ABSTRACT
Writers in this series have explored various means by which teachers can begin to tackle issues of racism, disadvantage and oppression with their classes. It is no easy task. In the current political climate, exacerbated by the media, the rights and needs of individuals and family are championed at the expense of those of community and society. In an atmosphere which blames individuals for their own disadvantage rather than remedy contributory societal and political causes, it is difficult for primary schools to underpin their curriculum with ideals of social justice or even to set a tone in which work of this nature can begin. The ERA, as is argued by Hardy and Vieler-Porter (1992) is only the latest in a long line of recent legislation with the ideological thrust toward a shift from public service to private practice. After-all, you scarcely need public service in a land where ‘There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families’ (Margaret Thatcher, February 1989). Thus ‘education is no longer seen as representing any collective, community or social interest-but rather as an institution through which to pursue self interest’ (Hardy and VielerPorter, 1992). What the ERA gave us was a centralized curriculum, spurious parental choice, short-sighted governing bodies able to give vent to their prejudices and a long silence on matters of race and culture.
