Student Blog Post: ‘Warning over segregation in England’s schools’

Feed URL: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/criticalthinking/2017/04/21/student-blog-post-warning-over-segregation-in-englands-schools/feed/?withoutcomments=1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39344973

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/dec/26/rise-in-primary-school-pupils-suspended-for-racist-abuse

This article states that schools in England are segregated based on their ethnic backgrounds and they support this statement through the use of official statistics. The purpose of this article is for the reader to believe what the researcher has found, however it is evident that this article raises some issues. Firstly, segregation is not defined in this headline therefore the headline does not specify that this article is showing how schools separate students from others based on race and economic differences. The method used for this research was official statistics based on The Department for Education survey. Although, it states that these statistics are based on data collected between the years 2011-2016, it does not explain the trends and patterns over the 5 year period of research. The sample size for this research was also too large as it was a sample of 20,000 state schools therefore it is difficult to make a generalisation about segregations in schools. It also does not specify which ethnic group in particular suffers from segregation in schools. This article assumes that if a school provides free school meals to a child who is of an ethnic minority group, it does not necessarily mean that there is segregation in that school.  Moreover, it states that when Jon Yates visited the schools, he found that when ‘people from different backgrounds mix, it leads to more trusting and cohesive communities and opens up more opportunities for social mobility’. However this ignores the discrimination and racism within schools. This can be further supported by data from the Department for Education who suggests that 430 children were excluded from primary schools due to racist behaviour (The Guardian). Furthermore, this article does not acknowledge that a school reflects the community in which it is based meaning that the children in wealthy areas will be attending different schools from those in poorer areas. Thus, they are segregated in such a way however this claim that there will be more ‘cohesive communities’ lacks validity because when different social backgrounds mix it can lead to bigger consequences. As a result, this article is demonstrating the inequalities within schools and how this can be resolved but do not specifically address this in the headline.

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