Black teachers giving voice: choosing and experiencing teaching

Abstract

Abstract This article draws on an Economic and Social Research Council funded study of black teachers' lives and careers. Based on a series of 20 life histories, the article examines teachers' motives for entering the teaching profession and considers the experience of teaching in Britain from the perspective of the black teacher. The article discusses the impact of overt and unintended racism in teachers' lives and considers the position of the black teacher in relation to core and periphery models of work and organisation. The article concludes that racism of various types exists at a structural and interactional level in schools and in this sense, is integral to the lives and careers of black teachers.