Overview of the research
Racial inequality is embedded in the UK’s education system with incidents of racist bullying being widespread across schools. However, young people’s experiences of racism in the UK is most commonly reported in research with pupils at secondary school and above (12 years +). The impact of racism on younger children’s mental health and wellbeing has been consistently overlooked in research in the UK. The aim of this research was to begin to understand the experiences and impacts of racism on children aged 10 – 11, and provide recommendations on how schools might better support children and teachers.
c.80 children from three Bristol schools took part in arts-based activities and focus groups to explore the their experiences of racism. Teachers were also interviewed.
The research has highlighted that young children are deeply affected by institutional racism as depicted by the media through coverage of national and international incidents, as well as personal experiences of Police’s Stop and Search programme. Children reported feeling a host of emotions including being scared, frightened, shamed, powerless and frustrated. Many young people were angry at what they had seen and heard, felt unsafe and sad.
Research Aims:
Based on the current political and social context, in addition to the lack of research committed to the exploration of young people’s experiences of racism and the impact this has on mental health, this research aims to:
- Begin to explore what 10- 11 year old’s experiences of racism (structurally and interpersonally) are and how these impact mental health and wellbeing
- Through research-informed practice, provide recommendations for appropriate pedagogies to support education about racism and its impact on young people
Why use Art?
The project used creative engagement as it offered children the chance to reflect on their own lived experiences, and allowed the research team some insight into their perceptions and meaning-making. Creative processes can enable people to express themselves in ‘emotionally accurate’ ways (Pelias 2004), which was invaluable in helping distinguish nuances and complexities in the young people’s situations.
What did we find out?
Key research findings.
Findings from the research identify three substantial themes relating to children’s lived experience of racism and its impact on their mental health and wellbeing. These relate to:
- The multiple contexts of children’s racist experiences
- How children explain and make sense of racist experiences
- How children respond to racist experiences
- The multiple contexts of children’s racist experiences
For the young people, racism permeated many areas of their lives, through the media, their home, school and public spaces. This has a significant impact on their wellbeing.
- How children explain and make sense of racist experiences
Children identified a number of themes in an attempt to explain their experiences of racism. These related to differences in skin colour, hair, accent and language.
- How Children respond to Racist Experiences:
Children in the study communicated negative feelings associated with racism and a majority of those in the focus groups who had experienced racism not only talked about their feelings, but also the impact of these on their wellbeing and mental health. The children’s body maps, emotional responses to racism were collected and are presented below as a word cloud, with words most frequently recorded being larger.
Children commented that, in many cases, they do not feel that a schools’ response to an act of racism was adequate. There appears to be a mismatch between what the teachers think they are doing to address the issue and how this is perceived by the children.
Teachers are not necessarily addressing the impact on the child who is receiving the racist comment. The teachers diminish the significance of the perceived racism, by framing the perpetrator as being ‘only’ a child without the knowledge or awareness required to act differently:
Children discussed being uncertain whether what they had experienced was racist or not.
This hidden racism led to feelings of discomfort:
Uncertainty and discomfort were a theme reflected on by all teachers who saw children who were perpetrators of racism having a deficit of understanding for the issues and harm that this may cause.
Children’s coping strategies in response to racism
Children did indicate they possessed a range of coping strategies. Many of which were entirely independent of engagement with others or sharing their experiences