Racial formation and education: A critical analysis of the Sewell report

Abstract

The article provides an analysis and critique of the education component of the 2021 Sewell Report on Race and Ethnic Disparities. It commences by providing a critical summary of the report focusing on its spurious claims to objectivity, the erasure of racism and the inadequacy of its recommendations. The second part of the article focuses on developing a contextualised analysis of the report. Omi and Winant’s ideas about racial formation are used to provide a lens through which to interpret the Sewell report as part of a wider hegemonic project of the right to redefine what it means to be British in the context of a deepening organic crises of capitalism. The article outlines the nature of the crisis. It locates the report within a consideration of three ‘racial projects’ that have shaped education policy, namely, the nationalist, multicultural and antiracist projects. Through advocating a ‘colourblind’ approach to education policy and the selective appropriation of multicultural discourse, it will be argued that the report needs to be understood as part of a wider effort to reconfigure the nationalist project in response to crisis. It is suggested, however, that despite its many flaws, the Sewell report poses challenges for those who have traditionally been aligned to multiculturalism and antiracism in education. The article concludes by setting out a vision for a new progressive project aimed at advancing racial and cultural justice that it is suggested, can begin to address these challenges.

Racism and the future of antiracism in education: A critical analysis of the Sewell Report

“…Similar evidence arises from research into the attainment of learners of White/Black Caribbean background (i.e. that mixed-race boys raised by single White mothers also often had a very stable sense of their identities, despite the stereotype that mixed-race children suffer from identity confusion [Tikly et al, 2004]). It is in the face of this more nuanced picture that socially conservative views that stigmatise single-parent families and the parenting skills of working class mothers (both Black and White) play an ideological role in assuming causality when causality cannot be assumed.…”

“…Demie, 2021;Tikly et al, 2006). Previous studies of Black Caribbean (Tikly et al, 2006) and White/Black Caribbean achievement (Haynes et al, 2006;Tikly et al, 2004) have accumulated considerable qualitative evidence of the biased way in which some White teachers applied behaviour management policies. In these studies, many Black parents-whilst acknowledging the importance of good behaviour management policies-also complained that their children were unfairly targeted by teachers.…”

“…Young, 2013; Young & Muller, 2013) ideas about giving disadvantaged learners access to the ‘objective’, ‘powerful knowledge’ contained in the academic disciplines that enable learners to go beyond individual experiences. As has been argued elsewhere, however, so‐called powerful knowledge is also Eurocentric in its content and assumptions and cannot, therefore, be understood as being ‘objective’ in the sense implied by the report (Rudolph et al, 2018; Tikly, 2022). The disciplines emerged in a particular historical, social and cultural context and have their own historicity.…”

“…Elsewhere (Tikly, 2022) it has been argued that the Sewell Report needs to be considered against the ‘organic crisis’ (Gramsci, 1992: 276) of British capitalism demonstrated in economic terms by continued attempts to deal with the aftermath of the 2008 economic crash through policies of austerity exacerbated by the Covid‐19 pandemic and overlain by the existential threat posed by climate change. It is also characterised in ideological terms by an attempt to redefine the ‘national popular’ (i.e.…”

“…Unsurprisingly given what has been discussed so far, the report completely ignores the vast amount of evidence built up over many years as to how schools can effectively tackle racism as integral to efforts to close the attainment gap. Research has consistently pointed towards the value of a whole-school approach which recognises the ubiquitous, multi-dimensional nature of how racism operates in complex educational organisations (Bent et al, 2012;Bhattacharyya et al, 2003;Demie, 2021;Demie & McLean, 2017;Tikly et al, 2004;2006). Summarising the evidence presented in this literature, at the heart of such an approach lies a leadership that acknowledges racism, takes seriously issues of racial and cultural justice, and has zero tolerance for the underachievement of all groups of learners; embedding a concern with tackling racism into school policies rather than adopting a colourblind approach; effectively monitoring and acting on incidences of racialised bullying; creating a safe learning environment in which learners can critically engage with issues of race and ethnicity; the effective use of data to track the attainment of different groups of learners across the curriculum, to identify successful practice and to challenge stereotypes of groups at risk of underachieving; a curriculum that reflects the diversity of British society but also equips learners with the information and skills required to form an accurate view of Britain's colonial past; strategies to engage Black and minority ethnic parents who either are ignorant of the English education system because they are newly arrived or who may themselves have had negative experiences of the education system so that they can support their children's learning; ensuring that Black and minority ethnic parents are represented on governing boards of schools and that their voices are heard in institutional governance; putting in place measures to diversify the workforce; investing in initial and continuing teacher education that engages with conscious and unconscious bias but also with the nature of racism, its effects on learner outcomes and wellbeing, and strategies for addressing it [also see Maylor (2014) for a discussion of the role of teacher education in antiracism].…”