Immigrant children in Glasgow suffer racist abuse and bullying from each other as well as from others, according to new research.
Children from asylum-seeking and refugee families find schools are safer places to avoid bullying, but outside schools - particularly in the city centre and on buses and trains - they face verbal abuse. Much of this goes unreported for fear of reprisals.
According to other findings published yesterday by the Scottish Government, immigrant children are discouraged by their parents from using the Scots language, particularly due to its association with swearing. That research into the way migrants understand Scottish culture and learn English - which included discussion of what they make of The Broons and Oor Wullie - has shown that they think most Scots parents are over-indulgent of their children and inconsistent in the use of discipline.
The research project into asylum-seeking and refugee children's experience in education, carried out by University of London academics, working with the Scottish Refugee Council and Children in Scotland, is positive about the role of schools, recommending action they should take to be alert to bullying and isolation for pupils who struggle with English.
They said some schools have a "buddy" system that works well, and while interpreters were appreciated by parents, they complained that letters home from schools arrive in English.
The research findings about young people's experience of living in Scotland, and Glasgow in particular, is more concerning about what happens out of school. Danger on the streets, especially in deprived areas, was harming these children's lives.
When unaccompanied and outside school, they reported "high levels of racist abuse on a regular basis in the city centre and on public transport. However, racist abuse of asylum-seeking and refugee communities does not seem to be restricted to indigenous white Scots," said the research.
"The study found evidence of inter-ethnic bullying between different groups; intra-faith racist bullying between different ethnic groups and inter-faith bullying of minority-faith groups of asylum-seeking young people by majority-faith asylum-seeking young people."
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