Page 22 - Race Equality in Education Pocket Book

Schools Issues and experiences -

• The National Curriculum has been overhauled to herald back to

‘traditional’ subjects and teaching methods which have sought
to overturn decades of more diverse, socially inclusive and

multicultural curricular. However, Ofsted’s latest framework

(proposed 2019) has addressed that the curriculum has become

too narrow and has been second to performance measures and

examinations. The new framework is intended to address a
number of these issues – those of relevance to equalities,

diversity and inclusion.

• Some students from BAME backgrounds start secondary school
a long way behind their White British peers in terms of KS2

scores but catch up or overtake when it comes to GCSE

examinations in KS4.

• Despite examples of educational success for African-Caribbean

students (e.g. Rhamie 2007; Wright et al., 2010) and higher

attainment noticeably for Black girls (Mirza 1992, 2009), over

the past five decades African-Caribbean underachievement has

been attributed to institutional racism in the school system
(Coard, 1971; DES, 1985; Gillborn, 2008) and the absence of

educational equality for Black students.

• So what accounts for the differential attainment and

educational inequality experienced by Black students in English
schools? The answer can be found in the culture which exists

in English schools/classrooms which is to see Black pupils as

underachievers.

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