Paper long abstract:

This paper is an extract from a PhD thesis entitled the African Caribbean Educational experiences in Preston A case study presented to the University of Central Lancashire and examined in 2006 by Cecile Wright. The study looked the educational performance of African Caribbean people from the 1960s to the present. The data was collected and analysed using the post modernist theoretical framework.

The research attempted to identify the experiences of a group of African Caribbean people within the British education system. It explored the patterns of experiences among three African Caribbean generations in Preston. Data was gathered from questionnaire, interviews along with ethnographic observations from local secondary school and participation in seminars and conferences. The research concludes that while racism remains a widespread educational experience among the three generations of African Caribbean people studied, a great disparity of achievement also exists at different levels of educational success. While the second generation tops the success rates of educational attainment, the third generation fared abysmally.

The research found that the length of African Caribbean peoples’ stay in Britain does not correlate with their educational success and concludes that whilst living in semi urban environments does not guarantee educational success, in comparison it is even far worse for African Caribbean people living in deprived inner city council estates to achieve success in the educational system. The research proposes significant recommendations for policy makers, Local Education Authorities, schools, teachers, and the African Caribbean community especially parents to work together to promote educational success among African Caribbean people.