Is The British Education System Still Failing Black Students. By Dr Cheryl Diane Parkinson

With the rise of Covid-19, it has become apparent that ‘structural and institutional racism [has] blighted the lives of many BAME people.’ (Dr JS Bamrah, honorary vice president of the British Medical Association). Although Dr Bamrah was specifically discussing the NHS, our educational institutions are also affected. Nationwide assessments have examined the educational gap of students created by the lockdowns and the Covid-19 self-isolation of individuals, and found students to be up to three years behind where they should be academically.

Racism is a part of life within schools. From the white student repeating in their best African accent ‘I no speak English,’ to the organised group who gather signed petitions against teachers of colour. Teachers of colour have had experience also from schools who refuse to pay them to scale. Despite being successful in rigorous application programmes. Establishments cannot be trusted to be fair.

When it comes to the Teacher Assessment of our students, one has every reason to be concerned. Can these same establishments be trusted to be fair to our students? Especially to the BAME community.

In 1971 Bernard Coard, a Grenadian academic and teacher living in the UK, wrote and published the pamphlet, ‘How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System’ which detailed why black students were failing: ‘low expectations on [the student’s] part about his likely performance in a white-controlled system of education.’ (Institute of Race Relations).

The teacher’s low expectations of black students results in teachers not teaching the higher skills and knowledge to these black students. This in turn results in them being unable to attain the highest grades.  ‘Teacher expectations can be based on pupils’ characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and family income level, or indicators of past performance. These expectations can cause teachers to differentiate their behaviour towards individual pupils, such that teachers set lower expectations for some pupils, provide briefer (or no) feedback on pupil errors - and less positive feedback after correct answers - and grant pupils less time to answer questions, or fail to give some pupils the opportunity to answer. All of these teacher behaviours, when repeated day in, day out,  over the course of a year or multiple school years, can negatively impact student performance and ultimately perpetuate the achievement gaps that plague the education system. While varied expectations for pupils are rarely developed out of malice, teachers need to be aware of the consequences of different pupils’ expectations and understand how to correct them. (Black Caribbean Underachievement in Schools in England)

There is no significant training for teachers on unconscious bias.

  During exams, anonymity was introduced, reducing the connection with teachers and assessments. However, exams last year were cancelled and the Department of Education and Ofqual opted for Teacher Assessment. They stipulated:

●     a student’s grade in a subject will be based on their teacher’s assessment of the standard at which they are performing based on areas of content they have studied

●     teachers will draw on a range of evidence of a student’s work in making their final assessment. (How GCSE, AS and A level grades should be awarded in summer 2021)

This year Ofqual consider 2022 as a transition year to reflect that we are in a ‘pandemic recovery period.’ There are plans to put extra help in place to support all students. There will also be more generous grading this year, the government has introduced a choice of topics and will give students advance information on what the focus of the content of exams will be. Students will also be allowed to use study aids during their exams. One wonders how our black students will fare in this ‘transition period’ where the system is appearing to be more flexible with how the students engage with their exams. (Ofqual’s approach to grading exams in Summer 2022.)

Black students have historically been categorised as being less intelligent, aggressive and lazy. It is naive to think that the system has significantly changed. Therefore, it is worrying for those who have seen first-hand the effect of the Covid lockdowns, are worried for the next generation coming through the British education system. Many fear the polarisation between black and white students will significantly increase.

However the Black Community has not been silent. Black Community Leadership meetings have taken place, co-chaired by Bernadetta Omandi, member of the Peterborough Racial Equality Council and The Black History Month Committee in the east of England, as well other initiatives occurring around the country.

What we need moving forward is a collaborative solution. One that benefits all, and has input from all - black and white. Covid-19 has highlighted the disproportionate way the BAME community is treated: we are contracting and dying at a higher rate; a large number of us are front line key workers, and all indications point to our children being disproportionately affected through the educational ‘solution’ to the current problem of exams. We are not being considered and our children’s education is not being considered. We need solutions that will meet the needs of all of our children, black and white alike.