Why are Black Caribbean girls underachieving? When I was mentoring in secondary schools there were plentiful government initiatives focused on raising attainment for Black Caribbean boys in light of the Macpherson Report (1999). It wasn’t until much later in my teaching career that I realised that Black Caribbean girls are invisible. Evidently, government data by gender and ethnicity reveals a 45.2 per cent attainment gap between the percentage of Black Caribbean girls achieving grade 5 or above in English and Mathematics GCSE, compared with the highest achievers – Chinese girls (GOV.UK, 2022).

The impetus for my doctoral study was a cohort of Black girls who I was asked to mentor in a secondary school in the West Midlands in 2018. The headteacher claimed the girls were ‘raising their heads’. Consequently, the school’s focus on the girls’ intersectional disadvantages of gender, race and class was inadvertently forfeiting their academic attainment.

My study explored the lived experiences of Black Caribbean girls in secondary schools in England and the strategies they employ to navigate their school experience. In 2021, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 16 Black Caribbean girls aged 13–16 years, who attended schools in the West Midlands, Greater London, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. Participants varied in academic ability and attended various school types, including single sex, grammar, academies and faith schools. Findings from the participants’ narratives revealed experiences of institutional racism, teacher stereotyping, microaggressions, a national curriculum that fails to acknowledge their identity, harsher punishments than their White peers, sexual harassment and misogyny. I have highlighted some quotes below.

‘The participants’ narratives revealed experiences of institutional racism, teacher stereotyping, microaggressions, a national curriculum that fails to acknowledge Black Caribbean girls’ identity, harsher punishments than their White peers, sexual harassment and misogyny.’

‘[If a Black girl] has an issue with someone and she’s getting a bit riled up about it, [teachers stereotype her as] the aggressive, angry Black girl, but if [a White girl] gets into that same scenario, [teachers treat her as if] she’s just having a bad day and she needs a moment.’ (Student in Year 11)

‘In History in years 7 and 8, we were learning … about Black people but it was mainly like slavery.’ (Student in Year 10)

‘If I have a hairband in my hair and a White girl has a hairband in her hair, why am I the only one getting picked up? You kind of think, well why me? and it does kind of lead back to that race question [Is it because I’m Black?], so it’s frustrating having to deal with that constantly, but I think it’s become very normalised.’ (Student in Year 11)

Despite the nuances of the participants’ age, ability, school type or region, the lived experiences were very similar.

Black Caribbean girls achieve their academic goals by employing strategies of resistance and resilience. This includes drawing inspiration from role models who emulate the characteristics of a strong Black woman (Ayee et al., 2019). A year 10 participant describes what or who motivates her to achieve her academic goals:

‘My mum, because she’s really strong like she does everything by herself and I want to be like that. I want to be able to just get it done’.

This ‘emotional resilience’ (Walker-Barnes, 2015) is interpreted by the participants, as the necessary approach they need to take in order to achieve.

Schools need to recognise that these oppressive lived experiences can result in burnout for Black Caribbean girls, or adversely affect their emotional wellbeing and academic motivation, resulting in underachievement. Furthermore, focusing on closing the attainment gaps with their female counterparts is far more beneficial to improving their lived experience.

I utilised the opportunity from my post-doctoral fellowship to promote awareness of my research findings. This resulted in piloting the Leading Black Girls to Lead (LBGL) programme in an Academy Trust, consisting of four secondary schools in Birmingham, UK. LBGL aims to improve the lived experiences of Black Caribbean girls through teacher training and leadership skills development for girls. Impact from the LBGL programme is evident in teachers’ reflections. As a Head of Science stated, her awareness of the issues affecting Black Caribbean girls in school has transformed her teaching practice.

References

Ayee, G. Y. A., Johnson Carew, J. D., Means, T. N., Reyes-Barriéntez, A. M., & Sediqe, N. A. (2019). White House, black mother: Michelle Obama and the politics of motherhood as First Lady. Politics & Gender, 15(03), 460–483. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1743923x1900031x

GOV.UK. (2022). GCSE English and Maths results. https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/11-to-16-years-old/a-to-c-in-english-and-maths-gcse-attainment-for-children-aged-14-to-16-key-stage-4/latest

Macpherson, W. (1999). The Stephen Lawrence inquiry. Home Office. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-stephen-lawrence-inquiry

Walker-Barnes, C. (2015). The burden of the strong black woman. Journal of Pastoral Theology, 19(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1179/jpt.2009.19.1.002