De houding jegens klasgenoten: etnisch gekleurd? Een onderzoek naar factoren van invloed op de attitude van basisschoolleerlingen jegens klasgenoten van verschillende etnische herkomst

Abstract

The existence of so-called ‘black schools’ is seen as a societal problem, not only because these schools are said to negatively affect student performance,but also because of the negative effects the existence of these schools is suggested to have on the integration of ethnic minorities in society. It has oftenbeen claimed that ethnically mixed schools promote the integration ofminority students. This claim is largely based on Allport’s well-known contacthypothesis, which states that contact stimulates mutual acceptanceand weakens prejudice. In the US there is a long tradition in research on students’ interethnic attitudes. In the Netherlands, research in this area is rather scarce. With our study, we aim to contribute to the understanding of the effects of ethnicclass composition and interethnic contact between students on students’ethnic attitudes. Our study concerned a sample of 1287 2nd to 6th grade students fromfourteen schools in the Rotterdam and Nijmegen city areas. The schoolsranged from mainly ‘white’ to mainly ‘black’ schools. The students were administered a questionnaire in order to assess the number of intra- as wellas inter-ethnic mutual contacts. They were also asked to rate friendships with students from varying ethnic backgrounds, in order to assess theirattitudestowards their own and towards other ethnic groups. The teachers provided information about the students’ ethnic background, the ethnic composition of the school class and whether they provided some form ofintercultural education. The results of our study showed students to have more positive attitudes towards children from their own ethnic group than towards children fromother groups. The ethnic composition of the school class did not seem to affect students’ attitudes; neither did the number of inter-ethnic contacts,nor the amount of intercultural education.