During it's 3 year rural research project, Devon REC has been asking its minority ethnic participants for their ideas on how to promote race equality in Devon. The key response given by our participants is the need for education, in particular with the next generation of Devon's adults, i.e. in schools. Devon REC is already involved in providing guidance to education authorities and multi-agency groups on tackling racist bullying at school. However, Devon REC also aims to take its education work further, in order to respond to the priority which the research participants have placed on this work. People's core values are deeply influenced early on in life, and hence it is important to work with schools to ensure that young people adopt race equality values, if racism is to be squeezed out of occurrence in the next generation. Our research indicates that education work needs to include anti-racism, cultural awareness and global awareness perspectives, delivered directly in the classroom, as INSET with teachers and as policy and practice development with school management. In this way, race equality is built into the attitudes of pupils and staff, and into the schools' institutional and curriculum practices.

We have not given up on the present generation of Devon's adults and decision-makers, however. We adults are responsible for our own prejudices and we influence the next generation. Educational work with adults requires that we take into account that people are on the whole busy, and that people need thinking time and help, to appraise and change attitudes. Devon REC's training and policy development work with organisations will deliver this education to those who are actively seeking advice on race equality principles and practice. But we also need to reach other people. We do this by running public events, through celebrating diversity in sport and we plan to tie work-place passive education into our training and policy work contracts with employers. Participants in our research have also recommended that they can work in partnership with Devon REC to host cultural awareness and bridge building events in their local towns and villages, and we plan to facilitate this through our proposed rural peer networks.

The Commission for Racial Equality's names for this work:

Public awareness and education
Private sector equality development work
Promoting community cohesion
Leadership - programmes aimed at young people, and showcasing good practice
Cross-community work - undertaking public education
Conflict resolution - addressing issues among disaffected white communities
Alienated communities - rural areas