Understanding and combating racism in compulsory education

Among the many institutions involved in the management of intercultural conviviality, primary and secondary schools play a decisive role by virtue of their structuring influence on children’s attitudes and social relations. In a working paper recently published by Oxford University’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), Pier-Luc Dupont offers a theoretical synthesis of the relationship between education policies and the reproduction of racism in Western Europe. Based on a wide range of empirical studies, he shows that biased curricula interact with the scarcity of foreign-origin teachers and the ethnic segregation of pupils to catalyse out-group prejudice. He also puts forward a number of concrete measures and opportunities for political mobilisation aimed at reversing these trends.

To read the working paper, click here. For the associated COMPAS blog post, click here.