There’s no doubt about it: over the last few years, schools have improved at diversity and inclusion. Assemblies celebrating diverse figures are relatively common, racism-related bullying is dealt with much better and every school adheres to a diversity and inclusion policy.
But despite these steps forward, many schools are missing active, passionate and thoughtful antiracist initiatives that make the most difference.
As a school trust, we surveyed students on how they felt about diversity and inclusion and found that students who felt represented and took pride in their identity had better attainment. Unsurprisingly, then, if students are happy, feel heard and their identity, history and culture are recognised and appreciated, they get better grades.
Following this survey, I became convinced more could be done, and last year began weekly antiracism meetings with any students who wanted to get involved. These meetings have transformed my own understanding of race and racism, and have made a huge difference to our school and students. Every week we raise new questions, share new experiences and gather the energy to make concrete changes.
So where should others begin? Although each school needs to participate in its own antiracism journey, the following questions should give everyone food for thought.
1. Do our students have a genuine voice?
My first recommendation would be to set up some sort of club. It is much easier to know what children want if we ask them. Our school now has an antiracism and diversity club, an LGBTQ+ alliance and an eco society.
The important thing is to give students a platform to be heard and to have enthusiastic teachers get involved. Don’t wait for someone else to bring these about - anyone passionate about equality, activism, environmentalism, diversity, gay rights or anything else, who is prepared to listen and learn, can set up a club and generate the initial momentum.
It’s amazing what ideas and opinions come out of these meetings and I find that students really respond to the respect given to them. Don’t dominate these spaces: be open, be vulnerable and use them to slowly generate change.
2. How diverse is the school library?
According to a key survey from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), 10 per cent of children’s books contain characters from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, compared to the UK primary school population where 33.5 per cent of children are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds. Combine this with the National Literacy Trust findings that “46 per cent of children from [black, Asian or minority] ethnic backgrounds do not see themselves in books” and it is clear that a lot of schools need to do better at sharing diverse stories from diverse authors, for the benefit of everyone.
Do an audit of your school library, and make sure books in the future are chosen with diversity in mind.
3. What is the school doing to widen the curriculum?
It’s important to embed a diverse curriculum properly, without making it tokenistic. Departments should get their heads together to see how to incorporate diverse influences within their subject areas.
The Black Curriculum (TBC) is an amazing social enterprise founded in 2019 to address the lack of black British history in the UK curriculum and is well worth exploring. We were lucky enough to have TBC give some of our students a fascinating talk on the history of hair discrimination.
Whatever resources are available to you, it’s important that schools talk about diverse figures throughout the year, not just during particular months. I know of students who dislike Black History Month because it serves as a stark reminder of how their stories are given attention just one month a year. Decolonising the curriculum properly involves giving more weight and attention to other equally important narratives.
As Sathnam Sanghera argues in his book Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain: “I’m thinking about how urgent and essential efforts to decolonize curriculums might have a better chance of succeeding if they changed their language, if campaigners talked about widening curriculums rather than decolonizing them for that is what decolonizing involves.”
4. Has the school taken measures to make the uniform policy non-discriminatory?
This goes beyond antiracism, of course. LGBTQ+ students may feel discriminated against, particularly if they are transgender. But, focussing on black students for now, schools must adopt The Halo Code. Any school that asks a student with Afro-textured hair to straighten it is racially discriminating against them, and (though this is a secondary motivation) there have now been precedents for schools losing court trials as a result.
Taken from their website: “The Halo Code explicitly protects students and staff who come to school with natural hair and protective hairstyles associated with their racial, ethnic and cultural identities. By adopting the Halo Code, schools are proactively taking a stand to ensure that no member of their community faces barriers or judgments because of their Afro-textured hair.”
5. Have the teachers had unconscious bias training?
Focussing on the needs and actions of the students is not enough. The staff body needs to be aware of how the education sector demonstrates institutional racism and be well versed in issues involving race. For instance, black students are more likely to be scored lower in teacher assessments compared to their Sats, are more likely to be entered into foundation tier GCSE and are more likely to be expelled. Unconscious bias training could challenge previously unchallenged misconceptions.
The work of Dr Pragya Agarwal is particularly relevant on this point, as she goes into the science of how biases become prevalent. White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad is also worthy of attention. Whatever resources we use, there is a litany of opportunities to create informal debates in form time that also allow students to challenge any unconscious biases they may have. Importantly, the staff involved have to readily accept that they will possess biases. As psychologist Lee Ross says: “The most fundamental bias is the bias telling us that we’re not bias.”
6. How well does your calendar recognise other cultures, histories and religions?
Each week, I share an inclusion bulletin. It takes just a few minutes to research, write up and share a calendar of any cultural, religious or historical events of significance that are coming up. I also use it as a way of sharing interesting books, articles, quotes and questions.
This has encouraged conversations in form time, made students feel more recognised and has educated staff about notable days not given prominence in UK media. It has decentred what is commonly a white, eurocentric educational practice. I went through my entire childhood education with my school only giving a nod towards Christian festivals and knew nothing about Eid, Hanukkah or Diwali, and yet now our school enjoys celebrating a variety of religious occasions, not just Christmas. Last year for Diwali, those students who celebrated it were encouraged to wear traditional dress, we played typical music and ate celebratory food in the lunch hall. We would have deprived the entire school not to do so.
7. Have we given the students questionnaires to ask how well represented they are?
A student questionnaire is such an easy, informative and cheap way of assessing how diverse and inclusive your school currently is. If the intention is to use the results in a constructive, productive manner, and the questioning is respectful and considerate, it can be a very enlightening experience. If students feel unsafe, unrecognised, treated unfairly or unsupported, teachers need to know.
Matt Bull is a maths teacher at Norwich High School for Girls. He writes about antiracism on Instagram at @breakingwhitesilence
