Memorandum submitted by Professor Sally
Tomlinson
1. During the 1960s I taught the school-age
children of settlers from former colonial countries in the Caribbean,
and from India, Pakistan and Hong Kong. I have subsequently spent
some 30 years working in higher education; teaching, researching
and writing about the accommodation of the education system to
minority young people and their educational achievements. The
educational performance of young people from various minority
groups and their preparation for the labour market has been an
emotive and highly politicised issue for over 40 years. There
are no simple or "single-factor" explanations for school
and subsequent achievements of minority ethnic young people.
2. From the 1960s to the 1980s research
concentrated on the "underachievement" of minority pupils,
especially those of Caribbean and Pakistani origin. Explanations
for minority school performance initially centred round home factors,
socio-economic status and disadvantaged backgrounds, including
racial disadvantage, low teacher expectations and an unchanged
school curriculum, language problems and cultural identity(1).
Gender differences in educational performance were noticeable
from the early to present day studies, with girls in some groups
out-performing boys. From the 1960s African Caribbean children
can be shown to have been disproportionately excluded from mainstream
education in a variety of ways; into schools for the educationally
subnormal in the 1960s, into behavioural units and schools for
the emotionally and behaviourally disturbed in the 1970s, and
eventually by straight exclusion from mainstream schools.
3. From the 1980s there was a greater focus
on school factors, particularly comparing schools for their effectiveness
in enhancing educational progress of different minority groups(2),
and in studying school organisation, differential teacher treatment
of minority pupils and possible forms of cultural and institutional
racism which might affect minority performance(3). The 1985 Swann
report(4) pointed to the higher school achievements of children
of Indian origin, with children of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and
Caribbean origin doing less well, but also noted the differential
treatment children from different background received in schools.
In a study of 18 multiracial schools the teachers were suprised
to discover that under "normal" school processes, pupils
of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Caribbean origin were less likely
to be entered (in 1986) for "O" level courses(5). The
lower achievements of the more recently arrived children from
Bangladesh could also at the time, have been connected to the
failure of the authority with the largest number of these children,
to even provide sufficient school places for them(6).
4. From the 1990s onwards research indicated
that, despite increasingly higher achievements in public examinations
by all young people, a greater divergence between minority ethnic
groups was becoming more evident both at secondary level and in
higher education(7). Young people from Indian, East African, Asian
and Chinese origin achieve in public examinations,on average better
than those of "Black", Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin.
Social class and economic deprivation constitute a major explanation
for performance, as a familiar pattern emerges of middle-class
pupils achieving better than working and non-working classes,
but with class and gender differences within ethnic groups. (e.g.
Indian pupils from manual homes achieving less well than those
from middle-class homes). In several recent studies, class emerges
as a stronger explanation for attainments than ethnicity(8).
5. Further explanations for minority ethnic
(and working class) achievements centre round "culture"—the
levels of cultural support given by families. While "Asian"
cultures are popularly regarded as more supportive of education,
both Caribbean and Asian cultures are more effective than white,
in encouraging children to stay on in post-compulsory schooling(9).
The educational success of Chinese children, again popularly attributed
to cultural characteristics could also be explained by the high
proportion of Chinese children attending independent schools.
The "street culture" of some minority ethnic young people,
and popular representations of black masculinity, sometimes cited
as leading to lower educational performance, do not necessarily
lead to an "anti-school culture"(10). Indeed, evidence
suggests that Caribbean pupils are more regular school attendees
than other groups. There is some striking evidence that teachers
still regard children with a Caribbean background as potential
low achievers. A study of children arriving from 1995 from the
volcanic island of Montserrat, showed that the children were well
motivated and achieving well on arrival, but several years later
had become de-motivated and underachieving(11).
6. The "new disadvantages" experienced
by minority ethnic groups as policies of school choice and the
marketisation of education have become entrenched are also possible
explanations for educational performance(12). The urban location
and socio-economic position of many parents from minority groups
affect their ability to "choose" schools for their children,
segregating many in under-funded and understaffed schools, often
labelled as "failing". Despite expressed preferences
and high aspirations, minority parents are less likely to get
their children into schools with high examination performance(13).
Minority pupils have never done well overall in situations of
selection, but more schools than ever are now selecting pupils
both overtly and covertly(14). Within comprehensive schools, Caribbean
children are least likely to be entered for the higher "tiers"
of GCSE exams and thus cannot achieve highly(15). Pupils in grammar
schools (attended by very few Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi
pupils) are 20 times more likely to be entered for the higher
tiers.
7. Taking a positive view evidence suggests
that young people from minority ethnic groups are more likely
to stay on in education, to improve their qualifications over
time, and aim to enter higher education if possible. Caribbean
and Pakistani young men are most likely to be vocationally well-qualified
by their early twenties. While Pakistani and Bangladeshi women
and Caribbean men and women are under-represented in higher education,
it is Bangladeshi women who have recently increased their participation
most. There is evidence that Black and Asian middle-class families,
where possible, make similar choices to white middle-class families
and middle-class minority pupils entering high performance and
selective schools do well. However this may indicate that education
markets may be able to enhance the life-chances of middle-class
minorities,but "education for racial equality" for all
still appears difficult to achieve.
REFERENCES
(1) Tomlinson S 1983 Ethnic Minorities in British
Schools: A Review of the Literature 1960-82 London. Heinemann
(2) Smith D.J and Tomlinson S 1989 The
School Effect: A Study of Multiracial Comprehensives London.
Policy Studies Institute
(3) Modood T. 1992 Not Easy Being British:
Colour, Culture and Citizenship Stoke on Trent. Trentham Books
(4) DES. 1985 Education For All (The
Swann report) London HMSO
(5) Tomlinson S 1987 "Curriculum Option
Choices in Multi-Ethnic Schools" in (ed) Troyna B. Racial
Inequality in Education London Tavistock.
(6) Tomlinson S 1992 "Disadvantaging
the Disadvantaged: Bangladeshis and Education in Tower Hamlets"
British Journal of Sociology of Education vol 13 no 4 pp
437-446
(7) Modood T, Berthoud R et al. Ethnic
Minorities in Britain London Policy Studies Institute. Gillborn
D and Mirza H 2000 Inequality: Mapping Race, Class and Gender.
London. OFSTED. Youth Cohort Surveys, see Demack S, Drew D and
Grimsley M 2000 "Minding the gap: Ethnic, gender and social
class differences in attainment" Race, Ethnicity and Education
vol 3 no 2 pp 117-146
(8) Bradley S and Taylor J 2001 Ethnicity,
Educational Attainment and the Transition from School Department
of Economics. University of Lancaster, Lancaster. Abbas T 2002
"The Home and the School in the Educational Achievements
of South Asians" Race Ethnicity and Education vol
5 no 3 pp 291-316
(9) Pilkington A 2003 Racial Disadvantage
and Ethnic Diversity in Britain London. Palgrave-Macmillan
(10) Sewell T 1997 Black Masculinities
and Schooling Stoke on Trent. Trentham Books
(11) Shotte G 2003 "Education, Migration
and Identities:Relocated Montserratian Students in London Schools"
PhD thesis. London. Institute of Education.
(12) Tomlinson S 2000 "Ethnic Minorities
and Education: New Disadvantages" in (ed) Cox T Combating
Educational Disadvantage London Falmer.
(13) Noden P, West A, David M and Edge A
1998 "Choice and Destinations at transfer to secondary school
in London" Journal of Education Policy vol 13 pp 221-236
(14) West A 2003 The Extent of Overt
and Covert Selection Paper to Seminar on the Future of Comprehensive
Education. Department of Education. University of Oxford. February.
(15) Gillborn D and Youdell Y 2000 Rationing
Education London.—Routledge
March 2003
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