Professor Simon Burgess
The ‘London Effect’ is down to the diverse ethnic-mix of the capital’s schools, Burgess’s study suggests. The ambition and aspiration of London’s children, particularly those whose parents have migrated to the city, has led to a boost in its GCSE performance for pupils from all backgrounds according to the researcher, who suggests that encouraging pupils’ aspiration will help schools outside of London achieve similar results.
Burgess argues strongly that it is the ethnic composition of London that helps its pupils achieve such good results, even when faced with social disadvantages. The capital’s minority ethnic pupils tends to come from more disadvantaged backgrounds but, Burgess speculates, have more in the way of ambition – possibly owning to their family’s backgrounds, especially if they are recent migrants to the country – and are more likely to value the education system and work hard in it. It is this individual effort of pupils, rather than particularly policies, which can account for London’s good educational performance.
Though Burgess does make it clear that immigration and ethnicity are different factors, his central argument does tend to conflate ethnic diversity with a belief that the children of immigrants are more likely to be aspirational and hard working than their ‘White British’ counterparts, without really providing the evidence to base this assumption on. The research does however present interesting questions about how a diversity of ethnicities may positively effect pupil populations, and how schools can work to foster environments that encourage students from well performing groups to help those who typically do not perform as well.
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