Blog 3 – Race
Engaged in IP unit, I have gain deeper understanding regards the importance of Race as a teaching staff in higher education, it’s extremely important for us to fully exploring what’s race in teaching and learning, and what does it means, and how should we manage it equally to all students, to make sure we can be confidence when exchange knowledge with students from different backgrounds, and balance it in our daily activities to provide students an equal and fairness learning environment.
The history of education is rife with instances of violence and oppression along lines of race and ethnicity. For educators, leading conversations about race and racism is a challenging, but necessary, part of their work (Cacciatore, 2021).
“Schools operate within larger contexts: systems of race, racism, and white supremacy; systems of migration and ethnic identity formation; patterns of socialization; the changing realities of capitalism and politics,” explains historian and Harvard lecturer Timothy Patrick McCarthy (2001), co-faculty lead of Race and Ethnicity in Context. “How do we understand the role that racial and ethnic identity play with respect to equity and opportunity within an educational context?” When educators exploring the potential challenges and opportunities in their own schools, universities and communities, McCarthy offer five ways to get started: 1. Begin with the self; 2. Model vulnerability; 3. Be transparent; 4. Center voices of colour; 5. Prioritize discussion and reflection (Cacciatore, 2021).
Another theory called Critical Race Theory (CRT) echoes to this. CRT has become almost the default theoretical position for those researching ‘race’ and education in England, largely due the effective promotion of this perspective in Gillborn’s important work on ‘race’ and education in the UK (Gillborn 2008, 2013b).
In the UK, CRT perspectives have more recently been used to examine how issues relating to ‘race’ in education have rarely been the priority of governments, despite occasional moments of rhetorical concern; for decades, there has been a constant need to ‘fight for legitimacy as a significant topic’ for policy (Gillborn 2005, 493). Indeed, under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government (2010–15) – the period where the policy under discussion here developed – concern for ‘race’ was ‘severely diminished’ (Warmington et al. 2017). Furthermore, CRT encourages us to think of policy in terms of benefits and outcomes; as Gillborn has repeatedly pointed out the benefits of ‘rising standards’ for different ethnic groups have not been equal in the UK (Gillborn 2008; Gillborn et al. 2017; Gillborn 2005). Back to my future teachings, I will support anti-racism practise by valuing the students’ differences in race and provide them an equal opportunity to learning, interactions, assessment, and feedbacks.
References
Cacciatore, G., (2001) Exploring Equity: Race and Ethnicity. Available at: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/21/02/exploring-equity-race-and-ethnicity Accessed 19/06/2025.
Gillborn, D. 2005. “Education Policy as an Act of White Supremacy: Whiteness, Critical Race Theory and Education Reform.” Journal of Education Policy 20 (4): 485–505. doi:10.1080/ 02680930500132346.
Gillborn, D. 2008. Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy? London: Routledge.
Gillborn, D. 2013b. “Racism as Policy: A Critical Race Analysis of Education Reforms in the United States and England.” The Educational Forum 78 (1): 26–41. doi:10.1080/ 00131725.2014.850982.
Gillborn, D., S. Demack, N. Rollock, and P. Warmington. 2017. “Moving the Goalposts: Education Policy and 25 Years of the Black/White Achievement Gap.” British Educational Research Journal 43 (5): 848–874. doi:10.1002/berj.3297.
Warmington, P., D. Gillborn, N. Rollock, and S. Demack. 2017. ““They Can’t Handle the Race Agenda”: Stakeholders’ Reflections on Race and Education Policy, 1993–2013.” Educational Review 70 (4): 409–426. doi:10.1080/00131911.2017.1353482.