Prevention of Right-Wing Extremism, Xenophobia and Racism in ...

evident in schools, ‘unintentional’ racism and stereotyping did affect the performance of
pupils.
However, following the publication of the interim report, Lord Rampton was controversially
replaced as the chair of the Committee, and and the terms of the report were broadened to include
the creation of an education system appropriate for a multi-ethnic society. The revised terms
of reference aimed at changing the environment in all schools, including ‘all white’ schools,
where the ‘problem’ 30 of multicultural teaching did not exist. The Swann Report, Education for
All (1985), provided a broader investigation into the place of ethnic minorities in the UK and
reported to the Conservative government in 1985. This built on the Rampton fi ndings, sug-
gesting that Local Education Authorities (LEAs) have a role to play in promoting racial equality,
and that more attention should be paid to culturally diverse teaching methods. By the time of
its publication, however, the country had elected a new government, and had in Keith Joseph
a Secretary of State for Education whose approach was somewhat more laissez faire than his
predecessor.
The multiculturalist recommendations of the Swann Report were defl ated by the actions
and ideological basis of the Conservative Conservative government of the time; its political heart (if not
head and body) smitten by the ideological motives of the New Right. However, it did have a
signifi cant impact in shifting the emphasis of educational performance analysis towards the
need for broader, multicultural approaches to education. Despite Joseph’s reservations, a
fragile consensus was formed around the report’s recommendations.
The Swann Report had more obvious impacts than Rampton, despite the broad position of
the Conservative government towards state intervention in schools. Tangible results can be
seen in, for example, the broadening of religious education in schools. The form of multicul-
turalism endorsed by the Swann Report was based upon notions of assimilation and tolerance
within schools. It rejected the racist undertones of previous policies that held abstract ideas of
‘Britishness’ as pre-eminent. However, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, tensions began
to emerge between the broad acceptance of Swann’s basic elements and the introduction of
quasi-market mechanisms into the education system in the UK, with a managerial focus on
attainment rather than principles of social justice.
There was a tension here between the broad acceptance of these fi ndings and the legislalegisla- tive position of successive governments. The 1988 Education Reform Act introduced a national
curriculum that was largely focussed on promoting educational standards that were predomi-
nantly white, ‘British’ (English) and heterosexual (see, for example, the teaching of ‘British’
history during this period). Equally, while the 1993 Act specifi cally referred to Britain’s cultural
diversity, it did little to enforce these ideas in practical policy terms. This further undermined
the multicultural ‘consensus’ promoted by Swann.
30 Note the stigmatising language, racist incidents were problematised as being the fault of pupils from ethnic
minorities.
Racism and Young People in the United Kingdom
89