There is little research which has explored how students on Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses understand and conceptualise discourses of 'race', diversity and inclusion. This article will focus on student understandings of racialised identities; it will explore the discourses by which students understand what it means to be White and what it means to be Black, within the context of ITT. The article will examine the different facets and themes of identity within the context of belonging and exclusion which exist within higher education in the cultural and social contexts of English universities. The findings indicate that students' understandings of 'race', diversity and inclusion on ITT courses are complex and multifaceted. The article argues that greater training is needed in relation to the practical assistance that student teachers require in terms of increasing their understanding of diversity and dealing with racism in the classroom.
While, there is a history of academic under-achievement among African-Caribbeans in the United Kingdom, some African-Caribbeans progress successfully through under-graduate and on to postgraduate studies. This research investigates the factors contributing to such academic success.Fourteen African-Caribbean professionals, male and female, aged between 23 and 40 years old, who had undertaken most of their compulsory education in United Kingdom schools, were interviewed. The findings suggest two possible models of success: a Home-School Model, which describes a continuous positive interaction between the home and school where both foster academic excellence and success and a Home-Community Model which suggests that the family and community together create a `sense of belonging' and acceptance and foster achievement and success, which compensate for low expectations and resources in the school. This suggests that academic success for a greater proportion of African-Caribbean children will become a reality when schools, the home and the community work together to develop and nurture academic achievement within a climate of excellence and high expectations.
A national emphasis in Britain on community cohesion and citizenship has highlighted the need to explore understandings of difference within and between communities, particularly in school contexts. This paper reports on the first phase of a larger project exploring pupils' understandings and experiences of identity and diversity within secondary schools. Questionnaires were collected from 51 Year 8 pupils in two urban and ethnically diverse secondary schools in England. The findings suggest that pupils have a complex range of views about identity, diversity and Britishness.
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