Exploring the relationship between ethnic-racial socialisation, ethnic affirmation, academic self-efficacy and achievement amongst secondary-aged African and African-Caribbean pupils in the UK

The academic underachievement of African American, African and African Caribbean pupils within UK and US education is an ongoing concern and has been the topic of research over a number of decades.

Despite existing research, the pattern of underachievement persists for this group.

Explanations using concepts of academic selfefficacy have been applied to investigate the influence on achievement. Beliefs concerning academic self-efficacy play a key role in an individual's motivation to work towards a particular goal, persist despite difficulties, and make attributions around success or failure.

The review paper investigates whether academic self-efficacy can predict academic achievement in secondary school pupils.

Findings revealed a strong, predictive relationship between academic self-efficacy and a range of achievement outcomes as indicated by the medium and large effect sizes across the majority of the studies.

A number of methodological considerations are discussed in relation to studies and suggestions made for further research and Educational Psychology practice.

The empirical paper explores whether higher academic self-efficacy through ethnic-racial socialisation and ethnic affirmation provide protective factors against educational barriers occurring for secondary aged African and African-Caribbean pupils in the UK by examining their academic achievement in relation to these factors.

Eighty-four pupils completed questionnaires on ethnic-racial socialisation, ethnic affirmation and academic self-efficacy which were analysed using multiple regression analyses and Pearson correlations along with data on pupils' academic achievement.

Findings suggest ethnicracial socialisation is associated with increased feelings of ethnic affirmation, however, this is not directly linked to academic self-efficacy.

Findings also indicate a potential link between ethnic affirmation and academic self-efficacy and replicates the well-established relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic achievement.

The thesis concludes with a dissemination and impact paper which outlines the study's academic, policy, and social implications, including directions for Educational Psychology practice. In addition it outlines the dissemination plan for the research.