Migrant children suffer ‘cultural racism’ in Irish schools

Parents of migrant children feel “patronised” by Irish parents, criticise the quality of education in Ireland, and talk of “cultural racism” in the school system, research carried out mainly in Cork and Limerick reveals.

Gertrude Cotter, the co-author of the research, Parenting in a Multicultural Society: Migrants and their experiences of parenting in Ireland, said it was surprising how similar some views were about parenting in Ireland, given the diverse nature of the people interviewed.

Ms Cotter and co-author Olaniyi Kolawole carried out a literature review and extensively interviewed 20 parents from countries including Nigeria, Romania, Kenya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and the US.

Ms Cotter, who presented the findings at a conference in Kings College, London, said a number of key themes emerged, some of which showed clear patterns and issues which Ireland as a country might benefit from hearing in a parenting and wider societal context.

Almost all of the parents, they found, referred to incidents of subtle racism in schools. One parent referred to incidents where the principal was “surprised” that a Zimbabwean man was articulate. The principal expressed the view that he wasn’t like the “other Africans”. The man said he had come across this kind of treatment often.

An Afghan parent said: “We are OK if we do things the Irish way, we are tolerated, but they don’t really want to hear about different ways of doing things and if they do it feels like lip- service sometimes”.

The issue of children being believed if they reported a racist incident was also raised. Many parents gave specific examples of their child not being taken seriously.

“One child had experienced a group of school-mates continually saying “black people used to be slaves, we don’t want to play with you” and another had two classmates say “I don’t like black people”. Many also referred to the dilemma of been seen as “aggressive” if they complained and they found it hard to support their children when teachers say things like “ahh sure, that isn’t racism, that is just children being children”,” the study notes.

According to Ms Cotter, former CEO of migrant support group NASC, these findings reinforce earlier studies that highlight Ireland’s discriminatory treatment of Travellers and Roma people, the stigmatisation and marginalisation of asylum seekers and pathologisation of migrants, especially of African origin.

One parent interviewed said:

“I want to give money to the school as a donation, so that they will think I am important and take my children and me more seriously. I am saving up for this. I want to buy respect for my children”.