Scottish Government

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background and context

1.1.1 Social research on 'race' in Scottish public policy is in its infancy because of a legacy of widespread denial of racial inequality and discrimination across Scotland (Netto et al, 2001; Netto & Almeida Diniz, 2001; SABRE, 2001). For too long, it seemed that policy makers, academic researchers, service providers and the general public were wedded to the belief that racism was not an issue 'north of the border'.

However, in its first term of office, the Scottish Parliament signalled a significant shift by introducing major social and political developments which address the systemic barriers that lead to social exclusion in the lives of significant sections of Scottish society. Part of this climate of strategic rethinking has included an acknowledgement of the issue of 'racism' in 'mainstream' Scotland.

1.1.2 There has been a range of initiatives in Scottish education since the publication of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report by Sir William Macpherson in 1999 which recognises the important role education has to play in promoting racial equality and educating for the prevention of racial prejudice and discrimination.

1.1.3 A few weeks prior to the publication of the Macpherson report, Her Majesty's Inspectorate for Education (HMIE) published an audit toolkit for schools entitled A Route to Equality and Fairness (HMIE, 1999) which provides advice to schools on how to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts to achieve equality of opportunity.

1.1.4 Shortly after this, the Scottish Executive formed the Race Equality Advisory Forum (REAF) which prepared a race equality strategy to combat 'institutional racism' in public policy in Scotland. This included a section on education. The REAF Education subgroup consulted extensively with education practitioners and put forward 56 recommendations covering all levels of Scottish education. One of the recommendations was to commission research on the experience of minority ethnic pupils in Scottish schools.

1.1.5 About the same time, the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit (CRU) also commissioned an audit of research on race-related issues in Scotland in the past ten years. The CRU report, Audit of research on minority ethnic issues in Scotland from a 'race' perspective, published in the autumn of 2001 (Netto et al, 2001), also includes an education chapter. The education chapter documents over 100 pieces of research related to race and education, although only a few of these had been fully funded national research programmes. One of the recommendations of that piece of work was to further investigate the effects of racism, particularly institutional racism, on equal access and fairness for current and future minority ethnic learners.

1.1.6 Prior to this, the then Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SOEID) had commissioned the first national review of educational research ( The Education of Minority Ethnic Groups in Scotland - A Review of Research, Powney et al, 1998) and more recently the Scottish Executive commissioned A Review of Developments in Inclusive Schooling (Campbell et al, 2001). SABRE, a network of black researchers and community activists, published its ethical code for researching 'race', racism and anti-racism in Scotland (SABRE 2001).

1.1.7 This research was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) to examine the experiences of minority ethnic pupils in schools in Scotland. When this research was commissioned in November 2001, the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 (RR(A)A2000) had not been enacted in Scotland. However, by the time the research concluded in March 2003, the RR(A)A2000 had been in place for some four months. The positive duty placed on public authorities by the RR(A)A2000 had already caused local authorities and schools to re-examine their approach to the promotion of race equality and the prevention of racial discrimination. Had this study commenced a year after the onset of the RR(A)A2000, some of the findings might have been significantly different, such as the availability of quantitative data.

1.1.8 Nevertheless, this study now provides an excellent baseline from which to measure progress in the area of race equality in Scottish education for the years to come.

This is the first Scottish study that aims to look at the experiences of minority ethnic pupils in school. The claim that Scotland has an 'inclusive education system' (Paterson, 2001) remains unproven. In the absence of data to date, it is not known how minority ethnic pupils perform in school, or how their parents perceive their education. Neither is there systematic data on how teachers and schools have put in place policies and practices to take forward race equality.

Evidence to date, however, highlights significant institutional barriers that render minority ethnic communities invisible or marginalised with regard to their cultures, languages, faiths, policy, research and provision (Almeida Diniz and Usmani, 2001; Arshad, 2001; Netto et al, 2001; Hampton,1998; Powney et al 1998).

1.2 Aims and objectives

1.2.1 The central aim of the research study was to identify and document the experiences of minority ethnic pupils in a range of school settings in different parts of Scotland. The specific objectives of the research were to:

• identify key factors relating to ethnic diversity which promote or restrict inclusion
• examine the experiences of minority ethnic pupils in terms of educational attainment, participation in school activities, personal and social skills
• establish teachers' and pupils' perceptions of minority ethnic pupils' educational achievements, experiences and expectations
• establish the factors which affect minority ethnic pupils' achievement and attainment
• determine the impact on minority ethnic pupils of different teaching and learning styles, curriculum provision and assessment systems

1.3 Methods

1.3.1 Data collection

The main methods of data collection were semi-structured interviews and focus groups with a range of stakeholders, that is, pupils, parents and teachers. Other data gathering methods were also used, such as the use of postal questionnaires, documentary evidence and analysis of quantitative data. Quantitative data was sought from each authority for the selected schools in respect of standard grade results and 5-14 attainment levels in the five subject areas.

It was agreed that the study would take place in four authorities named A, B, C and D for the purposes of this report. Initially, each authority was invited to assist the identification of twelve schools (5 primary, 4 secondary and 3 special) that the authority regarded as best matching the following criteria:

(a) Considered by the authority to be an example of 'good practice' as an inclusive school

(b) Varied in ethnic composition and include:

- schools that have a concentration of pupils from a particular ethnic group
- schools that have a selection of pupils from different ethnic groups
- schools that have a small number of minority ethnic pupils

From this total of 48 nominated schools the research team selected a final sample of 24 schools (3 primary, 2 secondary, 1 special, in each of the 4 education authorities). The study team, in negotiation with each authority link officer, ensured that selected secondary schools were ones with middle to high numbers of minority ethnic pupils within their authorities. Primaries were selected with one school with low minority ethnic pupil population, another with middling numbers and another with relative high numbers of minority ethnic pupils in each authority. The reason for this was to ensure that there was a large enough sample to enable a quantitative analysis of examination performance and also to avoid the risk of breaching confidentiality or identifying any individual pupil.

Given that social class was one of the key determining factors affecting attainment (Gillborn and Youdell, 2000; Sewell, 2000), schools selected also served a range of communities and postcodes.

All selected schools were written to and questionnaires were sent to each member of staff. Questionnaires were sent in bundles to each school with individual letters, questionnaires and a self-addressed stamped envelope for each teacher to use.

A total of 1055 questionnaires were sent out with 247 (23.4%) returned complete and a further 12 returned as nil returns.

Individual interviews were held with teachers while focus groups were used with young people. Interviews with parents were a mixture of focus groups and individual telephone interviews. Access to young people and parents was organised through contacts, community groups, agencies and individual workers.

A total of 81 teacher interviews (one by telephone), 96 pupil interviews and 38 parent interviews took place. Of the 24 schools, documentary evidence of how schools embedded race equality into their policies and practice was obtained from 23. Quantitative data was not easily obtainable although some data was obtained from two authorities. Further comment about methodology on how data was obtained for each of these areas is further developed within subsequent chapters.

1.3.2 Issues arising in relation to methodology

Access to schools

The research hit timescale issues from the outset. Although a generous timescale was offered for negotiating access into schools for interviews and gathering of documentary evidence, the whole process of accessing schools took three months longer than anticipated. This was in part due to the different methods used by the four authorities for selecting schools for the study team.

Two authorities negotiated with individual schools and then submitted names of schools that had agreed to take part. One authority wrote to the twelve schools selected in their area informing them that the authority had given permission for this study to proceed and that their school had been selected to take part. A fourth authority provided the study team with the names of twelve schools which had been contacted, but indicated that it was dependent on the individual school whether they wished to be involved. The problems arose from this authority when no secondary schools offered themselves for the study. The study team waited to receive names of all schools before commencing the study, however, after a three month delay proceeded without the names of the two secondary schools. Two secondary schools from the fourth authority eventually took part five months later than other schools.

Workload issue

The issue of school workload affected the timings of this study. All timescales changed dramatically as research tasks were unable to be progressed due to difficulty in accessing some schools for interviews and non-receipt of school documentation.

Most headteachers or senior management staff interviewed subsequently apologised for the delay in getting into their schools and expressed a hope that the study team had a reasonable response rate for the questionnaires. They explained that genuine workload and stress issues meant staff found it virtually impossible to commit time to additional activities other than core teaching and assessment requirements.

Had the original timescales been in place, issues of school holidays would not have mattered, but as responses were slow in terms of questionnaire returns and access to staff interviews the study had to wait until the next school session to commence school interviews. Further holidays in September and October caused additional gap periods when the study team could not contact teachers for interviews.

However, the majority of schools, once they agreed to move onto the interview stage, set up the interviews relatively quickly.

Access to young people

Gaining access to young people proved difficult and revealed barriers to access of a completely different order and complexity. In the four authorities, contact was made with key organisations in the voluntary sector or lead individuals working with minority ethnic groups to identify young people for focus groups. Three of the four organisations did not manage to organise a single focus group; the fourth organisation organised one focus group of five young people. Focus groups of young people were eventually organised through the use of individual minority ethnic community workers, small community organisations and education trade union contacts in each authority identified by the study team. These issues of accessing young people are explored further in the chapter on young people's experiences. However, some explanations offered by the organisations who had difficulty accessing young people included:

• minority ethnic young people in Authority X being over-researched
• young people expecting payment for involvement (this study did not offer any financial rewards for taking part unlike previous scoping studies which had offered financial incentives for taking part, thereby creating the expectation)
• lack of ongoing and regular structures for minority ethnic young people contributing to their invisibility on the youth scene
• language or faith classes for young minority ethnic people were not necessarily appropriate opportunities to recruit for a focus group

This study focused on exploring the experiences of minority ethnic pupils in schools rather than attempting to compare and contrast majority and minority ethnic pupil experiences. This was decided upon the basis that it is highly unlikely that a compare-and-contrast approach would be meaningful in any significant way. The experiences of minority ethnic pupils in Scottish schools will never be the same as majority ethnic pupils in that minority ethnic pupils are being educated in a system where the majority of the teaching force is white and from the ethnic majority grouping. This is also within a context where racism is still primarily directed at people whose skin colour is not white 1 and where faiths, cultures and languages which are not Scottish are seen as 'foreign'.

As the study did not intend to interview majority group pupils, it was not deemed appropriate to access minority ethnic pupils via formal routes such as schools. It was also felt given the context within Scotland, with fairly low numbers of minority ethnic pupils, potential interviewees would be highly visible and unlikely to want to be seen to be different and taking part within interviews or focus groups within formal settings. Bloor et al, 2001, recommend that the venue for focus groups should always be chosen with an eye to recruitment and minimising the numbers of refusals and non-arrivals. This study felt that minority ethnic young people were more likely to participate in informal settings outwith school premises.

While there are no such places as 'neutral' locations, venues chosen were ones which were easily accessible by public transport or ones the study team could guarantee less likelihood of encountering racism. These proved to be very important factors to allay parental concerns.

Representation

From the literature review conducted for the study, studies on school ethos and pupil experiences have largely under-represented visible minority ethnic pupil experiences and within that some ethnic groups are even less represented. Equally, research projects on minority ethnic issues have tended to concentrate on information relating to the larger minority ethnic groups. This study was therefore mindful to ensure a range of young people from a range of minority ethnic groups were interviewed, including young people from mixed-race backgrounds.

Focus on 'visible minority ethnic pupils'

The main focus of the study was on 'visible minority ethnic pupils', that is, those who are most easily and immediately distinguished as 'different' by physical traits such as skin colour and are likely to be particularly susceptible and vulnerable to racial discrimination and disadvantage. Recent Scottish Executive research shows visible minority ethnic communities were more than three times as likely to be victimised by groups of four or more perpetrators than white people ( www.onescotland.com, 2002).

The study does acknowledge that racism against other minority ethnic groups such as Jewish, Polish, Italian and Irish people exists and these communities may also face racial discrimination and disadvantage. In addition, other minoritised groups such as Gypsy/Travellers, refugees and asylum seekers also face similar exclusion. However, this study is unable to span the complete spectrum of minority ethnic groups and is working on the basis that if the needs and rights of those at the sharpest end are being met and upheld, then it is more likely that other minority groups will also benefit from such ethos and practices that emerge and are developed.

Multiple discrimination

Though the main focus of the study was on issues of race equality affecting 'visible minority ethnic pupils', we were mindful of the interrelatedness of social factors, including gender, disability, class and geography, and their impact on multiple identities and forms of multiple discrimination. In particular, the study was committed to ensuring that minority ethnic disabled pupils with 'special educational needs' were included. Very little is currently known about the representation and experiences of minority ethnic disabled youngsters, including those who are identified as having 'special educational needs' (SEN) in Scottish schools (Almeida Diniz and Usmani, 2001; Stalker, 2000). Our review of the literature led us to conclude that the relationship between race, ethnicity and SEN is complex and under-researched and merits a study in its own right. What we have conducted should be regarded as a small-scale enquiry and not an in-depth study of the effectiveness of SEN provision for minority ethnic disabled children. It is an attempt to provide broad themes that may form an agenda for future research into the educational experiences of minority ethnic disabled children in Scottish schools.

1.3.3 Limitations to methodology

The study had several strands and used a range of data collection methods, each one time-consuming in its own right. The study was also highly dependent on the availability of existing data for the quantitative part of the project and the goodwill of authorities, individual schools, individual young people and parents to generate the qualitative material for the study. Though overall the goodwill was there, translating this goodwill into actual time for interviews was harder.

Focus groups did not always run with the agreed numbers as participants failed to turn up which meant additional focus groups had to be arranged. Inclement weather and cancellation of trains prevented at least two focus groups already organised from going ahead.

The issue of 'payment' to young people for turning up to focus groups proved to be quite a significant factor. In two authorities, we were informed by local organisations that previous research teams with minority ethnic people had 'paid' for attendance and this had created an expectation among organisational workers and through them to young people and their peers in that area that this study would do the same. It is suspected that because this was not the case it may have acted as a barrier to participation. This study did not choose to 'pay' participants in cash but rather in kind (through generous hospitality in terms of food and travel expenses for attending focus groups as we wanted genuinely interested young people to take part rather than to attract those who were there 'just for the money'). However, towards the end of the study, a small attendance fee was paid to some focus groups in some areas and this had the predictable desired effect of ensuring good attendances in focus groups.

1.4 Ethical considerations

Ethnic classifications

In this study, the ethnic categories used were finalised after much discussion about the appropriateness of the Census categorisations and consideration of comments that emerge from the Race Equality Advisory Forum (REAF) that any classification framework should not entrench racial hierarchies and encourage ethnic divisions. This study is aware of the dissatisfaction that currently exists with the Census classifications. This study acknowledges the anxiety of some minority ethnic communities in Scotland, particularly sections of the African communities, that the confused manner in which ethnicity, nationality and colour are used, and particularly the boxing of Africans as a colour code instead of being offered the right to identify themselves on the basis of their different ethnic, national and cultural backgrounds 'unlike Asians' is divisive. The study acknowledges there is at present no 'ideal' template for ethnic classifications.

Bearing in mind the concerns expressed within the REAF report, the study chose the following categorisations for the postal questionnaires.

Anonymity and confidentiality

This study covered a high profile issue - 'race' - in interviews with respondents (pupils) who are potentially vulnerable and wary about involvement in this kind of research. This study wanted to ensure that individuals and schools taking part would feel comfortable to speak openly and share experiences without the worry of being identified.

It was therefore important that all our respondents were assured that none of their comments would be attributed to them as individuals. To protect confidentiality, as far as possible, we do not include a list of schools or individual respondents who took part. When using quotes, we use the minimum of identification to prevent individual schools from being identified. A lot of care has been taken to ensure anonymity of individual respondents and schools in writing this report. This has resulted in the loss of use of some data that would have been informative, but revealing, of some schools or authorities.

Permission and safety

As already mentioned, we ensured a safe environment for young people and parent interviews. Permission was sought from all parents/carers of young people interviewed and the study team spoke to any parent/carer who wanted further information and reassurance about the validity of the study. Additionally, all interviews with young people were done with interviewers who had been checked and cleared by the Scottish Criminal Records Office (SCRO) (Disclosure Scotland) in line with national guidelines on working with children, or had present in the room an adult with SCRO clearance.

Dealing with 'distress' or 'exposures'

There were one or two instances where the issue evoked distressing or stressful accounts by young people of racism and its consequences. At least one of these accounts gave cause for concern in terms of legality and professional competence. On that occasion, a senior member of the research team, after seeking permission from the young person discussed the account with the young person's parent. This was in part to offer support but also to ensure correct steps were taken to address the issues shared with the research team. On that occasion, the parent assured the team that the school, authority and police were already dealing with the case.

The control the researcher holds of information divulged in interviews can be immense. The study team agreed from the outset that given the sensitive nature of this subject of inquiry, it was entirely possible that the team would uncover poor practice and stark examples of racism. The team recognised it had an obligation to take disclosed matters further if it involved child protection issues.

Terminology

The study recognised that a range of terms are used to describe members of minority ethnic communities, for example, 'black', 'black and minority ethnic', 'ethnic minorities' and 'minority ethnic'.

This study has retained terms used by respondents, school and authority documents or in published reports. However, this study uses the term 'minority ethnic' and except where it is stated otherwise, the term minority ethnic refers to the 'visible minority ethnic' communities in Scotland as described above in the section on 'Focus on visible minorities'.

Commitment to anti-racism

The study team is strongly committed to an anti-racist approach in Scottish education, including all aspects of social and educational research. In drawing up the research design we were explicit in our commitment to race equality perspectives in our conceptual approach and methodology. Part of this included an acknowledgement of the social and political discourse on race equality in Scottish research as well as taking account of the advice laid out in the Ethical Code of Practice produced by the Scottish Association of Black Researchers ( see Appendix 1).

The study tried to optimise the mutual understanding of interviewer and respondents through the use of interpreters, where requested, or other mediums of the participants' choice. The entire study accepted as read that institutional, society, cultural and personal racism existed. The study did not set out to prove or disprove the existence of racism. The study aimed to find out about the experiences of minority ethnic young people within an educational framework that has largely marginalised race issues and, indirectly, the issue of racism.

1 Scottish Executive statistics show that non-white people were more than three times as likely to be victimised by groups of four or more perpetrators than white people. See www.onescotland.com - Racism today.