Outline 2 cultural factors that may affect ethnic differences in educational achievement (4 marks)

One factor highlighted by Beretier and Engelmann is differing speech codes. They note that poor black families tend to use 'ungrammatical', broken English, putting them at a disadvantage in achieving educational success as the school environment tends to favour the use of elaborate code (Bernstein).A second factor is the attitude of some ethnic minority families towards educational achievement. Sewell argues the 'Asian work ethic' benefits them in education as it is highly valued in Asian families, while he also argues the opposite is true of black families, who he says lack educational work ethic and so are less likely to succeed. Hence, cultural differences amongst ethnic minorities can impact educational achievement.