ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that the period since 1945 has been marked by a series of migrations which have challenged the idea of a settled, white and Christian nation, and altered the sense of who the school system is for and how it operates. It provides a description of what might be called Christian Britain at mid-20th century, where the only subject that was compulsory in the curriculum was religion. The chapter focuses on the growing presence of Asian youth culture in the 1990s, leading to the Parekh Report of 2000 on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, which represented the optimistic wing of official multiculturalism. British capitalism was changing, and economic expansion meant that there was a need for new and cheap sources of labour. The UK drew upon immigrants from its former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent to fill severe labour shortages, especially in semi-skilled and unskilled jobs at the lower end of the labour market.