The Great School Swap

Two schools from one of the most racially divided areas of Britain participate in an ambitious social experiment to integrate teens from different cultures and backgrounds. The results are explosive, exciting, and ultimately uplifting as we watch the children overcome the misconceptions and prejudice caused by living in segregated communities.

In this provocative new factual format, school children are invited to take on one of the most difficult problems facing global society today – race and racism. Inspired by a US integration initiative from the 60s – it exchanges pupils from an all-white school with those from an all-Asian school. Ignorance and intolerance evolve into understanding, appreciation, and true friendship as this genuinely inspiring and thought-provoking series unfolds.

Like many countries across the world, areas of Britain are becoming more segregated, with some ethnic communities living increasingly separate lives. At best, they know little or nothing about each other’s cultures, and at worst, they are downright intolerant, often perpetuating racial stereotypes about each other.

In the first week of this brave social experiment, six students from Tamworth Enterprise College – considered one of the "whitest schools in Britain" – are "bused" to the nearby Saltley Academy, a predominantly Asian-Muslim secondary school. In an effort to eliminate their ill-informed feelings towards each other, the teenagers are paired up for activities and lessons about racial history and tolerance in classrooms rigged with cameras, and also encouraged to take part in organised trips into each other’s communities. In the second week, the exchange is reversed.

At first the results are both provocative and explosive, as tempers flare over misunderstandings on religion, culture, and sexuality. But as the experiment progresses, it is clear that 13 and 14-year-olds are far more capable of seeing beyond skin color than many of the grown-ups around them.