United Kingdom, Multicultural Education in

In the United Kingdom, multicultural education developed from the 1960s as a pragmatic response to the arrival of children of immigrants from former colonial countries. The initial aim was the assimilation of migrant and minority children with no concessions to the values of these groups. Over the next 30 years, there was recognition of linguistic, religious, and cultural pluralism, and legislation against racial discrimination was passed. While the law used a vocabulary of race, official guidance began to refer to ethnicity, and by the turn of the century there was more open recognition that within the United Kingdom there was a diverse population, including large numbers of minority ethnic groups with different migration histories, social and economic positions, and religious and other group affiliations. In 1999, more powers were devolved to the “nations” (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) making up the United Kingdom, but in a country slowly coming to terms with the end of empire and a closer relationship with Europe, there was much antagonistic debate about a shared national identity and multiculturalism. After the turn of the century the concept of a multicultural society came under attack from political, media, and other groups, and there was no longer any education policy or curriculum practice referred to as “multicultural education.” Policy referred to social inclusion and community cohesion within “British” society, and official education literature referred to equality and diversity. This entry briefly reviews the politics of migration in the United Kingdom, multicultural policies and practices in education up to the turn of the century, and subsequent government policies and school practices concerning identity, diversity, and citizenship in Britain.