Teacher responses to racially motivated bullying in Scotland

Racially motivated bullying remains pervasive across Scottish schools. Teachers have a critical role in nurturing a safe and inclusive environment and preventing stigmatisation and oppression by intervening when a racially motivated bullying episode occurs but also by actively developing an anti-racist climate within their school. Despite the crucial role teachers can play in providing a safe environment for minority ethnic young people, there is a paucity of literature examining teacher responses to racially motivated bullying. This study aims to add to our knowledge about this issue by investigating Scottish teachers’ strategies when they are confronted with a hypothetical racially motivated bullying incident in their school. Interviews were conducted with a sample of eleven teachers from different levels of education in Scotland. Our findings demonstrate that teachers struggle to recognise racism and often reframe racist incidents through more de-politicised language and socially normative concepts of school values, kindness and respect. However, teachers’ ability to recognise and respond to racism is severely constrained by the lack of clear policy frameworks, accessible training, and legislative directives. Our findings highlight the need to invest in schools, communities and young people in order to create the social conditions in which teachers’ capacities to respond to racism can develop and flourish.