Race Matters: urban education, globalisation and the 21st century

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The educational landscape in Britain in the early 21st century is constantly changing. It shifts according to changes of government, economic instability and global pressures. The key concerns around ‘race’ and anti/racism of the 2000s have waned into the background in policy terms. The focus now is once again on sameness – on assimilation, an emphasis on the so-called and nebulous ‘British Values and community cohesion. The targeted initiatives to address Black and Minority Ethnic underachievement have been cut and the blame for poor educational performance is laid at the feet of parents, the children themselves, teachers or ‘failing’ schools. The focus though is on individual responsibility and not structural racism.
Against this backdrop however, theoretical understanding of racism has developed and in the 21st century a clearer recognition of Whiteness and its implications in racist oppression has developed in relation to an understanding of intersectional identities and the importance of on the one hand foregrounding ‘race’ but on the other the importance of challenging hierarchies of oppression.
In this chapter on ‘race’ and urban education these are some of the central issues that will be explored in relation to published key research and ideas.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe International Handbook on Urban Education
EditorsWilliam Pink, George W. Noblit, Kalwant Bhopal
PublisherSpringer
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-82077-4, 978-3-319-40315-1
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jan 2017

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