ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some experiences of a number of African Caribbean children in Leicester schools in the 1960s. It argues that these can be understood in relation to cultural attitudes and the policies of the Local Education Authority which were related to government policies of the time. The chapter also argues that policies in relation to West Indian children in schools are characterised by the use of the racially defined category of 'immigrant'. It focuses on the way in which the perceived problems created by black and Asian children in schools arose through a racialised construction of 'immigrants'. The Association of Teachers of Ethnic Minorities in Leicestershire conducted a survey on the employment of black teachers in Leicester schools in 1979. Although ethnic minority teachers with appropriate qualifications and experience applied the post was given to a Physical Education trained teacher with substantial experience in a secondary school and who had not even 'O' levels, in either mathematics or science.
