Multicultural education is a major concern throughout the world. In the UK many local education authorities have implemented curricula which stress the multicultural nature of the world and which pay some attention to the cultural tradition of minority groups. This book argues that this approach is inadequate. It reviews education policies from the 1960s to the mid 1980s and argues that the playing down of racism in education and avoidance of any clear policy was in fact misguided and has not resulted in equality of opportunity for all students, as was hoped. The authors argue instead that clear policies to counter racism should be formulated and should be linked to more broadly conceived equal opportunity programmes - in short, that these policies cannot be effective if they fail to consider also inequalities of gender and class.

1. Discrimination by Proxy: The Deracialisation of National Education Policy and Discourse (1960-1980). 2. Multicultural Education in Action: The Deracialisation of Policies in Inner London and Manchester. 3. Institutional Racism: The Racialisation of Political and Educational Issues. 4. The Origins of Antiracist Education in the UK. 5. Local Education Authority Antiracist Policies. 6. Antiracist Education Policies: A Critical Appraisal.