Tolerating intolerance? Parental choice and race relations ‐ the Cleveland case

Abstract

In 1987, Cleveland Local Education Authority (LEA) allowed a child to transfer schools to one where the vast majority of children were white. Four years later, a High Court judge ruled that the LEA was correct to do so. His judgement made it clear that the 1976 Race Relations Act did not govern the 1980 provisions for parental choice of school. This paper looks at the implications of this case. After detailing the events leading up to and including the judicial review, it examines first, the legislative framework for parental choice of schools and its place in Conservative Party education policy, and second, it explores the history of school admissions in racial terms. Following this, three themes arising from the Cleveland case are highlighted: the increased levels of juridification affecting education, the deracializing of the debate on school organization and curriculum, and the roles of individual parents and the state in educating children. The paper concludes by focusing on the need for more participative structures within the education system. These changes would help to ensure that moves towards a segregated educational system do not occur by default, but that the matter is fully and publicly debated.