I have been campaigning on the issue of black education for many years. For more than two decades I have talked with black parents about the problems they have with the education system, their children’s underachievement and how these problems can be overcome. The complexity of black underachievement has become apparent.
So the publication of a report suggesting that teachers are underestimating black Caribbean pupils in their SATs tests did not come as much of a surprise. Dr Steve Strand of Warwick University looked at statistics from 15,000 Key Stage 3 results (those that come from 14 year olds’ SATs results) broken down by ethnicity. He found that Pakistani, Bangladeshi, black Caribbean and black African children aged 14 score on average three points below their white British counterparts. In National Curriculum terms, this is about equivalent to these pupils being a whole school year behind their white British counterparts. When other factors are taken into account this statistic improves — social class, family type, eligibility for free school meals and special educational needs are all important causes of educational under-achievement. However for black children, these factors do not greatly change the picture — they were still 2.5 points below.
Looking to explain, the study discovered that black Caribbean children were the only pupils to be under-represented in being put forward for the higher tiers in their SATs tests. Even when accounting for other factors, the study found that for every three white British students entered into higher tiers, only two black Caribbean students were. Despite showing the same academic ability as their white British counterparts, black Caribbean pupils were more likely to be denied the opportunity to take on a more difficult SATs test that would garner higher marks. It suggests that something about black Caribbean students, that had nothing to do with their academic ability, was stopping them from being put forward for the higher tiers. It suggests that what many have been arguing for years may well be true: that the negative perception of black children — especially boys — has a direct affect on their educational performance.
There have been many reasons given for the underachievement of black pupils, but for me it seems that there is a process of labelling and demotivation taking place. Teachers may be more likely to expect bad behaviour from black boys and less likely to expect high academic results from them. Black pupils may be more likely to disengage from their education — either because they sense they are not expected to do well or because of some cultural factors that mean they are pressurised not to do well by their peers.
Reactions to the report have been unsurprisingly mixed. Some activists have called for the introduction of black schools to cater specifically to black pupils’ needs. Whilst I can see that addressing a specific problem with a specifically designed school seems like a good idea, I think that the debate around black schools is a diversion. Some 99 per cent of black children are going to be educated in the mainstream state sector, so the most urgent question is reforming mainstream education to ensure that working class children and black children can achieve. Taking black children out of mainstream education would run the risk of legitimising the notion that they are somehow educationally ‘subnormal’.
I advocate a focused approach on black children within the current education system. In a recent poll only 50 per cent of teaching students said they felt ready to teach black children in a multi-cultural setting. In 2006 whilst 22 per cent of pupils in London were black, only seven per cent of teachers were. We need better teacher training so that all teachers are equipped to deal with a multi-racial and multi-cultural pupil population. And we need to increase the number of black and ethnic minority teachers and a drive towards encouraging black and ethnic minority parents to become governors. With a two-pronged approach the progress that has already been made at GCSE level can continue. This means rejecting the notion that black pupils are innately worse academically and the notion that all schools and all teachers are racist, and it means rejecting the notion that social class is the only factor affecting educational outcomes.
