Whole School Approach to Racism and Racist Incidents - equality impact assessment

Key Findings

Feedback from members of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme (AREP) Stakeholder Network Group and Racism and Racist Incidents workstream formed an important aspect of the evidence base. Members were clear that not enough was being done to address racism in schools. Members described that adversely racialised children and young people were experiencing racism in schools, and when reported, schools were unsure or unwilling to respond. This was causing harm to children and young people and their families. Racism was being misidentified as ‘bullying’, which was causing it to be responded to inappropriately, and there was a strong call to distinguish racism from bullying in the whole school approach guidance. Members reported that often, school responses to incidents of racism were creating feelings of distrust between adversely racialised families and schools, as families did not feel incidents were being responded to appropriately. Members encouraged work on the Whole School Approach to include consideration of parents, carers and families who experience racism in a school setting.

Research published in 2024 on ‘Teacher responses to racially motivated bullying in Scotland’ found that racially motivated bullying remains pervasive across Scottish schools, but that ‘teacher responses to the study indicated a reluctance and, at times, inability to recognise and name incidents as racist.” Further data highlighted the reliance on strategies such as asking the person who had experienced the racist incident to educate their peers, one-to-one discussions with both pupils involved in an incident, and a dependence on using their own ‘instinct’ to appraise an incident and response which can lead to inconsistent responses both within and between schools.

In 2017, the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee highlighted the serious impact of racism experienced at school on children and young people. The Committee noted that ‘the fear of victimisation amongst parents can have a disproportionate impact on the education and wellbeing of children.’ This was particularly noted with respect to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities. This concern is echoed in Maureen Finn’s study on ‘The educational experiences of children and adults from the Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland’ (2024), which found that “children and families experiencing persistent racism and discrimination was noted as a key barrier preventing Gypsy/ Traveller children and their families from participating fully in the Scottish education system.” Examples included incidents when staff failed to recognise and manage racist incidents involving GRT children and young people.

A limitation in the data available on reported incidents of racism was noted, as data is not routinely gathered or published at national level. However, the Behaviour In Scottish Schools Research 2023 (BISSR) noted that 17% of school staff encountered racist abuse towards other pupils in the classroom in the last week. A 2022 CRER report on Local Authorities’ approaches to racist incidents demonstrated an upward trend in recorded incidents of racism from 2016/2017 onwards (with a dip in 2019/2020 reflecting school closures), while also noting a strong likelihood of inconsistencies in policy and practice around recording and monitoring across Local Authorities. Evidence from HMIe’s 2023 thematic inspection on recording and monitoring bullying incidents indicated that schools’ current approaches to recording and monitoring bullying incidents, including those which involve protected characteristics, differ between schools. The report noted that there is significant scope for schools to strengthen their arrangements for using data to identify patterns and trends of incidents of all types of bullying to help guide improvements in practice. Senior leaders noted concern about the impact of recording incidents of bullying, including prejudice-based bullying, on the children or young people involved, including concern about inaccurately labelling children as ‘bullies’ or ‘victims’.

There is some evidence to indicate that racism and racist behaviour differs between primary and secondary schools. BISSR found that school staff encountering racist abuse towards other pupils in the classroom in the last week was more common in secondary schools (22%) than primary schools (13%). Within primary schools, 16% of P4-7 staff encounter racist abuse towards other pupils at least once a week compared with 7% of P1-3 staff. However, the BISSR study also indicated that there is some evidence to show that in primary schools, being in a school with a higher proportion of pupils with English as an additional language was associated with more frequent experiences of negative behaviour, including ‘discriminatory abuse towards pupils’.

The whole school approach to racism and racist incidents includes guidance for school staff who experience racism at school. BISSR noted a small proportion (1%) of all staff had personally experienced racism in the last 12 months. As with between-pupil incidents, this was more common in secondary (2%) than primary (>1%). However, as staff demographics relating to protected characteristics other than gender were not captured by the BISSR survey, it is not possible to ascertain whether the study accurately reflects the experiences of adversely racialised school staff. In comparison, a 2018 Survey of EIS members who identified as Black and Minority Ethnic found that a significant majority (71%, or nearly three-quarters) of all respondents had experienced racism in their capacity as a teacher or lecturer. Most common manifestations of racism were racist language used by pupils (mentioned over half of respondents) and racist attitudes among pupils (mentioned by nearly half). The NASUWT Behaviour in Schools survey 2025 which covered the whole of the UK, found that teachers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to experience physical and verbal abuse from pupils. Teachers also reported pupils using racist language towards them.

Overall, the proposed Whole School Approach guidance was assessed to be expected to have a positive impact in relation to the applicable protected characteristics in schools for both children and young people, and staff, particularly reducing discrimination on the basis of race. Positive impacts on reducing religious discrimination were also noted. While there is limited evidence for the experiences of children and young people and/or school staff who experience racism alongside discrimination on other grounds such as homophobia or disability, it was noted that a whole-school anti-racist environment will benefit all members of a school community by demonstrating that all people should be valued and respected, and that prejudice of any kind will not be tolerated.

It was assessed that there would be positive effect in terms of the three Public Sector Equality Duties. The guidance supports schools to fulfil their duties under the Equalities Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

The next iteration of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research will be used to monitor changes in experiences of pupils’ behaviour, and staff experiences, including in relation to racism and racist incidents. Changes are being made to the BISSR questionnaire to gather more information on staff demographics, including ethnicity and religion, to enable more detailed analysis of staff experiences. More information is being provided about the range of behaviours that would be included within the definition of ‘racist abuse’ to support staff interpretation of this question. Evidence will also be gathered through continuing engagement with the AREP, including evaluation work.