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 15 The educational needs of 'Liverpool Blacks'
[pages 733 - 738]

1. We have included 'Liverpool Blacks' in our report for two reasons. Firstly, this group has probably, we believe, fared worse than any other we have described, with the exception of travellers, in its educational and career achievements, and therefore has a particularly strong claim to the consideration and positive action which we hope will arise out of our findings. Secondly, and paradoxically, this group appears to be more closely assimilated with the 'majority' by ancestry, language, culture, and length of residence than any of the others we have looked at. Its experiences therefore lead us to ask new questions, both about this particular group itself and about many of the accepted assumptions concerning ethnicity.

Background

Definition of Liverpool Blacks

2. There is a long-established community in Liverpool of African, mixed African and English, or African and Liverpool-Irish-descent, with some of Asian descent as well. The mixed community characteristic of the modern city grew from the end of the nineteenth century onwards, mainly through the settlement of African seamen. By the late 1940s the ethnic minority population of Liverpool was recorded as coming mainly from West Africa and the West Indies. It it this group of long-established families that we call 'Liverpool Blacks'. Many are blood relations of Liverpool 'whites' and have 'black' grandparents and great-grandparents born in Liverpool; they speak 'scouse' with a vocabulary, grammar and intonation identical with those of 'white' Liverpudlians, and in short there is nothing but their colour and hapless situation to distinguish them from other long-established residents. However, there has been a tendency to lump them together with relatively recent 'immigrants', in the strict sense of the word, who have been born abroad, especially those who are non white. Characteristic of 'white' Liverpudlian comments are: 'I don't know which are West Indians. They're just white or coloured' or 'We don't have immigrants here, just coloured'. People speaking of 'Liverpool Blacks' sometimes mean only the long-established group and sometimes, a larger and more varied set of people. This confusion makes it difficult to give an accurate estimate of the size of the Liverpool Black population. We have received estimates varying from 20,000 to 45,000. It has been estimated by Merseyside Community Relations Council that roughly half the racial minority population of the city are Liverpool Blacks under the terms of our broad definition.

Location of group

3. The great majority of Liverpool Blacks live in Liverpool 8, near the city centre. The Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals are both situated here as is the university. It includes broad and beautiful streets, once the place of handsome residences which have now 'gone to seed': fine houses stand empty, their facades deteriorating. The most notable landmark to be burnt down in the 1981 disturbances was the Rialto, which had once been a dance-hall that refused admission to 'coloureds' and had later been transformed into a factory that did not employ them. Liverpool 8 also houses a 'white' population, largely Irish, and as a whole is marked by poverty and lack of opportunity.

4. It was suggested in evidence to us that:

'Liverpool in the 1980s is a sort of model of what British cities in general may be like in the early 2000s, when the majority of "immigrants" will not be immigrants at all but British-born.'

5. Appalling though the situation is for all Liverpudlians, it is markedly worse for the ethnic minorities than for 'whites', and has been so throughout living memory. In the 1930s, a group of 'white' professionals calling themselves the Association for the Welfare of Half-Caste Children, reconstituted in 1937 as the Liverpool Association for the Welfare of Coloured People, appointed a research worker to investigate a range of problems, including employment. Of 119 firms approached, 45 said they would not employ coloured people, and 63 did not reply. (The Association thought the only way to deal with this situation was to stop the settlement of colonial seamen in Liverpool and to consider returning African British subjects to their native countries.)

Education

6. The 1973 Report of the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration on education (1) criticised Liverpool's education system as it found that the Black community was disadvantaged both inside and outside school. Liverpool was criticised for its inability to provide a lead to other LEAs with substantial ethnic minority populations. In the words of the Select Committee's report:

'Liverpool ... left us with a profound sense of uneasiness.'

7. In our visits to various primary and secondary schools in Liverpool 8, we were struck by the teachers' perception of the uncertainty facing their schools. The heads and their senior colleagues were serving in 'acting' capacities whilst the LEA considered various reorganisation options. Despite individual commitment by a number of teachers, the lack of clear policy by the Authority seemed to leave teachers without a sense of direction. It is interesting that the HMI Report in March 1982 (3) acknowledged that teachers, especially in primary schools, were trying to establish caring environments even though standards of pupil achievement were not high:

'HMI have seen work that is soundly prepared and shows the dedication of the teachers but it is often limited in range and its expectations of pupils ... the low attainments noted appear, in some measure, to be a result of low expectations on the part of teachers, parents and the pupils themselves.'

'... the apparent inability of elected members to agree on, or pursue any, positive responses to many of the major problems ... leading to feelings of insecurity and uncertainty in every institution and area of the education service.'

'an undisputed fact ... that black children in this city are underachieving in education ...'

9. HMI warned, in their Report, that further cuts in financial and other resources would damage staff morale and effectiveness, both of which were already under strain. They stressed, and our visits confirmed, that some teachers are 'resilient and resourceful', and working hard under difficult conditions, including unsuitable buildings and a general atmosphere of city decline, and alienation among many pupils and parents. They found that in one comprehensive school serving the area only 30 per cent of the intake had a reading age of ten or more on entry. Within this general picture of underachievement by 'black' and 'white' alike in the area, it was apparent from the written and oral evidence submitted to us that the Liverpool Black children were particularly low in attainment: partly because of the negative attitude towards them of some teachers, and, despite the dedication of other teachers, partly because of their own and their parents' sense of alienation, in a social structure that offers them no hope for the future.

10. Recently, some reorganisation of secondary education has scattered some of the Liverpool Black children into new, mainly 'white' catchment areas, but not always with happy results. On one of our visits, a girl of 15 described to us how she had been the only 'Black' girl in a school and had not liked it because the others 'bossed her about'. When asked about this, she replied that she had had to go to hospital, once with a broken arm and once with a broken nose. She, and the other pupils present, found it unremarkable, and when the incident was later mentioned at a meeting of teachers and community workers they pointed out that Liverpool schools had always been like that for Liverpool Blacks. Those Liverpool Blacks who find employment are almost all in low-grade jobs, unlike other ethnic minority groups we have considered where there is generally more variety in the spectrum of employment. Expectations too are very low: to be a van-boy, a labourer, a shop assistant, clerical worker or machinist are ambitions; indeed to hope to get a job at all, of any sort, is 'flying high'. There are few who contemplate the possibility of higher education, and there is a realistic cynicism even about O Levels: 'You just lose time'. It is very rare indeed for a Liverpool Black youngster to proceed to university; two who had done so were named at meetings we attended. The university, sited in Liverpool 8, has some black students but not from the locality: they come from overseas or other parts of Britain. Its facilities are a constant reminder of the contrast between what locals can expect and what people from elsewhere receive.

11. Visiting Liverpool 8 and talking with witnesses there, the observer receives a very vivid impression of how strongly the situation of the Liverpool Black minority is affected by the special character of Merseyside itself. The established social and political structures perpetuate old practices and attitudes formed at different periods of history. The 'blacks' are simply left out of the pattern. For example, large firms, when they recruit new employees tend to advertise only within the firm enabling only relatives and friends of existing employees to apply. In cases where there are no 'black' employees already, racial inequality is thus perpetuated. A voluntary agency, South Liverpool Personnel, which tries to help young 'blacks' get jobs, said in evidence to us:

'Local employers claimed there was no discrimination - it was simply that no blacks were employed ... Liverpool was a commuter city: all the workers in the city centre travelled in from outlying white areas. Only 5 black people were employed on the buses and there were virtually no blacks in the city centre stores ... The council was a particularly bad employer.'

Conclusion

12. Our consideration of the 'Liverpool Black' community highlights the important effect local factors can have on the experience and achievement of a particular ethnic minority community. It also illustrates how, despite concern having been expressed by a number of reports and committees over a period often years and more about the extreme degree of the problems facing this community, little real progress has yet been made to bring about the necessary changes in education and beyond. As the Home Affairs Committee concluded, in their 1981 Report:

'Racial disadvantage in Liverpool is in a sense the most disturbing case of racial disadvantage in the United Kingdom, because there can be no question of cultural problems of newness of language, and it offers a grim warning to all of Britain's cities that racial disadvantage cannot be expected to disappear by natural causes. The Liverpool Black Organisation warned the Sub-Committee, "what you see in Liverpool is a sign of things to come". We echo that warning.'

References

(1) 'Education'. Report of the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration. July 1973. HMSO. HC 405. I.

(2) 'Racial Disadvantage'. Fifth Report from the Home Affairs Committee. July 1981. HMSO. HC 424. I.

(3) 'Educational Provision by Liverpool Education Authority in the Toxteth Area'. HM Inspectorate. March 1982.

(4) 'Before the Fire.' Liverpool Teachers' Association. 1981.