On Thursday 25 June and 2 July at 9pm, Channel 4 will air The School That Tried To End Racism - a ground-breaking new series following a pioneering British school in London, as it tries to help its students uncover and eradicate hidden racial biases.
Led by experts – and inspired by similar programmes from American schools – an ordinary class of 11 to 12-year olds takes part in a series of activities designed to challenge everything they thought they knew about race. The students must overcome awkwardness and embarrassment, as they open up about their own and others’ attitudes, and confront difficult truths.
Tested for racial bias at both the beginning and the end of the course, will the students be changed by the experience? And is it a programme that all schools should consider rolling out?
This revelatory series also explores how unconscious racial bias can affect us all, and what we can all do to tackle it.
In the first episode (TX: Thursday 25 June, 9pm), the students are tested for racial bias and split into different work groups according to their skin colour. A white British student and his black-Caribbean best friend are shocked to discover the level of unconscious bias they carry. Whilst a 12 year old bi-racial girl is keen to find what racial group she belongs in: white or black?
The series is distributed by Banijay Rights
Channel 4 will broadcast The School that tried to end racism
