Promoting Race Equality: a Whole School Approach

South East Conference

Friday 30th April 2010

“Where a school is judged to be inadequate in relation to...the extent to which the school promotes equality and tackles discrimination, inspectors treat these as ‘limiting’ judgements and the school’s overall effectiveness is also likely to be judged inadequate” (Ofsted, 2009:14).

Aims

• To emphasise the need for a whole school approach to race equality.

• To encourage reflection on current teaching approaches

• To provide starting points to begin embedding equality in the curriculum

Why do we need to think about this with young children?

Studies by Jeffcoate (1979) show that White nursery children learn not to express negative attitudes in front of adults. They pick up unspoken messages that there are times when they are expected to express what they feel and others when they should not.

Give all children the opportunity to discuss similarities and differences between people: skin colours, hair textures, eye, lip and nose shapes, temperaments and abilities, about cultural differences and about how positive self-identity and self-esteem develops.

HOW CAN WE PREPARE CHILDREN TO KNOW ABOUT AND RESPECT DIFFERENCES?

• Discuss the things we all share - our common humanity, our concern for others, our need to be loved, our need to eat and sleep and play and have a home and clothes - all of which can be different.

• By not giving a negative message by trying to silence children or not answering their questions properly or saying the subject isn’t something to be talked about.

• By knowing what action to take with the child, the victim and the onlookers.

• By working with families to raise issues at home as well as in early years settings.

StoriesPersona Dolls Photographs

What can we use to discuss these issues with young children?

Embedding Equality

ACTIVITY

Teacher: “Today we are going to learn about our ancestors, the Anglo Saxons”

Muslim Pupil “Are the Anglo Saxons Muslim Miss?”

Teacher: We have a day devoted to African culture.

What is African culture? African Music? What is the Equivalent European Music? There are vast cultural, geographical, political and economic differences within and between countries.

Teacher: We have curtains featuring Golliwogs in the Nursery as they are really sweet.

Undertake a Diversity Walk through the school.

Promoting the positive?

What about challenging the negative?

Challenging stereotypes• Developing critical thinking.• Myth busting- sharing the facts!• Humanise the ‘dehumanised’• Develop empathy• Ask yourself...” What message am I giving the young people in

my class?”

Head teacher

Pupils

Class Teachers

Senior Management

Parents and Carers

Classroom Assistants

Governors

Lunchtime Supervisors

Who needs to be involved?