Black School Social Workers' and Educators' Perspectives on the Disproportional Suspension of African-Caribbean Students in British Schools

Background

Similar to the United States, British school social workers (SSW) are central in monitoring student attendance, providing counseling, and addressing issues related to school discipline. Applying an ecological framework to their practice, SSW collaborate with teachers and families to provide comprehensive services. However, U.K. and U.S. schools also share a striking similarity in multi-decade racially disproportional school suspensions. Currently, African-Caribbean students are among the most frequently excluded students within British schools.  A 2008 report by the Office for Standards in Education posits that during the 2005-2006 academic year, African-Caribbean and mixed race African-Caribbean students were permanently suspended at 41% and 36% respectively. Comparatively, 13% of White students were excluded between 2005-2006 making African-Caribbean students more than twice as likely to be permanently suspended. While an array of programmatic attempts have reduced overall school suspensions, few have reduced racially disproportional suspensions. Analysis of this trend is often framed by a blame and behavior centered analysis that often stigmatizes African-Caribbean youth.  To understand the daily school-based interactions that sustain disproportionality, this study examined the perspectives of African-Caribbean school social workers and educators. Moreover, it used critical race theory to capture counter-story narratives that subvert the dominant blame centric discourse on student behavior.

Methods

Data is drawn from two in-depth interviews and three focus groups conducted (n=8) with school social workers, school mentors, and educators. The range of time among interviews and focus groups was 30-120 minutes with an average time of 60 minutes. Field notes were kept throughout the data collection process and were referred to during analysis. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and several data reduction strategies were employed.

Results

Using the CRT tenet of counter-story telling, results point to the relevance of racial stereotyping and racism in high exclusion rates. Participants identified that fear toward Black males, low-expectations, and education policy pressures were the most significant contributors to disproportional suspensions. Participants also explained that policy pressures and racial bias made African-Caribbean students with special education needs particularly vulnerable school exclusions. Finally, due to stringent retributive disciplinary polices, social workers and teachers expressed feeling powerless to effectively advocate for students. Several of the participants left their employed positions by the end of the school year citing a moral obligation to do so.   

Conclusions and Implications:

This work highlights that behavior-centered analysis of school suspensions is limited and perpetuates racial stereotypes. Moreover, it finds that policies intended to uphold higher educational standards are operationalized in ways that continue to marginalize African-Caribbean students. Thus, practitioners concerned with the academic and developmental progress of historically underserved students should problematize the role of racial bias within a meritocratic education system. In addition, special attention is necessary to address the way policy pressures enforce false constructions of inadequacy upon students. Without greater awareness in this area, negative social, academic, and developmental outcomes will persist among African-Caribbean students. Implications on the use of counter-story telling for research on racial bias in schools will be discussed.