BBC - Radio 4 - Woman's Hour -Segregation in schools

What can be done about schools which have been segregated along racial lines?

Fifty years ago today, the case of Linda Brown, an eight-year old from Kansas, came to the United States Supreme Court. Segregation laws in Brown's home state meant that she had a lengthy journey each morning to her all-black school, although there was school near her home, but for white pupils only. Her parents fought the Board of Education for the right to send their daughter to their local school, and won.

Academic, Erich Dietrich assesses the progress made in the half century since integration. Gloria Ray Karlmark and Carlotta Walls Lanier, part of a group of pupils who came to be known as the 'Little Rock Nine' recall being amongst the first black pupils to attend a previously all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.

And in this country a recent report has shown that there are levels of segregation in schools which vary across the country. This is not deliberate policy, but because schools often take only from their local area which may be predominantly black, Asian or white. So what problems does it cause and how might they be resolved?

Dr Ranjit Aorora, an education and management consultant, Angie Cotler, co-ordinator of the Schools Linking Project in Bradford, and Anne Power, Professor of Social Policy at the LSE join Jenni to discuss the issues.

Schools Linking Project

Disclaimer
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Retired? Downsizing? Moving home to be nearer the kids?