A Journey with Bernard Coard | Moderated by Dave Neita

The follow up to the 50th-anniversary launch of “How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-normal”

The ground-breaking study by Bernard Coard, How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System, was first published in 1971. It provided an understanding to Caribbean and working class parents of the obstacles they faced in the limited educational opportunities open to their children and led to their resistance against this system.

The theme will be: “What has the last 50 years taught us since the publication of ‘How the West Indian Child …?” with questions such as how have we responded since then, what must we do now, what forms of struggle can be used by black and white parents to develop an effective model of education for their children and how do we mobilise social capital, amongst other things.

About our Guest Speaker, Moderator, Chair and Co-hosts

Bernard Coard (Guest Speaker) taught at his secondary school in Grenada on leaving at 18 and at Brandeis University’s ‘Upward Bound’ Summer Programme at 20 and 21. He studied at Brandeis University (Massachusetts, USA) and then Sussex University (UK). During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Bernard ran youth clubs in South East London for children attending seven so-called ESN schools and taught at two others in East London. He subsequently taught at The University of The West Indies and at the Institute of Higher Studies, Netherlands Antilles. For 20 years, Coard set up and ran the Richmond Hill Prison Education Programme, Grenada (basic literacy to London University postgraduate degrees). He continues to reach at university level as a guest lecturer, in person and online.

Dave Neita (Moderator) is a celebrated poet with a passion for human rights and is widely regarded as an engaging and informative social justice practitioner. He is also a lawyer, public speaker and consultant and he is dedicated to the mission of advancing empowerment through poetry, politics and public service.

Frances Swaine (Chair) was the firm's first managing partner and a partner in the regulatory & disciplinary team and the human rights department. Frances is an experienced human rights and clinical negligence claims lawyer with over 25 years’ experience of representing victims of sexual abuse and bringing claims for compensation and justice.

Chenelle Shury (Co-host) joined Leigh Day as a solicitor apprentice in 2020 and has since been working in the Human Rights department. Whilst undergoing her studies in Law, Chenelle assists on various cases including cladding, contaminated bloods, and data protection group claims.

Malik Gray (Co-host) began his apprenticeship at Leigh Day in January 2021. He currently working on various cases in the international department, mostly against multinational companies involving allegations of human rights abuses personal injury and environmental harm.