ABSTRACT
This chapter brieflydelineates conditionsof education, labormarketparticipation and research issues in terms of the needs of Black people in Britain. (The term “Black’’ includes students with African and/or Caribbean heritage.) Within the context of Britain, the passion with which education is held among the Black population is clearly evident at every stage of educational process. Many Black people in Britain migrated there in the 1950s and 1960s, arriving primarily from the Caribbean, to give their children the opportunity to succeed in education and to achieve successful labor market outcomes. Indeed, Black students have some of the highest rates of school attendance. Many, especially girls, achieve relatively well at school (Mirza, 1992). Black students are featuring in greater numbers in proportion to their population in further and higher education statistics (Modood, 1998). Yet, paradoxically the successes charted need to be considered against a dominant discourse which links Black educational underperformance and school exclusion with confrontational masculinities and antieducation culture (e.g., Sewell, 1997).
