Frequently Asked Questions
From work developed in preparing this website, we have drawn together a number of key issues and questions which are of relevance to effective school management and to devising and reshaping anti-racist learning materials.
Issues include the role of anti-racist education in predominantly white schools and the distinctive impact of racism on our children.
The following 'frequently asked questions' provide a starting point that might help stimulate further discussion within staffrooms, during in-service days and with pupils and other school partners.
What is anti-racist education?
How does anti-racist education link to school and national policy?
Do we need to have a race equality policy?
What should the race equality policy cover?
Where can I find more help if I need it?
What kind of help is available on this website?
What if I can’t find what I want on this website?
What is the difference between bullying and racial harassment?
How can I assess material to ensure an anti-racist stance?
Is racist bullying something that only white people can be guilty of?
What is racism?
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has defined racist behaviour as:
'any hostile or offensive act by a person of one racial group or ethnic origin against a person of another racial group or ethnic origin, or any incitement to commit such an act in:
such a manner that it interferes with the peace and comfort of the aggrieved person
that the person aggrieved fears for their safety
that the quality of life of the person aggrieved is reduced.'
In the formal legal context, racism is described under the Race Relations Act as direct or indirect discrimination. Racial harassment too is now defined under the legislation.
The Lawrence Report highlights institutional racism in perpetuating disadvantage and discrimination.
(See Glossary)
What is anti-racist education?
Defines an approach to the curriculum and education more broadly that seeks to challenge past and present racial inequalities by enabling the learner to understand, recognise and challenge racism.
(See School Materials and Resources)
How does anti-racist education link to school and national policy?
The school’s race equality policy should be the starting point for an anti-racist education approach.
The policy itself is required by law and is therefore part of national policy.
It links to equality-related legislation and how education authorities address this through their improvement objectives.
National standards too expect to see explicit planning and progress on inclusion and equality. This is an area that HMIE has made clear still has room for improvement.
(See also http://www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/ for further information)
Do we need to have a race equality policy?
Yes it is required by law. The EHRC website contains reference to all the statutory guidance available as well as other best practice.
(See Race Equality Policy in the glossary and statutory pages, and other guidance at www.equalityhumanrights.com)
Racism isn’t a problem in my school / We don’t have any ethnic minority pupils in my schools, so why do we need this?
Ignoring the existence of racism in society on the basis that the school is all white is tantamount to blaming ethnic minority pupils for causing racism. Improving awareness and understanding of racism and its impact on daily life should be seen as part of all pupils’ education, regardless of the school make-up.
The school’s race equality policy should consider:
current policy and procedure
curriculum and staff support
the ethnic majority perspective within the school.
If you have no, or very few, ethnic minority pupils the need to support pupils does not go away and may in fact become all the greater.
Some of the best practice identified in preparation for the site came from areas with exclusively white pupil populations.
See also 'What is the difference between bullying and racial harassment?' below.
What should the race equality policy cover?
The policy is, in effect, a statement of intent of how the school is going to address the promotion of race equality in all its activities. In addition to this, a number of associated arrangements will have to be put in place if not there already, such as assessing the impact of policy and practice and systems for monitoring performance against relevant school activity.
It is advisable to ensure that the policy has an associated timetable for implementation including a review date and an identified means of publicising progress and impact.
How can my school use the data collected in the course of assessing and monitoring its race equality policy?
If policy is introduced to make changes, data collection is needed to plot progress and assess impact. It is crucial that data collected is analysed and that such analyses are then used to help evaluate the policy’s success and to identify both gaps and areas for continuous improvement.
How do you teach primary and nursery children to be anti-racist?
The way we teach everything else: with age appropriate materials, sound teacher support and staged developmental opportunities.
It is important to remember that racism is learnt, not acquired at birth. Discriminatory values and behaviours are learnt at a very early age. In recognising this, it is important to develop appropriate approaches and materials that can help raise awareness and understanding and provide the supporting framework with which to challenge racist words and behaviour.
Where can I find more help if I need it?
There is a wide range of material flagged up on this site. There are also external resources and other websites included in the reference section.
What kind of help is available on this site?
The site contains a useful introduction to key issues and concepts, more detailed background material for each, and onward references to external resources.
There are also lesson plans covering different age groups and subjects. Referenced websites and their materials have been assessed as relevant and useful.
What if I can’t find what I want on this website?
We would value constructive comment based on your own experience of using this site.
We are keen to get your views on the site, its materials and overall usefulness.
If you have used the site and its materials, please let us have your assessment on the feedback form provided.
If you have not found what you were looking for or think additional issues should be covered in the website, please use the feedback from to let us know.
What is the difference between bullying and racial harassment?
It can cover a similar range of activity and have a similar range of impacts.
Bullying is often seen as activity that needs repeated behaviours over time.
A racist incident can occur where there is no one from an ethnic minority background present and can be a one-off incident. This is an issue to consider particularly in schools with no or very few ethnic minority pupils.
(See reference to 'Bullying Around Racism, Religion and Culture Similarities and Differences' in the ‘The Importance of the Teacher's Perpective’).
How can I assess material to ensure an anti-racist stance?
Broadly speaking there are three types of learning materials:
those with no reference to race equality
those that positively engage
those that negatively engage.
If you are teaching a subject that has traditionally not seen any relevance to race equality, you may get some ideas from the lesson plans on this site.
If materials do cover race equality issues, you may want to start an assessment of them as you would any other material:
Is the material accessible to your pupils?
Does it provide appropriate learning opportunities?
Do you need any further or additional support or resources before using it in the classroom?
Does the material offer enough scope for development/progression, if needed?
If you are concerned that materials might have a negative impact, you might want to consider what learning your pupils have experienced before, as well as issues of representation (eg how are ethnic minorities, different parts of the world and different cultures presented in the materials?).
Clarity and accuracy concerning key themes and any self-study opportunities for pupils should also be considered.
(See Checklist for Race Proofing Materials)
Why does the definition of racist incidents stress perception? Procedures in schools should be based on objective tests and evidence, surely, not on subjective impressions and perceptions?
The definition is taken from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report and reflected a concern that too many incidents were not even being recorded properly let alone professionally investigated.
The definition is for the purposes of initial recording. Just because an incident is alleged or perceived to be racist does not mean that it is racist. But it does mean that it must be recorded and investigated.
The definition implies that if anyone thinks an incident is racist then it will definitely be taken seriously and investigated. Failure to investigate, even where an incident appears to be of a relatively minor nature, could be seen as condoning racism and could be used as evidence that a school is not taking seriously its legal duties under the Race Relations Act.
Whether or not the pupil(s) responsible intended their behaviour to be racist is in the first instance irrelevant. Of course, when it comes to dealing with an incident, pupils’ intentions and attitudes are an important consideration. But at the stage of initial recording and investigating, their attitudes, motivation and awareness are not the main issue. It’s the effects of their behaviour, not the reasons for it that require attention.
If we highlight racist incidents, couldn’t this lead to a worse situation? It could make white pupils feel guilty and those of minority backgrounds feel vulnerable and insecure?
It is important, certainly, to treat all incidents proportionately and with sensitivity, and therefore to avoid over-reacting or creating martyrs.
Bringing the school rules about racist bullying into disrepute should be avoided. However, the much more substantial danger lies in ignoring incidents and giving pupils the impression that adults condone racist behaviour by, for example, turning a blind eye.
Ignoring incidents means that pupils who are attacked feel unsupported, and so do their friends and families. They are likely then to feel that the school does not care about them and they may even form a view that all white people are hostile to them and cannot be trusted.
Is racist bullying something that only white people can be guilty of? If so, how do I explain this to the white children at my school, and to their parents?
The hallmark of racist bullying in schools is that children and young people are attacked as representatives of a group or community, not as individuals.
It follows that phrases such as ‘white trash’ or ‘white bitch’ are racist and that taunts using them, or expressing similar sentiments, should be dealt with in the same range of ways as terms such as ‘Paki’.
In all bullying there is a power differential.
In the UK as a whole, many - though not all - minority communities suffer from discrimination and prejudice, and police statistics show that they are much more likely than white people to be targeted in racist attacks.
But in the micro-context of a particular school playground or neighbourhood, white people are sometimes in a clear minority and can be disadvantaged and intimidated by the local balance of power.
In these circumstances attacks on them by members of the local majority group should be treated as racist bullying.
The most frequent racist incidents at our school involve name-calling. Are certain words always and inherently racist? Is the word Paki, for example, inherently offensive and objectionable, even when no offence is intended or taken?
Few if any terms are always and everywhere offensive.
It is possible for outrageous terms to be used in friendly teasing between equals, for example, and for words which previous generations found unacceptable to be reclaimed.
South Asian young people sometimes address each other as Paki, young black people use Nigger with each other and Travellers use Pikey.
Within youth culture young white people sometimes use such terms as well, without intending or causing offence.
The reclaiming of negative words, and then wearing them as badges of pride, is frequently an essential ingredient in resistance to discrimination.
However, racist terms have a history and a set of connotations and assumptions, and in wider society they are almost always negative and offensive.
They are part of a discourse that justifies, or turns a blind eye to, discrimination and violence. In schools, therefore, it is unacceptable, even when no offence is intended or taken.
(Bullying Around Racism, Culture and Religion, DfES, 2006)