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 11 The educational needs of children of Cypriot (1) origin
[pages 671 - 693]

Background

Size of the community

1. The Cypriot community in this country numbers in the region of 140,000 (including youngsters who have been born here). Whilst this may not at first sight seem a particularly large group, when it is pointed out that, viewed in relation to the actual population of Cyprus itself, 1 in 6 of all Cypriots are living in Britain, the significance of this community can readily be appreciated.

Immigration

2. The vast majority of Cypriot immigrants have arrived in this country during the last 20-25 years, especially during the 1950s and early 1960s. According to Census data, in 1931 there were some 1,075 people of Cypriot origin in Britain, by 1951 the figure had risen to 10,343 and in 1971 the 'immigrant' community numbered some 72,665, although this excluded the increasing number of British-born Cypriots who now comprise a substantial proportion of the community. The peak years of Cypriot migration to Britain were 1960 and 1961 when just over 25,000 Cypriots are estimated to have come here. There has been relatively little migration to Britain since the mid 1960s, partly because of immigration controls and partly because opportunities for economic betterment in this country are seen to have declined. With the renewed inter-ethnic conflict in Cyprus in 1974/1975 some 10,000 Cypriots entered Britain as unofficial 'refugees' from the fighting but some of these stayed only a short while and then returned home. The patterns of migration have generally been very similar for Greek and Turkish Cypriots although the Turkish Cypriots were rather later migrants and their numbers increased particularly in the early 1960s.

Reasons for migration

3. The primary reasons for Cypriot migration to Britain, as with many other groups, were economic, as explained in the following extract from an article by Dr Robin Oakley (2):

'The post-war emigration from the island must be understood in the context of the extension of Cypriot horizons beginning with the wartime experiences, and a raising of economic expectations linked to the massive, although in scope limited, economic investment undertaken by the government and military authorities during the 1950s. The inability of this to lead to any self-sustaining economic expansion, combined with the political instability and eventual British government withdrawal on independence in 1960, precipitated a mass movement of emigrants seeking to take advantage of employment opportunities in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s.'

Patterns of settlement

4. Because many of the original immigrants relied on kinship ties both to sponsor their migration and then to find jobs and housing when they first arrived here, the Cypriot community in Britain has tended to reconstruct itself in demographic terms very much along the lines of a Cyprus village. This has meant that the community is very highly concentrated in certain parts of the country: according to the 1971 census data, 70-75 per cent of Cypriots were living in the Greater London area. This focus on London arises from the pre-war concentration of the Cypriot community around the restaurant and clothing trade, particularly in Soho. The geographical distribution of the community today reflects the movement of their economic base gradually northwards from the centre of Haringey and Hackney and out to areas such as Barnet and Enfield as their economic position has improved. This movement has not lessened the degree of concentration however since the community has tended to move as a whole and the Cypriot community remains probably the most concentrated of all Commonwealth-derived immigrant groups. Outside London, the Cypriot community is very widely dispersed throughout the country, as is the Chinese community, through its involvement in the catering industry, to areas such as Wales and Cornwall as well as cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. The Cypriot population in London is generally mixed, although Turkish Cypriots tend to be concentrated particularly in Hackney, whilst the community outside London is almost entirely Greek Cypriot. The proportion of Greek Cypriots to Turkish Cypriots is generally thought to be 4:1 - the same balance as in Cyprus itself - although some of our witnesses felt that this underestimated the size of the Turkish Cypriot community. In relation to school population, the 1981 ILEA Language Census of school pupils recorded a total of 4,418 Turkish speakers (3) - the second largest language group in the Authority after Bengali speakers - and 3,859 Greek speakers (3) - the third largest group.

Socio-economic status

5. In very general terms the Cypriot community can be said to be 'successful' from the socio-economic point of view, although it is generally accepted that the Greek Cypriot community is financially more secure than the Turkish Cypriots. In respect of housing and particularly home ownership the Cypriot community seems to be faring well. It is important to recognise however that home ownership, as opposed to council housing, was regarded as of particularly great importance by the original immigrants and, as explained in background evidence to us:

'In fact, having a council house or flat carries something of a stigma, since it implies that one has not succeeded in achieving the commonly agreed goals of emigration.'

'Cypriots are, on the whole, extremely hard-working. They came here for economic betterment and material betterment and most work single-mindedly towards these goals.'

6. In common with many of the other ethnic minority communities whom we have considered, probably the most important single factor in the cultural and home background of the Cypriot community is the powerful influence of the family. As explained in evidence to us, in the Cypriot community:

'Family loyalty is the paramount virtue. This involves, on the one hand, the obligation to put immediate family first, and kin generally before others. On the other, in the competitive and critical atmosphere of village life, it entails the obligation always to maintain and promote the honour and reputation of the family, by discharging one's roles and responsibilities in a manner as near as possible to that prescribed by the gender-differentiated cultural ideals ... Within traditional Cypriot society, therefore the family is the basic, indeed the sole, solidary [having solidarity] group: each family farms its own land, runs its household, travels, celebrates and generally faces the world as a single unit.'

'People judge each other according to strict moral and economic criteria. A commonly heard reason for not carrying through some planned but untypical act is: "I was embarrassed", or, more properly, "I was ashamed". The use of the verb "shame", a key Greek concept, carries with it the weight of judgement of one's fellows. Greek Cypriots in Britain form, in the anthropological sense, a "moral community". This is not of course to say that everybody lives up to the ideal standards, for many do not. Even high status (which for the immigrant is based largely on wealth, education of one's children, and general "success") does not protect an individual from communal criticism.'

'At school they see much less discipline. They see some lessons being disrupted because of bad behaviour, they see some rudeness to staff, they see girls out of uniform. They do not invariably see this behaviour being corrected. They are also aware that their peers are allowed out with boys, that they often smoke and swear and appear to disregard the rules that the school and their parents make. Some of the Cypriot girls reacted to this stress by showing marked behavioural problems.'

Cypriot identity

7. There appear to be few differences between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in cultural terms, except in the major respect of religion - Turkish Cypriots of course being Muslim, whilst Greek Cypriots are part of the Greek Orthodox Church. From the evidence which we have received it would seem that the influence of religion is not seen as central in either community. Both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have retained a strong sense of their 'ethnic identities', despite what has been described to us as their 'potential invisibility' in that they are not as readily identifiable by the majority community as are, for example, Asians or West Indians. Cypriot parents have generally sought to retain and reinforce an awareness of their origins on the part of their children and, as we mention below, this has led to some strong support for community-based 'mother tongue' classes. Although British-born youngsters may to a certain extent resent seeing themselves as in any way 'foreign', especially if they are experiencing some family conflict over conforming to the expected community lifestyle, many of our witnesses spoke of the tendency for such youngsters to return to their roots and to acquire a greater interest in their cultural and linguistic heritage as they grew older.

Visits 'Home'

The continuing sense of 'Cypriot identity' is partly at least sustained by regular visits to Cyprus to see friends and relatives. As explained in background evidence we received:

'Visits to Cyprus with their family often have a profound effect, positive or negative, on British-born (Greek) Cypriots. Many feel moved to identify with the beautiful island and the relatives they find there, and are inspired to achieve a better standard of spoken Greek. Others are alienated by language difficulties and the restrictions on their freedom of action required by the relatively strict moral codes of village life.'

'Myths of return'

8. As with the Asian communities, the strong sense of Cypriot identity seems often to be bound up with a 'myth of return' to Cyprus, especially amongst the older members of the community, although actual return is in fact relatively rare. The events of 1974/1975 in Cyprus are felt however to have had a direct bearing on this attitude of mind, as well as influencing the Greek Cypriot community in particular, sense of identity, as explained in the following extract from the Chapter 'The Greek Cypriots: Factors in the Maintenance of Ethnic Identity' by Pamela Constantinides, again taken from 'Between Two Cultures':

'Wherever individual interest may have lain before these events, everyone, including the second generation of immigrants, became acutely conscious of the origins and of the emotional and kinship ties which still bound them to Cyprus ... And yet at the same time as consciousness of specifically Greek Cypriot identity was at its highest point, so too was the awareness that the realities of the future lay in this country. Many had thought of returning to Cyprus to set up in business or to retire and while this was often little more than a daydream, since the actual return to Cyprus has been quite low, it now became for those whose villages were in the occupied areas, a physical impossibility. Before them also was the spectre of the small proportion of Cypriots who had gone back. Several had sold up all they had here and settled in one of the developing tourist areas of Cyprus, only to lose everything in the 1974 invasion and to have to return and try and start again in vastly more difficult economic times than those prevailing when they had first arrived ... Thus the paradox is that while ethnic consciousness has probably never been more acute, the immigrants, forced by events to think out the realities of their situation, now accept that they are in Britain to stay. And while the second generation has, in many cases, been shocked into awareness of its origins, so too this has led to greater social and political participation within the framework of the politics of this country.'

Parental attitudes

9. The attitudes of Cypriot parents towards education tend, understandably, to derive from their own educational experiences in Cyprus. There is a strong feeling that education is the responsibility of the teacher and that parents should not therefore 'interfere'. This is combined with a high degree of respect for the teacher's position which can make it a daunting prospect for parents who are not fully fluent in English to approach the school for advice or to discuss their child's progress. Many Cypriot parents are particularly concerned with schools' standards of discipline and behaviour and some clearly feel that there is a general lack of supervision of the 'conduct' of girls. There seems also to be a degree of dissatisfaction with the lack of clear and detailed reports from schools on their children's progress and attainment. Some Turkish Cypriot representatives also expressed the view that many parents in their community disliked the informality and flexibility of primary education in this country, which they described as 'all play and no work'. This opinion was disputed however by other community representatives who stressed that such views were based on a lack of knowledge and understanding of the rationale behind such provision, which they felt it was the schools' responsibility to remedy. The approach adopted by the Head of one infants school we visited, where some 60 per cent of the pupils were of Cypriot origin (both Greek and Turkish), to involving Cypriot parents in the work of the school, was described to us thus:

'She had always encouraged parents to come in to the school but had initially received a poor response. She had however then come to appreciate the difficulties for working parents of visiting during the school day and so she had developed a system where each month parents from two classes at a time were specifically invited to attend morning assembly and then to talk about activities in school with her and the class teachers. This had proved very successful, with c 75 per cent attendances, since the mothers who were often home workers usually brought their children to school anyway and so were able to stay on for a short time. They talked about issues such as the importance of play and games which parents might play with their children for example to help them with the beginnings of mathematics. They also showed parents how to help their children at home. Even where the mothers could not read English themselves they encouraged them to look at books with their children and talk about them in their own language. At these monthly "teach in" sessions she had always ensured that parents with little or no English sat with other parents who would be able to help them understand what was being discussed. Several ethnic minority parents came in to the school a couple of times each week to read stories and sing songs in the pupils' mother tongues but suitable books and materials in the mother tongue were very scarce. The school also had a number of secondary school pupils, including some boys, who were on a child development course who came in to help and were able to talk to the pupils in their mother tongue. Despite the progress which she thought had been made, she felt that many Cypriot parents still believed that once their children entered the infants school, they should be learning to read and not "just playing". Although the "teach-ins" helped to a certain extent, she did not feel that they had yet wholly convinced all the parents of the value of the school's approach and many still felt the main emphasis should be on the "three Rs".'

'They felt that it would be a bad thing if it was accepted that those whose predominant concern was religion should be allowed to run schools. There was a fundamental objection to the use of the educational system to promote religious ends. This suspicion was deepened by the association of religion with right-wing political views. Cyprus was a secular society where religion was kept apart from education. They were not in favour of the existing dual system and did not wish to see it extended. Their aim was an international approach with all children mixed together.'

Aspirations

11. It is clear that in general Cypriot parents are ambitious for their children in educational terms and several of our witnesses commented that this was particularly true of parents who in Cyprus might not have had the opportunity themselves to progress beyond the primary level. Whilst agreeing that Cypriot parents as a rule had high aspirations for their children, the Head of one predominantly Cypriot school we visited felt that there had been a noticeable change over the past 10-12 years in the educational ambitions of Cypriot parents for their children. Whereas they had in the past had very high aspirations and expectations and had tended to 'push' their children very hard, it seemed that as the families had become fully established in this country and had gained some financial security, although they were still committed to education, it was now to a markedly lesser degree. A small scale study (5), which was made available to us, covering five schools with Cypriot pupils, 11 Cypriot parents and 13 Cypriot pupils, supported the view of the high aspirations of the Cypriot community, in reaching the following conclusion:

'Cypriot parents have high expectations of their children ... All the parents expected their children to receive an academic education at school and go on to higher education. Nine wanted their children to go on to university whereas two did not mind if their children went to another institution. All of them wanted a better education for their children so they could get a good job and two added that a good education would also turn them into better citizens. The children's aspirations coincided very closely with the expectations of the parents. In fact only two wanted to leave school. All the others wanted to stay on at school up to the sixth form, and then go on to higher education, once again mainly to universities. The replies from the five schools also indicated that the expectations of Cypriot parents and the aspirations of their children are high. Two schools added that in some cases the parents' expectations were unrealistic and they ended up being disappointed when their child did CSEs instead of GCEs. On the children's aspirations, the schools agreed that Cypriot children in general wanted to take CSEs and some not to take any examinations. Some, with no job to go to, were content to stay on in the sixth form to do a CSE course.'

12. Much of the evidence we received on Cypriot parental aspirations for their children referred to marked differences in their educational expectations of boys and girls. It was suggested that whereas parents might be anxious to see their son do well in terms of public examinations and then perhaps go on to higher education, they were far less interested in their daughter's education and might in fact be reluctant to allow her to continue her education beyond compulsory schooling, preferring her instead to leave and get married as soon as possible. A number of witnesses felt however that, whilst this sharp differential might have been true some years ago, there was now a growing acceptance of the need for girls to be accorded full equality of opportunity in educational terms. It was pointed out that the attitudes of the Turkish community in Cyprus towards the education of girls had changed substantially in the past 20 years and girls there were now allowed to go to university in Turkey to continue their studies. It was suggested that many Cypriot parents in this country were now just as interested to see their daughters do well as they were to see their sons succeed and they would certainly be willing to consider a girl going on to higher education if she had the ability and desire to do so, although they might still prefer her to live at home if possible or at least not to be too far away from her family. Even if the family was still primarily concerned to see their daughter make a 'good marriage' rather than pursue a career, as one of our witnesses observed, being well educated and perhaps having a university degree might well serve to make her more 'marriageable' in any case, since, in the present economic situation, a wife could be seen as having an economic contribution to make to the family.

Language: E2L

13. As with some of the other ethnic minority communities we have considered, although the majority of Cypriot children now entering school have been born in this country, it is likely that many of them will in fact have little if any command of the English language. They will often have spoken only their 'mother tongue' - Greek or Turkish - at home, and because of the scarcity of pre-school places, (and even where these are available Cypriot families are unlikely to 'qualify' for them), they may well have been looked after by family or friends within the community. At one junior school we visited, where some 50 per cent of the pupil population was of Cypriot origin, together with pupils from a wide range of other ethnic minority groups, we were told that only four children out of the current first year had English as their first language and 19 out of a total of 28 were classified as in need of E2L help. Many of our witnesses expressed concern to us about the nature of E2L provision, criticising the apparent lack of structured and ongoing language support beyond the straightforward 'survival' stage, which they felt meant that there was a risk of children being subsequently classified as 'slow learners' or even as remedial, when in fact they needed further help with language. It was also suggested that E2L provision for secondary age pupils was often 'over simple' and it could for example be very demotivating for a bright 12 year old with a good grasp of scientific and mathematical principles, to concentrate on a textbook intended for a six year old, without getting frustrated and embarrassed. There was also a clear feeling on the part of the communities that, in the eyes of some teachers, a lack of fluency in English was a sure sign of lack of ability and schools in general were felt to adopt a very negative view of second language learners, which could have a direct bearing on a child's self-image. As one group put it to us in their evidence:

'At the point of entry into formal education the children's language learning may have been hazardous. At best they have achieved only a social grasp of language. Teachers tended to display a punitive altitude to the use of mother tongue in schools and ... ignored any approaches by children using mother tongue in a misconceived attempt to foster early learning of English. This gave children their first direct experience of racism. Similarly mothers were told to speak English to their children at home, despite their own shortcomings in the language. This was the start of "knocking down" children because their backgrounds were not English at the very time when they needed to feel accepted rather than crushed.'

'Some of the girls expressed a certain amount of concern over the lack of appreciation of their language and background. One girl in particular did feel that there was "a bit of an Us and Them" attitude. She said her English had been criticised as being "too Greek"! She found that, although she worked hard, she often got poor marks and was given very little help. She consequently feels as if few teachers were ever interested in her. In almost all the cases girls said that their names were misspelt and mispronounced. This usually caused concern at first, but they soon learnt to disregard it. Several girls had anglicised their names, Halide calls herself Helen, Sultan is Susan at school. Meryham's school file shows at least 6 different ways of spelling her name. When the records do mention language or background they sometimes show lack of appreciation. One primary report read: "Home background very Cypriot, hinders academic achievement". Many mention "poor vocabulary". It would seem that although at first the girls felt that a part of their identity was being ignored, they soon learnt to put this to the back of their minds. In this way they learn to cope with the ethnocentrism of the school, but only at the expense of merging their own identity with that of the school culture. They learn to accept the school assessment of their educational performance and capability. By withdrawing second language learners into Language Centres and remedial groups the school can reinforce this assessment and the self-image of the pupils adjusts accordingly.'

Language: 'Mother tongue'

14. Both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities are anxious for their children to be able to speak their 'mother tongue' languages as part of retaining their identity and as a 'key' to their religious and cultural heritages, as well as in order to be able to communicate with relatives both in this country or on visits to Cyprus, who might not speak English. The 'case' for 'mother tongue' provision is also seen from the point of view of according true equality of opportunity to ethnic minority children on a par with their majority peers. As explained in the following extract from evidence we received from a Turkish Cypriot organisation:

'We feel that the most fundamental reason as to why the mother tongues of ethnic minority groups should be taught in the main stream of British education system should be that the British children have never been deprived of learning their own mother tongue throughout history ... Furthermore, in order that a migrant child to be able to study his own culture he must have sound knowledge of his own mother tongue ... This is his birth right ... Furthermore, the LEAs and the central government education authorities are under the misconception and/or the misapprehension that only the conservative migrant parents are inclined for the introduction of the mother tongue of the ethnic minority workers in the school curriculum ... This assumption is very wrong and very misleading ... Even young parents are very conscious of the need of acquiring a working knowledge of their mother tongue to be learned by their children so that they may grow up in a multiracial society without losing touch with his own identity and his national background.'

Community-based provision

15. In the absence of widespread 'mother tongue' provision within schools, both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have organised their own community-based language classes which a large number of Cypriot youngsters of all ages attend. Although detailed figures are not available, there are probably about 50 language schools catering for the Greek Cypriot community and 10-15 catering for the Turkish Cypriot community within the London area. These schools receive some help and support from the authorities of their respective communities in Cyprus and on the mainland, and parents also generally pay for the classes. The classes usually operate in the evenings or on Saturdays, and in many cases they are held in hired classrooms in mainstream schools. Although some textbooks are supplied from abroad these do not relate to the experiences and way of life of children in this country and so the schools often have to prepare their own worksheets. Some teachers are also supplied from abroad. As with other communities who run their own language classes, it is acknowledged that some youngsters resent the loss of their free time in attending these classes and may therefore be reluctant to attend and may even turn against their language and reject their community as a result. Parents, whilst valuing the provision, are often concerned about having to send young children out in the evenings at the risk of attack. Racial attacks in one particular area, resulting in the deaths of two young ethnic minority children, had, we were told, in fact led to the discontinuation of one language class. In general the parents would prefer some provision to be made during school hours. Some community representatives expressed reservations about the appropriateness of using teachers who might have come straight from Cyprus or Turkey and who might thus have little knowledge or understanding of English or of life in this country or of the type of education provision which the children were receiving in their mainstream schools. It was also suggested that the fact that the community had no alternative but to send its children to these 'separate' schools if they wished them to study their languages, served to exacerbate their sense of alienation from their peers. Several mainstream teachers expressed concern about the strain on very young children of attending such classes in addition to their normal schooling and the 'over-tiredness' which this seemed to induce as well as the confusion for a child who was simultaneously attempting to master English. Several of the teachers and representatives from the communities whom we met were themselves involved in running these language classes after school hours on mainstream school premises and they referred to the antagonism of school caretakers towards them, for example the refusal to open the school gates even 5 minutes early when children were waiting outside in heavy rain.

Curriculum content

16. Several of those who gave evidence to us stressed the need for the curricular diet offered by all schools, not only those with Cypriot or other ethnic minority pupils, to be broadened to reflect a more balanced and less Anglocentric view of the world. The inherent bias of both geography and history syllabuses was mentioned in particular, for example the way in which the Crusades were traditionally dealt with was hardly fair in its treatment of the Turks. It was also suggested that the range of storybooks and readers used in primary schools, particularly where there were Cypriot pupils, might be broadened to include more traditional Greek and Turkish folk tales with which these pupils might identify. Turkish Cypriot representatives expressed particular concern to us about what they regarded as the Christian-dominated religious education curriculum in schools, with little if any attention being given to other major world religions especially Islam. They also thought that Cypriot parents were generally unaware of their right to withdraw their children from religious education and felt it was the school's duty to inform them of this right.

Teachers

17. Several community representatives expressed concern about the very small number of teachers who were themselves of Cypriot origin since it was felt that such teachers could be very supportive to Cypriot pupils in understanding their home backgrounds and possibly also being able to communicate with them in their 'mother tongue' and also encourage their parents to visit the school. Some of the Cypriot teachers whom we met stressed the great difficulties they felt they faced in gaining promotion and reaching positions of responsibility within schools. These teachers, in describing their own experiences of teacher training in this country, referred to what they saw as the 'appalling' absence of any realistic coverage of 'multicultural' concerns in their courses and also to what they felt was the hostile atmosphere they had encountered in staffrooms on their teaching practices.

Achievement

18. It is in the area of academic achievement that perhaps the most marked differences in the situation of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot pupils can be found. Because of the absence of ethnically-based educational statistics, and of course the Cypriots were not covered by our school leavers' survey exercises, there is little firm statistical evidence on achievement levels. (It is interesting to note here that representatives from both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, while appreciating the concerns expressed by other ethnic minority groups, were firmly in favour of the collection of ethnically-based statistics in the education system, on the grounds that 'needs could not be met until they were quantified'.) Nevertheless data from the ILEA in relation to language (i.e. English), which is of course a key factor in achievement, gives clear grounds for concern about the performance of Cypriot pupils and particularly Turkish Cypriots who appear to be underachieving to a considerable degree. The 1980 ILEA Literacy Survey (6) showed the relative reading scores of different ethnic groups as follows:

*UK - United Kingdom; WI - West Indies; Ind - India; Pak - Pakistan; GC - Cyprus, Greek speaking; TC - Cyprus, Turkish speaking; O - all other immigrants.

As can be seen, although no group at any stage was reading at a level expected for its age on the basis of the national sample - since all scores including those of the indigenous were below 100 - the Turkish Cypriots had the lowest attainment across the board, falling below the West Indians about whose attainment in this survey we expressed such concern in our interim report. Although their attainment exceeded that of the Turkish Cypriots at all ages, the position of the Greek Cypriots also gives considerable cause for concern and at age 8 they fell below West Indians as the second lowest scoring group. The 1981 ILEA Language Census reflected a considerable differential in the relative fluency in English of Greek and Turkish speakers (as already mentioned, this data also included some Greeks and Turks from the mainland) - 13.4 per cent of Turkish speakers were classified as 'Beginners' (compared with 5.3 per cent of Greek speakers) and 41.1 per cent of Turkish speakers were classified as 'fluent' (compared with 58.1 per cent of Greek speakers). Even before the data from the ILEA Literacy Survey and the ILEA Language Census, grounds for concern about the reading attainment of Cypriot children had been given by the findings of the study by Yule, Berger, Rutter and Yule in 1975 (7), which showed, inter alia, mean reading scores for the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot children in the sample of 84 and 84, as set against a score of 86 for the West Indian children tested and 95 for the 'indigenous' children. In the majority of schools we ourselves visited with Cypriot pupils there was a strong feeling that these pupils as a group were underachieving and the Turkish Cypriots were often singled out as giving particular cause for concern. It is interesting to note that even where Greek Cypriot pupils were apparently 'doing well' - i.e. achieving on a par with their peers from other groups - they were still sometimes regarded as failing to fulfil their true potential since in many of the schools which they attended achievement levels were below the national average and, as one teacher put it to us in evidence:

'There is no reason why the intelligence of Cypriots should not show the same spread as the rest of the population. Indeed since it is often the most enterprising families who emigrate one might expect a slight skew towards the higher bands.'

19. Little in-depth work seems to have been undertaken to establish the factors which might lie behind the apparent underachievement of Cypriot pupils as a whole and the particular problems which might lead Turkish Cypriot children to underachieve in relation to their Greek Cypriot peers with whom they might be expected to share so much in common. Because of our concern about the attainments of Cypriot pupils we discussed with all the teachers and community representatives whom we met how they sought to account for this situation. A number of suggestions were forthcoming, many of them very much in line with our own feelings on factors which can affect the achievement of pupils from the whole range of ethnic minority groups. The points which were raised with us as bearing on the achievement of Cypriot pupils are listed below - not necessarily in order of importance:

• lack of nursery provision which meant that a child's first contact with spoken English could be with their admission to infant/primary school;
• inadequate E2L provision;
• inappropriate curriculum;
• poor home/school links - some Cypriot parents were illiterate even in their own languages and had had little educational experience themselves and so, despite interest, were unable to help and support their children's work; also many parents were uncertain of the aims and purposes of the school and lacked confidence to attend school open evenings: schools needed therefore to 'reach out' and involve them in the education process;
• teachers' lack of knowledge and understanding of the background of Cypriot pupils (and also the need for more Cypriot-origin teachers);
• low teacher expectations of Cypriot pupils which, allied with 'linguistic prejudice', could be internalised by pupils and thus become a 'self-fulfilling prophecy';
• effect of home/school conflict or inter-generational conflict within the family over matters of 'conduct', which could put additional pressures on pupils, particularly girls;
• a tendency amongst pupils to 'act up' and even become disruptive in the freer atmosphere of the school in contrast to their home environment; and
• influence of racism, direct and indirect, and within schools and in the wider society, on all ethnic minority pupils.

• since the Greek Cypriot community outnumbered the Turkish Cypriot community some 4:1, the former was seen as a more 'self confident' group;
• the Greek Cypriot community had generally been better educated and more urbanised in Cyprus, compared with the more rural-orientated Turkish Cypriots, which might make it easier for the former to adapt to the demands of the education system in this country and better able to help and support their children's learning; (NB: This suggestion was very strongly refuted by some representatives we met from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, as presenting an entirely inaccurate picture);
• the greater financial prosperity of the Greek Cypriot community placed them in a better position to support their children's education;
• Turkish Cypriots were in general darker-skinned than Greek Cypriots and whereas the latter might 'pass for white', the former could well be seen as 'black' and they might therefore be more likely to be subject to racism;
• the stereotypes of the 'Turks' and the 'Greeks', both in the minds of the majority community, and as conveyed to children through the medium of the school curriculum, were very different: the Greeks being generally regarded and presented as 'the great civilisers of the world' and as having made major contributions to art, philosophy etc through the classical tradition, and, above all perhaps, being accepted as 'Western'; while the Turks were generally seen as uncivilised and cruel 'barbarians' who had threatened civilisation and who were very 'Eastern', not least as adherents of a strange, 'foreign' faith: Islam. (Powerful negative images of the Turks were for example felt to be created by references in school textbooks to the 'massacre' of the Armenians or to Turkey as the 'sick man of Europe'.) These very different stereotypes were felt to have had a direct bearing on society's and, in particular, teachers' expectations of, and empathy with, Turkish Cypriots. This suggestion was put forward by many of the people we met, from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, and even though it is clearly very difficult to confirm or refute, it certainly constitutes a powerful argument for the wide-ranging and insidious influence of stereotyping on the experience of different ethnic minority groups.

'Some heads did see differences which began to point the way towards Turkish lower achievement - "Turks need more language help - all need E2L help not all Greeks do", "The top infant reading level of Greeks is high - the Turkish very dodgy" ... Some Turkish Cypriots were leaving the infants as non-readers. Reasons for this were usually based on social/ethnic criteria "Turkish have a more impoverished background ... are less educated", "Turkish are slower starters - their expectations are different", "Turkish are slower ... more lax discipline", "Greeks appear to be more intelligent; the Turkish more withdrawn" ... One particular comment sums it up "The Turkish are not integrating as well as the Greeks ... they remain in isolation". Several mentioned the "difference" of Turkish culture and the influence of the Muslim religion, particularly with regard to the position of women as being "isolated" and having low status in a male dominated society. Turkish parents were seen as "not so forthcoming"; "shyer than Greek": "reluctant to come forward"; sometimes "aggressive" and "uncooperative" ... Most heads referred to the difficulty in communicating with Cypriot mothers (whom they saw more often than fathers) particularly the Turkish because of the language barrier, and it would seem that fewer Turkish than Greek mothers had a good command of English. (One Greek community leader estimated that 60 per cent of Greeks spoke English whereas only 20 per cent of Turks did) ... Usually this fact was mentioned as "most parents don't speak English", without, it would appear, realising the full implication of what this means. The above comments indicate that the Turkish Cypriot has a lower status than the Greek.'

20. As we have already mentioned, there is still a tendency for many Cypriot youngsters on leaving school, to work within the Cypriot community. This tie with the traditional 'internal economy' of their community seems to some extent to have served to shield Cypriot youngsters from the worst effects of rising youth unemployment as well as meaning that they have perhaps been less subject to racial discrimination in the employment field. As some of the traditional areas of Cypriot employment, notably the 'rag trade', are however coming under increasing pressure in the current economic situation, some Cypriot youngsters are now finding themselves in the same situation as their ethnic minority peers. As with the Chinese community, there seems to be a degree of reluctance among some youngsters to work within the community and an attempt therefore to 'break away' into the mainstream employment market but the current employment situation often leads them ultimately to fall back on their community. As explained in evidence to us:

'For many youngsters a type of identity crisis seems to occur in the period after they have left school and sought employment. Those who have received their education in overcrowded and poorly staffed schools in the inner city find themselves poor candidates for the more glamorous jobs they have dreamt about. In the case of girls, parental concern for their moral welfare may place restrictions on how far away from home they are allowed to work. However, the ethnic economy is ready and willing to absorb them, particularly when there are family businesses to be maintained. For quite a few rebellious adolescents, this period marks their "re-entry" into their ethnic group.'

21. We received a considerable amount of evidence from all the community representatives whom we met on the Cypriot community's experiences of racism. We have already referred above to the various comments which were made to us about unintentional racism within the education system, particularly in relation to teachers' attitudes and expectations of Cypriot children. The Head of one school we visited with a substantial proportion of Cypriot pupils recalled the antagonism of some (but by no means all) of the local 'white' parents to the changing nature of the pupil population when they had objected to their children attending 'a Greek school' and some had actually moved house to avoid this. In the programme 'Does School Hurt?' in the BBC series 'Multiracial Education', a group of Greek Cypriot youngsters, mostly born in Britain, recounted their own experiences of racism and the hostility which they had encountered. Representatives of one community organisation whom we met referred to how telephone enquiries to the DHSS on behalf of clients often resulted in 'heavy breathing' once naming of the client had made it clear that they were of Cypriot origin, and evoked comments such as 'they will understand when it comes to money' (referring to any mention of language difficulties). In considering the attitudes of the majority community towards Cypriots it is perhaps also worth recalling the feelings which many British held towards Cypriots during the EOKA period in Cyprus.

22. It is also we feel important to note, in relation to racism, the evidence we received concerning the feelings of the Cypriot community towards other ethnic minority groups - despite events in Cyprus, there seems to be little real antipathy between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in this country. In one pre-school centre we visited reference was made to the 'outrageous' comments which Cypriot parents made about other ethnic minority groups, predominantly Asians, and the dislike of some other groups for the Cypriots. There had been a number of serious racial attacks on parents in the area and there had been considerable conflict over which group might have been to blame for these. It may be interesting however to bear in mind the suggestions put forward in the following extract from the chapter 'The Turkish Cypriots: Ethnic Relations in London and Cyprus' by Sarah Ladbury, taken from 'Between Two Cultures' to seek to account for some of the antipathy of Cypriots towards other ethnic minority groups:

'Turks (9) have adopted many English racist attitudes towards members of other groups, particularly West Indians and Africans. Pakistanis incite less prejudice, partly because their settlement patterns do not coincide with those of Cypriots and they are therefore less visible, partly because they are Moslem, and partly because they are perceived as being "less black" ... It is not that Turkish Cypriots see West Indians or Africans (between whom in any case they do not distinguish) as threatening their own individual interests. They do not occupy the same economic niches and they are not even seen as constituting a moral threat, as are the English on other occasions. Rather it is that in certain situations, notably when working with or simply getting to know English people, it is expedient for Turks to identify with the English majority and the colour difference is the most obvious criterion for creating a common outgroup. Most Turks are also aware of the associations that the term "immigrant" has for the English. This follows from their reading of the British press, which is mostly confined to the popular dailies - just those which are apt to sensationalise stories concerning immigrants and the Englishman's attitude to them. It is not therefore surprising that the Turkish family, surrounded as it usually is by non-Turkish neighbours, does not like to think it is being classed as "immigrant". And again, the most obvious means of gelling into the non-immigrant category is to stress that they are white. All the associations the "black" has for the English working class are then advanced to justify this prejudice and support the ideological and cultural "Englishness" that they ascribe to themselves. What is interesting here is not so much that group stereotypes are invoked for outsiders who have no particular relevance to Turkish Cypriots as an ethnic group. Rather it is that Turkish Cypriots themselves have adopted those stereotypes already in use by the English majority and, in doing so, differentiate themselves from other minority groups - a status which, from that moment in time, they cease to ascribe to themselves.'

23. In our consideration of the Cypriot community, we were very concerned at the evidence which was put forward to show that children of Cypriot origin, and particularly Turkish Cypriot children, were underachieving in academic terms and we feel it is regrettable that so little attention has previously been paid to this situation. We were particularly interested in the suggestion that the apparent differential in performance between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot children could, in part at least, be ascribed to the rather different stereotypes which existed of them in the minds of the majority community and particularly teachers. If this suggestion were proven, and we certainly found the case put forward to support it persuasive, this would serve to reinforce directly the conclusions which we ourselves reached, both in our interim report and earlier in this report, as to the underlying causes of West Indian underachievement. In relation to language, it was also interesting that the concerns expressed to us by representatives of the Cypriot community about E2L provision reflected many of those which other groups had also raised with us - most notably perhaps the negative view which many mainstream teachers apparently take of second language learners, and the opposition to the withdrawal of children for E2L help - which we have already discussed in Chapter Seven. The views which were expressed about 'mother tongue' provision also further emphasise the key role which this plays in the maintenance of an ethnic minority group's sense of 'identity'. We found it interesting to be able to discuss with representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community some of the 'pastoral' issues which had previously been raised with us by Asian Muslim community representatives and to see the points of similarity and divergence of view which emerged. Concern about the 'narrowness' of the religious education curriculum of many schools and the desire for the option of single-sex schooling to be available for girls - both of which we considered at length in Chapter Eight - were emphasised in particular. Some of the points which were raised with us concerning the possible 'cultural conflicts' which might face Cypriot youngsters, particularly girls, also further emphasised the difficulties which can arise in this respect. We also found interesting the comparisons which could be drawn between the situations of the Cypriot and the Chinese community, in view of their traditional 'internal economies' which had tended perhaps to shield them from the experiences of direct racism which some other ethnic minority groups had faced although there was, as we have observed, still a sense of the Cypriot community being subject to racism. It is clear however that, as we pointed out in the previous chapter, as the current economic pressures come to bear on these previously 'self-sufficient' communities, and as youngsters in particular look outside their communities for employment, it seems regrettably inevitable that the level of racism which they encounter will increase.

References

(1) The term 'Cypriot' is used here to refer to all children with family origins in Cyprus. There are however, as emphasised in this chapter, some significant differences in the needs and experiences of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities and where these are discussed, these more specific terms are used.

(2) 'The Cypriot Migration to Britain'. Taken from 'Minority Families in Britain'. Ed V Khan. 1979.

(3) The figures for both Greek and Turkish speakers include some pupils from families from the respective mainland communities as well as Cypriots, but the great majority in each case were of Cypriot origin.

(4) Taken from 'Between Two Cultures: Migrants and Minorities in Britain', Ed James L Watson. 1977.

(5) 'Expectations of Cypriot Parents and Aspirations of their Children, in the Age Group 14-19 years old, of the British Educational System in North London'. C Martianou. Unpublished dissertation. 1981.

(6) The survey was based on a cohort of children born between September 1959 and September 1960 numbering over 31,000 when they were tested for reading at 8. They were subsequently also tested on verbal reasoning, and received teachers' assessments on English and mathematics for transfer at 10+. A 10 per cent sample was also tested individually at 11+, and at 8 and 13 when teachers completed questionnaires on the social and educational background of the children.

(7) 'Children of West Indian Immigrants - II. Intellectual Performance and Reading Attainment'. J Child Psychol Psychiat, Vol 16, 1975.

(8) 'A Study of the Cypriot community in Haringey with special reference to the early years of schooling'. Florence S Beetlestone. Unpublished MA dissertation. September 1982.

(9) NB: In this quote the term 'Turk' is used to refer to Turkish Cypriots.