This blog post provides a brief consideration of ‘Black-led protests’ in comparison to ‘white-led riots’, and their possible powers of influence for reforming educational policy.

Anti-racism protests and Conservative government responses

The Black Lives Matter anti-racism public protests across the UK in 2020 showed an amazing strength and solidarity of people from a wide range of ethnic groups across the UK, demanding social justice and, in particular, amplifying awareness and support for a decolonised national history curriculum (Moncrieffe, 2023). Multiple public petitions were written and delivered to the UK parliament demanding government discussion in the hope of a national curriculum review and change. One of the petitions, titled ‘Teach Britain’s colonial past as part of the UK’s compulsory curriculum’, was supported by 268,722 signatories (UK Government and Parliament Petitions, 2020, p. 4).

In November 2020, the House of Commons Petitions Committee and the Women and Equalities Committee met with a range of leading educationalists and academics in teacher education for discussion with the former Conservative minister for schools, Nick Gibb. Despite this meeting offering a broad and in-depth range of educational research evidence, the government position remained intransigently fixed. Nothing changed (Moncrieffe, 2023).

Racist rioting and interest-divergence

In July 2024, multiple far-right, anti-immigration riots erupted across the UK. The riots included ugly racist attacks, arson and looting. This thuggery is born from deep ethnic nationalist racist grievances grown through fears and lies about multiculturalism in England. Non-white people of minority-ethnic groups are targeted as the cause of the nation’s problems. The Conversative politician and party leadership candidate Mel Stride told the Telegraph that the ‘riots show white working-class boys feel distanced from society’. This clumsy essentialised view of all ‘white working-class boys’ ignores the wide range of white people involved, from those in their late 60s to young children.

The notion of white working-class boys’ educational disenfranchisement is argued by Gillborn (2013) and Adjogatse and Miedema (2022) as a discourse of diversion from the true inequities and inequalities faced by non-white minority ethnic groups, for example through racist bullying and discrimination at school, and victimisation through higher rates of school exclusion. Political spin in the discourse used by Mel Stride (see above) reflects as an interest-divergence (Gillborn, 2013) where politicians and the media present white interests first and above any other ethnic groups as being the true racial victims in UK society and in their education.

The Black Lives Matter movement of 2020 was a public protest.

The nativist ‘racist’ riots of 2024 were acts of ugly violence and thuggery.

How might these be addressed by the Labour government in their future educational policies?

Labour government review of the national curriculum: what might be next?

Almost immediately after their general election victory in July, and just weeks before the ‘racist’ riots in England, the Labour government commissioned a review of the national curriculum. One of the stated aims of the review is to create a ‘curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring all children and young people are represented’.

The review’s panel should not ignore the public call for mandatory teaching and learning of anti-racism in schools following the Black Lives Matter protests. This demand has returned in the wake of the ‘racist’ riots in England. Anti-racist education must be recommended to the government as statutory teaching and learning for all schools and pupils. To support their work, the review’s panel should seek to engage with experts in educational research, policy and practice from across the four UK nations.

There has been silence on anti-racist education from the Labour government. Instead, we have been given their colourblind discourse in focusing on championing ‘working-class pupils’. I perceive the empowerment of ‘white working-class boys’ will be of high interest to those leading the review in their reporting back to the Labour government.

I recognise that the review of the national curriculum may not have the scope to cover fully and find solutions to all the issues in the diversities of our society. However, I am hoping that the recommendations provided by the review insist on a new starting point for important conversations in schools. Children and young people with open minds must take the lead in defining what they see as relevant civic national values today and for the future and in creating a solid sense of connection and belonging for all in our society.

This blog post relates to the themes of Marlon Moncrieffe’s BERA presidential address, delivered at the BERA Conference 2024 and WERA Focal Meeting on 9 September 2024.

References

Adjogatse, K., & Miedema, E. (2022). What to do with ‘white working-class’ underachievement? Framing ‘white working-class’ underachievement in post-Brexit Referendum   England. Whiteness and Education, 7(2), 123–142.

Gillborn, D. (2013). Interest-divergence and the colour of cutbacks: Race, recession and the undeclared war on Black children. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(4), 477–491. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2013.822616

Moncrieffe, M. L. (2023). Examining challenges and possibilities in the objective of a decolonized education. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Education.

UK Government and Parliament Petitions. (2020). Teach Britain’s colonial past as part of the UK’s compulsory curriculum. UK Government and Parliament. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/324092