Ethnicity and Education

A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation entitled Tackling Low Educational Achievement has been in the news this morning. Although the report takes a holistic approach to examining the reasons for the poor performance of some children at school, it seems to have made headlines primarily for its conclusion that most low achievers are white.

This is interesting as previous research has tended to focus on the achievement of ethnic minority pupils. Last year the DfES published Ethnicity and Education: The Evidence on Minority Ethnic Pupils aged 5–16 which is an in-depth study of this area, while Special Educational Needs and Ethnicity: Issues of Over- and Under-Representation looks at SEN provision in this area.