5 Summary of Session 3

Primary school represents a critical period when children’s racial identities develop rapidly. As you’ve seen through Arjun’s playground experience and Soraya’s classroom struggles, seemingly small interactions can profoundly shape how children see themselves and their possibilities.

The key insights from this session are clear: racial bias in primary settings is often subtle but systematic. When confident Black girls like Soraya are labelled ‘aggressive’ or ‘intimidating’, when children are consistently cast as villains based on skin colour, or when natural hair is policed as ‘unprofessional’, these should not be treated as isolated incidents. These could be patterns that reflect deeper societal biases.

Dr Mngaza’s analysis revealed how language shapes reality for racially minoritised children. Words like ‘dominant’ and ‘too much’ can limit children’s freedom to take risks, make mistakes, and simply be children. This adultification process denies Black children, particularly girls, the protections and grace typically afforded to childhood.

Yet understanding these patterns gives us power to disrupt them. Whether you’re a parent validating your child’s experiences, a teacher examining your language choices, or a practitioner advocating for policy changes, you now have frameworks for recognising and addressing racial bias in primary settings.

In the next session you’ll explore how these early patterns of racialisation are often magnified during adolescence when Black children, particularly boys, are more likely to be seen as threatening, disruptive or ‘at risk’. You’ll also hear from Frances Akinde, a former secondary headteacher and inclusion specialist, who shares her insights into what schools can do to truly centre equity in the teenage years.

You can now go to Session 4.