Racism studies have shown that one in three school students is discriminated against

Early studies of racism in Australian schools have found that one in three students have reported being discriminated against by their peers.

Researchers from the Australian National University and the University of Western Sydney surveyed 4,600 primary and secondary school students in New South Wales and Victoria who experienced racial discrimination in schools.

The study found that 40% of students between the ages of five and nine from non-Anglo or European backgrounds reported racial discrimination by their peers.

About 20% of students from Indigenous and Torres Strait islands reported experiencing racial discrimination from their teachers. One in three students of non-Anglo or European background reported experiencing racial discrimination in a wider society.

Leading author of the report, ANU Associate Professor Naomi Priest, said the survey provided the first kind of data point for the spread of racism in Australian schools.
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“I think indigenous and Torres Strait Islands communities and ethnic minority communities have long been telling us that racism is part of their daily lives,” he told the Guardian Australia.

“What this survey gives us is how common it is, and it provides some information on the burden on children and young people. We know racism and caste discrimination are major issues and of course they affect children.

The survey found that 78% of students said they were able to make friends with peers from different ethnic backgrounds and most of the students surveyed said they would feel comfortable intervening if they saw a peer victim of racial abuse.

Although Priest called racial inequality a “reflection of wider society,” he said its presence in schools could affect students ’achievement and development.

Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy on the role of racism in child and adolescent health, calling it a “key social determinant of health” and a “driver of health inequality.”

Other research has shown that “sensory pain caused by the experience of racism is very similar to the activity of the brain due to physical pain”.

“Schools are a microcosm of a wider society and of course have structural problems,” Priest said.

“It’s the only way to catch and measure racism – prison rates, treatment in the healthcare system, policing, but these interpersonal issues also have an impact on a child’s mental health.”

The survey was conducted with 55% of students identified as having Anglo-Celtic or European background (55%); 22% from South, East or Southeast Asians; 5% Aboriginal and Torres Street Islands, 5% Middle East; 4% Pacific Islander and 3% African.

People from non-Anglo backgrounds reported twice as much racial discrimination as those from Anglo backgrounds.

The researchers asked students if they had been insulted or named because of their race or group, excluded from their activities, threatened, spat upon, beaten, or assaulted violently.

East Asian students reported the highest insult or name calling rate at 44% based on their background, while 30% of Indigenous or Torres Strait Island students reported spitting, punching or hitting based on their color.

15% of Anglo-Celtic students said they were insulted based on their background, and %% said they were victims of violence.

The report was compiled as part of the Speaker Out program against racism, which is creating a program to encourage students and staff to tackle racism in schools.

“We need high-quality, whole-school-whole programs – built on evidence and that are tested – that work directly to prevent and respond appropriately to racial discrimination and racism when it occurs,” Priest said.

“This is the goal of our second phase in Sawyer – to develop and judge a bystander program that encourages students and staff to prevent and combat racism and apartheid.”