Background to the Research

• There is a significant body of research that highlights the need to develop anti-racist strategies in predominantly white areas, including mainly white schools. However, there has been a lack of research completed in the 'white hinterlands' such as NI - areas where the majority local population are unlikely to interact on a regular basis with any significant number of minority ethnic people.
• Of the research done in NI, the two biggest concerns outlined by ethnic minority groups are access to public services and the attitudes and behaviour of the white, settled population towards them.
• Minority ethnic people in NI comprise around 1% of the total population. The Chinese community are the largest group (5000-8000 people), with South Asians (1700), Black Africans (1500) and Irish Travellers (1400) being the next three biggest minority ethic groups.
  

Research Approach

• To date, research has shown ranges in the level of racial harassment experienced by ethnic minority children. However, the authors of this article seek to move away from quantifying the problem and towards a more qualitative understanding.
• 101 in-depth interviews were conducted with minority ethnic pupils and parents from the four largest groups. A third of respondents were from Belfast, and the remainder were from Derry/Londonderry (22), Enniskillen (6), Newry (6), Craigavon (7), Coleraine/Portrush (5), and Glengormley (9). The interviews covered the topics of education, training and employment and racist harassment.
• Definitions of racist harassment have in the past focussed on overt forms of harassment and the motivations of the perpetrator. This research employs the definition used in the EU Employment and Social Policy Council's Race Directive, Article 2 (3). It broadens the scope of understanding to also include the consequences of harassment and the type of environment it creates.
  

Main Findings

Experiences of Racial Harassment in Schools

• 13% of children and parents recalled incidents when they or their children had been physically assaulted because of their ethnicity. It was found to rarely happen in isolation from other forms of harassment - principally name-calling. 66% of interviewees who attended mainstream schools had experienced name-calling.
• A simple line cannot therefore be drawn between the two forms of harassment; children do not know when name-calling could escalate to a bigger problem. With one-half of interviewees saying that name-calling occurred almost daily, the effect is a constant reminder of the potential threat of other abuses.
• 19% of respondents mentioned being subjected to more subtle forms of harassment, such as being teased about their accent, being singled out in games, exposure to racist graffiti, hearing demeaning comments about the general presence of ethnic minority children and being called names by friends as a 'joke'. All of these examples were shown to contribute towards and/or reinforce an environment of humiliation.

Schools' Responses to Racial Harassment

• This article finds that schools can help to either challenge a racist environment, or contribute to the creation of it. Some parents and children highlighted incidents when schools responded seriously and quickly to incidents of harassment, emphasising how it is possible to create a 'counter-environment' to racism. However, the more common experience of pupils and parents was that either schools failed to respond or did so inappropriately.
• This failure was demonstrated by way of denials that such a problem existed or by not recognising the seriousness of racist incidents. Alternatively, the actions of school staff in dealing with parents and pupils' complaints sometimes served to reinforce humiliation, regardless of 'good intentions' they may have had.
• Further research is needed to investigate what strategies work in schools, and why, so that the issue may be handled sensitively.