Education policy and refugees in England and Germany: racist nativism and the reproduction of white supremacy

This paper argues that education policy in England and Germany racialises young refugees and asylum seekers and contributes to upholding white supremacy in the education system. Previous research in both countries has shown that education policy reproduces race inequality, and in England, it has been argued that education policy itself is an act of white supremacy (Gillborn 2005). However, to date there has been little consideration of the specific role of refugee policies in maintaining race inequality in education. In this study we connect research on refugee education, the raced nature of the education systems in both countries and the racialised context and position of refugees in society. We draw on insights from Critical Race Theory and on the concept of racist nativism, ‘the link between race and immigration status’ (Pérez Huber 2011) to argue that refugees, already racialised in society, are also racialised by education policies and systems via the privileging of both nativist and white norms.