Tackling teachers’ low expectations of Black Caribbean students in English schools

Abstract

The underachievement of Black Caribbean students has been a persistent problem facing national policymakers in English schools for many years. Drawing on case study evidence, this article has looked into the experience and views of teachers, parents, governors and school staff about the effect of teachers’ low expectations on Black Caribbean students and the reasons for their underachievement in English schools. Evidence suggests teachers’ low expectation is one of the factors that hindered the achievement of Black Caribbean students. Low expectations manifest in several ways, including harsher reprimands, racist stereotyping, unconscious and conscious bias, as well as being overlooked to answer questions, and is set in low ability groups. The recommendations from this study are that schools should challenge teachers through training and the effective use of an inclusive curriculum that provides students with knowledge about the histories, cultures and contributions of diverse groups.

Ethnic disproportionality in the school teaching workforce in England

“…Demie's research on what works in successful multicultural schools also suggests that it is not always doom and gloom and it is possible to tackle the underachievement of BAME pupils and narrow the gap nationally. The research identified many success factors and strategies which contributed to the raising achievement and tackling inequalities including: 'Headteachers' excellent leadership on diversity and equality issues; effective teaching and learning; use of a relevant inclusive curriculum; parental engagement, good link with the community and parents; a clear stand on racism; diversity in the school workforce; a celebration of cultural diversity; and effective use of pupil's voice' (see Demie, 2019a: 192); Demie and Mclean 2017b: 75) This article builds on previous research in UK (see Miller, 2020Miller, , 2021Miller, , 2018Demie, 2022bDemie, , 2021Demie, , 2019aDemie, , 2019bMclean 2017a, 2017b;Callender, 1995 and and provides empirical evidence and trends in the teaching workforce by ethnic background and its disproportionality when compared to their peers in the context of England. It uses the diversity gap and the Teacher-Student Parity Index, for comparing the proportions of teachers and students from different ethnic groups to gain an understanding of the demographic reality of today's schools.…”

“…Staff of ethnic minority heritage should be represented across all schools and within the leadership team (regardless of the demographic of the school population) as this brings a rich cultural diversity to the school community and fosters better understanding and tolerance among different groups of children. The disproportionality between ethnic minority teachers and White British, the main ethnic group in England, has been a big issue and debate in schools (X 2019,2022bMorgan & Scarlett, 2021;Kershaw, 2021;Adams, 2021;Tereshchenko and Bradbury, 2020). The need to diversify the teaching force has received national attention recently when some researchers, and educational leaders, put the spotlight on the clashing student-teacher demographics clearly evident at that time in schools (Adams, 2021;Demie and See, 2022).…”

“…The third major argument in support of increasing teacher diversity is that Black and ethnic minority teachers are more likely to have high expectations for ethnic minority students (Demie, 2022b(Demie, , 2019aFerguson, 2003;McKown and Weinstein, 2008;Villegas and Irvine, 2010). This is important because students, especially Black students, appear to be more sensitive to teacher expectations (McKown and Weinstein, 2008;Demie, 2022aDemie, , 2022b. There is also evidence in the literature that White teachers allow negative stereotypes to lower expectations, which perpetuates poor performance of Black and ethnic minority students (Demie, 2019a;2022b.…”

“…A review of the literature suggests that Black students are more likely to be disciplined and suspended from school than other students (e.g. Demie 2019aDemie , 2021Demie , 2022aDemie , 2022b. There are disparities in disciplinary actions that are based in part on teacher interpretation of student behaviour, and teachers' negative stereotypes (Demie, 2021(Demie, , 2022a(Demie, , 2022b.…”

“…Demie 2019aDemie , 2021Demie , 2022aDemie , 2022b. There are disparities in disciplinary actions that are based in part on teacher interpretation of student behaviour, and teachers' negative stereotypes (Demie, 2021(Demie, , 2022a(Demie, , 2022b. Equally research on school exclusions also suggests several ways that increasing the diversity of the teacher workforce improves outcomes for students of ethnic minority background (Demie, 2019a(Demie, , 2022a.…”