Race and Racism in Secondary Modern Foreign Languages

This article is concerned with bringing attention to the issues of race and racism in Secondary Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and is motivated by my conviction that in continuing to ignore these issues we show a distinct lack of interest in how the subject reflects and compounds ‘the racism that is deeply embedded in schooling’ (Joseph-Salisbury 2020: 4). Drawing upon findings in the Runnymede Trust Report into Race and Racism in English Secondary Schools (Joseph-Salisbury 2020) and those highlighted in the Black Curriculum Report on Black British History in the National Curriculum (Arday 2021) this article focusses on gaps in data and research, the government policy relating to the study of MFL at Key Stage 4, teacher workforce and curriculum. This article finds that the systemic racism reflected by various policy and curriculum decisions are underpinned and compounded by various data analysis and research gaps and have conspired to provide barriers for black students in the Secondary MFL classroom. This article highlights areas requiring urgent research, policy and pedagogical intervention relating to the issues of race and racism in MFL which is particularly timely in the context of a subject whose GCSE content and qualification are under review at the time of writing.