Swann (1985)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Contents, Introduction

Part I: Setting the scene
Chapter 1 The nature of society
Chapter 2 Racism: theory and practice
Chapter 3 Achievement and underachievement
Chapter 3 continued

Part II: Education for all
Chapter 4 Ethnic minorities and education: historical perspective
Chapter 5 Multicultural education: further studies
Chapter 5 continued
Chapter 6 'Education for all': a new approach

Part III: Major areas of concern
Chapter 7 Language and language education
Chapter 8 Religion and the role of the school
Chapter 9 Teacher education; employment of ethnic minority teachers
Chapter 9 continued

Part IV: 'Other' ethnic minority groups
Introduction
Chapter 10 Chinese children
Chapter 11 Cypriot children
Chapter 12 Italian children
Chapter 13 Ukranian children
Chapter 14 Vietnamese children
Chapter 15 'Liverpool Blacks'
Chapter 16 Travellers' children
Reflections and conclusions

Part V:
Main conclusions and recommendations

Appendices

Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups

Chairman: Lord Swann

Cmnd. 9453

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1985
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Chapter 5 Multicultural education: further research studies
[pages 229 - 314]

1. Introduction

1.1 In the previous chapter we reviewed the state of multicultural education by reference to the development of policies at both central and local level and the concerns of different ethnic minority communities. Clearly the whole of this Committee's work, for both of our reports, has been concerned with various aspects of multicultural education and the particular educational needs of ethnic minority pupils. The sheer volume of material which we have received and the wide-ranging opinions which have been expressed to us in our various meetings and visits are impossible to summarise briefly. We have however sought to draw on and reflect, throughout this report, the range of evidence which we have received, and have indeed already referred at some length to some aspects of our evidence in our Achievement and Racism chapters. In addition to this general evidence, we commissioned several small-scale studies to investigate particular issues or concerns. Where these related to specific areas of work, such as language education, we have drawn on the findings in the appropriate chapters, as we have of course also drawn extensively on the conclusions of the NFER reviews of research.

1.2 We have not sought to review in depth current practice at a national level in each and every specific subject area. We were fortunate in being able to draw on the wealth of material collected by Alan Little and Richard Willey for the Schools Council for their project 'Studies in a Multi-ethnic Curriculum' (1). We were also conscious that the various subject specific studies within the Schools Council's project on 'Assessment in a Multicultural Society' were in progress and we have drawn on some of these reports in finalising this report. We commissioned two projects which related to particular aspects of the overall development of multicultural education, which we feel it is important to describe here, before going on, in the next chapter, to set out our own views on the extent to which multicultural education as presently conceived is preparing youngsters from all groups to live in and to shape the kind of pluralist society which we envisaged at the opening of this report.

2. Project A: The development of multicultural education policy in four local education authority areas

2.1 We have already referred, in Chapter Four, to several of the research projects which have been undertaken to investigate provision for multicultural education in various LEAs. These have in general surveyed the range of provision made at a given point in time and only rarely was there any attempt to relate 'current' provision to earlier developments or to examine the past pressures which might have influenced the present-day policies of an LEA towards ethnic minority education. We were therefore pleased to receive a proposal, from the Social Science Research Council Research Unit on Ethnic Relations based at the University of Aston in Birmingham, to prepare a series of reports for us on the way in which policy had emerged in four LEAs around the country, to be undertaken as part of the Unit's ongoing research programme on 'Ethnicity and Education' (2).

2.2 The detailed reports on the four LEAs which were the subject of the study - Manchester, Walsall, Bradford and the Inner London Education Authority - are published separately and we have not therefore reproduced their findings in full here. We attach as Annex A to this chapter however some extracts from the introduction to the research reports, written by Professor John Rex, who led the study team. These not only set the context for the reports but also raise a number of interesting and thought-provoking issues relating to policy-making in this field. We should stress that both Professor Rex's comments here and the views taken in the individual research reports are the opinions of the researchers themselves and do not necessarily reflect the thinking of this Committee - indeed, as will become apparent, some of the views expressed are somewhat at variance with the line we have taken in this report. Nevertheless we feel that the findings of this project offer a valuable and intriguing insight into the varying ways in which educational policy-making can evolve in very different ways in different parts of the country.

2.3 While it is not for us to comment on the conclusions of the reports on the individual LEAs, there are clearly a number of general conclusions which can be drawn from the project's findings as a whole about the development of multicultural education at local level. Professor Rex himself highlights the following broad conclusions which can be made on the basis of this project, many of which echo the findings of other studies of multicultural education:

• 'There is no consensus on what multicultural education actually means, the actual specification of the policy having been the consequence of whatever political pressures happen to be dominant.

• There will always be uncertainty and doubts about the legitimacy of the whole idea of multiculturalism until clear commitments are made at the highest political level.

• Multicultural Education appears ... to be too often divorced from the whole complex of issues concerned with equality of opportunity for the minority child ... The two ideals of promoting equality of opportunity for the minority child and that of developing education for a multicultural and non-racist society are complementary rather than contradictory.

• The ideal of Equality of Opportunity has to be conceived in much wider terms than has been the case when policy has been concentrated on the narrow question of West Indian underachievement.

• The question of underachievement by an ethnic group or class is a real one in our schools, but its practical solution must lie in better educational practice rather than in emphasising the cultural and environmental differences between children outside the school.

• Many policy decisions taken in the past have rested on dogmatic beliefs about the desirability of assimilation or separatism.

• Too many decisions in the past have been taken against the wishes of minority communities.

• Finally we should notice that the whole business of multicultural education is in an experimental stage. So far policies have been formulated, but hardly implemented.'

3. Project B: 'All-white' schools

3.1 One of the aspects of multicultural education which we were particularly anxious to investigate further was the extent to which an awareness of the multiracial nature of Britain today had influenced the thinking of schools which themselves had few or no ethnic minority pupils. More importantly, we were concerned with the extent to which such schools saw it as part of their overall responsibility to inform their pupils about different ethnic minority groups and to encourage a positive view of their role within our society. As we recalled in Chapter Four, such limited research as there has been in this field shows that the situation on both these fronts still leaves much to be desired, and in our own interim report we highlighted comments made to us by ethnic majority pupils about 'immigrants' which we felt also gave considerable cause for concern. In view of the major part which, as we explained in Chapter Two, we believe misleading stereotypes can play in reinforcing and perpetuating the overall climate of racism, we endeavoured to investigate further the extent of such views within 'all-white schools,' and what, if anything, was being done by the schools to counter them.

3.2 We were fortunate in this respect to obtain the assistance once again of Arnold Matthews - who had worked with us on our interim report and who had visited some 'all-white' schools on our behalf - and also Laurie Fallows, who had also been co-opted to one of our sub-committees during the first stage of our work. As we have already acknowledged, people's attitudes are a particularly difficult area for research. The most satisfactory approach to our task therefore seemed to be to undertake 'case studies' of the views and practices found within a number of 'all-white' schools and this therefore was the approach adopted by Mr Matthews and Mr Fallows. During the winter of 1982/1983 they visited a total of 26 schools, both primary and secondary, and county and voluntary, drawn from six LEAs three in the North of England and three in the South. The particular issues which they endeavoured to investigate for us are listed at Annex B, and the reports which they prepared on the schools they visited are attached as Annexes C and D. Following their visits to schools, Mr Matthews and Mr Fallows met representatives of the six authorities concerned to discuss their findings. Brief summaries of these discussions are included in the respective reports.

3.3 In our view, these reports provide a valuable insight into the attitudes and behaviour found in 'all-white' areas and schools in relation to ethnic minorities and illustrate vividly the gap which exists between the pronouncements and exhortations made at national level about the need to educate all pupils for life in a multiracial society, and the extent to which such an aim is accepted and acted upon. We commend the detailed reports to our readers as portraying the actual situation in the schools and areas visited. There are however a number of broad conclusions (3) which we feel can be drawn from the findings of this project:

Curriculum content

Almost without exception, the schools visited saw the concept of multicultural education as remote and irrelevant to their own needs and responsibilities, taking the view that such an approach was needed only where there were substantial numbers of ethnic minority pupils. The concept of being part of a multiracial society appeared to have impinged little on the consciousness of the schools, which were in many respects inward-looking and concerned primarily with immediate local issues. Whilst there was a greater awareness of the multiracial 'dimension' in the schools which were close to areas of ethnic minority settlement, or where there were ethnic minority pupils, little consideration had been given to the need to amend their work to take account of cultural diversity; indeed such moves were often seen as being too controversial and too inflammatory to contemplate. However there were indications from several of the schools that teachers would welcome and respond to a positive lead, with appropriate definition and guidance, from the DES and LEAs about 'education for life in a multicultural society.' It seemed that an emphasis on providing 'good' education, rather than on concepts like 'multiracial' or 'multicultural', which had little immediate reality in such areas, would be most likely to have an impact.

In relation to particular curriculum areas:

Religious Education - with one or two exceptions RE was found to be very much the 'poor relation' subject, regarded as of little status by the schools, the teachers and the pupils. Several of the schools were attempting to provide a 'multifaith' style syllabus covering world religions in addition to Christianity, with varying degrees of success. A major obstacle to such developments in areas with no ethnic minority settlement was the lack of opportunities to visit the places of worship of other faiths or to meet adherents of other religions, which were available in multiracial areas. Many of the RE teachers claimed they lacked the necessary knowledge of other faiths to deal with them effectively or to select from the various course materials available. Although a few schools felt that their attempts to teach about the faiths of ethnic minority communities were well-received by pupils and served to broaden their horizons, in those schools where overt racial views were already present, such initiatives were seen as of little value in altering attitudes. RE courses in some schools sought to deal with issues relating to 'Race and Prejudice', again with varying degrees of commitment and success, Where such topics formed part of an integrated studies or a social studies course they were, in several schools, viewed with open hostility by parents, pupils and some staff members.

English - despite some teachers' expressed desire to offer their pupils experience of a wider range of literature, the majority of books studied and to be found in the school libraries reflected a narrow and outdated view of Britain and the world. A number of teachers pleaded their unfamiliarity with recent books drawing on a wider cultural framework and uncertainty about their authenticity or quality, despite the increasing number of multicultural booklists. Again, in schools where racist feelings were strong, attempts to introduce books by, or referring to, members of ethnic minority communities were generally rejected by both pupils and their parents.

History and Geography - in the majority of schools there was little attempt to reflect the multiracial nature of society or to teach pupils about the origins and background of the various communities which are now a part of Britain. In Geography, one of the most disconcerting aspects of present provision was that, where they attempted to discuss developing countries, schools frequently projected inaccurate, outdated and stereotyped views of the 'Third World', thus confirming any negative prejudices which pupils might have, rather than seeking to counter them.

Racism

The project revealed widespread evidence of racism in all the areas covered - ranging from unintentional racism and patronising and stereotyped ideas about ethnic minority groups combined with an appalling ignorance of their cultural backgrounds and lifestyles and of the facts of race and immigration, to extremes of overt racial hatred and 'National Front' - style attitudes. Asian pupils, usually viewed collectively as 'Pakis', seemed to be most frequently the object of animosity, dislike and hatred, apparently because of their greater perceived 'strangeness' and 'difference' from the accepted cultural, religious and linguistic norms. Racial prejudice appeared to be most prevalent amongst the lower ability pupils who might feel most threatened by a sense of intellectual and social inferiority aroused by 'successful' ethnic minority communities, and incipient racism was clearly present in urban areas where there was increasing competition for housing and jobs. There were however some indications that youngsters might be more prepared than their elders to adopt amore positive view of the multicultural society, provided they were given the opportunity to learn more about other communities - pupils' attitudes generally appeared to harden as they grew older. It is interesting to note that in some cases, even where negative views about ethnic minority groups were expressed, pupils were anxious to exempt any ethnic minority school friends or acquaintances suggesting that the original antagonism was based on unfamiliarity and accepted stereotypes rather than deep-seated feelings.

Influences on pupils' attitudes

Many of the pupils had had little or no direct contact with ethnic minorities on which to formulate their own views, and the major influence on their outlook appeared to be the attitudes of their parents and local community. Where the community was generally antipathetic towards 'outsiders' - a term which could be applied particularly to ethnic minorities - this outlook was shared by the pupils. Other major influences were the media - television, for example in its coverage of the Brixton 'disturbances,' and in its portrayal of ethnic minority characters in comedy programmes, and the local press, some of which was clearly biased against 'immigrants' - and the school curriculum - especially history and geography lessons and textbooks which emphasised an Anglo-centric and Imperialist view of the world as well as portraying developing countries in an outdated manner.

Teachers

Teachers were generally found to reflect the attitudes of their local communities even where they themselves had originated elsewhere, and, apart from a few committed 'multiculturalists', the majority remained preoccupied with the immediate concerns of their day to day teaching activities and believed that 'multicultural' considerations were irrelevant both to them and to their pupils. Primary school teachers seemed in general to be more willing to consider that the changing nature of British society might have implications for their pupils, than were their secondary school counterparts who were chiefly concerned with their own subject specialisms and with meeting the constraints imposed by the public examinations system. Many teachers felt that they lacked the knowledge and confidence to revise their practices and blamed the training which they had received for failing even to raise the issues and principles involved in the concept of multicultural education. Even those teachers who had only recently qualified commented on the inadequacy of the coverage of this field in their courses. As far as their attitudes towards ethnic minority groups were concerned, in the words of one of our researchers:

'the whole gamut of racial misunderstandings and folk mythology was revealed, racial stereotypes were common and attitudes ranged from the unveiled hostility of a few, through the apathy of many and the condescension of others, to total acceptance and respect by a minority.'

3.4 We believe that two major conclusions can be drawn from the findings of this project. Firstly, the concept of multicultural education involving and having implications for all schools, whether or not they have ethnic minority pupils, is far from accepted and indeed appears to be rejected by many 'all-white' schools, despite national pronouncements to the contrary. Indeed the attitudes of many of those in the schools visited by Mr Matthews and Mr Fallows appeared to echo the narrow and insular view of one 'all-white' school quoted in the Little and Willey study referred to earlier.

'we do not have a multi-ethnic society in this school.'

3.5 In relation to the follow up meetings with the LEAs in whose areas the schools were located, there were also a number of broad conclusions which we feel can be drawn out. All but one of the authorities visited expressed their belief in the principle of educating all children for life in a multiracial society, but there was a good deal of caution about putting this into practice, influenced to some extent at least by the possible 'political' repercussions of taking action in what was seen as a controversial field. Several of the LEAs emphasised their 'good intentions' towards developing activities in relation to multicultural education, pointing for example to various initiatives in the field of in-service training or guidance to schools which were 'in the pipeline' or 'under consideration'. There appeared in general however to be very little which had actually taken place in such areas to lend credibility to these authorities' professed allegiance to multicultural principles. Even in LEAs which had some areas of ethnic minority settlement, it seemed that any provision which was made was limited to those schools which actually had multiracial pupil populations - and was generally concerned only with language teaching or religious education - and little attempt had been made to broaden such provision to encompass the 'all-white' schools as well. It is interesting that in several of the LEAs, the advisory staff professed a lack of understanding of the principles involved in preparing all pupils for life in a multiracial society and it was therefore perhaps hardly surprising that they had seemingly not ventured to seek to convince 'all-white' schools of the need to appraise and possibly revise their work. From these various discussions with LEAs it would therefore seem that the degree of public commitment to multicultural education for all pupils expressed by central government has as yet impinged only marginally on the thinking of LEAs with few or no ethnic minority pupils, and even less on their actual practices. Once again the most encouraging feature of the LEAs' attitudes was a general desire for guidance and advice on how they might implement policies in relation to multicultural education - at present it seemed that the majority of them were largely unaware of where to turn for such assistance.

Footnotes

(1) 'Studies in the Multi-ethnic Curriculum.' Little and Willey. Schools Council. 1983.

(2) The Ethnicity and Education Programme began in 1981 under the direction of Professor John Rex, Director of the Research Unit on Ethnic Relations. The aim of the programme is described as 'an account of the demands made by ethnic minorities on the education system and the ways in which the education system has responded to these demands'. The programme has four phases. The first is an anthropological study of the minority communities and the demands being made by minority parents and children on the education system. The second phase, which gave rise to the study reported here, is concerned with the reasons for and the content of multicultural educational policy as it has developed in four local authority areas. The third phase will be concerned with a study of the response by teachers to the policies developed by their local education authorities, and, in the final phase, this will be followed by detailed in-school studies.

(3) We should emphasise that these represent the conclusions of this Committee, although based on the findings of Mr Matthews and Mr Fallows.

Annex A: Extracts from Professor John Rex's introduction to the Report on the development of multicultural education policy in four local education authority areas
[pages 271 - 242]

The issues in multicultural education

In order to understand the four reports ... as more than a merely descriptive account it will be necessary to consider what some of the major issues in the so-called multicultural field are. Only against this background will it become evident what choices are being made in the various authorities and what options have, in fact been discarded.

One way of approaching the problem, and one which will inform the final report of the Education and Ethnicity Programme, is to begin with the demands actually being made by parents, children and the representatives of minority communities. Another is to set out systematically the implications of the related, and yet distinct, policy goals of promoting equality of opportunity for minority children, and of developing an appropriate education for a multicultural society.

From what we know so far from our colleagues' work on parents' demands and attitudes, four things seem to be important. First there is a demand of a quite simple and direct kind that education should be as good as possible an education, so that children entering the world of employment or higher education should have the best opportunities possible. Secondly, there appears to be widespread demand for mother tongue instruction. Thirdly, there are some specific demands arising most strongly amongst Muslim parents for appropriate recognition of minority customs. Finally, there is a concern that the schools should play a supportive role in the moral education of children, supportive, that is, of the kind of morality which parents see themselves as trying to inculcate in their homes.

Not included in this list, it will be noted, is a specific demand for something called multicultural education. There may be in the minority communities a commitment to cultural pluralism, it is true, but this does not usually lead to general demands on teachers and the school as distinct from the specific demands mentioned above. Minority parents expect that their language, culture and religion should be treated with respect and that it should not become the object of racist denigration and abuse, but there is widespread recognition of the schools as agencies which can promote or restrict equality of opportunity, and a fear that the provision of special education designed for minorities might hold children back from academic achievement.

Minority organisations, even when they are consulted only through official local Community Relations Councils, express similar demands. They tend to be dissatisfied with the provision for English teaching, to want specific mother tongue classes, to require special consideration on specific issues relating to school assemblies, food, dress, sex segregation and generally on questions of morality, and they are often much concerned about equality of opportunity for teachers from their own communities. There is a considerable record of dissatisfaction being expressed with actual policies adopted by LEAs on these matters, but also on the more general policies which have arisen from the successive stands taken by the authorities which result from their general philosophy on the question of pluralism and integration. Thus, when local authorities considered proposals for dispersal through bussing they rarely had any support from the minority community. Nor is there enthusiastic support for published policies on multicultural education.

Necessarily, of course, it is to be expected that local authorities will wish to pursue what they believe to be the best educational policies whether or not these represent a response to consumer demand. One does not expect therefore that any local authority will simply do all that parents ask. Nonetheless, if one looks at the way in which provision for minority children has been made since 1960 two things stand out. One is that, in the first phase, many of the policies which were adopted on such matters as E2L teaching, dealing with low achievers and discipline, had more to do with keeping the system running with the minimal disruption rather than with dealing with the needs of minority children. The other is that when minority-specific policies were developed they were often based upon incoherent and conflicting assumptions about the problems of a multicultural society.

We have thought it useful at all times to judge local authority policies not simply as a more or less adequate response to parent's or children's demands, but in terms of the adequacy as a means of implementing certain social, educational and political ideals to which Britain is supposed to be formally committed. Two such ideals are important. One is the recognition of the right to equality of educational opportunity for all children. The other is the attempt to create a multicultural society. These two ideals have to be taken together. To claim to be creating a multicultural society, when there is no guarantee of equality of opportunity, is to risk offering minority children an education which is different and inferior. To promote equality of opportunity without allowing for cultural pluralism is to move towards a policy of forced assimilation.

In an earlier paper one of us (1) has sought to set out some of the specific policy implications in education of the notion of equal opportunity for the minority child. These include the following:

1. Instruction of non-English speaking children in their own language at the point of their entry into the system, not in order to segregate them permanently, but in order that they should not be prevented at an early stage from learning to learn by a situation of linguistic and cultural shock.

2. Instruction in the mother tongue so that children should not have to pay the price of not being able to communicate with their parents for any success which they may have in education.

3. The early introduction to English as a second language, with adequate arrangements to ensure that the time spent on acquiring English does not prevent progress in normal school subjects.

4. Second stage English instruction to ensure that children are given not merely minimal English, but sufficient command of the language to enable them to cope with study at whatever level they are otherwise capable of reaching.

5. The inclusion in the syllabus of subject matter relating to their own culture, so that they are not deprived of their own inheritance, and can see that it has recognition within the curriculum and within the value system of British society (this requirement not being met by paternalistic teaching at a low level, which could have the effect of denigrating rather than strengthening minority cultures).

6. The teaching of minority languages, history and culture up to the highest level and not merely in the low-status and uncertificated parts of the syllabus, so that these subjects have equality of status with, say, French language, literature and history.

7. The elimination from the syllabus in all subjects of all those elements derived from an earlier historical period in which the culture of minorities is denigrated and a positive emphasis in the syllabus on the histories and cultures of their countries as an important part of the education of all children.

8. A positive commitment on the part of the school to the elimination of racism through the syllabus as a whole, through specific teaching against racism and through school practices which treat racism as a disciplinary offence.

9. The employment of qualified school teachers from the minority groups in all subjects and a guarantee that they will be promoted on merit.

It is often said, and it is said too glibly, that Britain is now a multicultural society and that education should reflect this fact. But the statement is misleading. Britain is not and is unlikely to become a multicultural society in the sense that Quebec or Brussels is. There two ethnic groups actually share political power and their languages may equally be used in Parliament and the Civil Service. What we should mean by it in Britain is that, while British culture and language, albeit in changing and developing forms, remain dominant, British society is nonetheless committed to fostering minority languages and cultures and regards them as a source of enrichment rather than as something to be repressed or only tolerated.

In some respects, the United States has moved towards recognising Spanish in this way. Canada is also committed to a policy of multiculturalism and there are other precedents which could be followed in Britain.

Crucial to a multicultural policy of this kind is the notion that multicultural education concerns the whole syllabus and the syllabus of the 'White' suburban child, as much as that of the minority child in inner city schools with a high minority concentration. Such a policy has a deliberate political objective. It seeks to eliminate fear of minority cultures and people and the notion that the continued existence of these cultures means the 'swamping' of Britain by alien forces. Of course the implementation of such a policy would contribute to increasing equality of opportunity to minority children by improving the political and social climate in which they have to live, but it has to be mentioned in its own right because it is all too often assumed that multiculturalism in education is solely a matter of making special provision for minority children. The kind of emphasis which we are placing here excludes the kind of token provision for minority children which is expressed in encouraging West Indian children to organise steel bands or giving Asian children special lessons on rice growing. It implies a radical policy of encouraging respect for Caribbean and Asian culture by British children as a part of their education. It is also designed to create a non-racist society.

It was not perhaps to be expected that the two ideals of equality of educational opportunity and the creation of a multicultural society would have been systematically applied to the million immigrants and their children from South Asia and the Caribbean who settled in Britain between 1950 and 1970. Such immigration was accepted as a matter of economic expediency rather as something which provide new challenges to social policy. What one saw, therefore, was at best a series of ad hoc responses concerned with preventing the problems of the newcomers from disrupting the system and at worst a racist panic in which minority children were expected to become Anglicised as quickly as possible or somehow to go away. It was only in the mid-seventies, in fact, that British educationalists began to think more systematically about these problems. By then there was much suspicion amongst the minorities of the newer policies which were proposed and, in any case, the problems were doubly difficult because the education system had to deal not simply with the children of immigrants but with a generation who had been the victims of racism, discrimination and disadvantage.

The two major policy responses in the sixties had been the proposal for dispersing by bussing and the ad hoc development of language teaching for non-English speaking children. Bussing was not, as in the United States, a policy developed in response to minority demands for equality of opportunity. It was developed out of fear that the presence of Black children in large numbers would lower standards and children were to be bussed regardless of whether they could speak English or not or whether they had special problems or not, but only if or because they were Black. If the policy was not widely adopted, moreover, it was not because minorities opposed it, but because White suburban schools did not want minority children and certainly didn't want their children bussed as a quid pro quo to Black schools. What was hardly noticed however was that there was virtually no support for the policy in the minority communities, because any slight advantages which it might have for some children were greatly outweighed by its disadvantages for all of them.

Language provision for the non-English speaking was of an equally primitive kind. The main point about it was that the immigrant child had to be withdrawn from the classroom because his presence there was likely to hold up the other children's progress. In some way therefore they had to be withdrawn, whether to special centres or to classes conducted by peripatetic teachers. In these centres they were given enough English to enable them to communicate and be communicated with by their teachers, but with little attempt being made to ensure that they could catch up with their main subject work or that they went on improving their English so that they could achieve at the highest level. All too often the language teaching itself or the problems of the 're-inserted' child were seen to belong to those of the Remedial Department along with those of other backward children.

The tendency to incorporate provision for minority children under the heading of remedial work reflected a wider tendency in social policy on the national as well as the local level. This was to deal with minority problems in a non-specific way under the more general heading of deprivation and disadvantage. The main central government provision for expenditure on minorities took the form of grants under Section 11 of the Local government Act. It was always unclear, however, whether these grants were given for the benefit of minorities and immigrants or whether they were simply to help local authorities faced with problems consequent upon the arrival of immigrants. The confusion over this issue was compounded by the fact that simultaneously with seeking Section 11 grants, local authorities were called upon to adopt a policy of positive discrimination towards schools which had high indices for deprivation. Local authorities in these circumstances were all too likely to claim that their expenditure on deprived schools was their way of meeting minority needs. Many, indeed, argued, prior to the early 70s, that it was desirable in principle to deal with minority needs in this way as part of a general integrationist policy.

By 1970, however, the question of the education of the minority child came to have a new focus. This was that of the failure of West Indian children. In our view this problem has hardly been understood because the statistics have been presented in the crudest possible way in terms of gross comparisons between English, Asian and West Indian children. Had elementary statistical controls been introduced for the occupation, education and socio-economic group of parents the differences might well have virtually disappeared and any unexplained differences could quite as easily have been explained by the child's experience from an early age of British racism as it could by his cultural background. Since, however, it might still be asked why children from poor lower-class backgrounds do so badly, a problem might still remain. The more serious problem for us seems to be why it is that British schools so largely succeed in imposing on children the same social and economic status as their parents. If this happens for English working class children, is it not far more likely to happen for children from poor post-colonial societies?

Unfortunately questions like this have not been asked. Instead report after report has drawn attention to West Indian failure as an intractable problem, and if, fortunately, hereditarian ideas have not to any large extent been invoked by way of explanation, the explanation which has been sought has usually been in terms of some deficiency of the West Indian child, whether because of some deficiency in his self concept or because of his or her poor material or social home environment. What has not been discussed is whether something might not be going wrong in the child's encounters with White society, not least in the school itself. In fact the debate about West Indian failure, like those about numbers and about language deficiency are not really understandable unless one realises that it has been informed as much as by anything else by racist panic.

Against the background of these ad hoc and panicky responses the emergence of a debate about multicultural education suggests something of a new start and as such it is to be welcomed. Certainly it involves a deliberate move away from the notion that minorities are to be provided for simply as part of a general programme for the disadvantaged. Nonetheless, although 'Multicultural Education' became a widely accepted slogan, there was considerable uncertainty as to what it actually meant. To some it meant the whole set of policies to provide for the immigrant or minority child. To others it was seen as something more specific being concerned with bringing minority cultures into the curriculum. Within these two options, moreover, there were many alternative possibilities. Multicultural education might be thought of as something which applied to the curriculum of all children or it might be thought of as something which was to be provided for minority children only. If it was taken to mean the latter, it might or might not be seen as something whose main function was to improve performance and achievement. In some cases, moreover, the central meaning which was attached to the term was that it referred to the set of policies designed to deal with West Indian underachievement.

The problems of Asian children and those of West Indians, or more correctly, the problems of the children of Asian and West Indian immigrants, were likely to be systematically confused in this debate. On the one hand some local authorities were likely to be preoccupied with West Indian underachievement. On the other there were those who were concerned primarily with Asians. General policy discussions therefore often assumed a child who combined the problems of both and who in addition was assumed to share all the characteristics of the inner city poor.

Finally, one should note another overriding factor in these debates. This is that while there were those who were concerned with removing for the minority child all the obstacles which stood in the way of the highest possible achievement, there were certainly others who saw the problem as part of a wider problem of providing education of a relevant kind for the less able child. If, therefore, there was less than total enthusiasm on the part of minority communities for the new policies, it was probably because they saw them as offering less than the best to their children. One of the problems which we have had to face therefore in analysing the debates which went on before an apparent consensus about multicultural education was arrived at is whether some of the parties to that consensus and some of the agents who would have to carry it out only gave their consent on the assumption that what the policy was referring to was simply the provision of alternative provision for minorities in the low-status parts of the curriculum.

Footnote

(1) John Rex, 'Equality of Opportunity and the Minority Child.' To be published by the London Institute of Education.

Annex B: 'All-white' schools project: outline
[page 243]

1. Overall aim

To look at the ways in which a small sample of schools with few or no ethnic minorities are responding to the multiracial nature of Britain today.

2. Method

Interviews/discussions with Headteachers, teachers, non-teaching staff, parents and governors (where possible) and pupils.

3. Issues to be investigated

i. The extent to which the school (head, teachers, parents and pupils) feels it has a responsibility to inform and prepare its pupils for life in a multiracial society (or whether this is seen as a 'problem' faced only by multiracial schools).

ii. The varying perceptions of what is meant by 'multicultural' education - whether this is seen as:

• simply 'celebrating' Eid or Diwali;
• 'Black Studies' where there are black pupils;
• the latest 'trendy bandwagons';
• the education of all our children to a greater appreciation of the linguistic, cultural and religious diversity of Britain today.

iv. The perceptions and reactions of pupils, teachers and parents towards ethnic minority groups and how these have originated.

v. Whether the school has any explicit antiracism curriculum content - e.g. dealing with racial discrimination within social studies - or a more general policy for eradicating racism e.g. 'exchange' schemes with multiracial schools and/or a policy on racist name calling;

vi. The extent to which heads and teachers feel that their training has prepared them to adopt a 'multicultural' approach to their work and what more they feel could be done in the teacher education field in this respect;

vii. The views of pupils, teachers and parents on the potential value of ethnic minority teachers. Also, where there are any ethnic minority teachers, how they themselves see their role in 'all-white' school.

Annex C: A report of visits to schools with few or no ethnic minority pupils by Arnold Matthews MBE (formerly adviser for multicultural education, London Borough of Ealing)
[pages 244 - 276]

I Introduction

1. Background

1.1 During the winter of 1982/1983 I visited 13 schools with few or no ethnic minority pupils with a brief to find out how they were responding to the need to prepare all pupils for life in multiracial Britain. The schools were situated in three local education authorities - LEA A, a rural county, LEA B, a largely rural county and LEA C, a metropolitan district - and were chosen from a short list provided by each of the LEAs. Two full days were spent in each secondary school and one full day in each primary school.

1.2 The notes which follow are presented largely in the form of anecdotes, written extracts from pupils' work or verbatim notes of conversations with head teachers, teachers and pupils. They have not been selected or structured to either support or conflict with any preconceived view of the school or the area and they represent an honest and true reflection of what I found. They are not intended to portray a complete picture, of the schools and LEAs concerned and I have not sought to pass judgement on their work but rather to give a flavour of the underlying attitudes present in each.

1.3 On completion of the visits to the schools, I met representatives of the three LEAs to inform them of my findings. Notes of these meetings are included in my report.

2. Why us? - We have no problems. - Some early misunderstandings

2.1 A letter from the Committee Secretary to three local education authorities expressed a desire to obtain information about the views held by pupils and teachers in schools with few or no ethnic minority pupils about ethnic minority groups. Yet when these visits were carried out it was usually found that head teachers expressed surprise that their schools had been chosen since they had few or no ethnic minority pupils; the multiracial character of society in Britain was not considered to have much relevance for schools which themselves were not confronted with compelling racial problems. The predominant question in the minds of most of those occupying responsible positions in schools was how they were treating ethnic minority pupils within their administration: and in almost every case the claim was 'no differently to other children' because they presented 'no problem' and so were not thought of as being 'different'.

II Attitudes found within the schools

LEA A

1. The schools in LEA A were characterised by a persistent insularity of outlook and this was very apparent amongst members of staff who tended to remain near to their places of origin. Those who had been trained or who had taught in other parts of the country had returned to the area at the first opportunity. One teacher, locally born, who had been trained and taught out of the region, pointed out that people had traditionally remained in the locality and even people with ability would deny themselves opportunities for rewarding work and accept a lower standard of living to stay at home. She commented that people were relaxed and easy-going and there were no pressures from the few ethnic minorities in the areas of jobs or housing and in her view since those children who would move away from the area on leaving school would be the more able children who would be going to situations where they would meet educated ethnic minorities there would be no 'serious problems'. Another teacher with experience of teaching in Africa felt angry about the prejudice which was very prevalent in Britain. This was particularly suffered by a highly-qualified African teacher-friend of hers in his search for a post in Britain which took four unremitting years.

2. Experience gained by some teachers elsewhere was not necessarily profitable in terms of race relations. One teacher had served in a multiracial school for twelve years prior to moving to this area. The practice at that time had been to treat West Indian pupils as if they were white: 'They were part of us and so we treated them exactly like white children; for example, we had a black lad who misbehaved so we belted him; it didn't do any harm at all'. He pointed out that many West Indians were good-humoured about their colour and he recalled rubbing down a black boy after a shower-bath. The boy joked, 'It's no use, sir, it won't come off'! The teacher claimed to have happy memories of that time but admitted being angry when reading in the Rampton Report (1) of West Indian discontent and protest. 'Have the immigrants been got at politically?' he asked. 'Perhaps the media hadn't got on to race at that time.' In another school a teacher referring to some of her colleagues said, 'a number of staff here have never moved outside the region'. She herself had, for many years, regularly travelled to various parts of the world, but she rejected as 'outrageous' the suggestion that there should be a reordering of priorities in the allocation of resources in British education so as to give emphasis to the correction of disadvantages suffered by ethnic minorities. 'We've got a damn sight better use for our money', she asserted.

3. Teachers in this area generally admitted to being preoccupied with their curricula and with immediate problems; considerations of the multiracial society and the preparation of pupils' attitudes towards that society occupied a very slight part in the practice of only a few teachers and none at all in that of the great majority. One teacher, who had previously taught and had served as a community worker in two large cities, described his colleagues at his present school as having very limited experience of other cultures and being only concerned with academic aspects of their subjects which he saw 'in this day and age like burying one's head in the sand'. Another admitted, 'we are very geared to exams here but we really ought to get the multiracial thing in'. One remedial teacher said, 'teachers here don't appreciate the value of other cultures. lf a child doesn't do French, he's remedial'. Another teacher claimed, 'I love all children but if my daughter came home with a black boy, I don't think I'd like it'. A regional representative of a teachers' association who had been many years in his school confessed, 'We've never given multiracial education a thought'.

4. Not surprisingly the pupils in this area were also very insular in their outlook and understanding. Teachers frequently talked of the pupils' ignorance and inability to understand urban life. Some children had never been to the city and for the great majority it was a rare experience. 'An inner city is for these children as remote as a very distant land'. They had little or no experience of a multiracial society and without exception, in the secondary schools, there were clear indications of racial prejudice in the attitudes of some of the pupils towards people from other ethnic groups regardless of whether they had had any personal knowledge of them.

School A1

1. This small 'all-white' primary school was situated in a village in which there were a few young families some of whom had moved from London and other cities. Its catchment area included a few hamlets which were dotted around the village.

2. When asked what they knew about 'immigrants', a word they did not know and which had to be explained, some of the children said they had visited cities on family excursions and had seen but not met black people on these occasions. They were interested in people's differences in colour, language, dress and said they would like to make friends with black people and live next door to them. The sister of one child had a black friend, who was liked because 'she is very kind'. A boy on a visit to London spoke to and played with some Indian boys. 'I liked them but they went,' he said. 'People don't like them, but they're no different; I would like them to come to this school'.

3. Learning that many of the black children living in this country were born here, one little boy asked, 'How can they be black if they were born in England? In India there are black skins because it's hot, but in England it's cold'. 'They might keep the heat on in the house', another boy answered.

4. This school was of special interest because it had accommodated for some six months (on an exchange with some British service families) the children of two or three Argentinian servicemen. The Spanish speaking children had no knowledge of English and were objects of great interest to the school and community. The English children responded to them as individuals with differing characteristics many of which were rather endearing and they were very popular. The Argentinians were still living in the area when their forces invaded the Falkland Islands but the event appeared to make little difference to relationships between children or adults in the village. A birthday party was given at school to one of the visiting children and there was an objection from one English mother on the grounds that 'some things are more important than friendship'. The remaining parents disagreed and deliberately placed emphasis on friendship. When the British Task Force set sail the Argentines were moved to France as a first stage to returning home. The local children and their teachers were sad at their departure. Subsequently, in the course of military action against the British Forces one of these servicemen was killed. Asked what they thought about it the school children's feelings were summed up by 'We are not happy for our friend'.

5. A travelling theatre company of four players had visited the school and performed for the children. Two of the actors were black and were described by the children as 'nice', 'interesting' and 'we liked them'. It may be significant here that their teacher had a history of positive friendship with black people in her home neighbourhood and at a Youth Club in her teenage years.

6. The Head was also positive in his aim of developing an educational curriculum 'within a moral framework'. His creative approach drew on the immediate experience of the children. He felt he could effectively deal with abstractions e.g. relationships with minority groups, such as the handicapped, but only when the opportunity presented itself and came from the children. For this reason he welcomed visitors to the school and invited them to talk with the children - if they were black or of another culture then so much the better.

School A2

1. School A2, a medium sized coeducational comprehensive secondary school, was situated in a market town. Teachers with long service at the school could recollect only having a few black families during the last dozen years. There was, I was told only one 'dark child' at present. The reaction to this fact was 'We are very lucky: we've had very few coloureds here. There are no problems of that kind in this area'.

2. Very little attention had been paid in the curriculum to preparing pupils for life in a multiracial society. In Religious Education the LEA Agreed Syllabus pays slight attention to World religions and the Head of RE stressed 'it's one of the priorities in my subject that pupils should at least know about other religions'. When dealing with Judaism, a Rabbi visits the school to talk to pupils. Attempts to deal with race and immigration are made in the Integrated Studies Course for the lower ability groups of the first two years, when stories about Africa and India are a part of the reading programme used to teach reading skills. Prejudice was a topic which occupied half a day for unemployed girls who returned to school for a MSC [Manpower Services Commission] course. The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme at the school provided an opportunity for some senior girls to spend time in a multiracial area of a nearby City.

3. Although the shortage of money for new books coupled with a lack of knowledge of suitable materials were put forward as reasons for not attempting a multicultural approach to the curriculum, there was also the situation of one teacher who read 'To Sir with Love' with three fourth year classes; they did not understand it and treated it as a 'huge joke'. Similar attempts by this teacher at introducing serious discussion had failed and a study of other cultures in a course of Religious and Social Education was described by a sixth former reminiscently as 'just another lesson and so boring'. In the same group other students considered the members of a class by drawing attention to their differences. A teacher summed up the views of many members of staff when he said 'we don't get any prejudiced views because we hardly get any ethnic minority children'.

4. The drama teacher sees her work as an overt commitment to the preparation of pupils for life in which tolerance, understanding and harmony amongst people of all kinds are essential attributes. She teaches every pupil during their third year and so has an opportunity to contribute something to the lives of all pupils during their stay at school. She is convinced that children in the region who like herself during her schooldays and in her home locality 'never saw a non-white person', should be made aware of a multiracial society. She uses role playas the most effective medium for treatment of the topic of 'Barriers' during which children have suggested the barriers of language and culture (for example the wearing of the turban in school). Another valuable experience mentioned at this school was a performance by a visiting company for fourth year pupils of a play about Hitler, Jews and Moseley followed by discussions by the company of the National Front and the treatment of ethnic minorities. This teacher also uses role play with her tutor group as a means of 'sorting out' attitudes on various questions including those of race.

5. There were clear indications of racial prejudice in the attitudes of some pupils: this was illustrated by all incident which took place when a group of senior pupils were being prepared for a visit to London. The teacher invited the group to tell her what they wanted to see in London. 'Can we go to Brixton, Miss'? one boy asked. 'Why Brixton'? queried the teacher. 'We might see some Pakis' he said. 'And his intention was not for them to make friends', observed the Deputy Head who narrated the story.

6. One teacher with pastoral responsibility expressed anxiety about racist gestures which were seen in the school, for example, National Front slogans written on notebooks and symbols drawn on the person, such as on the back of boys' hands. When informed about these signs one father replied, 'We've got to get rid of these racials'. This teacher who had made efforts to deal with these incidents effectively when they arose, expressed his conviction that in predominantly white areas, bigoted views were often held in the community and it was therefore very important for the school to get pupils to examine prejudices. 'Out of ignorance, the worst side of human nature is bred', the teacher said, 'and I don't accept the excuse that these youngsters don't know better. In fact I find that they are fairly open-minded'. This teacher was convinced that the school should be more concerned about racial prejudice and felt frustrated by the attitudes and views of some colleagues.

7. Another teacher pointed out the record of the one black boy at present attending the school - a very pleasant personality, outstanding in games and successful in his work. 'Nobody takes any notice of his colour.' This picture of success relating to one individual child was offered as evidence of good practice in the field of race relations in the school.

8. This school had experience of Gypsy children. They came from a permanent site, described as tidy and well organised, and the families were employed by farmers in vegetable picking. The present generation of children is the first to enter the school system and they have not created much difficulty. Problems arose when a boy was old enough to do useful work and therefore unlikely to attend school. An arrangement was then made between the authority and the Gypsy community that the boy would be allowed to work in the fields although he would be retained on the school register and would be visited by a social worker. The parents had no formal education themselves, no knowledge of the school system and therefore no confidence in dealing with the school. The Gypsy children were described by a senior teacher as 'usually delightful'. They enjoyed school as a social experience and were particularly at their ease with adults with whom they loved to chat. They had enjoyed particularly good relations with the school secretaries. The few who briefly aspired to other occupations abandoned them later and remained with their families in the field. The work ethic was strong in their make-up and they played no games; the mores of their community were firmly retained; they observed strict norms of sexual behaviour and had no dealings with non-Gypsy children of the opposite sex; they cared openly for each other, supporting one another strongly in adversity such as when they were called names by other children.

School A3

1. This voluntary aided coeducational secondary school was situated in a large market town and was 'all-white' with the exception of two Vietnamese, one Iranian, two half-Chinese and two half-Indian pupils who were, in the words of the headmaster, 'treated as pets'. A Sikh teacher was held in high esteem by staff and pupils and was held up to pupils by colleagues as a symbol of his race.

2. The Head of RE commented 'Although we are a friendly staff and look after the ethnic minority children, we've never discussed the question of the multiracial society'. This was confirmed in writings of a fourth year class which were extraordinarily free from prejudice, were remarkably fair and often naive about racial questions - for example, 'I think that when a black person is caught committing a crime, the police are more harsh on them than if it were a white person, police often pick up black people for no reason because they are just suspicious if that person is black. I think that there is not this trouble in this town because we have accepted to live with blacks instead of treating them as someone or something which is unlike us', and 'Employers are slightly racial, they would rather give a white man a job behind a desk rather than a black man. Although blacks are just as intelligent, an employer seems to have more trust in a white person. A lot of black people seem to be unemployed and spend their time walking the streets, this could be a reason why they get a bad name. Housing - most ethnic minorities seem to live in one area of a town or city, and that area always seems to be a dirty place. I'm not sure if the blacks make it that way or if the local councils deliberately house the coloured people together in a bad area'.

3. Another fourth year pupil who had previously lived in a large urban centre had a more realistic awareness of the racial scene: 'I don't feel that the West Indians, Asians, Greeks, Chinese get as good an education as the white people in this country, this in my view is very unfair. I lived in a city for a while. People who are colour prejudiced are just plain stupid. I mean we're all human, and coloured people have just as much right to make a success of their lives as white people. Therefore they should have an education equal to what white people have'.

4. To date, little thought had been given by the school to a multicultural approach to the curriculum although the Head felt that the 'warm atmosphere' noticeable in the staff room might mean that the staff would now be ready to spend time discussing education for a multiracial society. Classroom discussions exposed prejudiced views but some greater understanding is achieved by the playing of tape-recorded accounts of ethnic minorities who talk about their experiences of prejudice which has been directed against them.

School A4

1. School A4, a large coeducational comprehensive school, was situated in what was once a market town but which now has engineering and food processing industries. It was described by a member of staff as an 'an industrial town with a rural mentality' and 'an industrialised village'.

2. Again, only limited thought had been given to the possibility of a multicultural approach to the curriculum. The Head of English lamented the tendency in English teaching to drift away from an emphasis on sociological English to one on technical language. He stressed that literature and its values were his department's concern. 'We in the English Department teach a liberal consensus view'. He illustrated this from 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'. He referred to prejudice amongst some fourth year pupils and added 'The rest of the department and I loathe the National Front and I make my views clear to the kids'. He found a book entitled 'Invisible Man' about the Negro's position in America, 'a vitriolic statement on racism' and the writings of the African Chinowa Achebe to make effective reading in the sixth form. The LEA's Agreed Syllabus in RE includes World Religions but the treatment is rather slight which has led one RE teacher to use the more extensive Birmingham Syllabus and to introduce five major world faiths. He believes that this region should not be allowed to separate itself from the rest of Britain. The ideas conveyed by other religions however appear very strange to his pupils who find it difficult to take them seriously and, since few attend any church, are disinclined to give RE much status.

3. The drama teacher uses role play to encourage children to see other people's points of view or experiences of life. He sets theoretical situations removed from contemporary experience e.g. an unknown tribe in an Amazon jungle into which a parachutist descends; this is balanced with a small village community in a remote part of Britain at which a non-English speaking yachtsman is driven in for shelter. This teacher has not postulated racial problems for role play but agreed that they would be very suitable topics for the method the aim of which is to explore ideas, arrive at conclusions and discover principles.

4. One teacher at the school was a recent appointment having just completed a post-graduate Teaching Diploma course which included an Urban Studies option. This course included multicultural education but the options he chose with teaching practice in the region did not. The college, he said, had a firm policy of recruiting students from Africa and the Students' Union was keen to advance the welfare of overseas students; there were good race relations and this experience was helpful in preparing the attitudes of future teachers. He did not however see much value in privileged middle-class Africans teaching the children of immigrants in Britain. Perhaps their impact on the white school population might be more valuable.

5. The one black family represented in the school were said by the Head to 'have an interest value' and to be 'well received - the Chinese less so, but the staff will say there are no problems here'. There had clearly been very little experience of ethnic minority people in the community or at school. The Deputy Head mentioned an East African Asian family which had met with prejudice and unpleasantness and so left the area to live in another town. 'A group of children here could be very unpleasant - there are clear undertones of the National Front' he said. News coverage of racial matters tended to inflame antagonism towards minorities.

6. A particularly interesting person at the school was a young Indian employed as a member of the non-teaching staff. His parents had come to England from the Punjab but he was born in London and had attended school there. He not only spoke English but Punjabi with a cockney accent! He had thoroughly enjoyed his time at school and had obtained three O Levels. He had developed confidence in himself and was therefore well accepted and had made white friends. 'Groups of all Indians become targets for racialism', he said. 'Some of my closest friends were racialist but fine with me. Some other Indians didn't like me for this, but others respected me for it'. He had come to the town to visit friends and remained for a while and had then decided to take a job at the school. He felt he wanted to 'drop out from the pace of London'. When he first came to the town he was suspicious of everyone; people regarded him with curiosity and stared at him. At last to one woman who stood gaping at him at the entrance to a shop he asked, 'Have you never seen a wog before?' When the woman had recovered her breath she spluttered in indignation, 'Another Londoner come here causing trouble!' He said that the children at school were curious at first and had taken some time to make up their minds about him, but he now had no problems. His confidence and competence made him an impressive representative of his ethnic group; the value of his contribution to this school and the community far exceeded that of his role as a staff member.

7. The Head of History said, 'In every class some children would pack all immigrants back home' and the Head of Humanities illustrated the irrelevant prejudice by reference to a gratuitous answer written to an internal examination question about population in London. The fifth year pupil wrote: 'The only real solution in London is to chuck out all non-British citizens and cut immigration drastically to reduce the risk of more street violence in years to come'.

8. The Head of English agreed that some of the classes were strongly prejudiced against ethnic minorities although a written exercise which I gave to a top set of fourth years revealed some good understanding. Of 26 pupils in this class, 12 showed a good appraisal of what had happened in the public disturbances in Brixton and elsewhere and were in the main sympathetic to ethnic minorities. Five expressed some antipathy and nine were neutral or uncertain (sometimes anxious) in their reactions. The following are examples of their writing:

'These disturbances involved in the main black youths in conflict with the police. Their protest was that they were tired of the unjust treatment and racial discrimination they had received from the local police forces. Their resentment had been brewing for a long while, and their patience finally snapped over another incident of unfair treatment, which made it finally too much'.

'There were occasional outbreaks of fighting between blacks and whites but mostly it was young black people rioting in order to try and make people see how they felt. They smashed cars, looting of shops took place and "crowd fever" made the riots swell until finally special police forces were called in to stop the disturbances'.

'These disturbances called to the public's attention the conditions in which many blacks had to live and the resentment which they felt as a result. Blacks were encouraged to air their views and community policing was introduced to try and get the police closer to the black community'.

'I would hope that in the future all races and religions would be treated as equally as possible, and I would try to treat other races as the same as me. Although I would hope for this I would not really expect it.

People will always regard a different-coloured skin as different, and perhaps this is a good thing. Interest in other religions is good, but to be prejudiced against them is not'.

'I believe that in the future racial minorities will become less unusual and as a result people will become more accepting of them. I do think that there will always be people who resent the presence of other races in Britain, but I hope this will become a smaller and smaller minority'.

'In the future more of the black population will have been born here and so they will have greater knowledge and greater acceptance of the British way of life. If they receive equal education they will, hopefully, not be prejudiced against in jobs, and for young white people to grow up with, be educated with, and finally to work with blacks is the best way to teach them to accept each other'.

'When coloured people applied for jobs they were probably often refused work just because of their colour. It didn't seem to make any difference how many qualifications the black youths had, they were almost always turned away in favour of white people'.

'lf I was working with black people it wouldn't make an awful lot of difference to me, as I wouldn't have anything to do with them anyway'.

'Under no circumstances would I live next door to a black family. I would be worried sick in case one of my children went out with a coloured child. That would really embarrass me'.

'I don't really like any foreigners at all, it is nothing personal about just coloured people'. 'I would avoid any situation where I might have to be included in a racial community'.

'I don't like the way of life of black people, they ought to keep their opinions to themselves'.

'I wouldn't want to live in a mixed race. I'd rather be away from coloured people'.

'The ethnic minorities would not accept British law and justice and they would not accept that the police represented this'.

'If in the future I had to live within a multiracial community, I wouldn't mind as long as they accept our laws and customs. If they got a job instead of me, as long as they were more qualified or better suited for the job, then I wouldn't complain. Different coloured people can get on, if they want to'.

'At first I would be wary of black people and probably be a bit squeamish of touching them, but would probably get used to them, hoping that I didn't embarrass too many people by my embarrassment. I wouldn't treat them any different after I got used to them and would look for the people inside them not to judge them on what you hear about them. I would still be wary of a group of blacks together as some of them still think they are badly treated by the police and employers etc.'

'I don't think that all blacks etc should be carted off back to their own countries as most of them are British and if we did that we would have to send any French, German and any other immigrants who weren't coloured as well. We imported them to do our dirty work, cheap labour so we're stuck with them'.

LEA B

1. In many ways the attitudes I encountered during my visits to schools in LEA B were similar to those encountered in LEA A. The same insularity of outlook was reflected in the schools; teachers were equally preoccupied with their curricula and little attention was paid to the need to prepare pupils for life in a multiracial society. Indeed, the major difference was that there tended to be a rather more visible ethnic minority presence both within school and in the surrounding area and thus a more readily identifiable 'target' for racist attitudes.

School B1

1. This large infants school was an example of a resourceful, adaptable school in an area of growing population. The head teacher was supported wholeheartedly by a deeply caring and conscientious staff. In keeping with the general picture of great care and attention being devoted to the needs of all pupils there was evidence of the few ethnic minority children being given a warm welcome and favourable provision.

2. The Head emphasised that the hidden curriculum fosters positive attitudes of tolerance and goodwill amongst all kinds and groups of people including the application of the Good Samaritan story to a foreigner 'without having to underline it'. The teaching staff included a former white African who had accepted the 'racial divide' without question but is now totally converted in her attitudes towards black people and expressed positive ideas about multicultural education. Teacher after teacher confidently expressed the conviction that no racial prejudice had been found from parents or children.

3. Arrangements were made for a group of about ten of the most articulate older children to join me in the Head's room during the afternoon. They were confident and talkative and the conversation flitted briefly from topic to topic. Suddenly one child described a holiday spent in Wales where she had seen some black children peeping at her out of a caravan. Asked whether she talked or played with them she answered, 'Oh no. I didn't want to play with black children'. Another little girl then blurted out 'I don't like black people, only Sarah' (one of the group present). Other children spontaneously chimed in 'Nor I'. I narrated this incident to the Head afterwards and she was deeply shocked by the revelation. The Deputy Head, however admitted that she had had a similar experience with children in her class some months before. She had not however reported it to the Head.

School B2

1. School B2 - a formal, strictly disciplined coeducational comprehensive school - had a largely all-white pupil population apart from a few West Indian, Asian, Iranian and Chinese pupils. Potential incidents between ethnic groups were, as far as possible, avoided. There was some concern that a group of Kenyan Asian girls had suffered from name calling and were unhappy. The Chinese children were reported to be experiencing difficulty with English and were felt to be 'probably misinterpreted in their behaviour'. The formality of the school, according to a senior member of staff made it easier for 'outsiders' - e.g. Asians - to get lost, to accept the system quietly and so to remain unnoticed and neglected. Collective worship was conducted as a distinct policy but no account was taken of faiths other than Christianity.

2. A multicultural approach to the curriculum was not considered necessary. The Deputy Head, who had previously taught in a multiracial school observed 'there is little apparent need here for a multicultural curriculum so very little is being done'. Great stress was however placed by the school on RE which is provided for all pupils using the agreed syllabus for the LEA which devoted substantial time to World faiths. According to one teacher, 'other faiths are regarded with interest and are well received. It is the only subject in the school curriculum which deals with the cultivation of attitudes towards other cultures'. Another teacher commented 'Junior schools do little in RE. This school has to start from scratch. We have to deal with shocking ignorance about Christian teaching'. Ethics is taught in the sixth form and this subject includes the discussion of Race. The general impression conveyed is that there is a strong feeling against discrimination. An exhibition on World Faiths was presented at one Parents' Evening and parents were impressed by what they saw (and smelt - they were drawn to it by the smell of incense).

3. No concessions are made to other cultures in English teaching but it was pointed out that some standard text books contain references to coloured children. Some reading books raised occasional points about race, e.g. 'Huckleberry Finn'. The published aim of the English department was 'to help children towards awareness of self and others'. In the modern languages department all children study at least one foreign language for three years. Visits are arranged each year to several European countries and an exchange system is run between pupils at the school and those of a French school. The school was careful in pairing West Indian children with French children, ensuring that families knew about one another in advance. Generally, ethnic minority children did not wish to take part in the exchanges, but those who did enjoyed the experience and there were no serious problems. The Head of Department said 'There is an antipathy to foreigners in this region; there is resistance about the children going abroad and families jib at receiving foreign children into their homes'.

4. All the teachers reported that the school, had experienced racialist incidents when the National Front was depicted in the news. Several boys were punished and one was expelled. Asian girls in the school had been the objects of attacks. One teacher said 'I've taken great pains to explain Pakistani girls' dress and behaviour as a part of their religion but they are still laughed at by the others'. The Head of History had met prejudice amongst the upper school pupils who attended local football matches. There were also supporters who visited the grounds of other clubs where they obtained National Front 'indoctrination'. Racialist literature was handed out locally. A senior member of staff said, 'Kids have an inbuilt racial prejudice here', whilst, at the other end of the academic scale, the teacher in charge of the Special Unit expressed his worry about 'agitators', because incidents were usually provoked. 'Incidents here could easily arise - a few hot-heads shooting their mouth off and others following like sheep'. He was worried that too much attention might be shown to ethnic minorities and that they might be given favoured treatment. 'I must watch that I don't take the side of the ethnic minorities and be seen to favour the underdog'.

-5. A class of mixed ability fourth year pupils was asked to write on some aspects of immigration into Britain - numbers, languages, religions, food, housing, jobs and the public disturbances. Their statements revealed appalling ignorance - for example, estimates of numbers ranged from six million to half the population of the country (five answers) and twenty million (three answers). Of the twenty pupils the writings of eight were antagonistic and some strongly racist, two were mildly sympathetic and ten were neutral, confining themselves to the factual statements which were asked for - (opinions were given gratuitously). Here are examples of pupil writings:

'We take everybody in because we're mugs. Also girls still have different rules to English girls like they can wear trousers because its against their religion to show their legs but if they are living over here and going to our schools they should obay our rules and treeted the same as us especially as some were born in Britain. I think they should speak English. A load of Pakis own shops round here more than English. If it's our country then we should' come first. If it was the other way around they wouldn't do it for us. They also have a lot of our jobs they have such big families that probley why our unemployment is so high. I think it is silly to go rioting because nothing will be gave by the govement because their to soft'.

'I think that there are to many packys and all those foreigners in our country. I think if they were sent out we'de be a lot better off and there would be a lot more jobs about. The foreigners takes up our houses our jobs our food and sometimes our women. a lot of them come from the more poorer countries, maybe if they got out and we got jobs we might be able to send some food and other supplies over because everybody would be better of then. You see these packys riding around in rolls royces and then you see a british family with no car and not being able to hardly afford there food for a week. In Brixton there was a lot of riots and it was the coloured people who was doing this, they destroyed a lot of things and which wernt even theres to destroy they belonged to the government (british) and british police. How comes our country is so well organised and how comes there country aint'.

'There are millions of immigrants from China pakistan that speak all different languages and I think if they come to this country they should try to speak the language. A lot of these people stay in the own community and speak the own language I think this should not be aloud. I think they should be chucked out'.

'At Brixton the blacks we rioting and should not do this because we let them in and if they do this they should be chucked out for making so many deaths'.

'I think that pakistanis should not be aloud to own shops because so many whites are out of jobs that a lot of pakistanis owning all the shops along my way. (For good measure the writer repeated 'so they should all be chucked out' twice more.)'

School B3

1. This large coeducational comprehensive school had a substantial group of Italian pupils many of whom were third generation 'immigrants', a small number of Indians and Pakistanis, some West Indians, and a few other ethnic minorities from Burma, Singapore, Europe and South America. As a group the Pakistanis were considered to be the only ones to give 'trouble' and were blamed for 'isolating themselves' by language, dress and religion. The Italians were considered to be well integrated and 'belonged here' whilst the West Indians made an effort to integrate and were quite popular on account of their 'good physique', ability in sport and 'carefree attitude'.

2. In Religious Education some attention is given to Islam in the third year and Judaism in the fourth year. The Head of Department was not convinced that the course had much value since he felt that the pupils were incapable of understanding other people's faiths or points of view. For example, they laughed at Muslim rituals and even after being given a picture of Jews' suffering in Nazi Germany they still laughed at their religious practices. This teacher admitted he did nothing and knew nothing about other World Religions - 'Islam and Judaism are important but I reserve judgement on the rest'. The Head of English admitted that the department had no books by West Indian, Asian or other ethnic minority authors: 'We make no nod towards other cultures'.

3. Questionnaires and other materials used with pupils to explore their knowledge of basic facts concerning immigration and the circumstances of ethnic minorities revealed a good deal of ignorance. The large majority of one group of fifth year girls (12 out of 16) thought that 'racial minority groups' (the term was explained) represented between 30 per cent and 65 per cent of the population in Britain. Two pupils omitted to answer and the remaining two gave 10 per cent and 20 per cent. In a class of fourth year pupils a substantial number gave 50 per cent or a higher proportion to the same question. Questions on other related issues exposed similar gross ignorance and irrational and prejudiced views.

4. The Head provided information about a mock General Election held at the school when the candidates, including a representative of the National Front, addressed the sixth form. In the voting which followed, the National Front candidate took third place and beat the Liberal. The Head expressed the opinion that the substantial vote for the NF was the result of two things: a. some of the students had taken holiday jobs working with Pakistani workers and had acquired some prejudice against them and b. that the vote was a gesture used deliberately as a reaction to the left-wing extremism displayed by some students. 'It doesn't mean however that they wouldn't behave that way in certain circumstances', the Head added.

5. A second year form was referred to as demonstrating serious racial prejudice against Pakistani girls and a tutor group was described by its teacher as 'strong recruits for the National Front'. Such manifestations of racism were attributed to the influences of parents and television 'on children 'few of whom were able to think for themselves' while others were 'herd-like'. A History teacher included a short course on facts about race in his syllabus for a fifth year group and set questions on immigration. 'The ignorance and prejudices which come out in this exercise were appalling!' he said. Another teacher told how a discussion about Race in one class which included a Pakistani boy because very pejorative in its reference to Pakistanis but treated the Pakistani boy in their midst as if he were not there.

6. A group of sixth form students were brought together for discussion. Feelings of racial prejudice were admitted amongst the group and recognised as present in the school. One described it as 'hatred of black skins'. One reason for it they thought was the threat of large numbers of other ethnic groups: 'If you're in a situation where you're outnumbered by blacks then you're wary.' The notion that young children were not prejudiced was contradicted by one student's description of the situation in an infants school where her mother worked. 'Some children won't sit next to a black child because their mother objects.' There was agreement that prejudice grew out of ignorance and that an understanding of other cultures should be taught from the infant stage when other religions should be included. The students considered that schools could do nothing about prejudice; it must be left to parents. Some thought it was the responsibility of the black person to make friends with others and get himself accepted. 'What if he is shy?' was asked. 'Tough luck!' was the unsympathetic answer. The group considered it was difficult to treat ethnic minorities in the same way as your own people and that teachers were disinclined to do so. If a black child was made to suffer, they believed it would be resented by the white children if the teacher tried to make it up to him. 'If you were walking down the street with a black person in Southall or Birmingham' one student asked another, 'how would you feel?' 'I'd feel proud that I was showing I'm willing to be on the same level as them', she replied (!).

School B4

1. This medium sized coeducational comprehensive school offered interesting prospects for community involvement but these had not flourished. The Community Association had diminished in membership and activity so that there was 'not even a handful of community commitment' at present. The Adult-Tutor said, 'Community is a vague notion and abstract thinking is not a commodity found very much about here'.

2. The school provides three years of RE for all pupils during which Judaism, Hinduism and Islam are studied. The Head of Department is confident that after three years pupils are beginning to have a better understanding of other people. Those who take certificate examinations include six world religions in their courses. Discussing the need for 'example rather than exhortation' in adopting a positive stance against prejudice the Head of RE admitted that in teaching World Religions he realised that he was in danger of reinforcing the children's prejudices and so he decided to introduce work on prejudice. 'Finding the ability to deal with prejudice in my own class came by self-examination. I had to look into myself and examine my own fears and prejudices such as against punks and then not to be afraid to use them but admit to pupils that I had them.' He admitted 'it is not an easy subject to deal with but that does not mean that it should be shelved or avoided'.

3. One educational activity being successfully used in this school in the nurturing and changing of attitudes was drama, particularly in the form in which it was being developed by a recently trained drama teacher i.e. based on role playing. An outline of a lesson observed will illustrate the method used and the effectiveness of the teaching strategy employed in the exploration and formulation of attitudes:

i. The teacher discusses with the class the aim of the lesson - to consider attitudes towards people in minority groups. What kind of groups?

  a. Handicapped, for example in hearing (there's a deaf child in the class).
  b. Coloured people suffer from other people's prejudice. A black boy says he experiences it and it's worse in school than in his home area.
  c. Dirty people; a boy who is away from school is named. 'He stinks and he has nits, which is why he's away.' (The teacher explains that other children are very unkind to him.)

ii. The teacher prepared them for a rehearsal warning them not be personal and unkind to members of the class. Groups are asked to choose a scene in which someone is excluded.

iii. Children go in to their usual groups, move into corners of the room, discuss, prepare their dialogue, rehearse gestures, actions, movements and set up their furniture.

iv. The teacher moves around the groups and discusses what each is going to do. (There is one black boy in one group and a half-caste girl in another.)

v. The groups are left to their own devices to continue their rehearsals.

vi. The class is called to order. One group is asked to come forward and the remainder sit on the floor as the audience.

Scene 1. In a bus with driver/conductor (the deaf girl). The remainder enter the bus one at a time. The half-caste enters, no-one is willing to make way for her to sit next to them. She is insulted, the others using racist jargon.

Scene 2. Passengers get off the bus and stand in a group at the bus stop. The coloured girl asks a question but she is ignored. The group discuss immigrants in a derogatory way. Busily occupied they miss the bus they intended to catch.

vii. The teacher engages the cast in discussion. Whose idea was it? - the coloured girl's. Why was it chosen? It had happened to her.

'What's your name? Chalkie?'

'What are you doing here?'

The baiting continues in this way until they are called into school.

The group returns for a discussion with the teacher. The black boy is asked does this happen to him. Sometimes. Today it was treated as a joke; when it happens does he find it funny? Not really. Does he meet with prejudice in his own class? Sometimes - and from the prefects who pick on him and won't allow him to do what others do.

During lunch time some senior members of the Drama Club attended a voluntary session of Drama. They acted out a scene in which two women approached a house gossiping about the daughter of the people they are about to call on. They knock, are admitted by their friend whose husband is in the room reading a paper. In conversation the visitors refer to the 'trouble' the hostess must be suffering: they refer to the daughter's relationship with a black man; the husband's attention is alerted. The visitors leave, the daughter enters and is challenged by her father; daughter admits relationship with black man and announces intention to marry him; father is furious and indulges in racist epithets which are refuted by the daughter. Mother does not contradict the racism but protects her daughter who is old enough to decide for herself. Scene ends with the daughter announcing she is leaving home and father accuses 'blacks' for breaking up his family.

Discussion: the group is asked for reactions to the scene and to an equivalent happening in their own family. They air usual problems about other people's opinions and actions, references to children of a mixed marriage. Asked whether one should try to prevent this happening or try to educate other people to accept or perhaps welcome mixed marriages the group all agreed to the latter. Referring to their own experience members of the group described how parents' attitudes in matters of race are absorbed unconsciously. All members express conviction that people are capable of a change in attitude from one of racism to one of tolerance. The group agreed with the teacher on the value of giving voice to questions of racism, acting them out and discussing them.

4. One teacher, putting forward his views on discussing racial prejudice with a class containing committed racists, described his approach thus: he starts as if no prejudice exists in the class. He continues until the first derogatory remark is made and then stops the lesson and explains the point further seeking to get a wider understanding and acceptance. He awaits a response. A few are still likely to be sceptical and dismissive. He then concentrates on them and draws them out. At this stage he may set up a role-playing situation so that pupils can work out the issues involved and often themselves verbalise acceptable solutions. This often avoids unpleasant confrontation between pupils and teacher and sublimates the aggression in the problematic situation. The more the pupils are credited with maturity and rationality the more they are likely to achieve it. When they are away from the school setting they are more likely to attain mature behaviour.

5. The Head of RE commented 'Scratch the surface in this school and racial prejudices are there very strongly in some age groups'. A group of intelligent and articulate fifth year pupils formed a discussion group under the chairmanship of an experienced teacher. The following were some of the contributions to the discussion about ethnic minorities and education:

• To learn anything about them is to say they're different. It shouldn't be forced on us in RE. We don't want it; it's boring. - It makes the gap wider.
• Why did they come here?
• There are such a few coloured people in this school we'd all be looking at them; they'd feel small.
• If they say they're British and live in England they should speak English and be British.
• We're not going to India are we?
• If a coloured family comes here they would keep themselves to themselves.
• They should not all live in one area but mix into the community.
• Because they are black they are discriminated against.
• If we accept them, they'll accept us.
• A German family which came to the village couldn't speak much English and they were not accepted.
• We are the majority and we're being horrible to them.
• What's it got to do with us? They must learn to survive.
• People are saying about a local shop. 'It's taken over by Pakis so we won't use it.'
• If they're different and don't speak English they must expect 'aggro'.
• We shouldn't let anybody come into the country without having a job to come to.
• Britain is overcrowded; immigration should be controlled.
• They bring all the family - aunts and uncles as well. It's too late now.
• We've got one black in our football team. We've got to go along with him.
• Send them back.
• We should have listened to Enoch Powell.
• They're living off the dole and social security; that's our money.
• Pakis get a house straight away, although there's a long waiting list.
• The older people here are racist, the younger are not.
• My grandmother hates blacks (others made similar statements).
• Whoever is new in this community must be very confident - go out and make friends.
• You never are accepted in a village if you're not an old family - even white families aren't accepted.
• (Speaking about one member of the group) She's against racism; it's built into her isn't it?
• If you went to live in a black community you'd be beaten up.
• I'm against blacks. I can't help it: my parents and grandparents are racist.
• If my parents say racist things I give them a mouthful.

• He would be the only black and feel awful.
• If he's got all pent up he might want to get it out.
• Do you know his religion? His language? No!
• It's not important. We should accept him as he is.

6. An unusual appointment at the school was that of a black African as a Head of Department. After a succession of teaching posts in England (some appointments, he explained, were due to his prowess in cricket and other games), he was made Head of Department at this school. He had been the victim of racist 'attacks' of different kinds within the school. Racial expletives and cliches both spoken and written had been directed at him from time to time which upset him initially. Then he tried to ignore them, but they reached a degree which prompted him to tell the Head that if they were allowed to continue he would be obliged to be more outspoken. He found that the less articulate the pupils, the more racist they were in their behaviour. 'When I take a low "set" I have to narrow down the work I do to form-filling and similar routine exercises. The examining of ideas is not on - it would be at my peril. They are victims of propaganda slogans and cliches because they have not other sources - they don't read. They suffer from congenital racism; they have never examined it and are unaware of it.' The teacher took great care to resist provocation and reassured himself that incidents were relatively few. 'It would be unfair to label the whole institution.' He found it more difficult to accept the unintentional racism of colleagues e.g. the man who greets him in a 'chummy' way: 'Hello dere' a West Indian style greeting spoken in a West Indian accent. 'I respond in the same accent and walk away leaving him to think out why?' Also he experienced a more sophisticated kind of racism outside school: 'You don't speak English too badly.' He found this more hurtful.

7. Provision in the adult department consisted mainly of physical activities. There were day-time classes of adults, mainly women, held on the premises. There was little demand for 'questions of the day' such as matters relating to the multiracial society. A group of women attending an afternoon class in Yoga agreed to stay on and discuss some questions relating to ethnic minorities:

On the question of whether local children needed to be prepared for living in a multiracial society one woman said her son, a former pupil at the school, had gone to live and work in an urban area. He lived next door to Asians and grumbled that they were untidy and he objected to the smell of curry cooking. He also worked with Asians and met a lot of them at other times. His mother commented, 'If we don't like some of their ways they don't like our ways either. You have to learn to adjust. We have to tolerate them.'

Another woman whose children were brought up in the village and educated at the local schools said her son and daughter had moved to a local town, the daughter at a college doing A Levels and her son at the university. He shared a room with five other students and he was the only white person; for him this was a totally unfamiliar experience. He was happy and had asked his mother if he could bring them home. She had agreed.

Members of the group exchanged knowledge of situations in other towns, and also locally, where white people behaved in unkind ways towards ethnic minority neighbours, actions which included moving away. Some had the impression that in some urban areas 'there are more coloured people than white. At night there are punch-ups'. They concluded that 'children are very sheltered here.'

One mother expressed concern about the influence of the TV programme 'Grange Hill' in its episodes dealing with racism in school. 'My junior aged children found ideas of racism strange and are perplexed by the programme.'

Another woman said, 'Schools here don't see the need to question and discuss these matters, but they should'. She herself helped with a children's art club in a junior school. The theme 'Indian' was presented to the children. My reaction was that it was not relevant to the children; but now I am beginning to reconsider it: perhaps we should use this theme and help the children about Indian culture.'

The group then went on to consider other positive ways in which children's understanding and appreciation of other cultures could be organised - even limited real experiences of seeing, meeting, hearing, talking to people from ethnic minorities might stimulate projects of work on various cultures.

All the women were in favour of the appointment of ethnic minority teachers in all-white schools. One woman, however, referred to the report that when 'the dark teacher of English came here, girls went home and cried because they couldn't understand him.'

1. The five schools visited in this LEA had predominantly white pupil populations although they were situated in or near areas of substantial ethnic minority settlement. The local indigenous community had a long history of prejudice against many groups perceived to be 'outsiders' and it was perhaps not surprising therefore to discover evidence of widespread and firmly entrenched racist views amongst pupils. For the most part this racism remained just below the surface and seldom resulted in overt verbal or physical expression. Headteachers and other members of senior management were inclined to understate and even play down this potentially explosive situation.

2. In the mid 1970s the Chief Education Office had issued a statement to all head teachers concerning 'Education for a Multi-racial Society'. In examining the situation in the authority's schools this posed the question 'Is there a factor of prejudice which affects our attitude towards the young immigrant?'. This question was considered by a working party of teachers and community workers who conducted several seminars with fourth year students from local secondary schools. The sessions included a cross-cultural education simulation game which explored the nature of prejudice and a film which examined 'commonly believed racist assumptions and solutions to prejudice and racism in modern Britain'. One result was seen to be the 'questioning of attitudes, even with groups where the majority of students were extremely prejudiced' and in some instances it was claimed that even from a position of extreme racism, there was some shift of attitude in the course of the session. The working party subsequently produced a race relations teaching pack to combat the racism which they felt to be present in schools. The material was used by the Head of Social Studies in one school (School C3 below) as the basis of a course for a fourth year form. At the end of the course a questionnaire was given to the pupils - the responses were illuminating. An analysis of the responses is given at Appendix A.

School C1

1. This small infants school was an outstanding example of a school which represented family and community character to a marked degree and in a positive sense. When the LEA proposed closing the school because of low numbers, the parents organised themselves into an active pressure group and a public demonstration was staged in the town. The proposal to close the school was reversed. The young Deputy was appointed Headteacher and with several new appointments the school started a new stage of its history. The parents' pride in, and support for, the school was expressed by a group of mothers who were busily engaged in the Parents' Room making costumes for the Christmas nativity play and the school's pantomime. They expressed warm appreciation of the care devoted to the progress and welfare of their children. For them the school also expressed the identity and character of the immediate neighbourhood. There were few ethnic minority families in the locality. Some of them were referred to as individuals: 'I live opposite a West Indian family; the mother is the nicest person you could meet', and from another member of the group, 'My son idolised a black boy - they were friends for three years.'

2. There were children attending the school from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Turkish Cypriot and Anglo-Indian backgrounds. The English parents said they were prepared to accept ethnic minority children at school 'as long as our children are not overpowered and as long as ours are not put aside'. They admitted knowing very little about other cultures: 'We have no chance to see how others carry on' except that 'they tell you about what they cannot eat'. It was considered worthy of comment that one member of the group's little boy had been interested in a flag of another nation and had asked her 'What country is that, Mum?' because it had been drawn to his attention at school. The mothers were also interested in some Asian wedding clothes which had been shown at school. It was felt that at the age of the children in the school all ethnic groups were friendly with one another but that as they grew up they were influenced by the National Front. The mothers deplored the attacks on Asians which were a fact of life in the area, but, they concluded 'They've got to live with it', and they pointed out it was sometimes a case of 'blacks set on whites as well as whites set on blacks'. They were convinced that there was blame on the side of the black population too. 'You can't have a difference of opinion with them because they will say 'You only say that because we're black', but if we have a difference with them we don't answer 'You said that because we're white'. They decided that 'the trouble starts when there are too many blacks' and added that 'the older people, who had immigrants pushed on to them so that they didn't grow up with them' were the people who did not accept ethnic minorities. These local residents complained that there was little provision for the leisure time of local youths so that they were left to their own devices and formed gangs which walked the streets. Unemployment amongst school leavers exacerbated the problem. It was not surprising, under the circumstances, that fights broke out between black and white groups of youths. This, they insisted did not directly involve the National Front or the British Movement.

3. The staff of this school had taken steps to avail themselves of the assistance offered by the National Association for Multiracial Education. They thought a breakthrough was necessary in schools which were complacent because there were few racial problems. They were engaged in a course of in-service education during the lunch hour when they received visiting speakers on the teaching of English as a Second Language. They particularly appreciated the value of the school-based approach. The head commented, 'The most valuable things come out in staff discussion after the speaker has left. Ideas can be incorporated into on-going work in the school. It takes a lot of confidence for a teacher to analyse and revise the content and method of her work. This is more likely to happen if teachers do it together as a staff.'

4. A black nurse accompanying the doctor who was conducting medical examinations at the school emphasised the importance of accepting people of different colour to oneself 'Children should be taught this at home', she said. 'It's wrong to leave it to the school.' The nurse quoted an incident she saw on a bus and of which she approved. A young black child asked her mother whether she could go and sit in another seat with a white woman. 'Yes, you do that', said the black mother, and released her child's hand. 'That black mum had good commonsense', said the nurse, who explained that she was a West Indian, 'but my child was born here and is British. I tell my child about back home as best I can but she must accept this country and its culture. I was showing her how to make some West Indian food, and she said, 'I'm not West Indian'. She felt that schools should help all children to know and understand one another's culture. She saw on her visits to schools that a little was being done - but not much. She trained as a nurse in a local hospital where she experienced some racial prejudice but she insisted 'I could stand up for myself even with the tutor. If you do, they say you've got a chip on your shoulder.' On the whole she was pleased with the training she received, 'I'd do the same again', she concluded.

5. 'Some of the ethnic minority parents attend everything we do', said the Head. 'They are very appreciative and want to contribute. They talk about their expectations for the children, which are different from other mothers' expectations.' Members of staff had got to know the three Asian mothers and learnt that they spoke three languages which increased the teachers' appreciation of them. She explained how on one occasion these mothers orally translated into their language the story of the Three Bears. They and the staff all laughed together during this exercise and it broke down barriers between them. 'The Asians are now convinced that we are now eager to hear and encourage the use of their languages.' A discussion with them about the Royal Wedding led to one of the mothers bringing to school a photograph of her Sikh wedding. In this way the school makes use of opportunities to draw on other cultures, 'and so teachers' minds must be constantly geared to the possibilities of bringing in other cultures', said the Head. 'We're encouraging Asian mums to tell us about their foods and to produce some dishes'. There was some awkwardness at parents' meetings because 'there are only a few ethnic minority parents so they feel isolated.' The Head therefore liaises between the Asian and White parents.

6. A black student on a course for nursery nurses at a local college was doing a practice at the school. The course included reference to cultural factors in food and care of the hair but the study of language development did not include English as a second language. She and an 'Asian' student on the course were invited by a tutor, from time to time, to talk to the remainder of the class about their own cultures.

7. In the staff room teachers expressed their conviction that the local community should learn about the cultures of ethnic minorities living amongst them. 'It's an awful thing that people say if they want to live here they must live as we do' and agreed that 'unless they understand that Asian culture is valued they won't recognise and accept it. Society is not stable. In time it will absorb parts of these cultures anyway and so we must help to speed up the process.'

School C2

1. At this medium sized primary school approximately 30 per cent of the pupils were of ethnic minority origin - some third generation. The majority were 'Asians' although there was a substantial group of West Indians and one family each of the Chinese, Greek and Maltese groups. Many families had a long history of residence in the neighbourhood. The school had the highest degree of multiple deprivation in the authority: to low income, unemployment, poor communications, inadequate shopping and other social amenities, unstable family relationships, single parents, were added the problems of race relations. On the positive side the more established local families had a strong spirit of devotion to the neighbourhood and were very supportive of the school. The school occupied a central position in the life of the community and the Head was approached as 'father confessor, fixer and miracle worker'.

2. The long established inhabitants were also racist. One father said to the head who had appealed to him for tolerance; 'tolerance is a middle-class luxury. You don't have black people competing for your jobs.' Yet the immediate locality is 'reasonably free from organised racism'. The National Front was strong in the neighbourhood and some parents with children in the school were members. White boys came to school with National Front leaflets. 'The children ask about this and I give the other viewpoint but they slip back to square one.' Children were chauvinistic and jingoistic about the Falklands War and wanted to join the forces.

3. A black student on teaching practice at the school talked about the racial victimisation she had previously experienced at her own secondary school. 'Boys called me "Blackie" and "Wog face" until I couldn't take any more and reacted: this got me into trouble. One of the teachers of History told us that black people were only interested in Reggae music and were not worth teaching History. He separated us from the white kids and didn't bother with us. We sat in the back of the class and messed about. Blacks didn't take History for exams - we dropped it.' The student argued very strongly in favour of schools adopting a multicultural curriculum and especially the need to give an understanding to pupils, from as early a stage as possible, of other religions. She also stressed the need for more black nursery nurses and teachers.

4. An infant teacher at the school claimed that the children saw themselves as white, e.g. a picture by a black child in a wall display in her classroom showed five children; they were all white. The only departure from this would be if a black child nursed a sense of grievance. Most black children were as English as the next person. They had lost any other sense of their own culture. Most of the black children in the school were born locally and had adapted to the English way of life. A few had retained their traditions and customs and brought them to school. Diwali was celebrated in the nursery with the aid of an Asian mother. The Asian children felt happy and for the English children it was a novel experience. In the infants section there were some spontaneous activities as a follow-up to Diwali. This teacher held the view that it was a mistake in a school with comparatively few ethnic minorities 'to draw attention to their colour we could do them an injustice. We are here to teach children, not to emphasise their differences.' Even young children used the term 'that chocolate over there'. 'It must come from the parents', said the teacher 'it's they who need to be educated'. Since there was such slight contact with parents it was idealistic to look in that direction for any solution to the problem. Asian women were withdrawn and behaved in a way which made it difficult for them to get to know others. They came to the school and met as a group to chat in the playground.

5. The Indian woman doctor visiting the school stressed that Asian mothers tended to have large families so that the need to look after them and to clean the house left them with little time to learn English. The doctor recommended the use of Asian language teachers which would permit the use of their own language in the primary school as the medium of teaching non-English speaking Asian children. At later stages Asian languages should not be taught in schools because Asian children at older ages did not want their mother tongue. If they needed to be taught their languages, lessons should be confined to evenings or weekends. Parents would pay for luxuries for their children and so they should pay for language lessons. Other forms of Asian culture should not be encouraged either, e.g. the exclusion of pork and beef from their diet which was originated and was meaningful only in a hot country. They were 'sentimental taboos without intellectual support'. The doctor insisted that class differences existed in Britain and were desirable. Integration should take place at one's own intellectual, educational and social level 'as water finds its own level'. About racism she accepted that human beings had always had their likes and dislikes. There was hope for a solution to the worst forms of racism in ten or twenty years time. Nursery education was essential to achieve this, to provide 'community grouping' from early years so that the 'mix will blend.' She was convinced that 'we can't change the adult population'; we must concentrate on 'sowing the seed'. Meanwhile 'we must accept and suffer'.

6. The teacher in the junior section with the most ethnic minority children in his class had found that other cultures were not being maintained to any great extent by the families. He tried to draw on contributions from the Asians for his multifaith project but got very little from them. He recalled that his college of education gave little guidance in the teaching of ethnic minorities. In his teaching practice school there were non-English speaking Sikhs. He had no idea how to teach them English. The colleges, he said, have too much to do. He noticed that certain white children would be friends with black children in their own class but antagonistic towards those in another class. 'There always has been racism and there always will be', he decided. The teacher's role was setting an example; if he showed interest in other cultures the children would become interested but he added 'since Christian social values are the ones they're going to live under, they are the main ones we have to teach'. The teacher of the fourth year class admitted that as the children passed up through the school their differences became more marked so that by the time they carne to her they were very aware of race. 'The white children do not see themselves as being one with the ethnic minorities in spite of a lot of talk by me and a lot of discussion. White kids think that Muslims and Hindus are a joke.' Some of their parents had said 'We don't want that sort of rubbish for our kids'. They referred to African music and dance as 'them Paki dances!'. Even after explanation they remained implacable.

7. Two welfare assistants on the staff had themselves attended the school as had their children and now their grandchildren. Their husbands had been dockers, had become redundant, moved to factories which had closed and in all had three times become redundant. They remembered 22 years ago the first black woman coming to the small closed community, married to a white man. She was well accepted. Then 17 years ago West Indian families started coming in. They and white families were being rehoused in the neighbourhood - 'being dumped on us' and the older inhabitants didn't feel happy about it. The women said the biggest problems at school were between groups of Indians arguing amongst themselves in the playground. 'The Jamaicans were more friendly than the Asians', they said. 'It's probably because we can understand them more.' The main reason for racist feelings is the fear that they are taking over others' homes. 'We find that if we visit them they're thrilled. We called on one Asian family a couple of times and another Asian family became jealous: we had to be careful. Perhaps if we understood the differences between them it would be better. In the dining-room it worries us that the Indians don't eat enough. We've had the children crying because they can't get the food they like.' These women were clearly eager to learn about other ethnic groups so that they could be more effective in their work. They said they had not heard of any suitable courses. The Head promised to bring up the question of a course for non-teaching staff at a head teachers' meeting.

8. An infant teacher who had taught for 12 years in her home area,