Black children and the problem of underachievement in schools

Students participating in class
Students participating in classroom (Photo credit: Katerina Holmes)

Fifty years after Bernard Coard wrote his seminal work How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-Normal in the British School System, it would be reasonable to expect to see significant improvement in the educational experiences of children in British schools today. To a large extent, this has indeed been the case. Sadly, however, there is a great deal more to this story, as Black children are still among the lowest achievers in secondary schools in the UK. More generally, it has been well been noted that Black boys are three times as likely to be excluded from school as White boys and in 2005 there were twice as many Black men in prison in the UK than in universities.  The percentage of Black Caribbean pupils getting five or more grades A to C at GCSE and equivalent was 36 percent compared with 52.3 per cent of White children. As GCSEs and A’ Level results were announced this week in England and the rest of the UK, once again we were forced to look at the issue of Black children still underachieving in schools.  

On the day when A’ Level results came out (10 August 2021), the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulations (OFQUAL) found that, the attainment gap between Black and White pupils had widened by 1.43 percentage points over the last two years. Furthermore, the official government sources (GOV.UK) ethnicity facts and figures for the academic year 2019-2020 in England, found that Black children in secondary schools are still among the lowest achievers measured in terms of their scores based on the results of 8 GCSE subjects. While Chinese children had the highest scores, and White Gypsy and Roma pupils had the lowest scores, Black Caribbean children were just above the very lowest achievers. In all the categories, pupils on free school meals achieved lower scores in their GCSE’s than those not on free school meals. Furthermore, in all the ethnic groups, boys generally did worse than girls.

While the main reasons for such low achievements by Black children and young people are varied, the issue of racism was singled out as one contributing factor for the underachievement. For example, one report in the Guardian.com (29 Oct 2020), found that 70 percent of Black pupils felt under pressure over afro hair, while 95 per cent claimed to hear racist language.  Seven out of 10 young Black people in the UK have felt under pressure to change their hair in order to appear more professional in school almost half (49%) said they believed racism was the biggest barrier to academic attainment. In another Guardian report in 2008, based on a survey which tracked 15,000 pupils through their education, they claimed that low achievement among some Black students was made worse because teachers don’t expect them to succeed.

Of course, all the blame cannot be put down to institutional racism.  For example, Tony Sewell, an education consultant and columnist for the Voice newspaper, claims there is a link between individual student behaviour and academic outcome. As far as he’s concerned, we need to address properly the complex reasons why some Black Caribbean pupils behave badly. This in turn adversely affects their educational attainment. What is clear from this statement is that a more holistic approach is needed to address the issue of underachievement of Black students in schools.

One community organisation that has attempted to address this issue is Excell3, a national education charity established over 20 years ago, that operates the National Black Boys Can Programmes. They have been championing the cause for schools, parents and communities to work together as co-partners in the education of their children. Through targeted interventions aimed at disadvantaged students, they have been helping to raise the achievements and aspirations of students. In addition, in one local authority (Lambeth in London) they found that one reason for the high achievement rates in their schools among Black pupils was because of the high rate of children who were fluent in English language and where English was commonly spoken in their homes. In this same local authority, the significance of positive attitudes among senior staff towards their students, as well as high parental educational aspiration, and celebration of cultural diversity, seemed to have helped to raise educational achievements. If a few community organisations and some schools in a few local authorities can make a difference, this suggests, the situation can improve. Where there is a will, there are certainly ways.  

Tony Talburt Ph.D. is a senior lecturer in Black Studies at Birmingham City University in  Britain.

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