Racism

This page, with information from the toolkit educating for race equality, aims to give an overview of issues related to racism and how to tackle it in education.

What is racism?
What is anti-racist education?
Who is anti-racist education for?
What is an anti-racist approach?
How is anti-racist education different to multicultural education?
What are the characteristics of effective anti-racist education?
What is an anti-racist ethos?
How can I develop an anti-racist ethos in my classroom?
Putting anti-racism into a multicultural approach
What is the correct terminology to use in race equality work?
Useful links and documents

What is racism?

The term 'racism' is broadly used to refer to the ideology of superiority of a particular race over another. This notion of superiority then comes to permeate social structures, practices, attitudes, beliefs and processes, which in turn become the vehicles for transmitting and perpetuating this ideology. Racism can be personal, cultural or institutional and these often interrelate.

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What is anti-racist education?

Anti-racist education is an educational approach that seeks to challenge inequalities. In addition to celebrating culture and difference (i.e. multicultural education) issues of power, justice and inequality are included within the formal and hidden curriculum to help pupils to understand and deal with racism, prejudice and stereotyping.

Young people should be helped to understand how negative attitudes and actions develop, and to recognise some of the consequences of racism in their own and other communities. In this way anti-racist education seeks to challenge racism at all levels- personal, cultural and institutional.

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Who is anti-racist education for?

It is a necessary component in the learning and teaching of all learners of all age groups in all learning environments regardless of the ethnic or racial make-up of the immediate learner population.

There is a common myth that a school only needs to include anti-racist education if it is working with an ethnically diverse pupil population or when racial bullying exists. Racism is around all the time. It is not the presence of minority ethnic pupils or groups that causes racism.

The presence of minority ethnic people might lead to more incidents of observable racism but this is different from assuming that minority ethnic people cause racism. Indeed there is evidence to suggest that minority ethnic people have worse experiences of racism in areas where they are in a small minority compared with areas where they are more numerous.

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What is an anti-racist approach?

An anti-racist approach is one that does not ignore the existence of racism or racial discrimination and actively challenges their expression and effects.

Someone who adopts an anti-racist approach will attempt to identify - and change - those things in school and society that lead to negative discrimination, intended or unwitting, against people on the basis of their race and/or ethnicity.

More importantly, it is a perspective and approach that is about equipping pupils, students, parents, and teachers with the tools needed to combat racism and ethnic discrimination, and to find ways to build a society that includes all people on an equal footing.

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How is anti-racist education different to multicultural education?

Multicultural education is about recognising and celebrating differences. Effective multicultural education can be creative and have a positive impact.

Unfortunately, in many instances, multicultural education has often come to mean something that is quite superficial, applying mainly to: dances, dress, dialect, dinners.

This emphasis casts an almost surreal light under which difference is emphasised, and interaction between cultures can seem even more difficult. An approach that, however unwittingly, creates an impression of 'foreign people with funny habits' should be strenuously avoided.

Effective multicultural education should emphasise that although human beings have developed a wide variety of ways of satisfying their needs, we all share certain common needs for survival and well being. These are physical (e.g. food, shelter, medical care), social (e.g. education, work, participation in decision making) and psychological (e.g. company, belonging).

A similar point could be made about values: despite the diversity of faith communities, there are many important similarities in the values most people of all faiths and none subscribe to, for instance we all tend to value honesty, loyalty, compassion, and so on, regardless of religious and cultural differences.

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What are the characteristics of effective anti-racist education?

it is educational not punitive
it develops critical thinking
it incorporates multicultural education which celebrates difference and diversity but moves beyond that to assist the learner in developing an understanding of the historical and contemporary causes and effects of discrimination based on ethnicity, nationality, culture, faith, language and colour
it is explicit about issues of prejudice, bigotry, discrimination, power and racism in all its forms for example, personal, cultural and institutional
it makes links to other forms of inequality and discrimination, for example, those based on gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age
it is about an examining of values and attitudes as well as developing knowledge and understanding of facts
it assists in breaking down barriers of "them" and "us" and in understanding why it is important for this to happen
it explores positive ways of tackling discrimination and creating change at all levels to ensure a fairer and a more just society
it is embedded within a whole-school agenda and can be evidenced as being mainstreamed into all aspects of school life

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What is an anti-racist ethos?

An anti-racist ethos is one which:

acknowledges the existence of racism within your area and the need to educate learners to identify and act against racism
encourages and enables the challenging of any form of racism (personal, cultural or institutional)
avoids the presentation of racial issues in a tokenistic or patronising manner
values and celebrates difference and diversity
seeks to include racial and ethnic variety in an equal and respectful manner
is sensitive to varying approaches to learning among various communities and individual learners
takes positive steps to bring about a racially and ethnically inclusive environment

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How can I develop an anti-racist ethos in my classroom?

Start by making sure you do not only include issues of racial diversity as one-off topics: for example, inclusion of Chinese New Year as a theme in January/February but no further discussions about Chinese people, cultures and achievements, issues throughout the year.

For example, if you work in early years and are telling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, do you take the opportunity to talk about diversity in terms of 'bears around the world' and to include discussions about the panda bear in China?

For older pupils, you could look at what the Chinese invented or how Chinese New Year might be presented in different countries. These themes could be revisited and built on throughout the year.

Within subjects, particularly at secondary level, there are opportunities to study Chinese society and politics in more depth in modern studies, Chinese landscapes, industry and environmental issues in geography, and authentic experiences of Chinese food in home economics.

History offers rich opportunities to study ancient Chinese civilisation and aspects of recent Chinese history, where interest and resources exist to support such a focus.

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Putting anti-racism into a multicultural approach

Some of the following may help to incorporate aspects of anti-racism in a multicultural approach:

ensuring that the teaching of different cultures/faiths/lifestyles does not reinforce prejudice or stereotypes
avoiding generalisation: 'All Muslims do this...All Scottish people like...'
acknowledging the range of contributions made to cultures , e.g. if you are looking at why certain languages like English or French are spoken widely, include terminology borrowed from other language sources, e.g. Arabic, Hindi
seeking opportunities to challenge myths. For example, when studying similarities and differences between people and the uniqueness of individuals, refer to the genetic unimportance of skin colour and the significance of a shared biological heritage

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What is the correct terminology to use in race equality work?

Many people fear using incorrect terminology and inadvertently causing offence. Words can change meaning and significance over time. For example, the term 'nigger' which many would consider outdated and inappropriate to use was a term that Martin Luther King Jnr himself used as part of his speeches as it was a word belonging to that particular time and context. It is currently in vogue in the hip-hop scene - sometimes employed ironically, sometimes not.

There are words which have for a long time been recognised by the majority as being offensive and unacceptable to use such as 'Chinky', 'Paki' and 'wogs'. Unfortunately, some of these words are still in common everyday use.

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Useful links and documents

The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report
Chapter 6 deals with institutional racism; a useful section to download, print and study. Further information on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry is available on the Guardian website.

Racist bullying
Information, useful documents to download and links to relevant websites, including the racist incident report form.

Football Unites Racism Divides
Website for Football Unites. Football Unites aims to ensure that everyone who plays or watches football can do so without fear of racial abuse and harassment, in either a verbal or a physical form, and to increase the participation of people from ethnic minorities in football.

Independent Race and Refugee News Network
Latest news published by the Institute of Race Relations.

BritKids
Site funded by Comic Relief for primary school pupils in areas where there are few people of African, Asian or Caribbean background.