Forty years on from the Swann Report, education is still systemically racist

Forty years on from the Swann report, there are calls for a thorough inquiry into structural racism in schools. The original report was released in 1985, and paid particular attention to ‘West Indian’ and Asian children. The report found that:

School performance has long been known to show a close correlation with socio-economic status and social class, in the case of all children. The ethnic minorities, however, are particularly disadvantaged in social and economic terms, and there can no longer be any doubt that this extra deprivation is the result of racial prejudice and discrimination

The report was preceded by a period in the 60s and 70s where Black children were removed from mainstream education for being “educationally subnormal.” These so-called ‘ESN schools’ stemmed from a term used in the 1944 Education Act. Campaigner, professor Gus John explained to the BBC that:

 teachers didn’t try to understand the cultural barriers black children faced, and the assessments didn’t consider their domestic and socioeconomic circumstances – or the impact of migration. Many children would travel to the UK only once their parents had settled in. They arrived in an unfamiliar country to live with virtual strangers, who they had not seen for years.

The assumption that Black children were intellectually deficient, ‘sub-normal,’ was built into the very foundations of the British education system.

Swann Report 40 years on: calls for an inquiry

There are now calls for an inquiry and public redress over the ESN schools scandal. Labour MP Kim Johnson told the Morning Star:

For too long, the ESN scandal has been overlooked and neglected. Now that the government has acknowledged the issue of structural racism in our education system, it must commit to a full and transparent public inquiry to deliver accountability and justice for the ESN school survivors.

Johnson also spoke in Parliament, and asked Keir Starmer to consider a public inquiry. Starmer responded with:

I thank my honourable friend for raising this really important issue. All children and young people must be treated fairly, and there is no place for hate or prejudice in our education system. I will ensure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss this further.

But it wasn’t all children being treated unfairly, was it? It was specifically Black children who were targeted and demonised by a structurally racist system. The Swann report wasn’t only an indictment of education, but of employment, housing, and other parts of society that determine which children are welcomed, supported, and can flourish. It was Black children who were given further disadvantages in a corrupt system.

What’s changed?

Starmer may maintain that there is no place for prejudice in education, but the reality is quite different. Prejudice is a fundamental factor in modern day education. As the Morning Star’s Jaydee Seaforth wrote:

From disproportionate exclusion rates for black and Gypsy/Roma children to increased hate crimes against Jewish and Muslim students and a national curriculum that doesn’t reflect the diverse nature of our nation, the government has its work cut out if it wants — in the Prime Minister’s words — to see an end to hate and prejudice in education.

In 2024, a coalition of organisations, including Everyday Racism, the Centre for Mental Health and Not So Micro, penned an open letter which read:

We have seen far too many young people’s lives held back by their experiences of racism, which not only affects their health and wellbeing, but also limits their opportunities for a happy, fulfilling and successful life.

In 2021, government figures found 60,000 racist incidents in five years. 89% of respondents to a survey said that racism is the biggest barrier to education. And, this is only one way of better understanding racism in education.

A dire state, despite the Swann Report

A bigger gulf in inequalities – in housing, employment, policing, and more – compounds the situation Black students face in Britain. While ESN schools are no longer, the racism behind their foundation cannot be said to have been eradicated. No More Exclusions, an abolitionist group, explain that:

We need a system that is created to intervene in the causes of harm, rather than one that upholds the harm and punishes its victims. Exclusion is just one element of a hostile environment that’s created in the classroom. It doesn’t work and it never has. Recognising this is only the start of undoing the web of harm that’s been created.

Education is built around punishment, and this can only amplify already-existing anti-Black racism at the heart of how punishment works in modern day Britain. There absolutely should be an inquiry and examination into the injustices of ESN schools – answers are needed. However, it’s groups like No More Exclusions who provide the tools to examine education in a reparative manner. The recommendations from the Swann report have not fixed the problem, and we need better tools for a more equitable solution.

Featured image via the Canary