I have spent much\ntime with white working class people, working class folk from other ethnic\ngroups and, of course, have belonged to the working class in my own ethnic\ngroup, the Kashmiri\/Pakistani community (before becoming middle class). Through\nmost of my adult life I have had a left-leaning political tendency. So, I have\nbeen of the general view that white working class, black working class, Kashmiri\nworking class and indeed any other working class have much in common in terms\nof their problems and needs which result from their structural and systemic\ndisadvantages. We should whatever we can to remind working class people (black,\nwhite, whatever) of their commonalities and encourage them to resist being\ndivided on grounds of colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my education\nwork I have focused on underachievement amongst black students, white working-class\nstudents, and latterly Pakistani students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I recently read the\nreport, for the Runnymede Trust, by Joseph-Salisbury <\/a>. This covered many\nissues facing our education system. It stated, \u201cracism is an enduring and\nfundamental problem for our times\u201d thus reiterating Dubois – \u201cthe problem of\nthe twentieth century is the problem of the colour line\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using the examples of Shukri Abdi and Caleb Hills, the report reminded us of situations when schools fail our children. It also reminded us of the misguided advice from Katherine Birbalsingh who said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n If [a] child\nsays [a] teacher is being racist, back the teacher. Whatever the child says,\nback the teacher \u2026 If you don’t, you are letting the child down and allowing\nthem to play you for a fool’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I would say: ignore such advice and stick to what Macpherson Report said: \u201can incident is racist if the victim says so\u201d. This article <\/a>from a victim of such abuse should remove any doubts you might have on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The author lists a number of areas where the education system continues to fail and concludes with \u201cthere is evidence of deep-rooted institutional issues that do not so easily make the headlines\u201d and \u201cTwo decades on from the Macpherson Report,<\/a> and almost half a century on from Bernard Coard’s report<\/a> (1971), evidence suggests that racism still plagues our society and our schools.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is worth remembering here the Rampton Report<\/a> (whose chair was replaced because he identified racism) and its successor the Swann Report<\/a>; both commissioned and dismissed by the then Tory government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We are also\nreminded that \u201ceducation as an enterprise that is far greater than student attainment…..\nthe purpose of schooling has to be about more than metrics, attainment,\nexaminations and the production of a future workforce.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Representative diversity in the school workforce<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The report found teachers speaking of \u201cschools where the teaching force was \u2018mostly white’, and in some cases exclusively white.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This reminded\nme of two quotes where the Department for Education had made its position quite\nclear:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSchool workforce should reflect<\/a> the diversity of the school population\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMinority teachers affirm a positive sense of identity among ethnic minority children\u201d (Blair & Bourne<\/a> 2000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, it is worth considering what the advantages might be. In my doctoral thesis<\/a> and later book<\/a>, I pointed out that minority teachers provide role models, act as cultural brokers\/experts, advocate for minority students and act as a ‘bridge’ between, and ‘translators’ of, minority and dominant cultures. Here is an earlier blog<\/a> on the subject. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph-Salisbury\npoints out: \u201cit is vital that hiring more BME staff is not seen as a panacea\nfor solving all of the issues of deep-seated institutional racisms in our\nschools. There is a danger that such ideas place the burden on individual BME\npeople, while absolving white staff of their duty.\u201d He reminds us that \u201cit is\nnot enough for the teacher to be someone of the same colour, but it needs to be\nsomeone that does not believe the stereotypes\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He also points\nto the importance of teachers becoming racially literate, which refers to them understanding\nthe ways in which race and racisms work in society. \u201cIt also involves having\nthe language, skills and confidence to utilise that knowledge in teacher\npractice.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRacial\nliteracy and anti-racism should not be left to the volition of individual teachers\nbut need to be part of a whole-school, institutionalised approach.\u201d Equipped with\nsuch literacy means all the staff (not just teachers) can own the issues\npertaining to race and racism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He reminds us\nthat to understand racism \u201cas institutional (and structural) is to recognise\nthe ways in which racism is woven into the fabric of society’s institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report draws\nattention to the failings of teacher training as the main cause of low levels\nof racial literacy. The teachers who were committed to acquiring such literacy \u201cdrew\non a range of resources, particularly contemporary literature on race and\nracism written by popular authors\u201d. Maybe we can encourage a whole school\napproach on this: Every Staff (not just teachers) member a Reader on Race<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of curriculum,\nthe report points out that an \u201canti-racist curriculum would involve showing how\nthe history of modernity is shaped by racism, coloniality and white supremacy\u201d\nand that anti-racist education \u201cshould be based on an understanding of racism\nas a structural and historical phenomenon as well as an interpersonal one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, I noticed\nthe report saying \u201cSchool policies play a significant role in how schools\noperate. This extends to the context of racism and anti-racism.\u201d Why is it\nnecessary to make such a statement? We have known this since at least the\n1970s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have spent much time with white working class people, working class folk from other ethnic groups and, of course, have belonged to the working class in my own ethnic group, the Kashmiri\/Pakistani community (before becoming middle class). Through most of my adult life I have had a left-leaning political tendency. So, I have been … <\/p>\n