BLACK CARIBBEAN pupils are three times as likely to be permanently excluded from school than their white counterparts. Why?

In their latest educational episode, the Dope Black Mums are joined by English teacher and educational specialist Ziggy Moore to unpack what is really going on in our school systems.

Can your child really be suspended for having an Afro? What rights do you have as a parent? And why should you become a school governor?

Ziggy answers all these questions, sharing his knowledge from working in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), teaching children who have been expelled from mainstream education.

“Once I led a presentation workshop for an enterprise initiative by Coca Cola, begins Dope Black Mum, Endy Mckay.

As black parents we must become more vocal and visible and hold the school to account in the same way.

“Around a dozen schools were selected as finalists and out of those twelve school groups, one was an ‘inner city’ state school. In other words, black.

“Each school were carousel led around the vast and corporate building, attending the various activities and workshops before presenting and pitching their ‘new drink idea’ to the suited, adult panellists.

“One school entered the room, they were a group of boys form an all boy private school, in suits and ties. They were talking, some laughing, some a bit despondent.

“They chatted with their teachers with ease, pointing to pictures in the room, pouring water from ornate jugs into glasses. We formed a circle and myself and my northern actress colleague began taking them through the first exercise.

Body language

“Why do we need to do this?” one tall, slim boy asked mid warm up. The teacher turned to us, awaiting his answer. We explained that we were going to look at body language and how to use the voice.

“Another boy with loose, floppy hair piped up: “So do we do this and then present, or have lunch? The teacher explained lunch was next and we asked if the boys could remove their hands from their pockets so that they could warm up.

“I remember noting that the teachers did not at any point tell the boys to not interrupt us. They seemed to encourage their questioning and assertion.

“Immediately next, was the all black school group. They came in with the same energy – talking, laughing, putting bags and coats to the side. Not one of them took a drink from the ornate jug which sat for them on the table at the side of the room.

“One boy asked if the water was for them and their teacher said, ‘Just hurry up, get in a circle’. The teachers seemed stressed and in some sort of panic about ‘keeping control’.

Exercise

“When beginning the same warm-up exercise, one student asked, ‘How long is this part of the day?’ but before we could respond the teacher shouted at him for speaking during the warm up. When the student protested, the teacher immediately said, ‘One more bit of back chat and you are out the room.’

“In that one moment I saw the inequality in our whole school system laid out before us,’ explains Endy, “I saw class discrimination and race discrimination. I saw boys being brought up to lead verses boys that are being bought up to follow.

Inner city

“I saw the teachers see themselves within the white, public school boys in a way the teachers accompanying the black, inner city school children did not. And even if they did see themselves, did they like what they saw?

“I saw the disconnection between staff and student, the fear of losing control, the discouragement to question, to ask, to be curious. The status, the hierarchy, the levels of stress. All exposed.

The message was clear. If you ask a question in a white skin with received pronunciation then you are enquiring, bright and inquisitive. If ask the same question and you have black skin and a London accent then you are threatening, rude and needing to be put in line.”

Over the last sixteen years Endy has visited many schools and universities, running drama workshops, leading acting masterclasses and directing shows.

Racial discrimination in school is perhaps the biggest example of how individual unchecked bias and prejudice very quickly amounts to institutional racism.

She says see so much good and has the utmost respect for teachers, who in her opinion, do the most important job against some difficult odds. But she has also seen and heard things that have made her feel extremely uncomfortable. Sometimes she has even had to report things.

Racial discrimination in school is perhaps the biggest example of how individual unchecked bias and prejudice very quickly amounts to institutional racism – the kind that can affect the very core of the black experience in the UK.

A child’s ability to thrive in school can set them on a trajectory of confidence, career empowerment and trust in authority and mainstream systems. The opposite is bleak, and too often the norm.

Numbers

Even though there are frightening numbers of black and mixed black/white children temporarily excluded from schools, it is the figures for permanent exclusion rates that really show the discrepancy.

Black pupils are three times more likely to be excluded than their white peers, after all other background factors are taking into account. Although the absolute exclusions gap narrowed somewhat between 2009 and 2015 it is steadily starting to increase once more.*

Black pupils are three times more likely to be excluded than their white peers.

According to a study carried out by the DfES the over-represented exclusion rate of ethnic groups is routinely cited by academics as an example of the way the education system discriminates against Black pupils.

The Dope Black Mums hear all too often of the on-going problems parents face when dealing with schools – from being excluded for Afro hair to being told their child ‘had an attitude today’ when in fact the child was sad about a family bereavement. So, what can be done to improve things?

Senior management

Become a school governor says Dope Black Mum, Carina White, who sits on the board of a secondary school in Lambeth in south London . “We need more black people at senior management and board level,” she explains, “So things like hair policy that solely targets black children is never passed.

“I know from my son’s school in south London, the PTA is incredibly white and middle class, as is the very active parent What’s App group,’ adds Endy. “As black parents we must become more vocal and visible and hold the school to account in the same way.”

The Dope Black Mums hear all too often of the on-going problems parents face when dealing with schools.

There is a movement now, with the rise of Black Lives Matter and anti-racism, that schools must be at the centre of. Racial discrimination in our schools is a very real thing and must be addressed candidly – from imperialist curriculum, to hair policy, to training in unconscious bias.

If a newly qualified teacher arrives from an all-white village in Gloucestershire to teach in a majority black school in Hackney, it is no longer enough to assume they are don’t carry any bias or prejudice.

Dope Black Mums Podcast – Are Our Schools Blacklisting Black Children is currently available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all major streaming platforms – don’t miss this exclusive exclusion episode.

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