This thesis was planned as an -interdisciplinary work, a possible exemplar of 'a
peace study' (see Appendix 5).
It offers an analysis of the situation of the Asian children of immigrant
families, socially and racially disadvantaged in Britain, in the Bradford school
system from the mid-1970's to 1980*, and their relative success in terms of
external examination assessment in comparison with their peers. This is seen
against the backcloth of pioneering Local Authority policies to support their
education and observations of practice in schools. The findings are generalised as
models of what is perceived by the policy-makers and practitioners to be progress
towards racial justice and peace.
It is argued that the British school system has shown limited facility to offer
equal opportunity of success to pupils in socially disadvantaged groups and that this
is borne out in an analysis of the situation of the Asian pupils in the County
Upper schools in Bradford (CB), less likely to be allocated to external
examination-orientated groups or to gain success in these than their peers. There
are indications that their potential may not be being realised. It is argued that
while language support for the bilingual child is important, account should also be
taken of a more general cultural dominance in the school system and stereotyped
low expectations from teachers which may feed racial bias in institutions.
The data show that the LEA policies, though benevolent in intention,
demonstrate institutional racism in effect. With four case studies from observations
in Bradford schools, models are developed for practice that has potential for
power-sharing and greater equity of opportunity -for pupils, involving respect for
cultural diversity and antiracist education strategies supporting and supported by
community participation in schools. It is argued that white educationists need to
listen to black clients, pupils and their parents, involving them in dialogue to
ascertain their real needs, to implement appropriate policy.
As there was a considerable lapse of time between the field work research and
writing up of this thesis, and its final presentation, an addendum (with bibliography)
reviews some of the research and literature in the fleld since 1980. This situates the field
work historically. The issues raised and discussed in the context of the 1970's are still far
from being solved. The additional work stregthens, rather than changes my original
conclusion that society is locked into a cycle of inequality. A counter-hegemony must
emerge from 'grass-roots', community initiatives with a values-base linked not to self-seeking
or confrontational power group politics but to a notion of the common good.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/2814 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Thompson, Brenda M. |
| Contributors | Curle, Adam, Rogers, Paul F., Rigby, Andrew |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, Postgraduate School of Studies in Peace Studies |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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