The relationship between educational performance and a persons ethnicity is difficult to measure because of other factors like class and gender, it is also difficult to measure because there are different patterns for different ethnic groups. Internal factors are factors within schools and the educational system, such as interactions between pupils and teachers, and the inequalities between schools. External factors are factors outside the education system such as influences of home and family background and wider society.

A internal factor is shown in item A, labeling within schools by saying 'Wright found that teachers persecuted and treated minority ethnic pupils differently from white pupils. Afro Caribbean boys were often expected to behave badly and they received a disproportionate amount of negative attention. Gillborn argues that this labeling can lead to the self fulfilling prophecy – this is where a prediction made about a person or group becomes true simply because it has been made.

Another internal factor is marketisation – this is encouraging competition between schools and choice for parents. Marketisation has led to selection and segregation. Marketisation has given schools greater scope to select pupils and this puts some ethnic minority pupils at a disadvantage. This is because selection of pupils gives schools more scope for negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions.

Another internal factor is ethnocentric curriculum. Ethnocentric curriculum describes a attitude or policy that gives priority to the culture and viewpoint of one particular ethnic group while disregarding others. Troyna and Williams describe the curriculum in British schools as ethnocentric because it gives priority to white culture and the English language. Bernard Coard explains that in history the British are presented as bringing civilisation to