The brutal murder of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis in the United States of America at the hands of a white police officer led to the largest global racial justice protest since the civil rights movement (Smith, 2021) However, concurrently, political leaders across the globe were also grappling with unforeseen statistics, which highlighted that Black Asian and Ethnic minority (BAME) groups had between a 10 and 50 % per cent higher risk of fatality due to COVID-19 in comparison to their White Counterparts (Smith, 2021. Public Health England, 2020). Subsequently, racism was named as a  factor in the unequal deaths of BAME communities due to the ongoing pandemic and global leaders were forced to respond to both “viruses: the pandemic and racism” (Smith, 2021).  

In Scotland the Scottish Government established ‘The Race and Equality Framework’, which aimed to ensure that Scotland’s Children and young people were provided with an understanding of the nation’s colonial and slavery history. While also challenging racism, eliminating racial discrimination, and promoting social equality (Scot, Gov 2021). In addition to this and in conjunction with the ‘The race and Equality Framework’, The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), also introduced the new ‘Professional Standards for teachers.  This regulatory body goes on to state that teaching professionals should be committed to social justice through fair, transparent, inclusive, and sustainable teaching in relation to the nine protected characteristics and intersectionality (Ibid). However, in each of the documents discussed above there is no theoretical definition of what  intersectionality maybe, its historical roots, or how teaching professionals can successfully implement this framework. Furthermore, the protected characteristics this document refers to, which are taken from ‘The Equality Act (2010) (Scot Gov, 2010) and similar to the EU Charter of Fundamental rights, are listed as a single identity lens which is known to create challenges in applying intersectionality- diminishing the synergy which is inherent in intersectional frameworks (Solanke, 2011). Education systems across the globe are charchterized by their cultural and ethinc diversity, however, education policy must reconcile with indigenous and ethinc groups and be culturally responsive to global and national issues. 

Intersectionality is a theoretical paradigm and analytical tool that moves away from single-axis frameworks that view oppressive identity markers such as race, gender, sex, and class as juxtaposed identity groups (Crenshaw, 1998. Hill-Collins, 2016). As a theoretical paradigm, intersectionality is a critical framework that provides us with the language and mindset to identify interdependencies and interconnectedness between socially constructed systems and categories (Atewologun, 2018). However, this paradigm chart moves beyond identifying micro-level specific social locations and is also an analytical tool that helps individuals understand the world’s complexity. This framework unpacks intersecting systems of inequality and subsequently supports the analysis of the domains of power- structural, interpersonal, disciplinary, and cultural and how these domains organise power relations throughout society(Hill- Collins, 2016. Symington, 2004)  

This research paper uses critical discourse analysis as an analytical tool to establish where this leaves contemporary policy responses in the field of education and the extent to which they are cognizant with intersectionality. Or if alternatively, contemporary political responses such as the ‘The Race and Equality Framework’ are an example of a pernicious form of doublespeak. A form of language which aims to communicate but does not, language which denies or shifts responsibility and language which conceals or prevents thought. The following sub questions guided this research project: 

What approach is taken in Scottish education policy creation in terms of protected groups?   Will this support the successful implementation of intersectionality?   What role will this framework play in reinforcing, legitimising and reproducing white group dominance? 

It is understood that there are no defining theories or methodologies associated with critical discourse analysis (CDA). The methodologies are eclectic but must be appropriate for the subject under consideration in the analysis ( Wodak, 2001). In terms of the CDA adopted here this paper followed the framework for critical discourse analysis in educational research proposed by (Mullett, 2018)- by loosely following the seven suggested steps these are as follows: Step 1: Select the discourse- problem identified in terms of testing the rhetorical claims of Scottish education policy in terms of the applicability of intersectionality. Step 2: Locate and prepare data sources- all texts associated with intersectionality were identified, taking two different forays into the data. Step 3: explore the background of the text- the type of document and rationale for its inclusion and exclusion was explored- for example, documents with minimal accompanying text or the repetition of the same statement were excluded from the analysis. Step 4: Initial thematic analysis- an initial thematic analysis was undertaken, contributing to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. This supported the identification of overarching themes- this was inductive as it looked for lexical items such as overview, rationale, framework, recommendations, vision. Step 5: Analyse the external relations to the text (Interdiscursively)- And Step 6: Analyse the internal relations to the text- each of these stages was undertaken simultaneously- looking at lexical choices and the reciprocal relationship between texts, genres and styles so identifying relational themes through lexical, semantic and grammar choices. Step 7: Interpret and analyse the data- here, the applicability of intersectionality was identified, and the approach the Scottish Government have taken in addressing protected groups via policy responses. Additionally, there was a critical discourse analysis of the race equality and racism framework and the extent to which this supports intersectionality or instead perpetuates and reinforces white group dominance. This seven-step framework involved inductive, lexical, intertextual and interdiscursive analysis. However, it also relied on Dijk’s (1998) theoretical framework of the us vs them dichotomy. Dijk (1998) proposed an ideological square to disclose the discursive reproduction of the ideology of positive ‘us’ vs negative ‘them’ dichotomies. The ideological square was detailed as follows: Expressing information that is positive about us. Or Expressing information that is negative about them. Suppressing/de-emphasising information that is positive about them. Suppressing/de-emphasising information that is negative about us.

Of the proposed new plans to imbed intersectional thinking into teaching practice through the standards for provisional and career-long registration and the other anti-discrimination policy directives which were analysed- there are opposing ideologies which favour a logic of appearance as opposed to critical engagement with anti-discrimination law. In this sense, the Scottish government have a broad framework for tackling discrimination through education. However, this is a pan-equality approach which leaves space for each form of discrimination to be considered separately but makes intersectional marginalisation invisible. This, therefore, ultimately fails to centralise the synergy which is inherent in intersectionality. Furthermore, the use of personal pronouns espouses responsibility -casting the Scottish government as an institution with a heightened moral compass with a fair idea of socially just social conventions (Fairclough, 1993). However, this creates a us vs them dichotomy in which groups who are subjugated to discrimination are charged with leading change in this area- this further leads to the stigmatisation of the other and exacerbates marginality (Ibid). The Race and Equality framework holds considerable promise through its critical engagement with discrimination and racial issues, which is fundamental for intersectionality. However, this paper argues that this is indeed a pernicious form of doublespeak which perpetuates white group dominance through its classification of the normative Scottish-white majority and through the adoption of the term minority-ethnic which is known to connotate discrimination. The Scottish government, in this instance, utilise discursive strategies to transfer responsibility to teaching professionals while diminishing the inherent role governing bodies play in tackling racism throughout society- which is particularly important when addressing the domains of power framework. In sum, the policy directives which have been chosen for analysis are not only at variance with their purported aims, but they are also a concealed embodiment of othering and white group dominance.

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