Your article (Schools and colleges in England accused of failing in legal duty to tackle racism, 18 November) makes for sad reading, but comes as no surprise. The concepts of anti-racism and multiculturalism in education, which were being developed and implemented in schools and colleges, and in teacher training in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, suffered under legislation introduced by the Education Reform Act of 1988, which reflected the rightwing ideology of the then Conservative government.
The removal of all schools from the direct financial control of local educational authorities (LEAs) meant that those authorities that had developed policies on anti-racism and multiculturalism (and by 1990 many had done so) were less able to influence policies and practices in the classroom.
Many specialist advisory and inspection posts were abolished because of the need for LEAs to operate on reduced budgets. Likewise specialist resource centres, such as the outstanding one that served Leicester and Leicestershire, faced the chop. As the focus moved increasingly to challenging racism, support from within LEAs, and externally from Ofsted, waned. Multiculturalism was now regarded as a failed experiment, anti-racism as a leftist blame game.
Academisation of state schools has pushed this trend further. No wonder that a coalition of young people’s organisations is calling for urgent action – but I fear their call will only be met by warm words and platitudes.
Tim Ottevanger
Adviser for multicultural education, Leicestershire, 1983-93
