Investigating why pupils in a range of primary and secondary schools in Southeast Wales, UK, do not report racist incidents / racist bullying. Implications and recommendations for practice

Our research explores and documents reasons why pupils in five local authority areas (LAs) in Southeast Wales (SEW), UK, are under-reporting incidents of racism/racist bullying in schools. We engaged with pupils from Black and Racially Minoritised (BRM) backgrounds, eliciting their views through focus group conversations with them, their parents and teachers. The research sample included 10 schools in the SEW area: five primary schools and five secondary schools. We adopted a social justice lens which is critical of ‘race’ and racialised social formations. Through this lens we uncovered a number of findings. We found that racist incidents/racist bullying impact and affect young people in detrimental ways. Pupils who had experienced racist incidents / racist bullying valued the opportunity of having their voices heard during the research process but were sceptical that it would make a difference to them in their everyday school lives. We suggest that schools put in place clear policies, which record and address incidents, along with robust training for all school staff. Our conclusions are currently being used in the co-construction and implementation of recommendations for professional learning for teachers, educational strategy and policy reform to negate racist incidents/racist bullying in schools within the SEW region.