Kalwant BhopalMBE,FAcSS is Professor of Education and Social Justice and Director of the Centre for Research in Race & Education at the
University of Birmingham. Her work explores the achievements and experiences of minority ethnic groups in education with a focus on how processes of racism, exclusion and marginalisation operate in predominantly White spaces.
Early life and education
Bhopal was born in England and is of Indian descent.[1] She studied
sociology in her undergraduate degree, before completing a
Postgraduate Certificate in Education in further education.[2] She then completed an MSc in sociology at the
London School of Economics before completing her doctoral degree at the
University of Bristol. She worked as a research associate at the
UCL Institute of Education.[3] Here she conducted research on the educational experiences of UK Gypsy and Travellers[4] During her early career she claims to have experienced both subtle and overt racism.[5]
Research and career
Bhopal worked at the School of Education,
University of Southampton, from 2006 where she served as Professor of Education and Social Justice. In 2015 she was appointed Equality and Diversity Champion for the
University of Southampton Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences.[6] Here she researched the considerable effort that black and ethnic minority staff have to make to reach higher levels of academia[7][8] and the educational experiences of other underrepresented groups including Gypsies and Travellers.[9] She studied how the everyday aspects of teaching and learning serve to marginalise certain groups of students.[10] A result of this work was the creation of recommendations for how race, diversity and inclusion should be taught in
postgraduate education courses.[11]
Bhopal has investigated race inequality and racism in UK academia.[15] She claims that racism is present in academia in various ways; including the marginalisation of black and minority ethnic staff, their exclusion from decision-making, frequent micro-aggressions, implicit bias and open prejudice.[15] She argues that dealing with racism is currently not a priority for UK universities.[16] In a 2016 report from the
University and College Union, almost three-quarters of black and minority ethnic staff reported that they had experienced racial harassment and bullying from managers.[15] The same research has claimed that UK academia has racist recruitment and promotion practises and a considerable ethnic pay gap.[17][18] Bhopal argues that radical change is needed to support black and minority ethnic students.[19][20] She has argued that universities work towards equality in general terms, without confronting uncomfortable practises, and ultimately perpetuating
white privilege.[21] Bhopal has called for more financial investment in the Equality Challenge Unit Race Equality Charter,[22] so that universities recognise that it is as important as
Athena SWAN.[15] She has claimed that diversity initiatives in the
United Kingdom mainly benefit white middle-class women, and that whilst most universities view gender as a universal issue race is largely ignored.[23]
Selected publications
Her publications include:
Bhopal, Kalwant (2024). Race and Education: Reproducing White Supremacy in Britain. Penguin Pelican.
ISBN9780241537329.
Bhopal, Kalwant; Myers, Martin (2023). Elite Universities and the Making of Privilege. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge.
ISBN978-0-367-46607-7.
Bhopal, Kalwant (2018). White Privilege: the myth of a post-racial society. Policy Press.
ISBN9781447335979.
Bhopal, Kalwant and Martin Myers (2018) Home Schooling and Home Education: race, class and inequality. Routledge.
ISBN978-1138651340
Bhopal, Kalwant (2016). The experiences of black and minority ethnic academics: a comparative study of the unequal academy. London ; New York, NY: Routledge.
ISBN978-1-315-81834-4.
Bhopal, Kalwant (26 June 2015). The Experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic Academics. Routledge.
ISBN978-1-317-81659-1.
Bhopal, Kalwant (2010). Asian Women in Higher Education: Shared Communities. Trentham Books.
ISBN9781858564692.
Bhopal, Kalwant (2000). Connecting Children: Care and Family Life in Later Childhood. Routledge.
ISBN9780203996355.
^Bhopal, K., Gundara, J., Jones, C., & Owen, C. (2000). Working towards inclusive education: Aspects of good practice for gypsy traveller children. Norwich: HMSO.
^Bhopal, K., & Myers, M. (2009). Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils in schools in the UK: Inclusion and ‘good practice’. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 13(3), 299-314.
^
abcdMarch 12th; 2019|British; Politics, Irish; Policy; Fairness; Equality; Featured; Comment, Holly Henderson|1 (12 March 2019).
"Gender over Race? Equity and inclusion in higher education". British Politics and Policy at LSE. Retrieved 28 October 2019. {{
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