‘I love a curry’: student-teacher discourse around ‘race’ and ethnicity at a UK university

Abstract

This paper presents aspects of a small-scale study that considered student teachers' language and discourse around race and ethnicity at a university in the northwest of England. The first part of the paper critiques current education-related policy, context and practice to situate the research and then draws upon aspects of critical race theory and whiteness theory as frames of reference. In the research, 250 student-teachers completed questionnaires that invited responses to statements about race and ethnicity and this was followed by two semistructured group interviews. A discourse analysis approach was taken to analyse the language used in the questionnaire responses and, in particular, the group interviews. Recurrent discursive configurations were characterised by language that signified othering, correct knowledge, personalisation and discomfort. Hesitations and silences during group discussions perhaps intimated thinking time and also maybe a reluctance to talk about aspects of race and ethnicity, and what was not said remains significant. It is suggested that a reconstruction of a teacher/educator subjectivity that fosters self-reflection on values and racial positioning, is needed in teacher education, alongside critical examination of the silences and discomfort surrounding race and ethnicity.

Exploring Inclusion and Diversity Within Undergraduate Teacher Training Programmes in England

“…Cardona Molto et al, (8) broadly differentiated the responses of the university students from Spain, England and the United States into relativist and ethnocentric views and stated that students with a relativist point of view have a more positive attitude towards diversity and differences than ethnocentric students. These differences and diversity as revealed by Dunne et al, (9) have induced a sense of discomfort among trainee teachers. They hesitate in revealing their feelings about the situation as talking about differences on the basis of race and ethnicity will offend others.…”

“…All of the studies included for literature synthesis revealed that issues related with diversity are high on policy priority, and measures in attitude change have become tool for change [6,[8][9][10]. As a way of working with diversity, teacher educators from Norway suggested to actively draw attention on the prior experiences and background of the students, to start working on diversity within the classroom of ATs [6].…”

“…Furthermore, teacher educators suggested classroom arrangements at schools by focusing on language, involving mother tongue teachers for EAL students [6]. Teacher educators and education programme need to emphasise the teaching of tolerance and acceptance for ATs including raising acceptance level for multiculturalism Cardona Molto et al, (8) and Dunne et al, (9) further argued that, the education programme needs to focus on ethnic minority children and teach the teacher trainees along with SEN and EAL to broaden their horizon of acceptability. The societies have become more diverse and the counter effort from education programme is to induce qualities to include understanding, tolerance, respect, empathy, openness in future teachers [6].…”

Opening the “Can of Worms”: Preparing Teachers to Address Issues Relating to “Race”

“…Schools are no longer legally required to report and monitor racist incidents as they were following the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, but instead, have a duty to promote "fundamental British values" (Department for Education, 2014b) and, under the Prevent duty (Department for Education, 2015), to monitor and report any pupils deemed to be at risk of radicalization. Dunne et al (2018) argue that this shift contributes to a silencing of more critical discussion relating to race equality, fuelled by a misplaced notion that "race has been 'dealt with' in a post-racial era" (p. 163). Other critiques of the focus on fundamental British values (e.g., Farrell, 2016;Smith, 2016) have concluded that this not only serves to silence or marginalize racism as a concern, but could be interpreted as a more dangerous apparatus through which inequality and injustice remain beyond scrutiny, and the concept of a nationalistic cultural homogeneity is promoted.…”

“…It should be pointed out that the duty to promote fundamental British values was not statutory at the time when the data upon which this paper draws was collected. It is however, important to acknowledge such change as it serves as evidence that the political context within which ITE is delivered has become more complex, and the critical spaces within educational discourse and policy have subsequently become even more eroded (Dunne et al, 2018;Warmington et al, 2018).…”