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UK Youth has added its backing to letter to Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer, urging the Government to “take racism seriously”.
As well as UK Youth, the letter, co-ordinated by The Diana Award, has also been signed by Everyday Racism, the Centre for Mental Health, social action programme Not So Micro, The Black Curriculum and The African Caribbean Education Network.
To read the letter, which has been sent to the Prime Minister today, in full, click here. To add your signature to the letter and support the campaign, click here.
Highlights of the letter include:
Racism is holding all young people back. It’s time for the Government to #TakeRacismSeriously.
Schools and colleges across the country are failing at their legal duties to prevent and address racism and discrimination and advance equality for all. The legislative framework to support schools in adopting anti-racist practice in education is insufficient.
We are writing to you as a coalition of organisations representing the voices of young people across the mental health, youth work and education sectors, to call for change in how we support young people impacted by racism, and to request a meeting with you to discuss this further. There is longstanding evidence of the harmful outcomes caused by bias and a lack of racially inclusive practice, and we are calling for urgent action to address the impacts of this growing crisis, acknowledging the evidenced structural outcomes.
We welcome your government’s focus on breaking down the barriers to opportunity and would like to offer our support to help you achieve this mission. Together we have more than a century of experience working with young people. We have seen far too many young people’s lives held back by their experiences of racism, which not only affects their health and wellbeing, but also limits their opportunities for a happy, fulfilling and successful life.
Racism in schools is increasing; 11,619 pupils in England were suspended for racist abuse in the 2022/23 academic year, a 23 per cent increase from 2021/22 (DfE, 2024). Children and young people affected by racism face barriers to attending schools, with the rate of exclusions in the 2022/2023 academic year at 11.74 for Black Caribbean ethnicity students and 13.62 for mixed white and Black Caribbean students, compared with just 7.9 for white British ethnicity students (DfE 2024).
The curriculum also does not support anti-racist practice; 95 per cent of respondents to The Black and British Survey in September 2023 believed the UK’s curriculum neglects Black lives and experiences, while fewer than 2 per cent think educational institutions take racism seriously. Of Black Britons, 41 per cent said racism is the biggest barrier to young Black people’s educational attainment.
Racism in schools not only harms the individuals who racist abuse is directed at, but negatively impacts the wider school community, undermining the sense of belonging and cohesion within the school environment. Racism is harming all 9.1 million young people in schools in the England.
Whole-school approach
We are calling for a whole-school approach to ensure racial discrimination does not hold young people back in the education and support systems:
- For the review of the national curriculum to take an explicit anti-racism focus and to include Black history as a compulsory subject.
- For the upcoming Race Equality Act to require schools to have an action plan for addressing race inequality alongside their enhanced collection and reporting of ethnicity and race data.
- For racism to be recognised by the Department of Education as an explicit safeguarding issue and included in mandatory school staff training.
- For anti-racism guidance to be published for schools and colleges, including how to respond to peer-to-peer racism, mental health effects of racism and racial trauma.
We need you to take action to make a difference for young people across the country. We would like to offer support to you and to schools around the country to tackle racism. We would greatly appreciate your support and the opportunity to collaborate on shared actions through a departmental roundtable event. Ahead of this, we would value the opportunity to discuss these vital changes further and to introduce you to some of the young people advocating for change.
Racism is holding all young people back. We urge you to #TakeRacismSeriously.
Yours Sincerely, The Diana Award, Everyday Racism, Centre for Mental Health, Not So Micro, The Black Curriculum, UK Youth and The African Caribbean Education Network.
To read the letter in full, click here.
To add your signature to the letter and support the campaign, click here.
Jacob Diggle, UK Youth chief impact officer, said: “One in five young people in England have experienced poor mental health, with young Black people disproportionately affected, leading to higher criminalisation rates and a lack of suitable mental health support. That is why we must act now.”
To read The Guardian‘s article about the campaign, click here.
About UK Youth
UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of more than 9,000 youth organisations and nation partners; UK Youth reaches more than four million young people across the UK and is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is needed now more than ever. To find out more, visit ukyouth.org
UK Youth is involved in a range of programmes designed to help young people thrive, such as outdoor learning, physical literacy, social action and employability. For more on UK Youth’s programmes, see ukyouth.org/what-we-do/programmes
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