New perspectives on black pupil achievement and the impact of supplementary education: A British Afr

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New perspectives on black pupil achievement and
the impact of supplementary educationA British
African-Caribbean Perspective

• Dr Gloria Gordon
• Centre for British African-Caribbean Studies
  (www.cbacs.org)
• London South Bank University

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Gloria Gordon MBA, PhD

• British African-Caribbean (achieved identity vs
  foreclosed black identity)
• Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow,
  Organisational analyst/individual and
  organisational transformation
• 2002 National Teaching Fellow excellence in
  teaching and learning/life-time award
• Founder of Centre for British African-Caribbean
  Studies, LSBU
• Author of Towards Bicultural Competence Beyond
  Black and White, Trentham Books, 2007

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Session brief

• what are the current challenges faced by black
  children and young people
• how are black boys faring in comparison to black
  girls, and why?
• role of supplementary schools in raising
  aspirations and achievement of black pupils

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Black

• Afro-Caribbean
• African-Caribbean
• Black British
• Black
• Black culture black churches, black music, etc

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Current challenges faced by black children/young
people

• Working with the outcomes of 500 years of
  unconscious assimilation into black British
  culture
• British culture racialises through its two
  primary sub-cultures black and white
• Research needed on how black and white children
  are differentially socialised within British
  culture into black and white cultures

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Black Socialisation vs Bicultural Socialisation

• Black children (DoEAs) socialised into black
  culture an externally imposed cultural
  disorder which has taken on a life of its own
  (McWhorter, 2001) Thermston Thermston (2003)
  dysfunctional cultural inheritance
• Ethnic minorities engage in bicultural
  socialisation into a culture of origin (i.e.
  Indian culture) and a culture of residence
  (British culture)

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How diversity is currently managed in Britain
Pakistanis
Indians
Whites
Blacks
Africans
Chinese
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Supplementary Schools Cultural Boundary
Workers

• Mediate human costs of unconscious assimilation
  into a culture of residence for DoEAs
• Teaching as the elemental bond that exists
  between the elder of the tribe and their young
  (Palmer, 1997)
• Schooling as the conversation between
  generations
• Supplementing vital cultural resources lost to
  black children but critical to human growth and
  development

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Supplementary Schools Ethnicises instead of
Racialising

• Emotional and psychological resilience
• Self-regulatory behaviours
• Facilitates life transitions (Erikson, 1950)
• Ethnic identity development as a life task
  identity, belonging, self-esteem, values and
  norms, purpose and meaning
• Status based on social quality (Phillips
  Berman, 2003) of ethnic group

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A future vision of a truly multicultural Britain
British African-Caribbean
British Pakistanis
British Indians
British-English
British-Chinese
British Africans
British-Scottish
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Supplementary schools looking forward

• Cultural integrity for BAC children
• Recognising BAC culture of origin as the
  bedrock culture and not the supplementary one
• Play a central role in the education of British
  African Caribbean children

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The Centre for British African-Caribbean Studies

• Education and resource centre
• Research Institute BAC educational attainment
  throughout the life course
• The Metanoia Project 2007-2034 (Teach) and (BAC)
• Book Towards Bicultural Competence Beyond Black
  and White (Trentham Books)