perform best overall?
3. Which group perform second best?
4. Which group perform worst overall?

14. » A common mistake in exam questions on this topic is to
say that children from ethnic minorities underachieve in
education.
» There are class and gendered differences within all
ethnic groups

15. INTERNAL FACTORS
»
EXTERNAL FACTORS

16. » By the end of this lesson you will be able to
» Define ethnicity
» Summarise the problems of categorisation of
ethnic groups
» Draw a chart showing educational achievement
and ethnicity
» Create a mind map of external factors of ethnic
differences in educational achievement.

17. a strict or demanding mother who pushes her
children to high levels of achievement, using
methods regarded as typical of childrearing in
China and other parts of East Asia: