Racism in Northern Ireland. Can schools help?

Given the appalling rise in racially motivated hate crime in Northern Ireland in recent weeks, it is vital that we ensure that newcomer members of society and indeed established ethnic minority groups feel welcome and are fully integrated into communities. A good place to start is to look at the experience of ethnic minorities in our schools and also to ask to what degree education could help address the racist attitudes present in our society that have produced these attacks?

Conor Coyle writing in The Irish News on August 28^th reported on the fears of Muslim mothers for their children going back into schools for the new term. He highlighted a letter sent by a group of Muslim mothers to Education Secretary Paul Girvan on August 10^th.

The Muslim Mothers’ Collective letter by 400 parents said that recent incidents of violence and Islamophobia in the north had “truly shocked” them.

“These incidents have profoundly impacted us, leaving many of us feeling unsafe,” it read.

“Those of us who are mothers now constantly worry about whether it is safe to go out with our children or if our homes still provide the security we once felt they did.”

In response the Minister stated that;

“At the forefront of the planning has been to review potential safety precautions and procedures to support pupils’ safe return.

“Schools will receive comprehensive guidance, advice and strategies from EA including assistance with translations for parents, carers and pupils.

“My department is involved with the ongoing assessment of the security of school sites with the EA carrying out risk assessments on a number of schools located close to recent unrest and protests as well as liaising with principals as appropriate to identify those schools that may be vulnerable “

Schools carrying out risk assessments as hundreds of Muslim mothers express fears over new term – The Irish News

An immediate response is of course welcome and needed, but the long-term issue of developing a more inclusive society in Northern Ireland remains to be faced up to by us all.

A major study sponsored by The Nuffield Foundation for Queens University was carried out in 2023 by Dr Rebecca Loader, Dr Erike Jimenez, Dr Aisling O Boyle and Professor Joanne Hughes. The research examined; ‘The Experiences of Education Among Minority Ethnic Groups in Northern Ireland’. It included the conducting of interviews with 62 children, 53 parents and 43 stakeholders from the community and education sectors. This is the most substantial study of the educational experiences of minority ethnic parents and children in NI for more than two decades. During that time major changes have taken place in the make-up of our population. The Department of Education report that there has been a fourteen-fold increase in the number of newcomer children in schools between 2001 and 2022. New policies to support newcomer and Traveller pupils have been introduced by the Executive and the Department of Education and efforts to monitor and reduce racist bullying in schools have been made. The Queen’s research reported that parents were largely satisfied with their children’s educational experience in Northern Ireland but that challenges remain. These are clearly identified in the concluding remarks of the report and specific recommendations are made to help address them.

The authors concluded that the research shows that for minority ethnic, migrant and newcomer families problems with schooling do exist;

They recommend regarding school admissions, that standard admissions processes be reviewed to address inequalities for minority ethnic and migrant families. For example, the use of plain English and simple information about admissions is needed for families with poor literacy. Admissions criteria that prioritise familial connections beyond a sibling currently attending the school are unfair to newcomers and migrants. Equally transfer testing and the inevitable “coaching” organised by parents disadvantages these groups too. Mid-year admissions processes are needed for mid-year newcomers and placements in schools need to be co-ordinated with housing provision.

The research showed sadly that school-based racist bullying remains prevalent including verbal and physical abuse, criticism of children’s intelligence and English language ability, and questioning of children’s identity and legitimacy in NI. The report states that school responses to racist bullying were sometimes inadequate and probably under-reported. One explanation put forward for this was that teachers fail to recognise racism or are reluctant to attribute racist intent to pupil actions. The report strongly recommends anti-racism training for staff and the provision of appropriate classroom resources to support anti-racism teaching and learning.

In terms of curriculum responses examples of effective practice identified in the interviews included school-led discussions of anti-racist movements and invitations to parents to share aspects of their language and culture at school. Given that teachers depend on past experience and practices, the development of a new more inclusive and culturally responsive curriculum will require greater direct support from statutory agencies.

Provision of support for learning English was highlighted as a problem area. The report recommended assuring the quality of English language provision for language learners and better pay and job status for highly skilled language educators.

Language difficulties clearly also make home-school communication problematic for both schools and parents. The report recommends prioritising investment in initiatives that support parental engagement in schools with large migrant and newcomer populations, including the creation of family support worker posts, the provision of regular ‘drop in’ sessions for parents, and the further development of parent involvement projects through the Extended Schools programme.

Filetoupload,1862Filetoupload,1862560,en.pdf (qub.ac.uk)560,en.pdf (qub.ac.uk)

The Guardian Newspaper reported back in 2021 that UK schools recorded more than 60,000 racist incidents in the past five years.

UK schools record more than 60,000 racist incidents in five years | Race in education | The Guardian

It is hard to be sure of the scale of the problem as schools are not required to report such incidents, but it is clear that a problem does exist, sometimes manifesting in serious attacks. Here in Northern Ireland, we are only beginning to see our society becoming more racially and culturally diverse and already during this summer ugly incidents have occurred. It is time for us to place this issue on a much higher priority level in our school curriculum and organisational planning.