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The historic injustice of a scandal in which black children were incorrectly labelled “educationally subnormal” and sent to schools for physically and mentally disabled pupils must be addressed with a public inquiry, an MP has said.
Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, is calling on Keir Starmer to bring justice to survivors and to also expose the long-term effects it has had in the education system.
The MP is concerned that it is still unclear how many black children were forced into “educationally subnormal” (ESN) schools in the 1960s and 70s and did not receive support from the system.
At a debate on Wednesday evening in parliament, Johnson told MPs that “many racist barriers still exist in education” that have “evolved directly from the policies and attitudes that drove the ESN scandal”.
She said: “The closure of ESN schools in the 1980s directly led to a rapid expansion in the use of school exclusions, and we began to see higher numbers incarcerated in prisons, the expansion of the use of set and tiering in education whereby certain groups of children [in] increasing numbers are being denied the opportunity to sit exams at certain levels and then denied the opportunity to progress in educational settings, including going to university.”
Survivors, campaigners, lawyers, educational professors and psychologists had shared their testimonies in parliament on Tuesday before Wednesday’s debate, each highlighting the unique way the “systematic failure” had either affected them or the lives of black children.
Noel Gordon said he was six years old when his mum was visited at home by an education department official who said “we found a special needs boarding school with a matron to keep an eye on him”.
He said: “Then out of the blue he says I’m a dunce. Mum thinks: I’m only six, school will sort it out. What he was alluding to, they were placing me in a school for subnormal children. With no curriculum. This was government policy. They put two of my older brothers in the local special school I suffered a catalogue of abuse from the age of six to 16. I was beat over the head at 12 in the playground and called a black bastard by Christine, a member of staff, for no reason.”
Rene Stephens, 58, another survivor, broke down in tears as he reflected on the physical and sexual assault he experienced in the education system that was coupled with an overall lack of support.
“In my first year at Sir William Collins secondary school in Mornington Crescent, London, I was assaulted by the deputy head, Mr Young. He, a martial arts expert, executed a slide kick that knocked me off my feet, causing me to land on my head and lose consciousness. Following this unprovoked attack, Mr Young falsely accused me of assaulting him. The school’s response was to expel me. At the time I had been living in a children’s home,” he said.
Months later he was moved to a Cotswolds boarding school where he was encouraged to focus on woodwork and sports, with little emphasis on his academic learning. “In my fourth year, I was sexually assaulted by a staff member named Trevor. Once again this assault went unaddressed, leaving me to grapple with the trauma alone.”
While living in Jamaica, Denise Davidson, did not attend a special school. “None of the children in my very large school were sitting in the wheelchair. None of the children my age or older were wearing a baby’s bib. Yet here I was [in England] seeing my school friends in this situation,” she said.
When her mum tried to organise her transfer to an average comprehensive school, Davidson said her mother was told by teachers, “Denise is a lovely girl, and she is a credit to you. However, at this point I think Denise should remain where she is because she is a cretin … I remember my parents returning home and my dad finding a dictionary and looking up the word cretin. My mum was sobbing at this point because she thought I had some disease.” She continued to attend the school with her classmates who were disabled.
Speaking to the Guardian, Johnson said said: “The same fundamental systems that excluded black children from mainstream education decades ago still exist today – just in different forms. ESN schools may have gone, but black children are still disproportionately pushed into pupil referral units and alternative provision, feeding into the school-to-prison pipeline.”
She said that to have survivors “speak at the event was a powerful reminder of the lasting impact of this injustice.”
Catherine McKinnell, the education minister, said the government “doesn’t currently plan to establish a public inquiry” but was committed to ensuring “Britain is a country that will respect your contribution and will give you a fair chance to get on in life”.
