Tikly notes that the educational attainment of mixed heritage children is below average and that there is an above average rate of exclusion for these children particularly males.
 
His research indicates that there are five main reasons for this:

1. The low socio-economic status of many of the families of mixed heritage children
2. Some racism from teachers coupled with low teacher expectations of dual heritage children
3. Racism from both White and Black peers aimed at their mixed heritage in the form of name calling and exclusion
4. Boys in particular, may experience considerable pressure by their peers to adopt to the norms of an "urban" or "street" subculture in which academic achievement, interest and success are seen as undesirable and useless
5. Mixed heritage children are often 'invisible' in school policy. until recently, many schools classified dual heritage children as Black and did not recognise them as a group with unique characteristics and needs