In the heated debate on teaching about race equality in schools, claims abound that teachers are pushing \u2018politically biased\u2019 views on young people by discussing anti-racist ideas and movements like Black Lives Matter. Our research, published today, proves this is not true.
Our University of Birmingham team has conducted the first national-level study into the extent to which young people are supported to express themselves about race and faith equality issues at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We surveyed over 3,000 Year 10 students and over 200 teachers, and conducted in-depth case studies in secondary schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we found is that young people from racially and religiously minoritised backgrounds are often unlikely to feel they can talk about these issues at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report paints a complex picture of multiple factors leading minoritised young people to censor themselves. These include feeling their experiences won\u2019t be heard, that they might offend or be judged by peers or that they might be disciplined for being \u2018too political\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our findings show clearly that it is a myth that anti-racism is being taught ideologically and preventing people from expressing their opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the contrary, students at schools that talk about Black Lives Matter were 2.5 times more likely to say teachers present several sides of an issue, 3.5 times more likely to say teachers encourage them to share their opinions, and almost 3 times more likely to say teachers encourage them to make up their own minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, we found that schools that do not talk about these issues are less likely to have teachers who present several sides of an issue or listen to young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThree-quarters of students learn about socio-political issues online<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
These findings are important to informing the current curriculum and assessment review, as well as changes to Ofsted inspection criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former aims to evaluate how effective the current system is at delivering excellence for all, preparing young people to address society\u2019s civic and economic needs, and breaking down barriers to opportunity. Its interim report<\/a> promises to address the issue of content diversity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latter aim to make inclusion a key area of school evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s take each in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A curriculum for all<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The system is clearly not \u2018delivering excellence for all\u2019 when it comes to race and faith equality. Only 23 per cent of the teachers we surveyed felt the examinations system enabled them to teach about these issues. This means GCSE subject criteria must seriously change as part of efforts to diversify the curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, young people who viewed their schools as doing well in this space were four times more likely to say that pupils trust how their school will deal with racism. However, 75 per cent said they learned about socio-political issues online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Introducing political education into a revised citizenship curriculum is therefore crucial. However, it must be properly supported through teacher training and given parity of esteem in school accountability metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smarter evaluation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Race and ethnicity are key determinants of children\u2019s life chances in nuanced ways. Our study shows how the policy and political climate of the past decade has discredited scientific evidence of race inequalities in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ofsted\u2019s plans to evaluate inclusion can help address this by being specific about examining how attainment, exclusions and grouping by \u2018ability\u2019 are patterned by ethnicity, Free School Meal eligibility and SEND status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on our wider dataset, we are calling on government to go further than their promise to \u2018end the culture wars\u2019. They must address the damage those wars have caused to young people\u2019s education too by establishing an anti-racism framework and a CPD strategy as part of the revised national curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is vital for their civic education that all young people can engage with complex real-life issues in a meaningful way, especially if the government is serious about lowering the voting age to 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To prepare young people to engage in society, we need to give them the tools they need to express themselves freely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This article and the research on which it was based were co-authored with <\/strong>Professor Reza Gholami, Dr Asl\u0131 Kandemir, and Dr Md. Shajedur Rahman, all form the University of Birmingham<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n