Abstract
With the continuing crisis in education, especially marked in the urban schools with large numbers of West Indian pupils, and against a theoretical and research Background which explains educational failure in terms of cultural deficit, individual/family pathology and socio-psychological maladjustment a critique was undertaken of theories and research which deals with the self-concept and schooling of black children in Britain and America; and a research project investigated the self-concept and attitudes of a sample of West Indian children living and going to schools and Supplementary (Saturday) schools in the London area. The research was based on a sample of 264 West Indian children aged 10-15; 76 involved in curriculum innovatory, school-based 'enrichment' projects; 99 in community-based 'increased attainment' projects, and 89 who acted as a comparison group. The self-concept, attitudes to school, teachers, parents and home was investigated by means of (1) the Piers-Harris Children's self-concept scale; (2) the Ziller self-social symbols tasks (a diagrammatic presentation of self and others) and (3) a projective sentence-completion item of 7 stems. The research results suggest that community-based attempts at achievement-motivation are more successful in developing positive attitudes to school than are school-based self-concept 'enrichment projects; but that children taking part in school-based projects are more positive to school than those not doing so. The implications of the study for theory, research and practice in relation to the schooling of West Indian children are discussed.