Tackling educational inequality - CentreForum

Tackling educational inequality
Ethnicity and deprivation
Figure 22 shows how deprivation affects the attainment of different
ethnic groups. For all ethnic groups, deprivation, as measured by free
school meals, is linked to underperformance. Moreover, for all deprived
ethnic groups shown (except Bangladeshi pupils), the attainment gap
widens as pupils progress through school.
Ethnicity and language
There is a general assumption that language problems amongt immigrant
communities act as a barrier to attainment. Indeed, English as an
Additional Language (EAL) forms part of the basis for the allocation of
deprivation funding. However, overall attainment data shown in figure
23 reveals that the initial disadvantage of English not being a pupil’s
‘mother tongue’, is overcome by later years. In fact, girls with EAL overtake
both the overall national average and non-EAL pupils’ attainment
levels by Key Stage 3. Thus, with appropriate support, the language
barrier is not a permanent one.
Ethnicity and behaviour
Behavioural problems are most clearly indicated by exclusion rates.
Prolonged periods of exclusion are highly detrimental to pupils’ educational
prospects.
Exclusion rates reveal a clear pattern along ethnic lines, with pupils of
Caribbean descent reporting much higher permanent exclusion rates
(see figure 24). Although rates have fallen since 1997, Black Caribbean
pupils were still three times more likely to be permanently excluded than
White British pupils in 2005, and almost twice as likely to be excluded
for a fixed period. More worryingly, these figures are suspected to
be underestimates, due to ‘unofficial’ exclusions – when parents are
‘advised’ to remove their child from a school in order to minimise the
school’s official rates. 23
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