INTERVIEW: Diane Abbott MP

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, is a leading figure in the Hackney Schools and the Black Child Campaign. She talks to Laura Crowley about her own school life and why she believes Britain’s education system is failing black children.

“My teachers were surprised I was academic,” Diane admits. “They thought I should have just been good at netball, because all black girls are good at netball. But in fact, I was pretty rubbish at it.”

It is society’s poor expectations of black youths that Diane considers to be so damaging to their education. She acknowledges she was lucky with her education, attending a grammar school, then Cambridge. Only in retrospect has she realised she suffered from prejudice as a child.

Diane believes “institutional racism” means black pupils’ standing amongst their peers changes over the years, becoming most apparent at secondary school level. About 25 per cent of black boys attain good GCSE results, compared with 42 per cent of white boys.

She says gang culture interrelates with educational failure: “While a lot of black women re-direct their lives by going to college in their 20s and 30s, black boys get sucked into the gang culture.”

The Director General of the British Prison Service, once said: "The day you permanently exclude a boy from school, you might as well give them a date and time to turn up at prison," something that Diane believes is definitely true.

Black pupils are three times more likely to be excluded from school than white children. “I don’t see this as directly racist” Diane explains. “It is the end of a damaging process that starts in primary school.”

The changes need to start young, with a continual focus on black achievement. Diane states: “Black role models are thin on the ground in Britain. Black children should see black people in high positions such as MPs, doctors and lawyers.”

Diane is an impressive role model. She was the first black female elected into British parliament, and is proud to represent the multi-ethnic Hackney. “It is important parliament is not made up of middle-class white men” she says. “It should reflect the society it represents.”

The same applies to teachers. Currently, only seven per cent of London’s teachers are black. “The government takes education very seriously” insists Diane, “but there should be targets to encourage black teachers, especially male. The teaching workforce needs to be more culturally literate.”

Diane has both a journalistic and political background, and so is substantially prepped in the art of interview. Still, her aspirations to improve education seem sincere. As a left-wing Labour MP, she was highly criticised when she sent her son to a private school. Diane felt she could not subject her son to the prejudiced education system. Yet she realises other parents cannot afford private schooling and is intent on making a change, campaigning for various schemes to improve education.

Diane thinks the biggest change will arise from the 2012 Olympics. At present, employment prospects for black boys in Hackney are uninspiring, and the poor housing is demoralising. The benefits of regeneration would weave into the education system.

“I am a big fan of the Olympics” she says. “It will vastly improve East London, especially its employment factors. This will have a knock-on effect, making people more positive and giving them more self-esteem.

“British schools do not encourage black children to believe in themselves. Changing this would be a major step forward.”

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