Guidance document 10: Dual Heritage pupils

Posted in Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Reports, Teaching Resources, United Kingdom on 2012-02-26 19:41Z by Steven

Guidance document 10: Dual Heritage pupils

Ethnic Minority Services
Nottingham City Council Children Services
November 2005
20 pages

Jane Daffé, Senior EMA Consultant
Nottingham City, LA

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Terminology
  3. Statistics
  4. Identity
  5. Dual Heritage Voice
  6. Educational research
  7. Curriculum, resources, role models
  8. Conclusion
  9. Appendix
    1. Recommended Resources Reflecting the Lives of Dual Heritage Children and Families
    2. Poem: Blended
    3. Dual Heritage Quiz

Introduction

The primary focus of this document are children of Dual Heritage who have one White parent and the other of African Caribbean background. Although pupils of Dual Heritage in our schools have a much wider range of ethnic backgrounds (White/Asian etc), the specified target group is our most significant Dual Heritage group in Nottingham, both in terms of numbers and concerns related to underachievement and exclusion. Some factors and experiences will be of relevance to other pupils of differing Dual Heritage, some of relevance to other Black pupil groups.

I hope to have produced a guidance document that will be of practical use to teachers in schools; within each sub-section are highlighted actions and recommendations which will enable schools to audit their current situation, develop their practice and create an increasingly inclusive whole-school ethos that is supportive and relevant for Dual Heritage pupils and families.

Terminology

The term Dual Heritage will be employed throughout this document; although labels are rarely unanimously agreed upon, it is currently considered by many to be a more acceptable and positive description than the still frequently used ‘mixed race’ (our pupils in schools often use the latter, and sometimes still the term ‘half-caste’).

Why not ‘mixed race’?
It is scientifically agreed that different ‘races’ do not exist, only one Human Race, therefore a shift from using the term ‘race’ seems to be the common order. Further, the word ‘mixed’ can have negative connotations in relation to identity e.g. ‘mixed up’, implying confusion and also that the original elements from both heritages are inevitably lost or changed.

Why not half-caste?
‘Caste’ is derived from the Portuguese word ‘casta’, meaning lineage or breed. In human culture, it refers to rigid social divisions, as in the Hindu caste system. Societies with a low degree of social mobility such as South Africa under apartheid and the practice of slavery in the Southern United States could be described as caste-based societies – the connotations of oppression are clear. Moreover, ‘half’ clearly implies lacking and incomplete, indicating inferiority…

Read the entire report here.

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Mixed Heritage Children and Young People: Issues and Ways Forward

Posted in Live Events, Media Archive, Teaching Resources, United Kingdom on 2009-08-20 00:45Z by Steven

Mixed Heritage Children and Young People: Issues and Ways Forward was a conference held in London, England on 2009-04-29 and hosted by the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service Cambridge Education @ Islington.

Featured speakers:

Leon Tikly, Professor
University of  Bristol

Bradley Lincoln
Multiple Heritage Project, Manchester

Featured Presentations:

Making Mixed Race Children Visible in the Education System

Jane Daffé, Senior EMA Consultant
Nottingham City, LA

Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing: A study of ‘Mixed Experiences’
…‘In junior school I remember feeling very popular. I had a large group of friends and we had all been brought up in the same area although our parents may have been from elsewhere. I went to the same high school as a lot of the girls in this group but they all spilt up and joined different groups that already existed within the school e.g. the Jewish girls joined a group of Jewish girls, the black girls joined a group of black girls etc. I wasn’t a ‘member’ of any of these groups and I didn’t want to be’
Dinah Morley

‘I had an attitude like I don’t know what to do I’ll just get on with things…I kind of changed my attitude like I was just saying well I can only be me …and it made things easier in a way’…

Improving the Educational Environment for Mixed Race Children
Professor Leon Tikly
University of Brsitol

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