With ‘Violations’ as a yardstick : planned responses to expressions of racism in upper secondary schools

The aim of this dissertation is to map and analyse planned responses to expressions of racism in upper secondary schools. Three questions are in focus: (1) What courses of action, in response to expressions of racism, are advocated in philosophical texts and equal treatment plans for upper secondary schools? (2) What consequences have these courses of action for the formation of the mission of schools, the responsibility of teachers, and the limits of free speech? (3) What kinds of expressions of racism are these courses of action intended to be a response to? The study takes its point of departure in two theoretical traditions: Pierre-André Taguieff’s categorisations of racism are used to define the problem in the dissertation, while John Dewey’s moral philosophy provides the methodological base. From an analysis of equal treatment plans four temporal phases are identified. In the first phase, preventive measures, the purpose is to prevent students from developing racism. In phase two, limitations in schools, the dominant course of action is to prohibit violations in schools. The third phase, corrective measures, is concerned with how to handle situations that are contrary to the limitations in schools. The final phase, limitations on schools, relates to when schools are required to transfer responsibility for action to the social services, work environment or police authorities. The results indicate that the national laws (since 2006) have a strong impact on equal treatment plans, and that ‘non-violation’ becomes a dominant moral principle that displaces or subsumes other views of morality. How the non-violation principle is applied also affects the space for political conversations on topics that can be hurtful. Finally, the analysis indicates that equal treatment plans are mainly concerned with expressions of racism among students, and pay little attention to expressions of racism that occur in the organization of schools. The plans thus describe schools as a force for good that seeks to combat (potential) racism among students