‘Disturbing and serious’ racism in schools

<h2>The Office of the Children&&num;8217&semi;s Commissioner and the School Trustees Association has described &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;disturbing and serious” complaints about racist behaviour in schools in a recent report&period; <&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>This included discrimination by teachers and abuse from other children&comma; according to students interviewed by researchers for the study&comma; <em>Education matters to me&colon; Key insights<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Educational Institute president Lynda Stuart said that teachers would be disappointed and upset to hear such allegations&comma; a view shared by Post Primary Teachers Association president Jack Boyle and Children&&num;8217&semi;s Commissioner Andrew Becroft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;It was surprising to us&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s disturbing&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m sure most teachers would be horrified&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Becroft said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Mr Boyle said that many schools would not be surprised that the racism evident in wider society was also present in schools&period; Nevertheless&comma; teachers were &&num;8220&semi;ahead of the game&&num;8221&semi; in addressing racism and avoiding bias against students&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Principals Federation president Whetu Cormick&comma; too&comma; believed that the report reflected the racism that permeated right throughout society<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ms Stuart said schools were trying to recognise children&&num;8217&semi;s language&comma; culture and identity&comma; but not everyone was there yet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to Ms Stuart&comma; the report showed that it was now time to change an education system &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;that has been very monocultural for years&&num;8221&semi; into something that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;matters for our kids&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;