Educating All - Multicultural Perspectives in the Primary School

In 1979 a committee was appointed to inquire into the 'education of children from ethnic minority groups'. Its final report, known as the Swann Report after its chairman, was submitted in 1985 under the title Education for All. At heart this recognizes that issues such as the academic achievement of ethnic minority pupils and the need for education to reflect the multiracial nature of British society are of more general concern than had been recognized. There is a developing tradition in the kind of enterprise stemming especially from work at the Centre of Applied Research in Education (CARE) and at the Cambridge Institute of Education. Teachers work in separate institutions from researchers, with their own occupational cultures. This, the activity of 'teaching' is not one separate from that of 'research'. Indeed, in this particular conception of collaborative research the researcher doing teaching is the logical corollary of the teacher doing research.

Originally published in 1990. Following the Swann Report of 1985 and its pleas for ‘Education for All’ the need for multicultural education in all areas was generally recognised. This need was particularly pressing in primary schools since racial attitudes are formed early in life and may be difficult to change later. This book documents and evaluates a number of approaches in this area, considering their effects on pupil learning and development. These include whole-school projects in mathematics, environmental studies, and a school exchange; and experiences of pupils at key stages. The authors argue that collaboration, participation and democratic procedures lay behind the more successful developments.