ABSTRACT
The insidious nature of racism within the British educational system is an issue that cannot be left unscrutinised within a serious scholarly discourse regarding black presence in post-industrialised Britain. It particularly warrants investigation in that race, when spoken of within education, is often eclipsed by class and is thus subject to racial incorporation, which, as we know, is a key determinant of social reproduction. It is here that we notice that black students at all levels have been unable to attain the cultural capital necessary to successfully navigate the regimes that exist within education, for example by failing to adopt the appropriate linguistic code, accent or consumption pattern. This has placed them at an immediate disadvantage which has commonly led to them being written off as ‘educationally sub-normal’.
