Teachers appear to assess children differently depending on their background
A study published yesterday by the Institute of Education at the University of London finds that social prejudice is deeply ingrained in UK classrooms.
Researcher Tammy Campbell analysed almost 5,000 seven-year-olds at English state schools and looked at how teachers’ perceptions of their ability related to their gender ethnicity and socio-economic backgrounds.
The results are striking. They show how stereotyping can impact on the assessment, and therefore on the ultimate attainment, of pupils from low-income backgrounds.
Teachers were asked to say whether individual pupils were ‘well above average’, ‘above average’, ‘average’, ‘below average’ or ‘well below average’ at both reading and maths. Their answers were then compared with the results of cognitive tests that the pupils had taken in the two subjects.
Some of the key findings were that:
Children from low-income families are less likely to be judged ‘above average’ at reading, despite having similar scores to their comparison counterparts on the reading test. Pupils from higher income families had a 52.3 per cent chance of being rated as ‘above average’ in reading, compared to 26.6 per cent for low-income pupils.
Children who speak other languages in addition to English are less likely to be judged ‘above average’ at reading than children only speaking English – despite scoring the same in the tests.
Black African and Bangladeshi pupils score relatively highly on the reading test – but are again less likely to be judged ‘above average’ and more likely to be judged ‘below average’ by their teacher
Indian children have a 46.9 chance of being judged above average at reading, compared to 28.6 for Black Caribbean children.
The disparities are slightly smaller for maths; however, boys are more likely than girls to be judged ‘above average’ at maths (42 per cent compared to 37 per cent) inverting the general trend.
Children from families of above median income have a 45.6 per cent chance of being judged ‘above average’ for maths, compared to the 24.2 per cent chance of their poorer counterparts.
In general, teachers’ assessments did not appear to be linked to children’s ethnicity (discrepancies were mitigated by the fact that, for example, Black Caribbean children did score lower on the reading test that Indian children).
But even once other characteristics were taken into account, Black Caribbean girls tended to be under-rated in reading and maths, while Pakistani girls were more likely to be under-rated in reading and Bangladeshi boys’ maths skills were more likely to be over-rated.
Commenting on her findings, Campbell said:
“Unless these tendencies are addressed, they may continue to play some part in creating and perpetuating inequalities.”
It is difficult to measure the point at which a perceived lack of ability becomes actual, through lack of attention or aspiration. But we know that socio-economic background has a huge effect on pupils’ performance.
A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation released in April found that pupils who receive free school meals do significantly worse at school. Of those eligible for free school meals in 2013/14, 63 per cent did not achieve at least five GCSEs A* to C (including English and Maths) compared to 35.8 per cent of pupils not eligible for free school meals.
Campbell’s report also seems to bolster the claims of the Education Committee that income background has more of an impact on underachievement than race and ethnicity. They found that just 32 per cent of poor white British children achieve five good GCSEs including English and mathematics. That figure is 42 per cent for black Caribbean children eligible for free school meals, and 61 per cent for disadvantaged Indian children.
Campbell stressed that the findings were in no way designed to condemn teachers, who are equally exposed to society’s stereotyping and therefore can be expected to hold the same social biases as the rest of the public.
But she suggested that even well-meaning attempts to give disadvantaged children a better chance actually make the problem worse; for example initiatives aimed at ethnic minority children may create the idea that these pupils are less able.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
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6 Responses to “New study shows how stereotyping holds poor children back at school”
Torybushhug
I’m always curios to read that Pakistani children may be suffering discrimination that will impinge on their life chances because there is a big representation in terms of successful landlords and property auction buyers, and wealth very much abounds in the community. Tax records might not reflect the reality.
Also I notice a bigger proportion of Pakistani kids go on to become Doctors than is true of the white populace. Some medical school intakes have a really noticeable preponderance of Pakistani and Indian entrants and as we are always told, without them the NHS would collapse…. (it’s a miracle Britain ever got going and prospered without an army of migrants over a relatively short time span).
Torybushhug
I’m always curios to read that Pakistani children may be suffering discrimination that will impinge on their life chances because there is a big representation in terms of successful landlords and property auction buyers, and wealth very much abounds in the community. Tax records might not reflect the reality.
Also I notice a bigger proportion of Pakistani kids go on to become Doctors than is true of the white populace. Some medical school intakes have a really noticeable preponderance of Pakistani and Indian entrants and as we are always told, without them the NHS would collapse…. (it’s a miracle Britain ever got going and prospered without an army of migrants over a relatively short time span).
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Get a job.
Dave Stewart
depends which communities you’re referring to. There is a huge amount of poverty in the Bradford area and Barking/Ilford area Pakistani communities. (2 of the largest in the country)
damon
The idea that school teachers are full of prejudices is really hard to get one’s head around.
These are some of the most ”PC” people in the country, as a watch of an NUT or TUC conference will show you. I have a hard time believing it to be honest. It’s far more complex and nuanced than people are making out here. The subject was being discussed on a BBC London radio programme on Sunday evening. A show primarily for black people and issues for that section of society.
They too blamed teachers for not understanding black children properly. Although if you listened closely to the conversation, other realities did show themselves.
Like the show host Dotun Adebayo describing about going into a London school to talk to the pupils in a class, and finding that the black boys at the back were so disruptive and not paying attention that he suggested that if they weren’t interested in listening they could leave the class, which they then did.
He had described the Asian kids in the class as sitting at the front and being attentative and the white children somewhere in between.
Why keep blaming the white teachers? Where are the black teachers? If they don’t join the teaching profession, they should not just leave it to white teachers, who are then criticised for being racist or not dealing with the cultural needs of black children.