Anti‐racist Education, Multiculturalism and the New Racism

abstract

Little is known about the impact on children in primary schools of what is currently referred to as the new racism. This dearth of research is a major concern, for if young children are influenced by such thinking, the implications for anti‐racist education are considerable. In this paper we present ethnographic data on the development of understanding of British culture and identity among 128 children aged between 8 and 11, drawn from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds. An incipient awareness of the new racism was noted among the older children. In the light of this finding, we advocate an intervention in primary schools involving both conventional anti‐racist education and a reconstructed form of multiculturalism.