Educational Strategies of the Black Middle Classes, 2009

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>This is a qualitative data collection. Race and class are key dimensions in contemporary education debates, but they are rarely considered in tandem: this is the first UK project to focus on Black Caribbean-heritage middle class parents and the education system. Drawing on 77 in-depth interviews with 62 Black parents, the research team explored and analysed their educational perspectives, strategies and priorities as they navigate their children through the school system. The aim was to unpack the complex relationship between race and class in shaping their experiences and attitudes. <br>
The findings to date emphasize the agency and activity of these parents in relation to their children’s schooling, an approach informed by their awareness of and experience of racism. They monitor children’s progress carefully, and are ready to intervene when necessary. They work to present themselves to teachers as knowledgeable and proactive on educational issues, both to pre-empt low teacher expectations and to equip their children with a range of social and cultural resources. Parents in the study recognise racism as often less overt than when they were children, but nonetheless pervasive, in subtle, coded forms often not seen or understood by White people. Thus, they work to promote self-esteem, academic success, and an emotionally healthy Black identity in their children. The parents in the study are sometimes able to make use of aspects of their class advantage to mediate the effects of racism. However, skills and resources are not sufficient to eradicate the consequences of racism altogether.<br>