A Qualitative Exploration of Black Parents’ and Carers’ Experiences of Working with an inner-London Educational Psychology Team

Oversubscribed and ambitious for the children and young adults (CYA) it serves, the Educational Psychology team (EPT) is commissioned by most schools and education settings within the inner-London Local Authority’s (ILLA) boundary. Yet, analysis of commissions from 2017-2020 highlighted significantly fewer requests to work with Black CYA than White ones; despite a majority Black school-aged population, over-represented in exclusions ascribed to poor behaviour. Informal feedback from commissioners posited Black parents’ and carers’ (P&Cs) as averse to Educational Psychologist (EP) involvement with their CYA. Thus, in keeping with their commitment to actively anti-racist practice and ILLA’s objective of supporting all of its CYA to achieve their future potential, this EPT-commissioned study reflects a dialogue with Black P&Cs about the reasons for this.

This study by Black community members about Black community members, aimed to amplify their previously unheard voices, facilitate improved understanding, and provoke change. Accordingly qualitative and emancipatory, underpinned by a transformative paradigm, it features data from 10 semi-structured interviews, analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. The P&Cs story is represented in five themes: (1) EPs: Power, possibility, protection, transformation; (2) Same shet, different decade; (3) Schools: Unwelcoming, unsafe, unjust (and anti-Black?); (4) Doing battle: Pedagogy of the Black parent/carer; and (5) DuBois’ Double-consciousness.

Herein, Black P&Cs rejected an aversion to working with EPs. Indeed, some had not known EPs existed until their involvement was proposed in the context of their CYA’s exclusion. Instead, Black P&Cs identified schools as hostile environments where fighting for their children’s lives is ubiquitous and getting an EP referral is almost impossible. They described school adults as predisposed to labelling Black children as badly behaved rather than communicating a need, whilst ‘Whiteness’ shields peers behaving in a similar way, and offered an abundance of antiblack examples. Black P&Cs want to work with EPs and would like them to highlight their CYAs racialised identity/ties, associated strengths and systemic vulnerabilities. They hope this will support school/setting adults to exercise curiosity and care despite them being Black.

These findings are relevant for any EP/EPT/service pursuing increased equity, beneficence, social justice, and actively anti-racist practice via partnership with and improved understanding of Black communities.