The Ethnic Crucible (RLE Edu J)

Book excerpt: Many schools in developed countries have children and adolescents from a variety of ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural backgrounds. They relate to each other in various degrees of encounter that range from harmony to hostility. The issue of how a school can foster inter-ethnic relationships and challenge the manifestations of bad relationships cannot of course be divorced from tensions and inequalities in the wider society. This book focuses on ways in which schools might make a difference to the quality of such relationships within their walls. It has sought to do this by studying nine secondary schools in some depth: their organisation, structures and interactive processes: and the experiences, attitudes and behaviour of students and their teachers. The research on which the book is based has also yielded data on the influence of policy and procedure in schools on relationships.