The shaping of identities through childhood and adolescent schooling and non-compulsory education: a Northamptonshire Caribbean example

Identity can be shaped by education in formal and informal contexts. This paper will use the example of Northamptonshire Caribbeans c.1960-1989 to illustrate how multiple identities as Black, Caribbean and British people were constructed through their schooling and non-compulsory educational experiences, even by antithesis to unpleasant schooling incidents that often devalued the intellectual capabilities of Caribbean children. Author-conducted and Northamptonshire Black History Association (NBHA) collected interviews alongside complementary primary and secondary sources provide the basis for developing the understanding of the multitude of educationally-related influences on the identities of this localised group of Caribbeans. The paper will also address how schooling experiences of childhood influenced adult desires to obtain specific educational experiences after retrospectively learning about the lack of Black and Black British history taught in schools. The collected oral histories are at the heart of gaining insight into how identities were constructed through educational experiences. Interview audio excerpts will add an additional perspective to illustrate the numerous dimensions of how childhood schooling and non-compulsory educational experiences helped to create and develop the multitude of identities influencing Northamptonshire Caribbeans, including their adulthood desires for specific forms of education based on perceptions of their childhood learning experiences