In approaching the reading and writing for this blog post, and during the supporting workshop relating to this subject matter, I felt enormously uncomfortable. Having read a little into race, inequality, white fragility etc, and being aware of my ‘white privilege’. I find it uncomfortable to sit in this space knowing that our world and our educational space is so unequal. In feeling this, I know that I need to do more inner work and challenge myself to learn more, so I can become more active in disrupting this.
Three of the supporting reading and video’s spoke to me are listed below in the bibliography (reference 1, 2 and 3) although all of the resources shared emoted feelings of sadness, discomfort and sometimes shock.
What has been most striking is how obvious it is that our systems are set up to dis-privilege people from ethnic-minority groups, with the implementation of policy to determine that children from these ‘bilingual’ groups, labelled a ‘difficult intake’ (Bradbury: 2020) are ‘inevitably low-attaining’. It was even more shocking to read that,’ if teachers in inner city schools score their ‘difficult intake’ above the national average, they are encouraged to alter results (Bradbury 2013). This signifies to me that by labelling children at the age of 5 to be expected to achieve ‘lower than national average’ grades, because of their cultural, ethnic and language backgrounds, we are setting them up to ‘fail’ or to achieve significantly less than white – British peers.
This feeling was further emphasised to me when I watched the video regarding the school children. The children had to step forward to backwards to a start position of a running race in answering questions relating to incidences in which they have experienced personal and family prejudices due to their heritage. This visually indicated the implicit bias within our societal systems. Thinking about one of the seven core principles higher education (A.Chickering and Z.Gamson; 1987), ‘Communicate high expectations’. This policy and evaluation of ethnic minority children seems to completely counter this, actively expecting them to achieve ‘below average’ results . These thoughts are further confirmed in reference 1, in which PHD students of different ethnic backgrounds and intersectional neurodiversity’s discuss their view points and lived experiences of being a student along with perceptions of career progression in academia.
[Image showing school children at the start point of their race after being questioned relating to lived experiences of setbacks caused by inequality and racism.]
As an academic, with white privilege, I believe it is important for me to be aware of this disparity between groups and how early it begins. To ensure that I make all my resources available for use beyond the classroom and that any resources I produce are made mindfully to support the intake of information of all students, regardless of colour, language, disabilities, gender etc. However, the most important thing of all is that I believe in all my students (chickering and Gamson 1987), give them equal opportunity to have voice in the room (Hooks: 1993) [add more reflection to this]
Reference 1: Garrett, R. (2024). Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp.1–15. doi:10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886.
Reference 2: Bradbury, A. (2019). A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: the case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp.1–20. doi:10.1080/13613324.2019.1599338.
Reference 3: The school that tried to end racism: www.youtube.com. (n.d.). – YouTube. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i3wj7pjujg [Accessed 16 July 2026].
Reference 4: Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1991). Appendix A: Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1991(47), pp.63–69. doi:10.1002/tl.37219914708.
Reference 5: Hooks, B. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. [online] Routledge & CRC Press. Available at: https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-to-Transgress-Education-as-the-Practice-of-Freedom/hooks/p/book/9780415908085 [Accessed 16 July 2026].
Reference 6: Drew, C. and PhD (2022). 19 Everyday Examples of White Privilege (2022). [online] helpfulprofessor.com. Available at: https://helpfulprofessor.com/white-privilege-examples/ [Accessed 16 July 2026].