What Might be Done to Recognise and Identify Institutional Racism?
Understanding racism makes it easier to consider the possibility of institutional racism. It is important : • to collect, analyse and evaluate ethnic data (monitor) on all processes where decisions are made (including employment, admissions, promotions); • to be alert to, observe, and possibly record, the ethnic composition of practices that involve children’s activities (including in play, in any specific allocations, access to resources); • to be very clear that any apparent unfairness, disproportionality or under-representation may not be the result of racial discrimination but that every situation or set of circumstances should be investigated with an open mind and sensitive, informed awareness; • to be aware that, while being sensitive to friendship patterns between children as well as a recognition that familiarity often provides comfort and support for them, some ethnic groupings may derive from unfamiliarity and, possibly, from prejudice – barriers that may be removed by sensit
