Basing views about race on facts? Meso-level policy actors’ navigation of anti-racist and faith-inclusive expression with schools

Anti-racist movements are recurrently represented by right-wing political figures as threatening free speech in universities, and turning schools into politically biased spaces. Beyond central government policy discourse, little is known about the practice of governing anti-racist and faith-inclusive expression in education. This paper examines how meso-level policy actors struggle over the governance of expression on such questions in English schools. Based in a critical conceptualisation of ‘postracial’ meta-governance, we thematically analyse interviews with 23 diverse English education policy actors. The analysis unearths how these actors shape, align with, or challenge policy definitions of ‘facts’ and ‘contested views’ on racism and related issues in schools; the ethico-political problems with helping schools ‘manage’ youth speech in a politically polarised Britain and; the undermining of practitioners’ affective capacities to navigate youth political expression. The paper illustrates the critical role of education policy actors in translating and/or resisting ‘postracial’ policies on legitimate school-based speech.