Linda Tanner: Bristol's outlook as parochial as any village
Go into any nursery school in Bristol and you will see children of different races and backgrounds playing happily alongside one another.
Skin colour, relative wealth, or even language does not seem to present a barrier or a threat.
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So what happens in the next few years to develop attitudes like those we saw so chillingly represented in last week's Panorama programme by children and young people in Southmead in response to the arrival of an Asian couple on the estate?
What makes teenagers want to join organisations such as the English Defence League, which is dedicated to staging anti-Islam demonstrations?
Why do they grow up to vote for Nick Griffin and the racist British National Party?
Reaction to last week's programmes – both Panorama and Griffin's abject performance on Question Time – suggests ignorance and fear in communities is to blame.
Bristol may be England's seventh largest city but in many areas the outlook is as parochial as any village.
This contributes to the view of the world that children absorb from their families and the people around them. It is inevitable that many in troubled circumstances will look inward and may focus only on negative perceptions. That is why schools have a major role to play in helping children look outwards and to treat everyone they meet with respect and tolerance.
A huge amount of work is going on in this regard in Bristol's "education settings" from its highly successful early years centres through primaries to secondaries and academies.
It's couched in the usual education language of jargon and acronyms – but this should not be allowed to obscure its value.
Ofsted now has to judge schools for their contribution to "community cohesion" – how they link with people in their immediate area, across the city, in other parts of the country and internationally.
A successful project is the Schools Linking Network, which pairs up primaries in different parts of the city. So, for example, Fonthill Primary in Southmead has linked with Summerhill Junior School in inner-city St George.
On a broader scale, Easton C of E Primary has for four years linked with a school in rural Cornwall, and shared experiences have proved eye-opening for children in both.
This approach has had a big impact on reducing exclusions from schools.
Bristol is leading the way in many areas of work that might not show up in league tables of exam results but are just as important for the future wellbeing of all of us.
4 Comments
by James, South West
Monday, November 02 2009, 7:56PM
“For start, who is Linda Tanner?
Does she believe that Bristol is any different to other places? By her measure parts of any town or city in the country, including London, are parochial.
Doesn't make the attitudes right but she is obviously running on the back of the tv programme that happened to feature a part of Bristol.
Most and probably all other cities and towns would have brought the same result.
If she is a reporter it is cheap, opportunistic journalism that seems to feature more and more in what was once a great local newspaper.”
by Steve, S.West
Saturday, October 31 2009, 6:37PM
“Yes, something does happen to bring out dislike of people you may have happily played alongside a few years previous.
I understand that Bristol Council has "shunted" Somalis into Barton Hill. A couple of years ago a long time white resident of the flats told me he was confronted by a group of Somalis as he parked his car. They said "this is now Somalis car park, not for you white man"
However hard it may be integrating ethnic groups throughout has to be the way forward. Have the council intelectuals created a ghetto....don't they learn, or are they too young to remember?
It's not just between races that marginalisation car rear it's head. Interestingly I spent 15 years in the same village as Linda Tanner....within spitting distance as they say, literally. I found life there epitomised good old British classism.Your percieved bank balance had more to do with your Social standing/acceptance in the village than your morals and conduct.. There were some very masonic undertones, only discovered when you requested something. There is an Asian convenience store, but greater racial diversity would not be a bad thing. I was made to feel an outsider as I was not born in the village, my roots being far away in South Bristol.
I have to wonder how a few Somali families would be treated in this village? Different than some of Southmeads response to imigrants....much more subtle resentment I'm sure!”
by Noel, Bristol
Thursday, October 29 2009, 3:59PM
“My first post was just an idea, like spydyman states we have complex issues to deal with and hard decisions to make. It need both theory and practice to make solutions work. It needs pragmatism as well, you dont get your dinner from a manifesto.....”
by Spydyman, Bristol
Thursday, October 29 2009, 11:20AM
“"ignorance and fear in communities is to blame."
Is it that simple? Is it really? Or are you merely highlighting your own ignorance? Add poverty. Add media mis-information, hypocrisy and hyperbole). Add disillusionment, unemployment, feelings of abandonment and worthlessness. Stand in Bristol¿s less desirable areas a while and look around (if you dare). Crumbling infrastructure, dirty streets, sub-standard housing. For those who are employed: Heavy taxation, high prices, job insecurity, ruined and possibly worthless pensions (Thanks, Mr Brown. I¿m sure yours is OK) and now delayed retirement and extended working lives? Then look at the effect of a sudden wave of immigration into these same areas. One example: 28,000 Somali newcomers. Social housing tends to be allocated according to need. A large family = need. Immigrants tend to have larger families This can give the impression of favouritism. The numbers, too: 28,000 new migrants are not spread evenly are they? They are concentrated in areas with social housing. This gives an impression of far larger numbers, albeit falsely.
The simplification of the issue is not going to help. We are going to have to face some very ugly truths over the next few years and tackle some very sensitive subjects..If we want to end this we do anyway. Or we could take the easy lazy route and write it off as ignorance. As long as we are happy for the problems to continue unabashed that is.”