ABSTRACT
The variation in the experiences of black children was not explicable in terms of differences of ethnic group, or of gender. Many black children also have experiences of racism outside school. In some cases these are of harassment by other, perhaps older, children. School policies on racist behaviour may suppress it within the school but have no effect on the behaviour of some of the white pupils once they leave the school premises. The experience for white children of being in everyday contact with black youngsters generates contradictory dynamics, towards racial equality and the de-racialisation of relationships, but also towards the racialisation of existing social processes within children's cultures. Elements of elaborated and common-sense ideologies, both racist and anti-racist, deriving from family, television and community, enter into and circulate within children's cultures. The other most important source of children's experiences, including those of 'race', is television.
