Other(ed) childhoods: Supplementary schools and the politics of learning

This chapter demonstrates how supplementary schools have long responded to racism and the effects of structural violence whilst creating an important space for cultural preservation. It deals with some of the diversity to bring it into view and underline its critical importance. The chapter outlines the importance of addressing the lack of attention granted to supplementary schools in academic research and has specifically situated the discussion within critical geographies of education, it is pertinent to consider how a focus on supplementary schools brings a variety of other concerns – beyond education – into view. Whilst local authority support has been historically patchy and uneven across the country, cuts to budgets, reallocation of staff and increased political scrutiny has, for some schools, further exacerbated their precarity and limited their options. The chapter explores the inequalities that exist between supplementary schools in order to raise pertinent questions concerning the disparities that are overlooked.