A Critical Analysis of How Race and

Ethnicity Affected Educational Experiences

in Britain

By Anum Altaf, Sana Khalid and Sundus Omal

Introduction
• Inclusive education is significant as if provides the opportunity for all students to develop the attitudes, values and skills needed to prepare for a diverse society.
As our society is diverse today it is important for children to be respectful and understanding of people around them in order for them to prosper in society later
on.

• Our case study outlines key issues that were in the education system in 1960/70’s through first hand accounts of students as well as teachers.

• We will be focusing on issues of race and ethnicity as well as, disability, learning difficulties and social class.

• The issues raised by our case study are still relevant to this day and we will be looking at recent statistics to emphasise this.

• Finally we will be discussing national and international policy related to these issues; Race Relations Act 1965, UN Conventions on the Rights of a Child 1989
and the Equality Act 2010.

• Definitions:

• Intersectionality is “the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and we must consider
everything and anything that can marginalise people”. (Eg. gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc). (Womankind Worldwide, 2019)

• Diversity is the representation of all our varied identities and differences (eg. Race, ethnicity, gender and disability) collectively and as individuals. (Ford
Foundation, 2023)

• “Inclusion is where everyone can participate ad their true selves”. (Ford Foundation, 2023)
Context of our Case Study
Subnormal: A British Scandal (2021)
• In the 1960’s a large amount of immigrants came from the West Indies.

• A lot of white parents complained that their children were being held back by the immigrant children.

• The department of education decided that schools should have no more than 30% of immigrant students.

• The term ‘educationally subnormal’ first appeared on the Education Act 1944 and it described children who were thought to have low intelligence and needed
specialised education.

• In the 1960’s and 1970’s a disproportionate amount of black children from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds were wrongfully sent to schools that were called
‘educationally subnormal’ (ESN) for many different reasons.

• Around 28% of immigrants were in ESN schools compared to 15% in ‘ordinary schools.

• ESN schools would have smaller classes and suitable learning resources however, ESN schools covered a wide range of needs and a lot of needs could not be met.

• The parents did not know that their child was being sent to an ESN school as teachers would normally use the word ‘special’ instead of ‘educationally subnormal.

• This would lead to long lasting effects to those children for example, not being able to read or write as an adult.
Bernard Coard
Subnormal: A British Scandal (2021)
• Bernard Coard in the mid-1960s, a 22-year-old master’s student arrived in the UK from Grenada. He wanted to study in a British
university education.

• To support himself, he worked in a youth support centre in a deprived area of southeast London.

• The students attending the youth centre were mainly from ESN schools. The ideas of ESN schools had surprised Coard and what
he had noticed was “ESN schools had a higher percentage of black kids than I consider normal, given the demographics of the
boroughs from which they came”.

• He saw “too many kids who were average intelligence or even above average” within these schools. Later, Coard became a
teacher in an ESN school, thus becoming a role model to black students.

• Bernard Coard had used his research to create his book called “How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-Normal
in the British School System”.

• He forensically dismantled the ESN scandal; he exposed the institutional assumptions that West Indian children were innately
less intelligent than white children and that teachers were mistaking the trauma caused by immigration for a lack of intelligence.
Noel Gordon
Subnormal: A British Scandal (2021)
• Parents emigrated from the Jamaica in 1960.

• Went to the dentist and had a bad reaction to anaesthesia due to undiagnosed sickle cell
anaemia.

• His parents were advised to send him to a boarding school and were told that they would cover
Noel’s needs.

• Noel was sent to a school that catered for children with learning difficulties and disabilities
who labeled as ‘slow learners’.

• Once his father had realised that Noel was sent to an ESN school he said that there was
nothing he could do because of how the system was set up.

• He describes not learning anything at school and he still struggles with his spelling.

• As well as that he also suffered from racist abuse.

Waveney Bushell
• Waveney Bushell carried out research into the use of IQ Tests and
their effects on black students within the education system.
Critical Race Theory
• Delgado and Stefancic (2001) suggest that Critical Race Theory provides insight into the systematic
racism that is deeply rooted into societal hierarchies and institutions such the Education system.
Social Constructivism
• Both race and ethnicity are social constructs with race being related to someone’s physical characteristics and
ethnicity being related to someone’s language and culture.

• “Race is a recent human invention, a social construct designed to divide members of a society into a hierarchy of
social, economic, and political advantage or disadvantage based on a set of randomly selected normal human
variations in phenotype.” (Feldman et al., 2022)

• An example of how race can be a social construct is racial stereotyping and if those stereotypes change the way others
think of that racial group also changes.

• Some criticisms of the social construction of race is, that race has a biological factor that no one can change
“Examples of biological differences include skin pigmentation, facial features, height, and susceptibility to certain
diseases. These features are hereditary and biological fact” (Burr, 2015).

• This however, does not change peoples’ opinions on others of a different race to them.

• Due to the social construction of race there has been discrimination of others.
Race Relations Act (1965)
• “An Act to prohibit discrimination on racial grounds in the places of public resort, to prevent the
enforcement or imposition on racial grounds of tenancies; to penalise incitement to racial hatred”.

• The Race Relations Act 1965 was the first piece of legislation to focus on the prevention of racial
discrimination.

• The Act was introduced in the 1960s when there was an increasing number of individuals moving to the
UK, there were roughly one million immigrants living in the UK.

• Although this Act was made to reduce the racial discrimination in the UK and create a more equal
society, there were several limitations. The Act banned racial discrimination in public places, however,
there it was criticised as discrimination was still occurring in places of employment, housing and
advertisement. Therefore, this act did not account to all areas which thus led to the 1968 Race Relations
act which made this prohibited in all aspects.
The UN Convention on the Rights of The Child (1990)
• The UN Convention on the rights of the child consists of many articles that outline the educational rights of children around the world. Article 28 and Article 29 of The
Convention are significant in ensuring that the quality of children's education is up to par.

Article 28

• “All State Parties recognise the Right of Children to Education” and” Should take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner
consistent with the child’s human dignity”

Article 29

• “The education of the child shall be directed to:

• The development of the child's personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.

• The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedom and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

• The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the
country from which he or she may originate from and for civilisations different from her own.

• The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of all sexes and friendship among all peoples, ethnic,
national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin.

• The development of respect for the natural environment.

• However, it is important to note that there are a number of articles within The Convention and therefore, articles 28 and 29 should not be looked at on their own but as part of
The Convention and the guidelines it sets out.
 Equality Act 2010
• Idea that everyone in Britain is protected against discrimination.

• There are nine protected characteristics:

1. Age

2. Disability

3. Gender reassignment

4. Marriage and Civil Partnership

5. Race

6. Religion or belief

7. Sex

8. Sexual Orientation

9. Pregnancy or maternity

• Within education this means that “schools cannot unlawfully discriminate against pupils because of their sex, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation” (Department for Education, 2014).

• This Act does not take into account someone’s socioeconomic background.

• This act is trying to reduce discrimination in any setting including schools and we will discuss how we can do that.
Diversity and Education
• Diversity in education refers to the inclusion of people from all different ethnicities,
backgrounds and socioeconomic status. It is highly significant to have individuals from
different cultures and perspectives in the same environment to promote openness and
community.

• Diversity and inclusion are linked as by promoting diversity in schools, this can help
students recognise difference thus creating an inclusive atmosphere.

• However, when looking at the case study there was a lack of diversity in schools in the
1960s - the department of education decided that there should be no more than 30% of
immigrant students.

• Black students were four times more likely to be wrongly places in an ESN school than
white students. This questions the likelihood that they did not want ‘too much’ black
students within mainstream schooling.
Social class linked to race
• Many children of colour are from working class backgrounds which often means that their parents have
immigrated to England from other countries, such as from the West Indies. This created many obstacles
such as:

• Limited parent-teacher relationships

• Many children grow up unaccustomed to social and societal norms

• The presence of language and cultural barriers

Disability and Education
• Defining Disability:

• “A person is considered to have a disability if they have a self-reported long-standing illness, condition or impairment which causes
difficulty with day-to-day activities.”

• Medical Model of Disability: model by which illness or disability is the result of a physical condition, is intrinsic to the individual.

• The Medical Model of Disability can affect the way with disability think about themselves.

• Looking through an intersectionality perspective, it is important to analyse how disability shapes individuals’ perspective and experiences.

• In relation to the case study, Maisie was diagnosed dyslexia in the mid-1960s which was not properly recognised.

• Furthermore, it could be said that due to Maisie’s black racial background, she was wrongly placed into an ESN school due to her ‘lack of
intelligence’. It was found data published in a 1968 report, dyslexia were proven as a reason for the wrongful placement of immigrant children.

• After extensive assessments and testing, Maisie’s social worker that her Mum found had concluded that she was an intelligent student.
Inclusion in Education
• From our case study we can see that the system at this time was an example of exclusion.

• This had an impact on children as they could see that they were different and were being treated differently to others.

• Black supplementary schools were made by the Afro-Caribbean community where children would have a black teacher and they would learn about
their own culture and being engaged in their learning.

• This is still an example of exclusion however, a possible solution could be to change the curriculum in schools to be culturally aware so that different
cultures and beliefs etc. can be taught to everyone.

• This will ensure that that students of all experiences and backgrounds will feel included in lessons.

• An intersectional lens “allows teachers to identify the interaction of multiple factors that lead to discriminatory processes in schools towards different
student groups” (Henshaw, 2022).

• These changes will acknowledge all students regardless of social factors, learning difficulties and disability.

• We will look into how black and mixed Afro-Caribbean children are one of the largest groups to be excluded from schools and from an intersectional
perspective maybe looking into why a child is being excluded instead of just assuming it’s ‘bad behaviour’ might be a step into the right direction to
deal with the issue.
Wider research into ethnicity (DfE, 2023)
Wider research into ethnicity (DfE, 2015)
Wider research into ethnicity (DfE, 2018a)
Conclusion
• To conclude, our case study was extremely eye opening as we examined different individuals'
perspectives and experiences on how race played an important factor in 1960s Britain.

• Not only did race and ethnicity play a huge role in terms of experiences in education but it was vital when
we looked at a wider intersectional view exploring into disability, inclusion, diversity and more.

• We discussed how different national and international policies impacted discrimination due to race,
disability and inclusion.

• The issues that we have presented in our case study are still relevant to this day and we have looked at
some of them from the statistics.

• We have also looked at how the education system can be inclusive today to tackle the issues that are still
present today.
Thanks for listening!
References
• Burr, V. (2015). Social constructionism. New York: Routledge.

• Cartagena & Pike, (2022); Oliver & Barnes, (2012) Medical Model of Disability.

• Convention on the rights of the child (1990). [Online]. 1577 UNTS. Available from: <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201577/v1577.pdf> [Accessed 16 November 2023].

• Delgado, R. et al. (2017) Critical race theory (third edition) : an introduction. New York: NYU Press (Critical America). doi: 10.18574/9781479851393.

• DfE (2015). The National Pupil Database: User Guide. London: Department for Education.

• DfE (2018a). Revised GCSE and equivalent reviews: 2016-2017. London: Department for Education.

• DfE (2023). Permanent Exclusions [Online] Available from: <https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/absence-and-exclusions/permanent-exclusions/latest > [Accessed 15 November 2023]

• Equality Act 2010 (c.15) London: HMSO.

• Education Act 1944 (c.31) London: HMSO.

• Feldman, H. M., Blum, N. J., Elias, E. R., Jimenez, M., & Stancin, T. (2022). Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

• Ford Foundation (2023) Creating a Culture of Excellence. [Online]. Available from: <https://www.fordfoundation.org/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/#:~:text=Equity%20seeks%20to%20ensure%20fair,and%20participation%20of%20all%20people > [Accessed 15
November 2023]

• Pete Henshaw (2022) Creating inclusive classrooms: Intersectionality in curriculum and classroom. [Online]. Available from: <https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/best-practice/creating-inclusive-classrooms-intersectionality-in-curriculum-and-classroom/
#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20an%20intersectional%20lens%20in,social%20opportunities%20for%20all%20children.> [Accessed 15 November 2023]

• Meheux, M. and Bushell, W. (2022) “'our Difference Was Really Magnified',” Psychologist, Jun2022, P56.

• Social Justice, class and race in education in England: Competing perspectives (2018). Social Justice, Class and Race in Education in England: Competing Perspectives.

• Subnormal: A British Scandal (2021) Subnormal: A British Scandal. London: BBC One, 20 May 2021, 21:00.

• The Equality Act 2010 and schools. [Online]. (2014) London: DfE. Available from: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7e3237ed915d74e33f0ac9/Equality_Act_Advice_Final.pdf> [Accessed 15 November 2023].

• Race Relations Act 1965 (c.73) London: HMSO

• Womankind Worldwide (2019) Intersectionality 101: what is it and why is it important?. [Online]. Available from: <https://www.womankind.org.uk/intersectionality-101-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important/#:~:text=Intersectionality%20is%20the
%20acknowledgement%20that,orientation%2C%20physical%20ability%2C%20etc.> [Accessed 15 November 2023]
Contributions
• Sundus- Bernard Coard, Race Relations Act (1965), Disability and Education, Diversity and Education

• Anum- Waveney Bushell, The UN Convention on the Rights of The Child, Critical Race Theory, Social
Class Linked to Race, Wider Research into Ethnicity.

• Sana- Context of Case Study, Noel Gordon, Social Constructivism, Equality Act 2010,

• Everyone- Introduction, Inclusion in Education and Conclusion