How to Counteract Racism in Education: On Teachers' Antiracist Actions

• In Event: Emancipatory Practices in Antiracist Classrooms

Abstract

In Sweden, all teachers have an obligation to counteract racism. At the same time, studies show that racism is a serious and complex problem in many schools. Racist opinions, actions and structures make some students more subjected to harassment and discrimination then others, which challenges the idea of a school where all students have equal opportunity to learn and develop.

This paper empirically investigates different types of actions developed and used by teachers to counteract racism in education. Based on interviews with teachers in high schools, we present six different types of anti-racist actions – ranging from Intercultural, Critical and Liberation-approaches that address structural racism, to Democratic, Relational and Knowledge focused-approaches that focuses racism on an individual level.

Authors

• Emma Maria Kristin Arneback, Orebro University

• Jan Jämte, Örebro University