Virtual classroom: Experiences of Physical and Psychological Exclusion

The tearing down of the statue of Edward Colston amplified long-standing calls for the decolonisation of the curriculum. This exclusion of non-white knowledge runs alongside the experience of racism at school, most starkly seen in the ‘school to prison pipeline’. The Lammy Review found that black and mixed ethnicity boys were more likely to be excluded from school and to be arrested as teenagers than white boys. This session will recreate the virtual classroom of lockdown Britain where these racist hierarchies were recreated and exacerbated. Participants will be invited to reflect upon the dynamics of race in education and consider how we can organise to fight for a fairer system.