“Whiteness is an invention of the modern, colonial age, designed to maintain racial hierarchies and teach disproportionate privilege to white people. Black children in England’s schools are disproportionately affected by disciplinary procedures and exclusion, discriminatory hair policies, and anti-black linguistic racism when their speech is deemed non-standard or non-academic. Recent education policies under the ‘what works’ agenda have further normalized whiteness and anti-black linguistic racism. While these policies claim to be evidence-led and objective, they actually reinforce white, middle-class language and can lead to discipline for non-standard language use in schools.”
