How can we reduce racial discrimination in schools? An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis exploring how Educational Psychologists enact change.

In Britain pupils who are Black or of dual heritage (Black Caribbean and White) are three times more likely to be excluded from education than white pupils. Alongside this there is a well-documented attainment gap which has been evident for decades. These academic inequalities highlight the systemic nature of racial discrimination within educational settings in Britain. There is some research around addressing racial discrimination in schools, however there is limited research on how educational psychologists work to reduce racial discrimination in schools. Educational psychologists work to enact change in various ways, including systemic, group and individual levels. They appear to be well-placed to challenge practice within an educational setting and so how they do this in relation to racial discrimination is the focus of this study. This research aims to explore the factors that enable educational psychologists to enact change within these systems. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used in this study to analyse information gathered through semi-structured interviews. This focused on how educational psychologists have responded to enact change when working in a school environment in which they felt there was racial discrimination and the factors that they felt enabled positive change. The findings for this study unearthed six overarching themes on the ‘context of the racial discrimination’, ‘individual EPs and the role’, ‘noticing racial discrimination’, ‘forming relationships’, ‘use of structure and tools to support change’, and ‘acknowledging different responses to racial discrimination’. The findings are discussed in relation to psychological theory and existing literature, with implications for the practice of individual educational psychologists, educational psychology services, training providers and national bodies.