Research/Publications/Articles
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December 1985
The Centre for Multicultural Education, based at the University of London Institute of Education publishes occasional and working papers and is a base for consultancy and research projects which examine issues of racism and sexism in education for a multicultural society. Information about the Centre and its publications can be obtained from: Diana D Nair, Centre for Multicultural Education, University of London Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WCIH OAL. Tel 01-636 1500. The following two recent publications may be of interest to readers and each is available, price £1, cash. with order and cheque/PO made payable to Institute of Education.
What it means to be a bilingual child in Britain today by Ewa Orzechowska (1984) has been written to help administrators and teachers who formulate and implement educational policies to have a clear understanding of the real issues raised and opportunities created by the presence of children and adults who can speak languages other than English, in British schools and their local communities. Chapter headings include: Individual and societal bilingualism; the historical context of language diversity in Britain; official response to bilingual children; models of bilingual development; language culture and identity; and there are two contrasting case studies of a young girl from a Polish-speaking family and a young boy from a Bengali-speaking family. The author concludes that for most bilingual children, the dominant majority creates problems which make their experience of living with two languages and cultures both painfully difficult and extremely damaging and that individual schools and teachers could do far more in co-operation with minority communities to develop strategies which would help. their children to develop a secure and confident linguistic and cultural identity.
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Language Education for All? Chapter 7 of the Swann Report by Verity Saifullah Khan (1985) offers a critical guide to some of the fundamental issues arising from this chapter. The author takes the view that 'Chapter 7 as a whole does nothing to improve the reader's understanding of societal multi-lingualism and nor does it rehearse the educational arguments relating to the bi- or multi-lingualism of individuals'.
In 'The Fields of Charity and Sin - reflections on combating racism in the Church of England' (December 1984), Ken Leech explores his role as the Church of England's race relations field officer and commits to paper his analysis of the achievements and failures of his work. This kind of critique of the impact of a post should be helpful to individuals holding similar posts in other kinds of organisation, as well as to those responsible for creating and monitoring such posts. (Available, price 35p, from: Board for Social Responsibility, Church House, Dean's Yard, London SW1P 3NZ)
The latest bibliography from the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations is 'Muslims in Britain: an annotated bibliography 1960-1984' by Daniele Joly and Jorgen Nielsen (1985). Entries are alphabetical by author's name and the compilers have 'attempted to bring together references to work on populations in Britain whose backgrounds are in one way or another Muslim'. (Available, price £2 inclusive and cheque/PO made payable to University of Warwick, from: Adminstrative Assistant, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, Arts Building, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL.)
'Racial Discrimination 17 years after the Act' by Colin Brown and Pat Gay (Policy Studies Institute, 1985), shows that racial discrimination by employers is still as common as it was a decade ago. The research indicates that at least a third of employers discriminate against Black job applicants. Test applications for advertised vacancies were made on behalf of fictitious job seekers of different ethnic origins. Although the different applicants' qualifications and experience were carefully matched, the employers offered interviews to white applicants far more often than to the black applicants. Types of job covered were sales representatives, secretaries, clerks, office juniors and skilled manual workers. (Available, price £2 inclusive, from: PSI, 100 Park Village East, London NW1 3SR.)
Sandra Hardingham reports on Save the Children's recent conference on black children in care in a short piece entitled 'Manager hits out at workers over black children in care' in 'Community Care' 21.11.85, page 5.
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