Racial Discrimination.

. Ethnicity and the Hidden Curriculum.

1. Two points need to be noted before we look in more detail at the issue of ethnicity and the hidden curriculum.

· Sociologists use the concept of ethnicity rather than "race" because the validity of "race" as a classification concept has been rejected by scientists. The concept of "race" is a socially-constructed one. Ethnicity, therefore, refers to the cultural identity of different groups (values, norms, traditions and so forth).

· Many of the points made in relation to class and gender differences can be equally applied to ethnic group experiences in our education system. This should be kept in mind when considering this area of the course.

2. In basic terms, we can look at the hidden curriculum as it applies to different ethnic groups in terms of two main concepts:

a. Racial Discrimination.

· There is evidence to suggest schools discriminate against pupils on the basis of pupil's ethnic background. There is a distinction to be made between systemic discrimination (discrimination that results from the way society is organised) and individual acts of discrimination. The focus here is mainly on the former.

· Where schools select pupils on the basis of characteristics other than strict IQ tests or written examinations, there is evidence that ethnic groups suffer disadvantages. Where selection is done by interviews, for example, the Commission For Racial Equality has found that Asian and West Indian pupils are less likely to:

· Be admitted into a school.
· Be admitted into the top streams or sets.

· This is becoming increasingly significant following the successive Education Acts from the mid-1980's onwards, where schools are allowed to select a proportion of their intake on the basis of interview.

· Wright ("Early Education") found evidence in primary schooling that teachers' viewed children from non-white ethnic minorities differently from white children. Asian children, for example, were more likely to be viewed as "a problem", received less teacher attention and were more likely to be excluded from classroom discussions.

· Afro-Caribbean boys were more-likely to be seen as aggressive and unruly and subjected to negative labelling and sanction.

· Gillborn ("Race, Class and School Effects") found similar instances in his study of secondary schooling. In particular, teachers tended to have different perceptions of non-white children and, consequently, tended to treat them differently.

· One major way the hidden curriculum is manifested is in exclusions from school. Since the mid-1980's, exclusions have risen, partly as a result of schools having to publish examination results and truancy rates. Pupils with a reputation for being "difficult" or "uncooperative" are more likely to be excluded from school now than in the past - and non-whites are more likely than whites to attract such labelling.

· Government figures for 1991, for example, show that Afro-Caribbeans made up 8% of school exclusions whilst constituting 2% of the school population. Two main reasons have been suggested for the above:

· Teachers are more likely to define non-white children as being "a problem".

· Ethnic minorities are more likely to experience frustration with racism and
poverty and consequently display behavioural problems in the classroom.

b. Stereotyping.

· Racial stereotypes about IQ still persist in our society. Generally there is a clear perception that ethnic minorities have lower levels of IQ than their white peers.

· Figueroa suggests that racial stereotypes affect pupil performance in three ways:

a. Missassment of pupils - assessment procedures may be used that are culturally / racially biased and serve to confirm stereotypes held be teachers.

b. Misplacement - this involves teacher assessments of ethnic minority children placing them in lower streams / sets than should be the case if performance tests alone were used.

c. Channelling - this involves teachers encouraging ethnic minority children to participate fully only in stereotypical areas of the curriculum. For example, the idea that Afro-Caribbean boys are "naturally good at cricket or running".

· Finally, Brandt ("The Realisation of Antiracist Teaching") argues that our society systematically discriminates against ethnic minority children, similar to the way it discriminates against all children who do not conform to the stereotypical "good" pupil (by which is generally meant the middle class pupil). This discrimination is expressed in three main ways:

· The curriculum (what counts as knowledge, the materials used, etc.).
· The teaching process (teacher expectations and stereotypes, etc.)
· The culture of the school (where little attention is paid to the cultural background of ethnic minority pupils).