How Cooperative Based Teaching can Reduce Racial Prejudice In UK Schools: A Social Identity Theory Perspective

Prejudice of many forms is still present in classrooms. This paper outlines the evidence suggesting racial prejudice is an ongoing problem in many U.K schools. It then goes on to apply social identity theory to postulate what might lead students to be racially prejudiced against their peers. This is followed by an explanation of how and why a cooperative based teaching approach might work to reduce prejudice, as well as a suggestion of how this could be implemented on a national scale. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of using cooperative based teaching to reduce prejudice between school students.