An educational publisher has withdrawn one of its AQA-approved GCSE textbooks after an outcry over its racial stereotyping of Afro-Caribbean communities.
Social media users reacted with anger to a passage in the sociology textbook which said Afro-Caribbean fathers and husbands were “largely absent” and families passed children between relatives.
MP David Lammy criticised publishers Hodders Education and the AQA exam board - which endorsed the book - for making “sweeping generalisations about African Caribbean people that stereotype communities”.
“Sometimes it feels like little has changed since I was at school in the 80s,” he said in a post on Twitter.
Twitter user @Motherhood_rx wrote: “AQA upholding false racist stereotypes within through the educational system is beyond disgusting. Those writers should not be allowed near educational resources ever again”.
“Racist much?” added user @MattTho11074656
The offending passage came from the AQA GCSE Sociology textbook by Ian Woodfield and Rosie Owens, published in 2014.
It read: “In Caribbean families, the fathers and husbands are largely absent and women assume the most responsibility in childrearing.
“When men and women live together, it is usually in cohabiting or common law relationships that reproduce the traditional patriarchal division of labour. The family system is also characterised by child-shifting, that is, the passing of children to other relatives or acquaintances if the parents find themselves unable to take care of them.”
Hodder Education said on Twitter it had stopped supplying the book for sale and would be “reviewing the entire textbook as a result of the concerns raised”.
A spokesperson for AQA said they were speaking with the publisher about the “use of stereotypes” in its textbook.
“We’re removing the book from the page on our own website where it’s listed as a resource. We’re continuing to investigate and we’ll take any other action that’s necessary,” she said.
