Nazia Parveen reports for The Guardian on the British education system’s inconsistent approach towards racist incidents and the failure of the central government to issue proper guidance on dealing with these issues.
Anna Longfield voiced these concerns and urged ministers to give schools increased clarity on how to tackle racist incidents, and in some cases, systemic racism within their institutions. She also called on the government to review its education policies, with a particular focus on children who are excluded from schools. Longfield holds schools’ policies and policy from the Department for Education accountable.
The issue of school exclusions was previously addressed in 2019, when it was revealed that nearly 8 out of 10 permanently excluded children came from vulnerable backgrounds.
Also, an analysis of exclusions in England reported that 78% of expelled pupils either had special education needs, were eligible for free school meals, or were 'in need'.
The Guardian’s own research shows exclusion rates for black Caribbean students in British schools is six times higher than that of their white peers in some local authorities.
Furthermore, about 90% of the exclusions are taking place in 10% of schools.
The Institute of Race Relations reports on black pupils disproportionately being sent to pupil referral units and alternative provision.
Finally, Longfield called for central data collection on racist incidents within schools to be established and routinely collected in order to better understand what is happening within the UK education system and to tackle systemic racism.