Tackling educational inequality - CentreForum

Tackling educational inequality
Figure 24: Permanent exclusions by ethnicity, 2004/05
0.5
% of school population
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
White British
Irish
Any other White background
White and Black African
White and Black Caribbean
White and Asian
Any other mixed background
Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Any other Asian background
Black Caribbean
Black African
Any other Black background
Chinese
England
average
Source: DfES, ‘Permanent and fixed period exclusions from schools and exclusion appeals
in England, 2004/05’, 2006. Excludes data for Traveller of Irish heritage and Gypsy/Roma
categories due to small numbers recorded.
Gender
Girls are now significantly outperforming boys at GCSE across all ethnicities.
As noted previously, even girls for whom English is an additional
language, who lag behind average pupil attainment at Key Stage 1, have
overtaken the average by Key Stage 4. EAL boys, by contrast, still lag
behind the average.
Opinion as to why girls tend to do better at school than boys varies.
Some suggest it is because they are better at applying themselves,
others that they fear disapproval and punishment more.
Given that boys are nearly four times as likely as girls to be permanently
excluded, it seems reasonable to assume that behaviour is key. A longterm
University of Cambridge/DfES research project on raising boys’
achievement included a pilot project with four primary schools. It was
found that early intervention strategies that targeted motivation, behaviour
and self-esteem significantly helped to reduce disruptive behaviour
and disengagement from education amongst boys.
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