Ethnicity and Achievement in Bristol Schools

Emma Bent, John Hill, Jo Rose & Leon Tikly

Key Points

Increasing diversity in Bristol schools

Overall improvement in attainment over past five years

but variation across ethnic groups

Factors affecting achievement differ across groups

Some Bristol schools are ‘making the difference’ and are

closing the attainment gap

The Bristol Context

Fig. A.1 Percentage of pupils from each ethnic group attending Bristol state-funded schools 2007-

2012

0.4%

0.8%

1.5%

2.9%

1.3%

2.2%

1.1%

2.7%

1.7%

0.8%

0.4%

1.0%

2.8%

0.6%

0.7%

2.3%

0.1%

0.6%

0.8%

0.3%

2.2%

1.7%

4.9%

1.7%

2.2%

1.3%

3.1%

2.1%

0.8%

0.5%

1.8%

3.2%

0.8%

1.2%

2.5%

0.3%

0.7%

0.7%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0%

White British

White - Irish

White Eastern European

White other

Black - Somali

Black African(excluding Somali)

Black Caribbean

Black other

Pakistani

Indian

Bangladeshi

Chinese

Asian other

White and Black Caribbean

White and Black African

White/Asian

Mixed/dual background other

Gypsy/Traveller

Any other group

Refused/Not obtained

2007

2012

75.4%68.0%

Fig. A.5 Percentage of Bristol children attending state-funded schools living in the 20% most

deprived wards nationally for Income Deprivation Affecting Children (2011)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Ban

glades

hi

Bla

ck -

Afric

an

Any

Oth

er B

lack

Bac

kgro

und

Bla

ck C

arib

bean

Gyp

sy /

Rom

a

White

and B

lack

Afric

an

Trave

ller of I

rish

Her

itage

Pak

ista

ni

Any

Oth

er A

sian

Bac

kgro

und

White

and B

lack

Car

ibbea

n

Any

Oth

er M

ixed

Bac

kgro

und

White

Eas

tern

Euro

pean

Any

Oth

er E

thnic

Gro

up

Chin

ese

White

- Britis

h

India

n

White

and A

sian

Bristol average

Fig. A.14 Percentage of Bristol children attending state-funded schools achieving Level 4 and

above in English & Maths at the end of KS2 2011 by ethnic group and gender

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Ban

glades

hi Girl

White

UK G

irl

India

n Girl

Chin

ese

Girl

White

Oth

er B

oy

White

Oth

er G

irl

White

Eas

tern

Euro

pean G

irl

Chin

ese

Boy

White

/Bla

ck C

arib

bean G

irl

White

UK B

oy

India

n Boy

Pak

ista

ni Girl

Bla

ck A

fric

an (E

x.Som

ali)

Girl

Pak

ista

ni Boy

Ban

glades

hi Boy

Bla

ck C

arib

bean G

irl

White

Eas

tern

Euro

pean B

oy

White

/Bla

ck C

arib

bean B

oy

Bla

ck A

fric

an (E

x. S

omal

i) Boy

Bla

ck S

omal

i Girl

Bla

ck C

arib

bean B

oy

Bla

ck S

omal

i Boy

Girl Boy

Bristol average National average

Trends in the proportion of children achieving Level 4 and above in English and maths at the

end of Key Stage 2: Girls from ethnic groups most at risk of underachieving

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

All gIrls

White Eastern European GirlsWhite/Black Caribbean Girls

Pakistani Girls

Black Caribbean Girls

Black Somali Girls

Trends in the proportion of children achieving Level 4 and above in English and maths at the

end of Key Stage 2: Boys from ethnic groups most at risk of underachieving

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

All Boys

Pakistani Boys

White/Black Caribbean Boys

Whit Eastern European Boys

Black Caribbean Boys

Black Somali Boys

Fig. A.19 Percentage of Bristol students attending state-funded schools achieving 5 or more

A*-C grades including GCSE English and Maths in 2011 by ethnic group and gender

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Chi

nese

Girl

Bla

ck A

fric

an (E

x.Som

ali)

Girl

Chi

nese

Boy

Whi

te O

ther

Girl

Bla

ck A

fric

an (E

x. S

omal

i) Boy

Indi

an B

oy

Whi

te/B

lack

Car

ibbe

an G

irl

Indi

an G

irl

Whi

te U

K G

irl

Whi

te U

K B

oy

Pak

ista

ni G

irl

Whi

te O

ther

Boy

Whi

te E

aste

rn E

urop

ean

Girl

Pak

ista

ni B

oy

Bla

ck S

omal

i Girl

Whi

te E

aste

rn E

urop

ean

Boy

Whi

te/B

lack

Car

ibbe

an B

oy

Bla

ck S

omal

i Boy

Bla

ck C

arib

bean

Girl

Bla

ck C

arib

bean

Boy

BoysGirls

National average

Bristol average

Trends in the proportion of students achieving 5A*-C including English & Maths at the end of

Key Stage 4: Girls from ethnic groups most at risk of underachieving

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

All Girls

White/Black Caribbean Girls

Pakistani Girls

White Eastern European Girls

Black Somali Girls

Black Caribbean Girls

Trends in the proportion of students achieving 5A*-C grades including English and maths at

the end of Key Stage 4: Boys from ethnic groups most at risk of underachieving

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

All Boys

Pakistani Boys

White Eastern European Boys

White/Black Cariibbean BoysBlack Somali Boys

Black Caribbean Boys

Fig. A.27 Attainment of Gypsy/Roma and Traveller children attending Bristol state

funded schools (2009-2011 three year average results).

Gypsy/Roma and

Traveller

All Bristol

pupils

Gypsy/Roma and

Traveller

All Bristol

pupils

Girls Girls Boys Boys

EYFS Achieving a good level of

development

22% 61% 0% 45%

KS1 L2+ Reading 30% 87% 0% 80%

KS1 L2+ Writing 30% 84% 0% 74%

KS1 L2+ Maths 30% 89% 18% 86%

KS2 L4+ in English and Maths 8% 73% 0% 68%

KS4 5+A*-C including English and

Maths

Only one girl in the

cohort. This girl

achieved the standard

Only two boys in the

cohort, one of which

achieved the standard

Implications for closing achievement gaps

Overall, educational standards in the City are

improving at each Key Stage, following a period

of consistently low attainment.

For example, half of Bristol’s sixteen year olds

attending state-funded schools achieved 5A*-C

grades including GCSE English and Maths in 2011

compared with a third five years ago.

While the results for most ethnic groups have

improved over this period, improvement rates

vary and inequalities in educational outcomes

remain at each Key Stage.

Groups at particular risk of underachieving are

Somali, White Eastern European, Pakistani, Black

Caribbean, White/Black Caribbean, Gypsy /Roma

and Traveller children.

While more needs to be done, gaps are narrowing year-on-year for Somali, White Eastern European and Pakistani children.

The progress of Black Caribbean children and White/Black Caribbean boys is more variable and gaps are not closing to the same extent.

Although the attainment of Indian children is above the Bristol average, it remains below the national average for this group.

Factors affecting

achievement

Economic disadvantage

There is a correlation between levels of deprivation and low

educational attainment which affects all groups to a greater

or lesser degree. Socio-economic attainment gaps are much

bigger than ethnic group differences

Ethnic groups with the highest percentages of economically

disadvantaged learners (such as Somali and Black Caribbean

groups, see Figure 5) are therefore disproportionably affected

in terms of challenges to achievement

White British children eligible for free school meals represent

a significant“at risk of underachievement” group together

with the BME groups already referred to.

Newly arrived learners

There have been a growing number of newly arrived

learners over the last five years. The majority of these

have been from Somalia and from Eastern Europe.

Both the Somalis and Eastern Europeans along with

Gypsy/Roma and Travellers represent transient and

mobile groups. As a consequence, some Bristol schools

have high levels of pupil mobility with over a third of

pupils each year joining other than at the beginning of

the school year. Mobility disrupts pupil progress

Educational aspirations

Young people’s educational aspirations and those of

their parents influence their educational attainment

and later life outcomes. 11-14 is a key age range, when

young people move from idealistic to more realistic

ambitions.

Many BME communities, including those from

economically disadvantaged backgrounds tend to have

higher educational aspirations than their White British

counterparts

Teacher expectations

Teacher expectations based on stereotypical

assumptions can have a significant negative impact on

the educational achievement of some ethnic groups

Language, literacy and numeracy

Many pupils in Bristol (18% of primary school pupils in 2012) do not have English as their first language

However, not speaking English at home is a short-lived disadvantage, which many African and Asian students usually overcome by the time of secondary schooling

Attainment in reading, writing and numeracy at primary school is strongly associated with later achievement and outcomes

The need for basic skills in language, literacy and numeracy affects many groups at risk of underachieving besides EAL learners including, for example, White British and Black Caribbean boys.

Parental engagement

Linked to low aspirations and low expectations can be a

lack of engagement between schools and parents.

For those parents who have been educated in another

country, low levels of familiarity with the English

education system can lead to misunderstandings and

differences in expectation

Other parents may have had a negative experience of

schooling in the UK

Positive role models

Low numbers of BME teachers. Only 4.4% of Bristol’s

teachers were BME in March 2008, up slightly from 3.7%

in the previous year. Just 1.79% of teachers were Black

or Black British with just one Somali.

It is important not to oversimplify the issue of role

models. A teacher or mentor does not necessarily have

to come from the same ethnic background as a learner

to act as a suitable role model. A priority is to ensure

that all members of staff are positive and confident in

engaging with diversity.

A model of successful

practice