will my kids be bullied for english accents..

[jaeno76]

I grew up in Edinburgh in the 80s but with English parents and had an English accent - it was hard going and I remember a lot of prejudice and segregation.
thinking of relocating to Scotland, but kids are just coming up to school age and I worry about putting them through this.
Hopefully Edinburgh is more diverse now than then and attitudes have changed - but does anyone have any experience of whether this has been issue for them?
thanks all xx

We moved from Kent to Edinburgh when DS was in Y1/P2. Although I'm from Edinburgh originally, DS definitely had an English accent. No issues. It was a very diverse school (his friends were Japanese, Kiwi, Mexican, so he definitely did not stick out). I couldn't say whether it would be the same at all Edinburgh schools.

Hopefully Edinburgh is a lot better than Glasgow, I was bullied for being English at secondary school (1990s) and was so happy when my parents moved us down south. And that was in a supposed “posh” part of Glasgow.

If anything, surely things would be worse now with all this separation talk?

No bullying here in Aberdeenshire, a bit if gentle ribbing over how posh DD1 sounded when she was in secondary.

DD2 basically grew up and started school here so has a weird hybrid accent.

I shouldn't think so if they're about to start primary school. Their accents will probably change to fit with their friends over time too.
I moved in year 8/S2. Despite actually being Scottish I had a terrible time because of my English accent. The only benefit was it was easy to tell the good guys from the arseholes. I wouldn't move a child at high school age.

My dd has been teased for being 'posh' (we aren't posh at all), and that may be due to her English accent but it's been mild. I wound advise them to avoid politics chat where possible.

Thanks namechange.
Which school was that, was it in central Edinburgh?

Depressing to read how many people had issues with this growing up... and it still seems to be an issue in some places. Crazy in 2022 - shouldn't it be called out like any other kind of racism?!

On a slightly different note, did you find it easy to integrate and make friends once in Edinburgh?

This sounds hard, im sorry you had to go through that...

A few English kids I know had a hard time during the referendum
Likely to be worse next time (If we get another one )
Primary probably ok , but at secondary anything different is potentially a draw for bullying

It was certainly the case 18 years ago when I tried to move to a town in the west of Scotland with primary school age children who had grown up in England and had an English father. My son (age 11, P7, autistic and desperate for acceptance) had a particularly unpleasant time and was on the receiving end of physical violence and malicious allegations, and he still gets very anxious about visiting family members who live close to the school. His younger sisters were able to make friends but got some name-calling and one of them was targeted for defending her brother. We lasted two school terms.

English isn’t a race 🙄

I got bullied for mine - in the early-mid 2000s in the 'posh' part of Glasgow. I hope Edinburgh would be better, although when I last visited the west coast (family) a few people in the local town commented on my accent, which hadn't happened before

Legally it is in the UK. The Equality Act 2010 includes nationality under the protected characteristic of race and specifically states that Scottish, English, and Welsh are considered separate national groups for this purpose.

(So, of course, abuse and bullying of and discrimination against Scottish people in England, which is apparently on the upswing, can similarly be considered racism.)

It is to the people who go on about whether you're truly scottish or not!

Well put. Thanks for clarifying.

This is frightening. The SNP projects such an inclusive and progressive image.

Can relate to this as I spent mostbof my childhood wanting to move south. Sigh. Maybe i wont move to edinburgh after all 😭 seems like such a shame as it's so wonderful in many other ways

yes from family experience. Was worse for the boys than girls, especially during big sports events

Will their accents not change if they are still little, so it wouldn't be a problem for a long time?

My parents have Glaswegian accents but my older brother has a manchester accent as we moved from glasgow to Oldham from when he was 4-15, but I don't as we moved to brixton when I was 6 till 16, I had started school with a mancs accent that I don't remember having but it disappeared after maybe a year or two.
I have other siblings and they have mixed/non specific accents as they moved in the middle of school

The SNP projects lots of things as inclusive and progressive
Meanwhile in the real world…..

I live in a central belt commuter town and there's just as many English accents as Scottish. Haven't heard any of ds's pals being bullied because of it.

I got bullied in Edinburgh for having a Glasgow accent in the 90s and all the English kids got bullied too.

I asked my kids 14 and 10 if this would happen at school these days and they thought I was mad for asking and said no it wouldn't.

My husband is English and experienced quite a lot of anti English sentiment in 2914 but things have gone back to normal and it doesn't happen now.

Just hope Sturgeon doesn't stir it all up again with pretendyref.

In all honesty in Edinburgh they will have a lot of peers with English accents so won't be an issue

@jaeno76 Tollcross Primary, very central. Lovely school. I found it easier to make friends in Edinburgh than when I was in Kent, definitely. I think it helps that it's a city lots of people move to for work or study, so there are fresh faces around looking to grow a new friendship group.