Waveney Bushell

Waveney Bushell (born 1928) is a Guyanese-born teacher, activist and "arguably the first Black educational psychologist in the UK".[1] She is most notable for her role in exposing racism and inequality in the British educational system.

Early life

Bushell was born in 1928 in Buxton, Demerara, British Guiana. Her mother died when she was six and she was brought up by her aunt.[2]

Bushell trained as a teacher after leaving school.[2] In the 1950s, she travelled to Britain to teach, after applying for teaching work through the London County Council.[2]

Career

While working as a teacher in London, Bushell trained and then qualified as an educational psychologist,[3] earning a psychology degree from Bedford College, London, before earning a postgraduate qualification in educational psychology from the Child Guidance Training Centre (the sister school to the Tavistock Clinic).[4] In 1975, Bushell completed a master's degree at the Institute of Education in Child Development.[4]

Bushell would serve for more than twenty years as part of the School Psychological Services in Croydon.[1]

As a psychologist, Bushell found it odd that large numbers of Black children were being classified as "educationally subnormal" and then sent to Educationally Subnormal (ESN) schools.[5] Bushell argued that the IQ tests given were not fair assessments as they were built upon European cultural specificities.[6] As such, the tests "were stacked against Black Caribbean children".[7]

Along with fellow campaigners such as Jessica Huntley and John La Rose, Bushell was a founding member of the Caribbean Education and Community Workers Association (CECWA).[3] Bushell was also the first Chair of CECWA.[8]

CECWA became "the initiating and co-ordinating body of black education issues".[9] In 1971 New Beacon Books, on behalf of CECWA, published How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System by Bernard Coard, which drew national attention to the issue of ESN schools.[10]

CECWA was also key to the development of independent black supplementary schools.[9]

References
  1. "Waveney Bushell: A Black pioneering educational psychologist. Abstract of paper by O. Aiyegbayo, Liverpool Hope University given at the BPS Conference". Proceedings of the British Psychological Society. 13 (1). February 2005. Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  2. Grant, Colin (2020). Homecoming : voices of the Windrush generation. London. ISBN 978-1-78470-913-6. OCLC 1134777966.
  3. "Britain revisits a racist injustice against black children in its schools". Stabroek News. 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  4. Aiyegbayo, Olaojo (2005). "Waveney Bushell: a pioneering black educational psychologist". History and Philosophy of Psychology. 7 (1): 36–44.
  5. "The black children wrongly sent to 'special' schools in the 1970s". BBC News. 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  6. Nicholson, Rebecca (2021-05-20). "Subnormal: A British Scandal review – the racist nightmare that scarred black children for life". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  7. Frazer-Carroll, Micha (2021-05-19). "'Black kids were written off': the scandal of the children sent to 'dustbin schools'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  8. "The Black Education Movement (Early Period)". catalogue.georgepadmoreinstitute.org. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  9. "George Padmore Institute - BLACK EDUCATION MOVEMENT". www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  10. John, Gus (2013-07-12). "John La Rose". The Independent. Retrieved 2021-07-05.

Further reading
  • Bushell, Waveney (1992). Black children in care: a research project. London: Ethnic Study Group. OCLC 28748461.
  • Bushell, Waveney, "The immigrant (West Indian) child in school" in Dwivedi, Kedar N; Varma, Ved Prakash (eds) (1995). Meeting the needs of ethnic minority children: a handbook for professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley. ISBN 978-1-85302-294-4. OCLC 540980893.
  • Burton, Mark; Boyle, Stephanie; Harris, Carl; Kagan, Carolyn, 'Community Psychology in Britain' in Reich, Stephanie; Riemer, Manuel; Prilleltensky, Isaac; Montero, Maritza (eds) (2007). International Community Psychology: History and Theory, New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-49500-2. OCLC 187011337.
  • Subnormal (2021) – television documentary on ESN schools, which featured Dr Waveney Bushell as a contributor.
  • Dr Waveney Bushell - Young Black Pupils. Recording from the London Metropolitan Archives.
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