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Teachers across Wales have revealed children as young as eight use shocking racist insults.

Charity, Show Racism the Red Card Wales , warned of a “growing tide of racist attitudes among young people in Wales”.

It published a survey showing one in four teachers polled had dealt with a racist incident at their school in the past year.

The findings also listed a string of racist comments heard by teachers in classrooms.

These were the comments reported by teachers

One teacher said: “Following the Brexit vote a Bangladeshi student was asked if he ‘had a visa’ and was told that ‘he was in Isis’.”

Another reported a female pupil being “picked on” because she wears a headscarf.

Another teacher told how “a pupil made a racist joke, not aimed at anyone but it shocked everyone around”.

A Polish child was told they weren’t wanted around here and they should go back to where they came from.

And another teacher told the survey “use of the term ‘pikey’" was "frequent" among the pupils.

Occasional mocking of Chinese heritage/culture was also reported.

And another teacher said: “Parents of a white British family told their daughter to tell the black British child at break-time to ‘go back to their own country’”

Show Racism the Red Card Wales: 'We need urgent action'

Show Racism the Red Card Wales revealed the findings at an event at the National Assembly today.

It called on schools and the education sector to double efforts to address racism and for more accountability to protect young people.

“In the past few months we have received an increase in schools contacting us for support of which 70% were due to schools reporting a racist incident,” the charity, which is approaching its 10th anniversary in Wales, said in a statement.

“The charity believes that tackling these issues are not a priority for some local authorities and that not enough is being done to challenge these issues and attitudes through the current education system and call for urgent action from the Welsh Government to support young people and teachers in Wales.”

'Anti-Muslim prejudice is a particular concern'

Show Racism the Red Card Wales said it was particularly concerned with anti-Muslim prejudice among some young people.

Words such as ‘bombers’, ‘terrorists’, and ‘the Taliban’ were repeated throughout the consultations, as well as ‘Isis’ and ‘Ebola’.

Some young people were also reported as labelling immigrants as ‘people who cause riots’, ‘trespassers’, ‘smugglers’, and ‘people who are trying to hurt us.’

The charity said its work with young people and teachers in the last few months highlighted a lack of confidence, training, and support among teachers.

Some teachers reported they did not feel well-trained and confident when completing racial discrimination incident reports to senior staff and the local education authority.

Teacher: 'The culture needs to change higher up'

One teacher said: “The problem is political – the higher up the chain of command you go the fewer people/roles want such matters recorded.

“I’ve been asked ‘Are you sure you want this recorded as a racist incident?’ far too many times – the culture needs to change higher up.”

Another teacher said local authorities did not place enough importance on racist bullying in schools, telling the consultation: “Without a very transparent policy and procedures to follow, always made to feel there is not really a problem, or if there is it is just with that individual person. But for any individual facing racism in any form it is huge and doesn’t just go away with time and it probably is happening elsewhere in the local authority.”

Show Racism the Red Card Wales campaign manager Sunil Patel said: “It is deeply worrying that racist hate complaints have increased dramatically since the EU referendum result.

"Racism had been on the increase across Wales even before the vote and the consistent negative reporting of migrants has fuelled the resentment.

“We been noticing anti-immigration views expressed by pupils in schools from as young as eight years old and our office has been contacted by teachers who are not confident in tackling racist incidents that are occurring on a more frequent basis.

"We are extremely concerned and call for urgent action to support and protect young people in Wales.”

Call for urgent action

Included in the consultation was a survey answered by 435 teachers which highlighted that one in four teachers had come across a racist incident at their school in the past 12 months.

And it’s not just the children who are the victims.

One teacher in Monmouthshire told the charity a pupil made comments to a Muslim member of staff about skin colour and others have also reported racist incidents aimed at school staff.

Those answering the survey called for anti-racism education to be integrated into the curriculum with 90% of teachers strongly believing this was the way forward.

One teacher said: “I’ve been trying to do this for years. I think it is of the utmost importance. However, staff mostly avoid conversations about race, religion etc for fear of ‘opening a can of worms’.”

Stuart Williams, NUT principal officer and chair of Show Racism the Red Card’s Wales advisory committee, said: “Tackling racism is the responsibility of everyone in our communities both within the school gates and outside.

“As the largest union for teachers in Wales we are extremely proud of the work we do alongside Show Racism the Red Card in raising awareness of these issues and to help educate children. What is clear from this survey, and recent statistics, is that this work is as important now as it has ever been.”

Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams said, “I will not tolerate racism and bullying in the Welsh education system, and I expect schools and education services to also make it clear that it is entirely unacceptable - and to adopt a zero tolerance approach.

“Schools are supported by our Respecting Others anti-bullying guidance which includes specific guidance relating to incidents linked to race, culture and religion. We have also approved further work with Show Racism the Red Card to offer teachers an opportunity to attend professional learning events during the autumn term.

"These will help equip and empower our teachers with the confidence to tackle racism and discrimination in our classrooms.“We want children and young people to enjoy teaching and learning that inspires them to succeed in life, in an inclusive learning environment, which respects and values diversity and builds tolerance and understanding.”

Show Racism the Red Card Walles ambassador Shazia Awan said: "This report today highlights that 97% of young people have heard damaging comments about Muslims with themes of fear, terrorism, killing, bombing and ISIS. In the last twelve months alone, one in five teachers have responded to or reported Islamophobic incidents in schools in Wales."