Black Caribbean pupils' achievement 'hit by institutional racism' » Education » 24dash.com

Black Caribbean pupils are less likely to be entered for higher-tier science and maths exams because of low teacher expectations and factors such as "institutional racism", research suggests.

The study, conducted by Dr Steve Strand at Warwick University, found that for every three white British pupils entered for higher tier national curriculum papers in England at the age of 14, only two black Caribbean pupils were entered.

It found that teachers are less likely to put these students in for the tests because their judgments of pupils' academic capabilities are overshadowed by perceptions of their behaviour.

The study noted that black Caribbean pupils are among those more likely to be excluded from school, or have special educational needs, including behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.

It suggests that black Caribbean pupils "may be disproportionately allocated to lower test tiers, not as a result of direct or conscious discrimination, but because teachers' judgments of their academic potential are distorted by perceptions of their behaviour."

Dr Strand said the research, based on an analysis of test data on more than 15,000 14-year-olds, provides a window "into teacher expectations and other in-school factors such as institutional racism, that may play a part in understanding the attainment gap for black Caribbean pupils."

National curriculum tests are tiered to allow pupils to be entered for the level which most closely matches their current level of performance.

Dr Strand noted that pupils who are not entered for the higher tiers are unable to achieve the highest scores, but said he was not arguing that this contributes directly to this ethnic group's "lower attainment and relatively poor progress in secondary school."

The study found that black Caribbean, Pakistani, Black African and Bangladeshi pupils were all under-represented in tests taken at the age of 14.

But while the lower entry levels of other groups could be explained by their low attainment at the age of 11, or other social factors, this was not the case for black Caribbean pupils.

Dr Strand suggests that future research will need to focus on "within school process" to address the attainment gap.

Ministers are piloting a scheme of "single level testing" which could see pupils tested when their teacher judges them to be ready, instead of the current end of year tests taken by 11 and 14-year-olds.

But Dr Strand says these proposals may need to be reconsidered because they will give "greater emphasis to teachers' judgments, since the tests will only be able to confirm the level teachers have entered pupils for, not indicate a higher level."

Dr Strand will present his research to the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association in Edinburgh later today.

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said: "Children from a variety of backgrounds in our schools do suffer from the soft bigotry of low expectations.

"It's vitally important that we ensure students from all backgrounds are given the opportunity to sit testing and rigorous examinations."