Research-action against Antigypsyism and Anti-Muslim Discrimination: An intersectional approach to deconstruct Institutional Racism in schools

ended

The REACT project addresses institutional racism/discrimination in schools and its links to educational inequalities. There is extensive research confirming that both racism/discrimination and educational inequalities between native and migrant/minority origin students are deeply rooted problems in European societies, but lacking knowledge on the link between them. In this context we focus on Catalonia, where recent data show increasing racism/discrimination on the one hand, and vast inequalities between native and migrant origin pupils in terms of educational failure and lack of trust in schools on the other hand. The tendency is further multiplied for Roma students. REACT is designed to empirically study the existence of institutional racism and discrimination in schools and its links to educational inequalities. It specifically addresses two of the groups that are most affected both by educational inequalities and by racism: Roma and Muslim youth. The project is designed to combine research and action tasks in order to examine whether/how institutional racism affects the educational attainment of Roma and Muslim students, and implement a series of actions in order to prevent discrimination, empower Roma and Muslim students, and promote mainstreaming of ethnic diversity in the Catalan education system. In addition, it focuses on how gender intersects with Roma/Muslim identity in defining both teachers’ stereotypes and educational challenges for migrant/minority origin students depending on their gender identity. The overall aim is to promote the construction of schools that empower and support rather than discourage minority students from pursuing their educational goals, in an environment free from negative stereotyping related to their origin. REACT builds on learnings from earlier EU projects by the project team members and collaborations with European networks that will be developed through REACT and enhance the international transferability of its results.