ABSTRACT
The schooling of black1 children within the British educational system continues to be the focus of discontent and general dissatisfaction among black parents, professionals and communities. The inertia of the authorities to the increasing numbers of black2 children cited in official school exclusion data parallels the 1960s, when high referral rates of black children to educationally subnormal schools were largely ignored by educational authorities (Coard 1971; CRE 1996; Social Exclusion Unit 1998; Department for Education and Employment 1997). At the same time black families are continually pathologised for the educational ‘problems’ of their children rather than pursuing a serious analysis of institutional structures and educational processes that sometimes result in their differential treatment. Research over the past decades has revealed the continued importance of racism and culture as central issues in the processes of educational delivery (Carby 1984; Dei 1999a; Gilborn 1995; Bourne, Bridges and Searle 1994; Wright 1985).
