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The special issue offers new knowledge about racialised educational experiences by shedding light on racialised leadership in school and higher education in diverse geographical and educational contexts in England, Canada, America and South Africa through a mix of research methods (phenomenological, longitudinal, documentary, semi-structured interviews), analytical (content and textual analysis) and theoretical approaches (critical race theory [CRT], critical ecological). This special issue prioritises the centring of educational leaders’ lived experiences and their voices alongside the research methods used to illuminate the nuances associated with race and educational leadership in schools and higher education. The prism of race enables us to add new educational leadership insights to the field associated with ethnicity, gender, culturally constructed notions of leadership, intersectionality and/or geographical location. The findings highlight implications for researching race and educational leadership.

Long established in the United Kingdom, Black supplementary schools are valued by Black parents for their ability to nurture the academic potential of Black students and achieve positive educational outcomes where mainstream schools sometimes fail. Through exploratory qualitative interviews conducted with a small group of African-Caribbean supplementary school leaders, this article seeks to understand Black supplementary school leaders’ perceptions of educational leadership and supplementary school success. Utilising Yosso’s perspective on ‘community cultural wealth’, in particular the ways in which Black communities provide and are rich in cultural/educational resources, the article examines the extent to which the leadership perceptions of Black supplementary school leaders are rooted in notions of community and serving, along with the leadership strategies they employ in creating successful schools. Such insights are especially important at a time when mainstream education continues to deliver poor educational outcomes for Black students.

PurposeThis paper aims to understand the preparation that a group of black male pre-service students received during their course and its impact on their willingness to commit to entering the teaching profession.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on findings from a small-scale qualitative study of black and minority ethnic student teachers’ experiences in one initial teacher education institution.FindingsThe paper raises questions as to whether black pre-service teachers’ experiences of a lack of acceptance in schools during their pre-service training contribute to the under-representation of black male teachers in English schools.Originality/valueThere is limited research on the experiences of black male student teachers. The paper brings new insights and offers reasons for black male student teachers not entering the teaching profession.

Written from an African-American womanist perspective Moultrie seeks to understand how single (includes never married, divorced and widowed) heterosexual black church women’s sexuality is controlle...

What is meant by fundamental British values? How are they constructed and can they be taught in schools? In trying to address these questions, this paper revisits a small-scale research study commissioned by the UK’s previous New Labour government. The research was concerned to understand the extent to which schools delivered a diverse curriculum (reflecting the composition of Britain as an ethnically diverse society) as well as teacher and student conceptions of British values and contentions of shared British identities which could be explored in schools as part of the secondary citizenship curriculum. Drawing on interviews with teachers and head teachers in six case study schools across England, this paper examines school and government conceptions of shared ‘British’ values. It explores how current government promotion of British values is embedded in sociopolitical historical contexts in Britain. Using social construction theory, the paper aims to challenge conceptions of British values being...

This article addresses the idea of ‘failure’ of young black males with respect to schooling. Perceptions of black masculinity are often linked to ‘underperformance’ in the context of school academic achievement. This article addresses how young black men, by great personal effort, recover from school ‘failure’. It explores how young black men, despite negative school experiences, see possibilities for their future and how they seek to transform school ‘failure’ into personal and educational ‘success’. Low attainment combined with permanent/temporary exclusion from school does not necessarily deter young black men from pursuing their education. This low attainment is used by some to make a renewed attempt at educational progression in a different post-school learning environment. Yosso’s concept of ‘community cultural wealth’ provides an understanding of how different forms of capital are accessed by young black men to form a ‘turnaround narrative’. This article considers the complex ways in which young bl...

This chapter explores the goals of the Equality Act and educational leadership as dictated by government policy in relation to school leaders, and as part of this, considers the role of higher education institutions in promoting race equality in educational leadership in higher education. The chapter questions whether such a state is desirable and achievable in twenty-first century Britain particularly at a time when greater emphasis is given by universities to student (rather than staff) experience and NSS scores/league tables which promote student experience, and conducting race equality impact assessments are no longer a compulsory requirement. In examining the relevance of social justice in educational leadership, the chapter is less concerned with leadership styles or roles and focuses instead on White constructions/perceptions of who can occupy leadership positions. As such, the chapter explores the implications for universities in facilitating diverse but equitable leadership in higher education from a social justice perspective.

This chapter analyses Black women academics and senior managers’ experiences of working in UK higher education. Testimony included in this chapter is drawn from the authors’ experiences with White staff, and critical discussion and shared reflection as the chapter was being prepared. The chapter utilises the theoretical lenses of intersectionality and critical race theory that have coincided with and been supported by the phenomenological experiences of the authors. The womens’ narratives reflect notions of resistance and resilience, which coalesce around themes of challenging visibility and invisibility, negotiating institutional power and the use of their networks in sustaining their survival.

This paper reports findings from a study commissioned by the (then) Department for Children, Schools and Families. The research mapped the provision, and explored the impact, of supplementary schools and aimed specifically to develop further understanding as to how supplementary schools might raise the attainment of Black and Minority Ethnic pupils. Drawing on a national survey and case study data from 12 supplementary schools, we highlight a range of perceived impacts identified by teachers, pupils and parents and problematise the concept of impact. We identify the unique contribution and impact that supplementary schools make to the mainstream school attainment of pupils from diverse (linguistic, cultural, ethnic) backgrounds. We suggest that there is much to be learnt by the mainstream school sector about the difference supplementary school education makes to minority ethnic children, while questioning whether mainstream indicators of impact should be applied to supplementary schools.

This viewpoint draws on discussions at two seminars to consider ambivalent attitudes amongst a group of Black women towards considering themselves and/or other Black people as ‘middle class’. The first seminar highlighted the experiences of a group of Black ‘middle‐class’ parents and the second, which was organised as a result of the reaction the first seminar received, sought to explore attendees views as to whether they thought Black people could be Black and ‘middle class’. The viewpoint contends that the concept ‘Black middle class’ is incompatible with some Black women’s notions of self, and that their ambivalence about the ‘Black middle classes’ is partly rooted in an emotional need to remain connected to the wider Black community. Whilst these women’s understandings of the ‘Black middle classes’ are informed by their gendered and racialised experiences, there is also evidence of a denial of (class) privilege.

This article reports on a small‐scale research study commissioned by the then Department for Education and Skills ([DfES] now the Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF]) in June 2006 to aid the work of the Diversity and Citizenship Curriculum Review Group, headed by Sir Keith Ajegbo. The findings concentrate on how ‘diversity’ is viewed by schools and the implications of this for developing pupil understanding of British diversity, British identities and citizenship belonging. The article highlights student perceptions and experience of a diverse curriculum together with their perceptions of ‘Britishness’ and citizenship belonging. In examining school and student understanding of diversity, this article explores two discrete aspects: ‘diversity’ education and education about ‘Britishness’. While supporting the need to value British diversity, the article nevertheless challenges the assumption that ethnic or cultural ‘heritage’ is always positive and/or learning about it positive.

This article examines what it means to be a Black female researcher in contemporary Britain. Drawing on Black feminist theory and critical race theory (CRT), this article seeks to highlight some of the experiences and challenges that Black female researchers face when undertaking research, particularly research that has diversity, equality or ‘race’ as key foci. Such experiences often remain silent, yet they are integral to how Black researchers conduct and experience research. The article adopts a reflexive approach in uncovering these hidden realities. It explores a small number of racist experiences encountered in English schools and other educational establishments. The article examines how these various experiences are situated, internalised and negotiated as part of a Black researcher’s everyday practice. In drawing attention to Black researcher (in)visibility, the discussion also reveals why some White staff sometimes find it difficult to acknowledge racist experiences endured by Black colleagues.

Teach First is an educational charity that places graduates to teach in ‘challenging’ schools for two years. It is marketed as an opportunity to develop employability while ‘making a difference’. In this paper, I examine the process of class reproduction occurring in this graduate employment scheme through examining the discourses used in Teach First marketing and by Teach First participants. I begin by arguing that the Teach First participants interviewed as part of an evaluation were predominantly middle‐class, and possessed social and cultural capital which had facilitated their access to the Teach First scheme. I then illustrate three processes of middle‐class reproduction within Teach First. The first is the accumulation by participants of additional social and cultural capital. The second is the reproduction of middle‐class values and stereotypes of the working‐class other, and the third is the obscuring of middle‐class advantage through discourses of ‘natural ability’. I conclude that although well...

Growing concerns about the experience and achievement of Black pupils (especially Black males) underpin calls for more Black people to serve as teacher and lay mentor role models in schools. Calls for increased numbers of Black teacher role models assume firstly, that Black teachers regard themselves as role models and want to perform such a role in school. Secondly, that Black pupils will automatically see Black teachers as role models for Black pupils and make a connection between the behaviour modelled by Black teachers and their own behaviour, aspirations or achievement. Thirdly, that Black teachers are the most appropriate role models for Black pupils. This article draws on empirical data to explore these assumptions and to illustrate the ways in which they are flawed.

Equality: from theory to action J. BAKER, K. LYNCH, S. CANTILLON & J. WALSH, 2004 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 323 pp., ISBN 1 4039 4429 6 (pb), £20.99

‘Arrested Justice’ framed within a black feminist perspective of activism and resistance is an excellent read. In search of social justice for low-income black (African American) women, the text is...

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study, based on interviews with over 130 nurses and midwives in four London Trust hospitals on: the main factors influencing nurse satisfaction and retention; empirical support for the robustness of a conceptual framework or model “the nurse satisfaction, service quality and nurse retention chain”; and some managerial considerations for recruitment and retention. The three main factors influencing job satisfaction were patients, the inherent characteristics of nursing and the nursing team; the two main sources of job dissatisfaction were staff shortages and poor management and amongst nurse retention strategies improving working conditions was more important than increased pay. For recruitment, as well as retention, improving the image and reputation of nursing along with improvements in work‐life balance were pre‐requisites for meeting the challenging target of an additional 20,000 nurses on the wards by 2004.

The statistics and associated literature reveal a chronic shortage of nurses and midwives and difficulties in recruiting and retaining D and E grades, the main providers of hands‐on patient care. This qualitative exploratory study of nurse satisfaction, dissatisfaction and reasons for staying provides empirical support for a conceptual model “the nurse satisfaction, quality of care and patient satisfaction chain”. The in‐depth interviews reveal a spontaneous and explicit linking of organisational resources to nurses’ ability to provide the level of patient care commensurate with their desire and patients’ needs. Nurse job satisfaction derives from knowing that they have provided good care as well as the attributes of the job such as a career, skill acquisition and the “people I work with”. Job dissatisfaction stems primarily from staff shortages, the behaviour of patients and negative media comment. The interviews demonstrate the critical role of the “ability to give quality care” and the satisfaction derived from patients’ demonstration of their appreciation and the influence of this on nurse retention.

This chapter seeks to offer a critical reflection on the politics of engaging stakeholders in research. Specifically, we shed light on the difficulties and tensions encountered in delivering a seminar series on the ‘inter-relationships of education and culture’ that had at its heart a desire to facilitate a dialogue between academics and policy makers and practitioners. This series of seminars, ‘New Perspectives on Education and Culture’ (http://educationandculture.wordpress.com/), ran from January 2011 to January 2013 and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, 2012).

This paper proposes an integrated approach to examining and dealing with the complex issue of nurse recruitment, retention, healthcare quality and patient satisfaction. The paper depicts and describes a generic conceptual framework or chain derived from a review of the literature on nurse recruitment and retention, service quality and human resource management. The chain is made up of the following components: NHS and Trust conditions and environment (internal quality) –service capability – nurse satisfaction –nurse retention – quality of patient care – patient satisfaction. The value of the chain is derived from its synthesis and display of the prime constituents or drivers of nurse satisfaction, quality of patient care and satisfaction. From this holistic picture it is possible for both national and local initiatives to be integrated in a mutually reinforcing way in order to achieve improvements in nurse recruitment, retention, quality of care and patient satisfaction.

Education in the UK has seen signifi cant changes in the past few years, particularly policy changes introduced by the Coalition government such as the introduction of tuition fees and the introduction of free schools and academies, as well as the eradication of the Education Maintenance Grant (EMA). Such signifi cant changes have aff ected the poorest students the hardest. Far from creating greater equality, such changes have perpetuated inequality both in schools and in higher education-with greater students from poor working-class backgrounds being further disadvantaged. Recent research suggests, for example, that although the gap between the richest and poorest children has started to fall over the last decade, the gap at the General Certifi cate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level remains large, with the latest Department for Education (DfE) fi gures indicating that pupils eligible for free school meals (FSMs) are almost half as likely to achieve fi ve or more A*–C grades at GCSE compared with those who were not eligible (30.9 per cent compared with 58.5 per cent) (Carter-Wall and Whitfi eld 2012). Furthermore, poorer children are half as likely to go on to study at university compared with their more affl uent peers. Educational attainment continues to be strongly associated with socio-economic background (Sutton Trust 2010), despite some signs that social diff erences in examination results may have started to reduce. There have been some signifi cant changes with the gap in attainment between ethnic groups narrowing, with some previously low-performing groups catching up with the average attainment. Whereas a generation ago almost all the students attending university were White British, today one in fi ve are from Black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds (EHRC How Fair Is Britain, 2010). Whereas this change is positive, inequalities in education continue to persist. A recent report by Alan Millburn (2012), MP (member of Parliament), explores how the most advantaged 20 per cent of young people are still seven times more likely than the 40 per cent most disadvantaged to attend the most selective universities, demonstrating how access to university remains inequitable. The report argues that ‘there is a strong correlation between social class and the likelihood of going to university generally and to the top universities particularly. Four private schools and one college get more of their studentsinto Oxbridge than the combined eff orts of 2,000 state schools and colleges’ (2). Furthermore, elite universities such as Oxford and Cambridge are failing to adequately represent BME students and the representation of minority ethnic students at Russell Group universities is unbalanced (Race into Higher Education 2010).

This edited collection will bring together researchers in the fields of education, gender, ‘race’ and sociology in an area of research of topical interest to academics in these fields. The main aim of the collection is to provide understandings of (in)equality in relation to ‘race’, gender and class. It will focus on difference and diversity, specifically gender, ‘race’ and class, and intersectionalities of these differences. In particular the collection seeks to locate the dimensions of difference within recent theoretical discourses with an emphasis on ‘race’, class and gender as key categories of analysis. The collection uses theoretical approaches to examine the inequalities and diversities of educational experiences. To do this, each chapter will review existing research and present new and original evidence in a theoretically informed context-specific manner. Whilst there is considerable literature on social inequality and education, there is little recent work which explores notions of difference and diversity in relation to ‘race’, class and gender. Given the gap in the literature it becomes all the more important to address the specificity of difference. This collection aims to bring together major researchers and those less established in the field of education located across the UK and diverse international (e.g. Australia, USA, New Zealand, Europe) contexts. Contributors will explore the ways in which dominant perspectives on ‘difference’, intersectionality and institutional structures underpin and reinforce educational inequality. The collection will emphasise the importance of international perspectives in such discussions and innovative methodological approaches to examining these areas. Additionally, the editors plan to include an introductory think-piece on educational inequalities and intersectionality that will comment on the collection as a whole, and a concluding chapter that provides new and critical perspectives on examining educational inequalities in ‘race’, gender and class.