Exploring pupils' perceptions of teacher racism in their context: A case study of Turkish and Belgian vocational education pupils in a Belgian school

Abstract

This article employs ethnographic data gathered from one Belgian (Flemish) secondary school to explore the meaning Belgian and Turkish‐speaking minority pupils enrolled in technical and vocational education attach to teacher racism and racial discrimination, and to explore variations between pupils in making claims of teacher racism. A symbolic interactionist framework is employed to explore how pupils define teacher racism and how a particular context and interactions between pupils and teachers informs pupils' perceptions of racism. This article builds on a strong research tradition in British sociology of education on racism and discrimination by focusing the analysis on pupils' perceptions of such incidents and by investigating how racism is experienced by a generally neglected group of Turkish minority pupils in a particular Belgian education context.