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Initial Teacher Education programmes:providing a space to address thedisproportionate exclusion of Blackpupils from schools in England?Louise Gazeleya & Máiréad Dunnea

a School of Education and Social Work, University of Sussex,Brighton, UKPublished online: 09 Oct 2013.

To cite this article: Louise Gazeley & Máiréad Dunne (2013) Initial Teacher Education programmes:providing a space to address the disproportionate exclusion of Black pupils from schools inEngland?, Journal of Education for Teaching: International research and pedagogy, 39:5, 492-508,DOI: 10.1080/02607476.2013.844956

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Initial Teacher Education programmes: providing a space toaddress the disproportionate exclusion of Black pupils fromschools in England?

Louise Gazeley* and Máiréad Dunne

School of Education and Social Work, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

(Received 18 February 2013; accepted 13 June 2013)

Exclusion from school is a disciplinary sanction used in English schools tomanage behaviour by limiting a young person’s attendance at school and theover-representation of Black pupils in national exclusions statistics has been along-standing cause of concern. This paper reports on the findings of a small-scale, qualitative study that explored the opportunities that the student teachersin the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) departments of four English universitieshad to gain an understanding of this particular form of educational inequalityand how it might be addressed. Despite a strong focus on diversity and socialjustice within each institution, interviews with the student teachers highlightedgaps and inconsistencies in their opportunities to learn about exclusion fromschool and its disproportionate impact on Black young people. Nevertheless,Initial Teacher Education programmes emerged as an important space fromwhich to explore student teachers’ understandings of this issue, with a view tomoving them beyond the sort of more individualised understandings that militateagainst recognition of this as an equalities issue.

Keywords: Initial Teacher Education; school exclusion; diversity; equality;racism

The school is at once the mirror and the mould of society; it reflects the community inwhich it is set, and at the same time it helps to shape that community. (CheshireEducation Committee 1958, 15)

Introduction

Exclusion from school is a disciplinary sanction that is used in English schools tomanage more challenging behaviour by limiting a young person’s attendance atschool. Periods of exclusion are usually for a short term and for a fixed period, butin the most serious cases it can lead to permanent exclusion in which case arrange-ments must be made for a young person’s education to continue elsewhere. Asexclusion from school is associated with poorer future life chances, the use of thissanction has been a persistent cause of concern (Osler and Vincent 2003; Parsonset al. 2005; Office of the Children’s Commissioner 2012). Another significant con-cern is its disproportionate impact on particular groups of young people including

*Corresponding author. Email: lhg20@sussex.ac.uk

© 2013 Taylor & Francis

Journal of Education for Teaching, 2013Vol. 39, No. 5, 492–508, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2013.844956

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those: with additional educational needs; from specific ethnic backgrounds; in publiccare; from low-income backgrounds and boys (Gillborn 2001; Harris and Parsons2001; Parsons 2008; Gazeley 2010; Office of the Children’s Commissioner 2012).The over-representation of Black pupils in exclusions from school was the subjectof a Governmental Priority Review (DfES 2006a) that called for more to be donewithin Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to address this over-representation, a call thatis consistent with the view that when it comes to equalities issues, teacher educatorsshould see themselves as ‘providing spaces for change’ (Solomon et al. 2005, 166).As the small-scale, qualitative study discussed in this paper followed on from thePriority Review, it focused on ITE as a space from which the disproportionateexclusion of Black pupils from English secondary schools (catering for pupils aged11–18) might be addressed. Consistent with the Priority Review (DfES 2006a), theterm ‘Black’ is used throughout the paper, as it also was during interviews withparticipants.

The study was conducted in the ITE departments of four English universitiesselected for their location in large urban areas characterised by ethnically diversepopulations. In each locality, national initiatives were also known to be under-way in secondary schools as a response to higher rates of exclusion amongstBlack pupils locally. The research involved semi-structured interviews with eightITE tutors and twenty-three student teachers. Interviews explored where andhow the exclusion of Black pupils was being addressed and also how this issuewas understood.

The research identified a strong focus on diversity and social justice within eachinstitution and all four ITE programmes were found to be providing student teacherswith opportunities to learn about the disproportionate exclusion of Black pupils. Thetutors considered that ITE programmes provide an important, formative space as thisis the time when student teachers are encouraged to develop the habits of criticalreflection that will provide the foundations for their future practice. Interviews withthe student teachers suggested, however, that much of their learning about schoolexclusion had taken place at school level and in a rather unplanned way. Asked atinterview to identify the causes of higher rates of recorded exclusion amongst Blackpupils, the student teachers’ responses suggested a lack of confidence about theassociation between school exclusion and ethnicity, and a need to do more to:

Move their understanding away from the personal and the individual to effectivelyexamine the underlying systemic and institutional structures that reinforce racism.(Solomon et al. 2005, 155)

In the next section, school exclusion and its disproportionate impact on Blackpupils in English schools are discussed in more detail. Some of the challengesassociated with using ITE as a space in which to prepare student teachers to addressissues of diversity from a more critical perspective are also discussed. A briefoverview of the research design follows and the research findings are then discussedunder the following three headings:

(1) Learning about disciplinary exclusion.(2) Learning about diversity.(3) ITE tutors’ and student teachers’ understandings of the over-representation

of Black pupils among those formally excluded from school.

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Key issues in context

Disciplinary exclusion as a process rather than an outcome

A pupil can be formally excluded from a school in England as a disciplinarysanction providing that the necessary procedures are followed (DfE 2011a). A youngperson’s exclusion from school can be either for a fixed term or permanent, in whichcase alternative educational arrangements must be made. A minority of youngpeople are known to be excluded from school informally and illegally, however(Steer 2009; Office of the Children’s Commissioner 2012), making national data onrecorded exclusions unreliable (Vulliamy and Webb 2001). As exclusion fromschool limits school attendance, it has been identified as a human rights issue (Oslerand Vincent 2003; Office of the Children’s Commissioner 2012). It is also associatedwith other forms of social exclusion, with excluded young people known to be atincreased risk of involvement in crime (Osler and Vincent 2003; Munn and Lloyd2005). Consequently, there has been strong focus at policy level on using alterna-tives to exclusion wherever possible. These alternatives can include such things asspending time in school but in internal isolation, a managed move to another schooland, in the case of older pupils, a placement at a college of further education orwork experience. Fixed term and permanent exclusion are, therefore, part of a widercontinuum of provision that is inextricably linked to the wider disciplinary processesof schools and to a range of possible outcomes (Gazeley et al. 2013, 25; Munn,Lloyd, and Cullen 2000). As exclusion from school both reflects and reproduceswider patterns of social inequality (DfEs 2006a; Gazeley 2010; Gazeley 2012), itneeds to be viewed as a mechanism within schools which are themselves ‘a socialsystem … embedded in a wider society’ (Lacey 1970, xi) and through whichinequalities can be re-produced if not identified and addressed.

The disproportionate exclusion of Black pupils from English schools

Over the last decade, concerted efforts have been made to reduce the number ofyoung people being permanently excluded from schools in England. While theseefforts have met with some success, young people from Black backgrounds continueto be over-represented in national exclusion statistics (DfE 2011b). In 2011, the rateof permanent exclusion for Black Caribbean young people actually increasedslightly, making this group almost four times as likely to be permanently excludedas the school population as a whole (DfE 2011b). The long-term impact of thisover-representation is stated clearly in the Priority Review:

Even with the best efforts to improve provision for excluded pupils, the continued exis-tence of the exclusion gap means that Black pupils are disproportionately denied main-stream education and the improved life chances that go with it. (DfES 2006a, 15)

That this needs to be recognised as linked to systemic issues of long-standing issuggested by Mirza (2005) who provides an overview of the underachievement ofBlack children in the English education system over many decades. Similarly,Tomlinson (2005) notes that in England, Black middle-class parents often choose toeducate their children outside the state education sector.

The over-representation of Black pupils in exclusions from school has been linkedto a range of factors, including institutional racism (Gillborn 2001; Parsons et al. 2005;Parsons 2008; Thomson and Russell 2007) which is defined in the Priority Review as:

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Decisions made by people, who themselves may not be consciously racist, have theunintentional and cumulative effect of producing a racist outcome. (DfES 2006a, 26)

Black culture and masculine identity have also been identified as contributoryfactors (Sewell and Majors 2001; DfES 2006a), as have stereotypical perceptions ofBlack pupils which are thought to lead to harsher sanctioning of their behaviour(Gillborn and Youdell 2000; Blair 2001; DfES 2006a). The need for head teachersand governing bodies to avoid differential responses to the behaviour of Blackpupils has been highlighted in national guidance on exclusion which makes refer-ence to schools’ duties under equalities legislation (DfES 2006b). Parsons (2009)argues, however, that passive racism is also a contributory factor, stemming from alack of action to identify and address institutional racism.

The focus on diversity within ITE programmes

A key conclusion of the Priority Review (DfES 2006a) was that more needs to bedone in ITE to address the over-representation of young Black people in nationalexclusion statistics. A recent survey of newly qualified teachers in England found,however, that only 52% of student teachers thought that their training programmewas either good or very good in preparing them to teach young people from minor-ity ethnic backgrounds (TDA 2012, 35). Allard and Santoro (2006) also note thatstudent teachers can be insecure in their own gendered, classed and ethnic identities,and fearful of being thought racist. Santoro (2009) contends that developing astudent teacher’s understanding of ‘self’ is crucial and for Solomon et al. (2005), therelative absence of student teachers from Black and minority ethnic backgroundsmakes it:

Increasingly important to have teacher candidates explore their personal attitudes andunderstandings of the ways in which their racial ascription and social positioninginform their actual practices and interactions with students. (Solomon et al. 2005, 149)

Lander (2011) in another study of ITE practice critiques a tendency to compart-mentalise teaching on diversity within professional studies courses, arguing thatinput relating to race equality needs to be embedded and delivered from a criticalrace theory perspective if it is to empower student teachers to address racism. Thisapproach is also advocated by Solomon et al. (2005) who note, however, that it canmeet resistance and denial rather than moving student teachers beyond more individ-ualised understandings of these issues. Although it is clear that ITE can provide aspace in which to support student teachers in developing the more confident andcritical approaches to diversity that they will need to take forward into their futurepractice, a tendency to focus on the development of the technical skills for teachingis contributing to this becoming an increasingly squeezed space. (Solomon et al.2005; Gazeley and Dunne 2007; Lander 2011; Gazeley et al. 2013)

Research design

This section provides a brief overview of the research design. Initially, ITEdepartments in four English universities located in large urban areas wereapproached as suitable sites for the study. All four were situated in areas of

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significant ethnic diversity and secondary schools in the locality were also known tobe involved in national initiatives to reduce the disproportionate exclusion of Blackpupils.

Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with eight ITE tutors and 23secondary, one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) student teachersfrom across the four institutions as shown in Table 1.

Interviews lasted for a maximum of 60 minutes and were designed to explorethe following areas:

(1) input received by the student teachers on behaviour management and disci-plinary exclusion in schools;

(2) input received by the student teachers on diversity and race equality andwhether this had ever been linked to behaviour management or disciplinaryexclusion;

(3) understandings of the issue of disproportionate rates of disciplinary exclu-sion amongst Black pupils; and

(4) views on what else might be done within ITE to contribute to a reduction indisproportionate rates of exclusion amongst Black pupils.

The student teachers were interviewed either individually, in pairs or ingroups. Identified by the ITE tutor coordinating the visit to each department onthe basis of their willingness to participate and their availability on the day, thestudent teachers formed an opportunity sample. They were all working with sec-ondary age pupils (ages 11–18) and taking the one-year PGCE programme, acourse that is taken following a first degree and that leads to qualified teacherstatus on successful completion. The PGCE programme is led and coordinatedby the ITE department but during their PGCE year student teachers spend muchof their time on school placement supported by a school mentor. The studentteachers had subject-specialisms in the following curriculum areas: Art andDesign; Citizenship; English; Geography; History; Mathematics and Science.They were all interviewed by the same White, female, middle-class researcher.Sixteen of the 23 interviewed were female (70%) and seven were male (30%).The majority (74%) were White British. Their self-identifications of their ethnicbackgrounds are provided in Table 2.

The student teachers were interviewed towards the end of their PGCE pro-grammes. This enabled them to reflect on both the input provided within the ITEdepartment and their school-placement experiences, eliciting insights into both for-mal and informal learning opportunities.

Table 1. Interviews conducted in each institution.

ITE dept.One

ITE dept.Two

ITE dept.Three

ITE dept.Four

Number of student teachersinterviewed

5 8 4 6

Number of ITE tutors interviewed 1 3 3 1Total number interviewed at eachinstitution

6 11 7 7

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The tutors interviewed were involved in a wider range of ITE programmesincluding but not exclusively, the secondary PGCE programme. They were able toprovide an overview of the formal opportunities that ITE programmes provide tolearn about the disproportionate exclusion of Black pupils. All tutors wereinterviewed individually by the same researcher as the student teachers. Three werefemale and five male, one of whom was Black.

Data for each institution were read several times in order to identify commonali-ties and differences across the four institutions and between the two respondentgroups. Data were then analysed and synthesised in relation to the following threebroad themes:

(1) Opportunities for student teachers to learn about behaviour management anddisciplinary exclusion.

(2) Opportunities for student teachers to develop their understandings ofdiversity as an issue for future practice.

(3) Understandings of the over-representation of Black pupils amongst thoseformally excluded from schools and of how this might be addressed.

In the following discussion, each interviewee is identified by name but also asappropriate by a number indicating the institution, and either the letters ‘ST’ (studentteacher) or ‘T’ (tutor) to denote role.

Discussion

Learning about disciplinary exclusion

The study indicated that all four ITE departments provided a range of opportunitiesfor student teachers to learn about exclusion from school as well as about the dispro-portionate exclusion of Black pupils specifically. For example, professionalsemployed in local authority support services had been invited in to the ITE depart-ment to deliver lectures on alternative provision and the support available forexcluded pupils. The student teachers said they had found insights like these illumi-nating. The attention paid to school exclusion within all four ITE programmes wasboth varied and limited, however. Tutors and student teachers indicated that therewas a stronger focus on developing behaviour management strategies that might beused to engage young people in learning and prevent behaviour difficulties arising.The tutors suggested that the more limited attention paid to school exclusion

Table 2. Student teachers’ gender and self-identifications of ethnic background.

Ethnic background Female Male Total

White British 10 6 16White Welsh 1 0 1Black Caribbean 1 0 1White + Black Caribbean 1 0 1Iraqi 1 0 1South Korean 1 0 1British Pakistani 0 1 1Asian Pakistani 1 0 1Total 16 7 23

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reflected its more specialist nature, one also indicating that it fell outside his area ofexpertise. Another thought that colleagues’ interests might simply lie elsewhere.

Although the tutors generally considered exclusion from school to be an issue ofless immediate relevance to student teachers at this stage in their professional devel-opment, the student teachers’ accounts suggested that most were already workingwith young people at risk of exclusion from school. One reported, for example, hav-ing been asked to gather evidence that might be used to support a pupil’s exclusionand several raised concerns about unpredictable patterns of attendance that they feltmade learning more difficult and created additional challenges when it came to plan-ning and delivering lessons:

You’ve been going along on a topic like rainforests, trying to teach low ability anywaywhich is difficult and all of a sudden a kid turns up that you’ve never met before,you’re already so far down the line, he turns up and he’s done nothing on rainforestsand you’ve got to try and juggle your teaching to suit his needs and he’s just turnedup. Not that he really wants to be there anyway, but you’ve still got to make the effortto do that. And you’ve got like 17 or 18 pupils who are possibly there and there’s onekid who turns up there and no one’s really told me ever how you deal with that situa-tion. You’ve just got to try and figure it out for yourself, learn for yourself. No one’sever taken me to one side and said this is what you do for a kid who’s been away forso long. This is the best way to sort of integrate him back into the system. (Luke, ST2)

In addition to trying to meet the learning needs of these young people in theclassroom, several student teachers indicated that they were also trying to providework for pupils to do while in internal isolation:

I’ve had to plan to have work sent to them and I’ve had to make sure that, for exam-ple, I might use power point or the board to get a point across to the kids that are inmy class, now if this kid’s in exclusion, temporary exclusion, he won’t have thatopportunity to see these things on the whiteboard so I have to take into consideration,the worksheets that I have, will he be able to use these with me not being there? Andthe textbook and a worksheet, is he going to be able to understand … So yeah, I amstarting to think about, what can I do if there are kids in isolation? (Luke, ST2)

The student teachers noted that in practice it was often too difficult to supportpupils’ learning outside the classroom in this way because of poor communicationor a lack of knowledge: You couldn’t set work. You didn’t know where they were(Maya, ST4).

In addition to these first-hand experiences, several student teachers described hav-ing been briefed on school exclusion by senior staff in the placement schools. Thesebriefings were said to have focused on providing an understanding of the formal pro-cedures that needed to be gone through before a pupil could be excluded. One studentteacher thought that the motivation behind this input had been to counterbalancenegative or misleading comments that might be overheard in the school staffroom:

I think from what she [school-level tutor] said, a lot of teachers will talk about it in thestaffroom, ‘Why don’t they just get rid of that pupil, why don’t we just do that?’ Andthen she said, and this is why we don’t, because we have to go all through all the pre-vious things. (Alex, ST3)

Input of this type is necessary not only to ensure that student teachers have anunderstanding of the specific practices associated with school exclusion, but also an

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appreciation of the rationale for adopting a more inclusive approach to a youngperson at risk of exclusion and how this can best be supported:

I don’t see any use in a child being in constant isolation from lessons, every singleday, taking up more and more resources. Sorry if I’m being a bit hard with that but Ijust find it really hard to think that so much money should be spent on these kids whoare just constantly disruptive all the time, just because the school doesn’t want to losemoney on getting rid of them all together. (Lucy, ST2)

The implication that student teachers need to be provided with input on schoolexclusion within the ITE department to develop their understanding of good practicewas further suggested by another student teacher’s account of an incident duringschool placement:

‘Guys, guys, I’ve managed to get rid of her. We’re working on this one next’… Doyou think maybe it’s because you all view her as a horrible child? As soon as she doesanything: Wow! That girl, she’s a trouble-maker. I can’t believe all the cheers whenlike: ‘I’m working on it, she’s nearly gone.’ That’s horrible. Everyone’s cheering thefact that she’s leaving. I mean, I’m pretty sure she can tell the fact that she’s notwanted. (Maya, ST4)

Where the individual practitioner fixes the limits of inclusive practice is criticalto the success of pupils experiencing behaviour difficulties and several studentteachers noted that there could be tensions between inclusion and exclusion:

Mark: We looked at inclusion really. Inclusion was the main thing at ourschool. It was all about inclusion. It was like, if you’ve got a naughtykid, they were included in some way as in. Ha, that’s it, they call itinclusion, where they’ll have an inclusion room where students, insteadof them missing school for a week, they spend a week in the inclusionroom. Work’s set, but learning points are actioned.

Tony: That to me doesn’t seem very inclusive.Mark: Yeah, it’s a strange phrase isn’t it, yeah it’s interesting that they call it

inclusion because I’m not sure if it is actually.

During one of the group interviews some of the student teachers discussed ateacher’s need to balance the needs of the individual against those of the group:

It’s difficult because in the one way you don’t want to make that child’s life evenworse, but at the same time there has to be a point where you think, no, we’ve doneenough now. It’s not fair on the rest of the school that every lesson you go into theyall suffer because you cannot behave. (Claire, ST2)

The importance of providing a space within ITE in which student teachers candiscuss and reflect on their positioning in relation to issues of inclusion andexclusion was further suggested by the following comment: So it’s sort of where doyou draw the line really (Emily, ST2).

Overall, the student teachers’ accounts suggested that they were already workingwith young people involved in school exclusion processes and that much of theirlearning on this issue was taking place informally at school level. Their commentssuggested, however, the importance of consistent and planned coverage of issuesrelating to school exclusion very early on in ITE programmes, with a view to

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developing confident and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning during whatis a formative period.

Learning about diversity

The tutors suggested that there were rather more opportunities to explore issues ofdiversity than school exclusion within the formal components of the ITE pro-grammes. Both tutors and student teachers reported a strong emphasis on diversityin the professional studies courses that provided much of the taught content onissues relating to race, social class and gender. The student teachers in one institu-tion suggested, however, that the depth of their knowledge of each area was shapedby their particular interests as they were able to undertake an assessment with a sin-gle focus:

Sajid: I did the one on ethnicity and I did find some statistics on like Blackachievement and stuff. And they were saying that Afro-Caribbean boystend to be excluded more and that the perceptions that teachers have ofthem are lower as well. So I came across that. It also tied in with socialclass … as well as gender so it was really complicated.

Lucy: But the majority of us did gender on that essay. And we were kind ofencouraged to pick that option. It was easier … A lot of us didn’t do anywork on racial equality.

More balanced coverage was noted at another institution where methods ofdelivery and assessment ensured that all of the student teachers on the PGCE pro-gramme covered all aspects of the professional studies course material in depth. Thestudent teachers generally appeared most confident when talking about diversity inrelation to the delivery of their curriculum subject and they indicated that this wassomething that they thought carefully about when planning resources for lessons.John, the only Black tutor in the sample, thought that there needed to be moreemphasis on factors affecting young Black people within the English education sys-tem, however, and as discussed by Mirza (2005), on how their parents had beentreated by it in the past.

As an indication of the emphasis placed on student teachers’ attitudestowards diversity, the tutors in one ITE department explained that all PGCEapplicants were asked about the advantages of learning to teach in an ethnicallydiverse city. Consistent with the literature (Allard and Santoro 2006; Solomonet al. 2005), tutors noted that student teachers on these programmes were pre-dominantly White, middle class and female. Tutors in all four providers alsoindicated that they were actively seeking to recruit and retain teachers fromBlack and minority ethnic backgrounds, suggesting that they were aware of anational policy focus on these issues but also that the disciplinary exclusion ofBlack pupils is part of a wider systemic problem.

Many of the White student teachers interviewed suggested that they had rela-tively little prior experience of diversity and school placements were seen to providean important opportunity to gain this experience:

The best way of training is to get sort of hands on, to get in there. Much as you canlecture about it and give statistics, you are not really going to appreciate it until youare in the school environment I don’t think. (Alex, ST3)

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However, even though the four providers were all situated in ethnically diverse,urban areas, differences in the social and ethnic composition of the placementschools led to student teachers having very different opportunities to gain experiencein this way. The patterns of social stratification noted by both respondent groups inrelation to the placement schools were also present in the student teachers’ accountsof their own school experiences, reflecting once again the intersection of schoolswith wider patterns of social inequality:

So for me, I’ve been to working class, White predominantly, schools, and haven’treally seen this issue very much. But I imagine if I’d gone to an inner city school, I’dhave seen something different. (Alex, ST3)

The tutors noted that the very real constraints on school placements meant thatnot all student teachers would have had the opportunity to learn in an ethnicallydiverse context and that the ITE programme within the university therefore providedan important space in which to discuss and contextualise school-level experiences:

What we have to do is to try and help them see beyond the specificity of that experi-ence and to help them to be able to identify what is particular to that school and whatis more universal. (Kate, T1)

Nevertheless, some of the student teachers thought a lack of first-hand experi-ence of diversity contributed to a lack of confidence that they would take into theirfuture practice:

I do lack that sort of knowledge, in the sort of things around ethnicity and diversityand I’ll put my hand up and say, I would maybe know perhaps how to deal with apupil with English as an Additional Language … If I was to take that maybe home,where I was born, most of the schools, I’d be in a minority. So it worries me to think,would I be equipped with those skills to be able to deal with those you know, in thosesorts of schools where you haven’t got people that are predominantly White? (Amy,ST3)

One student teacher reflected on his fears of being thought racist when dealingwith behavioural issues, highlighting the value of using the space within the univer-sity to bring more difficult issues of this sort to the forefront rather than leavingthem unaddressed:

I’d say personally, that I think I’m very hesitant to punish any kids from any Asianbackground, really. Because where I come from, where I was brought up and went toschool there were no Black kids. Oh, there was one Black kid at school. I’m not sayingthat it’s affected me in a bad way, but your background does affect you in some way. Imean I try and treat everyone fairly, but I do sometimes feel that if you’re not, peoplemight be judging you on that, but I don’t know. It’s obviously quite an awkward topicfor anyone to discuss really … Obviously there is a lot of racism and prejudice about… In school, I haven’t seen any pupil, or teacher or pupil kind of prejudiced, I don’tthink. I can’t say I’ve witnessed it. However, no one’s actually brought up the subjectat school …Race is quite an awkward subject people find to talk about. And as teach-ers we really shouldn’t find it awkward. It should be part of our professionalism to beable to talk about all these things. (Mark, ST1)

A discussion that took place between some of the student teachers during one ofthe group interviews suggested that when a safe space of this type is offered, it has

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the potential to open up attitudes and misconceptions associated with the ‘self’(Santoro 2009) in ways that encourage the identification of stereotypes andinequalities:

Sajid: So what are we saying? It’s society’s views? Kids themselves not feelingthat it’s relevant to them? ... Because I also think it’s partly like the back-ground. I mean personally, from my experience Asian kids tend to be abit more grounded because their family backgrounds are a lot more con-trolling and strict. So I think it might be parental, like role models andstuff like that.

Claire: But then you could say the same about White kids. In the school I’m at,yeah that is the case with lots of the Afro-Caribbean families, but it’salso the case with a lot of the White kids and there are more White kidsthan there are Afro-Caribbean in the school. But they don’t have such astigma attached to them in school. They’re more viewed as the poorWhite, as opposed to the group that will cause trouble.

John, the only Black tutor in the sample, argued as does Blair (2001), that it isessential for ITE programmes to address common misconceptions about Blackyoung people:

There’s a lack of understanding of who Black kids are and how they are and even theway they speak in the playground, some people will take exception to the way theyuse language. (John, T4)

The importance of this type of input was further suggested by this studentteacher’s account of a misconception encountered on school placement:

I haven’t had a huge amount of experience at all with this but I do remember having acouple of African-Caribbean boys in one of my classes and the automatic sort ofreaction of the people that I was working with was to say, ‘well, they’ve got very quicktempers.’ And that was kind of the explanation, ‘just watch it, they’ve got quicktempers.’ Which is very odd. But that was kind of what I think what they put it downto. So whether that’s a kind of stereotype that makes people think, oh they’ve gotquick tempers. (Emily, ST2)

The discussion that took place during this group interview suggested thepotential for the ITE programme to provide a safe space in which to reflect on expe-riences of this type, raising awareness of how such (unconscious) preconceptionsmight affect the sanctioning of behaviour and contribute to different groups ofyoung people having very different experiences of school:

Lucy: I don’t know whether it’s connected as well but I was teaching quite alot of Afro-Caribbean kids when I was at this school in X and a lot ofthem, I don’t know, because I think they’re a lot bigger physically. I’mnot saying fatter, they’re taller. They can be more intimidating as well.So perhaps teachers are more likely to try and get them out before theykind of cause a problem. Whereas perhaps with other, the smaller-builtWhite students, it’s OK you can shout at them, it’s fine. But trying tosort of tell off a kid that’s several inches taller than you is quite tricky.And I would find as well that a lot of theAfro-Caribbean boys as well would stretch and lounge a bit more per-haps than the other kids would do.

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Claire: Maybe we need a bit more training there perhaps – in terms of bodylanguage doesn’t necessarily mean, they’re being naughty.

Although the student teachers felt that they would have found more discussionof the intersection of behaviour management with ethnicity useful, John noted (asdo Solomon et al. 2005) that input that challenges a student teacher’s preconceptionsis sometimes resisted:

Last year actually some students were really quite hostile … I was talking about anexperience I had previously … This woman [one of the student teachers] … wascompletely going through the points I’d raised. And I thought to myself, what’s thepoint? What’s the point in doing this work really, with people who obviously resentthe things you say? They cannot accept that that form of racism exists … She did notaccept my explanations even in that one to one situation … She was in fact placed at aschool that was at least 60% Black. And yet she would have no idea or understandingor appreciation of the kind of experience that some of those kids would be having, ormembers of their family. And when you try to open up those experiences to people likethat, beginning teachers, they completely reject them. (John, T4)

Once again, although the student teachers’ accounts typically emphasised theimportance of opportunities to learn from first-hand experience, it was clear thatopportunities to learn at school level varied and that they could also be problematic.This suggested, as argued by the ITE tutors themselves, that there is a potentiallyimportant space within the institution that can be used to probe and extend school-level learning on difficult issues.

ITE tutors’ and student teachers’ understandings of the disproportionateexclusion of Black pupils

Tutors and student teachers in all four institutions indicated that there had beenopportunities to learn about the disproportionate exclusion of Black pupils fromschools in England and this was recognised as an important concern. It had, forinstance, been covered in the professional studies courses, in curriculum groups,through independent study and during one-off lectures, such as one attended by allof the PGCE students in one institution on teachers and the law. The student teach-ers indicated that much of what they had learnt about the issue had been throughstatistics presented in large lectures – a mode of delivery that was generally felt tobe less engaging. Tutors emphasised that this was ITE and that, although the time towork with student teachers within the institution was very limited, it neverthelessprovided the foundations for their future practice:

I think it is fundamentally about the sort of teacher you want to become – not aboutsubject knowledge … They’re at the beginning of their careers. They have to workwithin the system in which they find themselves. I hope they won’t lose that enquiringthoughtfulness. A large number will go on to be managers and leaders and will be ableto have much more influence. (Kate, T1)

The tutors suggested that their key concern was to produce not technicians, butreflective practitioners with the capacity to develop more detailed and structuralunderstandings of this issue in the future.

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Consistent with points made in the literature (Gillborn 2001; Parsons 2008,2009), when asked at interview to suggest reasons for the disproportionate exclusionof Black pupils, two tutors felt strongly that institutional racism was the keyconstruct to be considered: Otherwise you degenerate into an individualist sort ofontology where somehow all teachers are racists (Frank, T2). Other factorsidentified by the tutors included social disadvantage, Black masculinity anddifferences in cultural capital. The ITE tutors discussed identity as complex, withrace and ethnicity intersecting with social class and gender. They were also criticalof approaches considered to oversimplify these issues, including of a policy-levelapproach in which outcomes for specific groups are quantified. This was said toencourage a homogenised approach that treats people as though they are categorieswithout getting at the underpinning problems (Kate, T1). Another tutor also thoughtthat this type of approach could encourage stereotyping:

I don’t want them to be people who will just say. Well, that person belongs to thatparticular ethnic minority so they won’t be able to succeed. Labelling. We’re verymuch against labelling … You do have to treat the kids as individuals. Not the Blackchild that comes in, or the pupils with Special Educational Needs so therefore you fitinto that particular category. (David, T2)

Unsurprisingly, the student teachers were more hesitant than the ITE tutors whenasked to account for the disproportionate exclusion of Black pupils. Indeed, a smallnumber were very reluctant to offer an explanation, saying that they lacked theknowledge or direct experience to express a view: There weren’t many Black kids inmy school so I can’t really comment (Kim, ST4). Another student teacher noted anapparent contradiction between her school-placement experiences and the picture ofthis issue painted at policy level:

See I find this difficult because all the Black pupils I have are extremely bright andway cleverer than any of the White. And very hard working … So I don’t know whothey’re comparing with on underachieving because all my underachievers are allWhite. And a lot are girls. (Sarah, ST3)

Some student teachers also felt that it might be counter-productive to give toomuch attention to the issue:

I think there is definitely a danger in making too much of it and that’s going to affectus adversely when we go into schools. (Emily, ST2)

These kinds of responses have been described by Solomon et al. (2005) as aform of avoidance and non-engagement that leaves in place the sort of individua-lised approach which Gilborn and Youdell (2000) also argue militates against theidentification of systemic inequalities. Nevertheless, some of the student teachers feltthat there were times when teachers worked with preconceptions that contributed topoorer outcomes: It’s quite horrible really. I find teachers really keep thestereotyping going a lot of the time (Maya, ST4).

Only a small number of the student teachers indicated that they were familiarwith the concept of institutional racism and a lack of access to this construct is likelyto have added to their lack of confidence when asked to account for disproportionaterates of exclusion amongst Black pupils. This resonates with Lander’s (2011)

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research in which only two of the eight student teachers in her case study of ITEpractice held this type of more structural understanding securely, with another twoaware of, but not sufficiently secure, to be able to use these understandings tochallenge poor practices. Given their lack of recourse to these constructs, it isperhaps not that surprising that the student teachers interviewed for this researchtended to focus on more overt forms of racism:

If students that came on this course had any incredible racism issues of their own,which perhaps it would be good to uncover before they went on placement … Youcan’t have a sort of tick box exercise: No I don’t have this prejudice - like medicalconditions. Have you suffered from this? Do you have preconceptions about this?[Laughter]. But as you say, I don’t think they should over-egg it as it could be turnedinto too much of an issue. (Lucy, ST2)

The student teachers noted that racism was something that they were expected toactively address, but it was also something that they felt they had not seen:

It’s not a big issue. It’s just everybody’s a pupil, that’s it, they’re all treated equal,nobody, you never hear any comments from anybody, nobody ever treated anydifferently. (Sarah, ST3)

Some of the student teachers also raised the concern that they might beperceived as racist for expressing a view on the causes of the disproportionateexclusion of Black pupils when asked to do so:

Researcher: If we accept that there is this problem around Black pupils, particularlyBlack boys, can you explain why we have this problem?

Luke: With young Black males?Researcher: And exclusionLuke: It’s difficult isn’t it? Because I mean. In terms of why I think it’s

happening?Researcher: Yeah.Luke: Yeah. Oh god, I don’t want to sound as though I’m racist here though.

And White people do. They get involved in gangs. I mean I’m justguessing. I was talking about this to my family. The lad I was talkingabout earlier. He’s not going to get an education obviously. He doesn’tsee the importance of it. He’s given up on it.

Overall, the student teachers’ lack of recourse to more structural explanationsof the over-representation of Black pupils in exclusions seemed to contribute totheir more hesitant responses, one summing up his current understanding in thisway:

There’s two ways of looking at [the exclusion gap]. Either one, teaching staff are look-ing at pupils differently and putting to exclusion pupils from ethnic backgroundsquicker. Or you might actually see that pupils from ethnic backgrounds have moreproblems in school. (Tony, ST1)

Tony’s identification of a number of possible explanations seems an importantfirst step in understanding this issue, but where and how these understandings willbe developed in future practice if they are not developed at this stage seems lesscertain. The tutors’ more ready access to structural explanations of this particularform of inequality suggest the importance of making more use of ITE as a space

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from which to extend student teachers’ understandings of these critical issues andconcepts, in order to empower them and bring them in to ‘the change process’(Solomon et al. 2005, 159).

Final thoughts

This section seeks to draw out some of the wider implications to emerge from thissmall-scale study of relevance to those working with student teachers in ITE. As thedisciplinary processes of schools in England have become more complex, it hasbecome increasingly important for student teachers to understand, not only the pro-cesses and practices associated with school exclusion, but also their impact on theyoung people they teach. This is particularly important as this group includes youngpeople who are often amongst the least well supported and most vulnerable. Thestudent teachers who were interviewed for this study had already gained somefirst-hand experience of working with these young people, making it particularlyimportant to ensure that ITE programmes pay more specific attention to the develop-ment of the skills and knowledge that student teachers will need immediately, to beable to confidently support their learning and inclusion. Despite the emphasis in stu-dent teachers’ accounts on the value of learning through first-hand experience, thisstudy suggests that the ITE department provides an important space in which to setout the essential elements of inclusive practice, thereby ensuring more consistentcoverage, but also to provide room for critical reflection on differences and tensionsfound at school level.

This small-scale study also indicated that even when the ITE provider is locatedin an area of high ethnic diversity, there is no guarantee that student teachers willgain sufficient first-hand experience of diversity to feel well prepared to take accountof this in their future practice. Like other studies of ITE practice (Solomon et al.2005; Santoro 2009; Lander 2011), this research highlighted, not only a lack of con-fidence in relation to issues of identity, but also an individualised perspective thatlimits the possibilities for recognising and addressing systemic inequalities. Widerstructural understandings are required if the disproportionate exclusion of Blackpupils is to be recognised and addressed as an equity issue. As others have alsoargued (Blair 2001; Solomon et al. 2005; Santoro 2009; Lander 2011), teacher edu-cators in ITE departments have an important role to play as they occupy a space thatcan be used to: explore student teachers’ preconceptions about behaviour and iden-tity; support them in thinking through the implications of their own identity andpositioning: to develop more critical understandings of how schools work as socialsystems (Lacey 1970). That there can be an entrenched defensiveness that it takesplanning, time and commitment to overcome was reinforced by John’s account ofhow his own first-hand experiences as a Black man were sometimes rejected whenshared with student teachers.

The national data on recorded exclusions from schools in England providescontinuing evidence of its disproportionate impact on specific groups of young peo-ple (DfE 2011b), suggesting a continuing need to recognise and address this as anequalities issue (Office of the Children’s Commissioner 2012; Gazeley et al. 2013).In England, it is policy-makers who very largely set the agenda for practice in bothITE and schools. This makes it important for the exclusion of Black pupils to berecognised and addressed as a systemic issue at policy level, as was the case withthe publication of the Priority Review (DfES 2006a). Current moves in England are

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towards a larger role for schools in the preparation of student teachers and a reducedrole for university departments. It is not clear if this will lead to student teachersbeing better prepared to deal with issues relating to school exclusion or to fasterprogress in tackling this particular form of educational inequality.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our thanks to Multiverse and the TDA for funding thisresearch and to the ITE tutors and student teachers who participated in it.

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