The SOAR Project: Speak Out Against Racism

Racism and racial bullying are important issues in the lives of many Australian children and young people, especially at school. The Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) project was the first large-scale population-representative study on experiences and attitudes to racism and racial bullying, and on bystander responses to racism and racial discrimination among Australian students in government schools in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. The project:

1. Examined experiences of, attitudes towards, and responses to, racism and racial bullying among school students
2. Identified health, wellbeing, education and social outcomes of racism and racial bullying for individuals, schools and communities
3. Explored the enablers and obstacles associated with bystander responses to racism and racial bullying
4. Developed piloting and evaluating a school-based program to foster proactive bystander responses to racism and racial bullying.

The Project

Racism and racial bullying are important issues in the lives of many Australian children and young people, especially at school. This project aims to substantially increase understandings of bystander responses (including their extent, nature, potential, merits, benefits, constraints) as a means of countering racism and racial bullying among Australian school students. This will be achieved by:

1. Examining experiences of, attitudes towards, and responses to, racism and racial bullying among school students
2. Identifying health, wellbeing, education and social outcomes of racism and racial bullying for individuals, schools and communities
3. Exploring the enablers and obstacles associated with bystander responses to racism and racial bullying
4. Developing, piloting and evaluating a school-based program to foster proactive bystander responses to racism and racial bullying.

Key Findings

Key findings from the 2017 Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) student and staff surveys:

• Students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, and from ethnic minority backgrounds were two times more likely to report experiences of racial discrimination compared to students from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds overall.
• Students born overseas reported two times more experiences of racial discrimination than students born in Australia.
• Students from South Asian (74%) and African (68%) backgrounds reported witnessing the highest levels of racial discrimination.
• Over 40% of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds and from ethnic minority backgrounds reported experiences of racial discrimination from their peers.
• Close to 20% of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds reported experiences of racial discrimination from their teachers, and among ethnic minority students 18-30% of students reported these experiences with the highest levels among those from Middle Eastern and African backgrounds.
• 78% of students said they were able to make friends with students from different racial, ethnic or cultural backgrounds.
• 11% of students agreed or strongly agreed that their friends would think badly of them if they ate lunch with a student from a different background.
• Overall, students across all ethnic groups reported an average level of more than 10 (from a scale of 3 to 15) when it came to how confident they would be to intervene when other students were being mistreated.

Publications

• Report from the 2017 Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) student and staff surveys (PDF, 948.4KB)
• Summary of findings from the 2017 Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) student and staff surveys (PDF, 129.56KB)
• Methods summary for the 2017 Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) student and staff surveys (PDF, 76.74KB)

Project team

• Professor Kevin Dunn (Western Sydney University)
• Dr. Oishee Alam (Western Sydney University)
• Dr. Naomi Priest (Australian National University)
• Dr. Tania King (Australian National University)
• Prof. Anne Kavanagh (University of Melbourne)
• Prof. Yin Paradies (Deakin University),
• Dr. Jacqueline Nelson (University of Technology Sydney)

Project Partners and Funding

This project was funded by an ARC Linkage Grant. It was led by the Australian National University, together with Western Sydney University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Technology Sydney and Deakin University, in partnership with the NSW Department of Education, the Victorian Department of Education and Training, and the Australian Human Rights Commission.