Topic 3 - Ethnic differences in achievement

Lawson + Garrod (2000) - define ethnic groups as 'people who share common history, customs + identity as well as, in most cases, language + religion, + who seee themselves as a distinct unit' - about culture.

1 difficulty in studying ethnicity + education - problem of deciding who to include in an ethnic group eg should all 'Asians' be classified together, when this would include people of many different nationalities, religions + languages.

It is a mistake to think of ethnic gorups as always being defined by physical featyres eg skin colour ' many ethnic minority groups in Britain aare non-whire, this is not true of all groups. 

White pupils' achievements v close to national average, as white pupils by far largest group, accounting for 4/5 of all pupils. However, find major class differences w/ many w/c white pupils performing at a lower level than that of other ethnic groups.

Sociologists interestedin reasons for these differences in achievement. 
 - External factors - factors outside ed sys eg influence of home, family background + wider society
 - Internal factors - factors w/in schools + ed sys eg interactions between pupils + teachers, + inequalities between schools