Not Mixed, All: enhancing the agency of mixed-race children

Rachel C. Boyle

Head of Interdisciplinary Studies

Carnegie School of Education,

Leeds Beckett University

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@RachelCBoyle1

Children’s Agency

• The capacity to act
• Individuals’ belief in their ability
• Real opportunities to exercise their agency
• When opportunities are genuinely offered and consciously recognised by learners they become affordances

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• ‘socially situated capacity to act’.

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(Manyukhina & Wyse, 2021)

Census, 2011

• 13% of the population identified as being from a Black or minority ethnic background (Census, 2011)
• The largest ethnic group to contribute to this figure was the Black African Caribbean community (3%)
• Followed by the Asian/ Asian British: Indian community (2.3%).
• However, the next group to contribute to the overall 13% was the ‘mixed/ multiple ethnic’ community (2%).

Mixed Race

• Definition - where parents do not come from the same ethnic group.
• School census: 5.5% of our school population are mixed race (DfE, 2017)
• 2003-2017 community of mixed race children grew 130%. (DfE, 2017)
• Fastest growing community in the country (Kassem, 2010)
• By 2070 largest community next to those who identify as White (Demie and Hau, 2016)
• ‘Mixed race’ one homogenous group?

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Sense of Self

• Mainstream media
• Sexist and racist images of both white working-class women and black men as promiscuous (Smith & Lander, 2012)
• Black men as feckless ‘babyfathers’
• Terminology – ‘half caste,’ ‘quarter caste,’ ‘coloured,’ ‘mixed breed.’
• Deficit, ‘not complete’

Labels, Identity, and a Sense of Self

• Becker’s (1973) Labelling Theory identifies that the interaction between definition by others (external) and self-definition (internal) is described as a process of internalisation.
• Jenkins (1996) explores labelling and its consequences. He identifies that the power of the labeller has an impact on the individual’s experience.

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For example, an individual may define themselves somewhat differently to social categorisers but in lieu of a more accurate definition, may still be prepared to use the externally defined social categorisation. There is then space between their sense of self and the category in which they are placed.

• If the position of mixed ethnicity children is considered within the definition of agency:

‘socially situated capacity to act’

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… one can immediately begin to identify challenges in their socially situated position.

Achievement data

• Data from the DfE (2017) shows that mixed ethnicity children overall have been achieving above the national average.
• Homogenisation of mixed ethnicity learners
• Pupils who identified as mixed White and Black Caribbean only 48% achieved 5+ A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths compared to the national average of 58% (DfE, 2017)
• Mixed White and Caribbean boys are amongst the lowest performing group in the country (Bhopal and Rhamie, 2014)
• Between the ages of 4-14 decline in achievement (Lewis and Demie, 2018)

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Why?

• limited teacher awareness and understanding
• categorised as simply Black
• teachers’ perceptions play a transformative role in the experiences of pupils from non-White backgrounds (Dunne et al 2018; Farrell 2016)
• ‘colourblindness’ (Bhopal and Rhamie, 2014; Bonilla Silva, 2002; Lander 2011; Smith and Lander, 2012;)
• ‘I only see children, I do not see race’ (Bhopal and Rhamie, 2014)

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Belonging - Teachers

• 85.7% of all teachers White British (DfE, 2019)
• 92.7% of headteachers White British compared to 0.9% Mixed Race (DfE, 2019)
• Minority ethnic pupils do not see themselves represented in their teachers
• Inaccurate perceptions of home life (Lewis, 2016)
• Invisibility of identity

Belonging - Curriculum

• A barrier to raising mixed race pupils’ achievement is the failure of the National Curriculum to adequately reflect the needs of a diverse, multi-ethnic society (Demie and Mclean, 2017; Dunne et al 2018).
• In 2010 the Government-driven Ofsted framework removed the requirement to inspect schools for race equality
• Race and ethnicity is not an area that is compulsory or formally taught to student teachers in England (Sian, 2015)

Belonging - Mixed race teachers

• 1.2% teachers are Mixed- Race (DfE, 2019)
• Belonging
• Experiences as children
• Career prospects/ trajectory

Next steps…

• Recruitment and retention of Black and mixed ethnicity teachers.
• Revision of ITE and statutory requirements of teacher training.
• Use of Fundamental British Values as an opportunity to immerse schools in anti-racism. ‘To be British is to be diverse’ (Boyle, 2021).
• Belonging – schools and universities (Dunne et al, 2018)
• Become comfortable with being uncomfortable

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Final thoughts…

We are not half, we are both and in this, there is strength.

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We are not mixed we are all and in this there is understanding.

Reference List

• Becker, H. S. (1973) Outsiders : studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: Free Press
• Bhopal, K., and Rhamie, J. (2014). “Initial teacher training: understanding ‘race, diversity and inclusion.” Race Ethnicity and Education 17 (3)
• Bonilla-Silva, E (2002) The Linguistics of Color Blind Racism: How to Talk Nasty about Blacks without Sounding “Racist”. Critical Sociology, Volume 28, issue 1-2
• Boyle, R. C. (2021) ‘A response to Taylor’, Psychology of Education Review, 45(2)
• Chamion, C. Edwards R. Puthussery, S. (2008). Parenting ‘mixed’ children: negotiating difference and belonging in mixed race, ethnicity and faith families. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. London.
• Demie, F. Hau, A. (2017). Mixed Race Pupils’ Educational Achievement in England: An Empirical Analysis. Schools' Research and Statistics Education and Learning
• DfE (Department for Education). (2017). School Census 2016/17. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-census2016-to-2017-guidefor-schools-and-las
• DfE (Department for Education), (2019) Initial Teacher Training (ITT) allocations and the Teacher Supply Model (TSM).
• Dunne, L. Kay, V. Boyle, R. Obadan, F. Lander, V (2018) ‘I love a curry’: student-teacher discourse around ‘race’ and ethnicity at a UK university, Journal of Education for Teaching, 44:2Jenkins, R. (1996). Social Identity. London and New York: Routledge
• Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2017). Black Mixed-race Male Experiences of the UK Secondary School Curriculum. The Journal of Negro Education , Vol. 86, No. 4, Special Focus: Ethnic Differences, Experiences, and Connections for All Students in Education
• Lander, V. (2011). “‘Race', culture and all that: An exploration of the perspectives of White secondary student teachers about race equality issues in their initial teacher education (ITE).” Race, Ethnicity and Education 14 (3)
• Lewis, K (2016). Helping mixed heritage children develop ‘character and resilience’ in school. Improving Schools Vol. 19(3
• Lewis, K. And Demie, F. (2018) The School Experiences of Mixed Race White and Black Caribbean children in England. Department of Educational Studies, Goldsmiths (University of London) and School of Education, University of Durham
• Manyukhina, Y., & Wyse, D. (2019). Learner agency and the curriculum: A critical realist perspective. Curriculum Journal, 30(3)
• Sian, K.P. (2015). “Spies, surveillance and stakeouts: monitoring Muslim moves in British state schools.” Race Ethnicity and Education 18 (2)
• Smith, H. and Lander, V. (2012) Collision or Collusion: effects of teacher ethnicity in the teaching of whiteness. Race Ethnicity and Education, 15 (3).