The only thing more depressing than the report on the barrage of racism directed at teachers in schools in south-east England (TES, September 26) was the realisation that it was a repetition of previous studies.
As far back as 1988, a National Foundation for Educational Research-funded study about the arrival of teachers from other European Union countries as well as from further afield reached broadly the same conclusions. Worse still, that report published the despairing advice, voiced by exchange teachers from other EU countries who had completed an academic year in the UK, that such teachers must “endeavour to react to pupils’ insults with humour”.
As to the best of my knowledge this disgraceful advice has never been rescinded, it is hardly surprising that the current situation prevails.
James Scott
29 Lady Margaret Road
Crawley
West Sussex
