‘Race’, Research and Reform: the impact of the three Rs on anti‐racist pre‐school and primary education in the UK

Abstract

The authors' intention in writing this article was to review the research that has been conducted in the field of anti‐racism in primary and early years education and to identify the areas that require further study. They observe that it is now two decades since the legislative framework of the Race Relations Act (1976) and subsequent investigations supported by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) first focused attention on the effects of racial discrimination on Black and ethnic minority groups in the British education system. Framed within this problematic, educational research has been largely concerned with identifying sources of ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ discrimination in schools and on finding ways to alleviate these ‘symptoms’ of racism. From the earliest stages this has been paralleled by the development of a powerful deficit model that has both pathologised, and sought strategies to improve, the educational experiences of Black and ethnic minority students. What has been largely neglected in these studies has been any investigation of a ‘causal’ link between the racialised discourses of education and the processes by which these discourses are articulated and constructed to maintain racial disadvantage in schools and in the wider society. The article therefore distinguishes between two discourses that have often been treated as synonymous: (1) Black and ethnic minority under achievement in schools; and (2) Racism in education. The first of these is increasingly recognised as a multidimensional problem, a problem inextricably linked to gender, class and ‘racial’ identity formation and to teacher expectations. The authors argue that careful attention to the second of these discourses is required if the first is to be understood, and they also suggest that this discourse provides academic purchase on another problem that is arguably even more serious than the educational underachievement of Black and ethnic minority children in contemporary Britain: that is, the underachievement of Black and ethnic minority youth in the social world outside—even where they have succeeded in school. In fact it seems clear that the problems associated with the first discourse are unlikely to be resolved as long as the second remains unresolved. The authors conclude that there is now a need for a change of research focus, to direct attention upon the powerful groups (ethnic majority pupils, teachers and others) as potential transformative agents. The critical tradition in education, through critical pedagogy, critical theory and critical social research may offer some of the most fruitful ways forward at a micro‐level. The new political agendas imposed upon the education system have served to weaken traditional structures and, while the new competitive market‐place structures are themselves antagonistic to the equality project, the continued period of rapid change does offer some possibilities for progressive action.