Issues that present themselves in mainly ‘white’ areas

Research into mainly white schools published by the DfES in 2002 concluded:

• Diversity within the minority ethnic population must be recognised and respected. 'One size fits all' approaches create additional problems for minority ethnic pupils and their parents.
• Many teachers in mainly white schools minimise the significance and value of cultural and ethnic diversity.
• Many minority ethnic pupils, in consequence, are discouraged from appreciating and expressing important aspects of their identity and heritage.
• Mainly white schools are frequently not sufficiently aware of racism in the school population and in the local neighbourhood.

For isolated bilingual learners there are additional challenges:

• Lack of peer or adult support in sustaining their first language in school
• Isolation from religious, cultural and community language activities
• Lack of multilingual resources and culturally appropriate contexts for learning
• Parents having to give priority to English for economic mobility and acceptance
• Developing competence in English is often accompanied by loss of competency in pupil’s first language