Radical Education Forum

25th September: Against Borders for Children -resources for resisting the ‘hostile environment’

Classrooms are becoming a ‘hostile environment’ for migrant and BAME children; since the Brexit referendum, teachers have been reporting a rise in racist language in their classes. What pedagogical strategies are there for counteracting racist and xenophobic behaviour and discourses in schools? How can dominant narratives on migration be challenged? A discussion of racism/anti-migrant sentiment in schools today and an opportunity to share practical and effective ways of challenging it.

About ABC:
Against Borders for Children is a coalition of parents, teachers, schools and campaigners which aims to reverse the Department of Education’s policy to collect country of birth and nationality information on 8 million children in England in order to ‘create a hostile environment’ for migrant children in schools. We have already won a major concession from the government when in November, thanks to mounting pressure, it dropped collection of nationality data on nursery school  children.
Further reading on the ABC campaign here: https://www.schoolsabc.net/2017/09/one-year-on/ and please feel free to bring along any relevant anti-racism teaching resources, materials, examples etc.

The *Radical Education Forum* is a group of people working in a wide range of educational settings who meet monthly to discuss radical pedagogical theories and techniques, and contemporary issues of interest to those involved in education. We are interested in how these theories and questions can inform our practice. The Forum supports social justice in education, linking practitioners within mainstream educational institutions, community education initiatives, social movements, arts organisations and self-organised groups.