The Windrush education scandal: the lesser-known legacy of systemic racism still hurting generations
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The scandal of Windrush children pushed out of mainstream schools by a racist education policy – the legacy of which still endures today – must be answered for.
Maisie Barrett taught herself to read in her thirties after leaving school illiterate and innumerate. Speaking at a meeting at parliament this week to mark 40 years since the Swann Report exposed systemic racism in the education system, Barrett explained how the British school system failed her, and denied her the education she needed to thrive as a young adult.
The consequences of this lack of schooling were devastating and continue to reverberate through Barrett’s life, and the lives of her children and grandchildren.
Barrett was mislabelled “educationally subnormal” [ESN] as part of a systemically racist education policy that saw thousands of mostly Black children removed from mainstream British schools in the 1960s and 70s. The majority of these children were born in the UK, their parents part of the Windrush Generation invited by the government to help rebuild Britain after the war.
As a child, Barrett recalls she “possessed natural creative and performing arts skills, but struggled academically and had a stutter. All I needed was a bit of extra time and support, which was systematically denied to Black children.”
Barrett survived. She fought to prove her teachers wrong and has since completed multiple degrees and published several books. But she is the exception. Countless Windrush descendants who were wrongly written-off at a young age never overcame the trauma and stigma associated with a “subnormal” classification.
Another survivor, Rene Stevens, broke down in tears as he described the “abuse and neglect” he suffered after he was sent to a special needs boarding school. He struggled to navigate life independently and subsequently spent 18 years in detention centres and prisons.
“Today, I continue to struggle with societal participation, a direct consequence of being denied a proper education and the necessary support during my formative years,” Stevens said.
“My story is not just a personal narrative, but a reflection of systemic shortcomings that have long lasting impacts on individuals’ lives.”
Despite Barrett’s success, her own children have been institutionalised – in prison and mental health facilities – for much of their adult lives, and her grandchild is currently facing exclusion from mainstream schooling. The trauma of this under-reported scandal trickles down through generations, causing decades of harm.
“State-sanctioned betrayal of Black children”
This racist policy was not accidental. It was by design. A deliberate undereducation of the Black population with the aim of creating a two-tier labour force – limiting opportunities for the descendants of the Windrush arrivals.
This week, a meeting of survivors and campaigners was held at Parliament to mark 40 years since the Swann Report exposed systemic racism in the education system, and first highlighted the ESN scandal.
“None of the recommendations were implemented,” said Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside and chair of the meeting. “Little has changed since the Swann report. New systems of oppression have taken their space.”
Johnson argues that the same fundamental systems that excluded Black children from mainstream schools still exist today in the form of Pupil Referral Units [PRU] or Alternative Provision. Black children continue to be pushed out of classrooms, excluded at a disproportionate rate to white pupils, where many end up funnelled directly from education into the criminal justice system.
Research in September last year revealed that Black Caribbean students are twice as likely to be moved to a PRU, with racism and teacher bias in part to blame for higher rates of exclusions.
Another Windrush Scandal
Calls for a long-overdue public inquiry are now gathering steam. Campaigners say a new review should be launched to reassess and update the recommendations of the Swann Report taking into account today’s challenges.
“This state-sanctioned injustice robbed generations of Black children of their futures,” adds Johnson. “We are pushing for a full public inquiry and concrete government action to address the systemic racism that still exists in our education system today."
Education minister Catherine McKinnell has said the government “doesn’t currently plan to establish a public inquiry” but was committed to ensuring Britain is a country that “will give you a fair chance to get on in life.” But this chance has already been missed for the thousands of victims who were unfairly and deliberately shut out of education.
“We have to keep demanding an inquiry,” Fran Swaine, consultant solicitor at Leigh Day representing the ESN survivors, tells The Lead - echoing the comments made by Kim Johnson.
Swaine is calling for a statutory inquiry, in which people can be forced to give evidence. She also argues for research into the intentions behind the policies, not just the fact that they existed.
“The inquiry ought to give credence to the fact that there was no plan for the families of the Windrush Generation. And what plan there was, was to keep people ‘in their place’.
“What happened was part and parcel of the structural racism of this country. The policy intentions of the 1950s and 60s were to ensure that those who come over here as families were damn well not going to get into the senior jobs, or earn the greater amounts of money.”
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Ed, Zoe, Luke, Sophie, Natalie and The Lead team