Belonging

The 3 Cs of DEIB Work: Consciousness, Confidence, Competence

Written by Hannah Wilson

Founder of Diverse Educators

Our Journey

When I am running training on DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) for different stakeholder groups, I suggest that they see this work as a journey. The DEIB journey is one we go on individually and collectively, personally and professionally. The journey is non-linear and quite messy – different people will go off on different routes to reach the same goal and people will get on and off at different stages. This journey is a marathon and not a sprint, so we need to pace ourselves and we need to sustain our commitment to the work.

Motivation to go on this journey is great, but it is the habits that we unlearn and relearn, that will enable the DEIB vision to become embedded into the provision. This is where we see impact and we can make change happen. Moreover, this journey has three parallel lanes. The 3Cs of Consciousness, Confidence and Competence are my way of breaking down the different things that we need to develop in ourselves and each other.

Our Consciousness

Def. the state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings; a person’s awareness or perception of something.

We need to start here, fighting our bias for action as educators like to do and get busy finding solutions to problems. But we need to start with the being. We need to become aware of ourselves, of each other and of the environment in which we are existing.

Consciousness is about exploring our own identity, recognising our own bias and navigating our own power and privilege. We need to become conscious of what we have not experienced, of what we have not been exposed to, of who we do not know.

We talk about getting ‘comfortable with being uncomfortable’ because we need to do the ‘inner work’ before we can start the ‘outer work’. We need to start with understanding ourselves on a deeper level.

The call to action is to be able to look in the mirror and to understand who we are and what shapes our thinking/ behaviour.

Our Confidence

Def. the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something; the telling of private matters or secrets with mutual trust.

With increased awareness, we recognise that we do not have all of the answers. So we need to get confident in acknowledging that we are not the expert and that we need to listen to and learn from others. As we grapple with new concepts and new language, we need to model that we are going to get it wrong, that we are going to need support and feedback, and that we will make mistakes, but we will learn from them.

Confidence is about getting curious and asking more questions. We need to listen to others, to their lived experience, in order to expand our own perspective. We need to have the confidence to discover some hard truths about our organisation.

As we become confident engaging with the subject matter, we then need to become more confident in what we say and what we do. We need to stand up and speak out on issues impacting our community, we need to call in and call out behaviour and language that is not inclusive.

The call to action is to be willing to be courageously open and vulnerable.

Our Competence

Def. the ability to do something successfully or efficiently; the quality or state of having sufficient knowledge, judgment, skill, or strength.

With consciousness and confidence, we can then start developing our competence. In order to do the work in realising our DEIB intentions and bringing our vision to life, we need to develop new skills.

‘We don’t know what we don’t know’ until we start the learning journey. By slowing things down we can be more intentional in identifying the gaps in knowledge and in planning the training to close these gaps over time.

Being competent means that we develop muscle memory, we practise until the new skills feel natural and automatic e.g. diversifying the curriculum/ library, reviewing policies/ processes and practices through a DEIB lens, holding courageous conversations, showing up as an ally.

The call to action is to invest time and resources into ongoing training for yourself and others.

Our Commitment

So as we head to the end of the year, we invite you to reflect on the journey you have been on with your DEIB work. Where have you become more conscious, more confident and more competent? And how have you cascaded this learning to others?

Working with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Young People

Written by Karen Self

Karen joined the NYA in late 2020 as a Youth Work Specialist. She is a JNC professionally qualified youth and community worker and qualified trainer. Karen has worked in the youth and community field for over 25 years, including managing and leading activity across a range of sectors and environments.

Karen Self, Learning and Development Manager, National Youth Agency, describes why she is so passionate about the new Gypsy, Roma and Traveller CPD course for youth workers and others working with young people looking to ensure their services are inclusive.

‘’The most important piece of advice for any youth service hoping to engage with young Gypsies, Roma and Travellers is to go out and meet and talk to the young people, their families and others in the community.’’ This statement, from our recently launched CPD course ‘Working with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Young People, might seem obvious if you’re a youth worker, but how well do you really understand Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities?

Perhaps you’re already working with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller young people but not realise that you are because, contrary to the common misconception, some 78% of Gypsy, Roma, and Travellers in the UK live in permanent bricks and mortar housing (according to the 2011 Census)

Furthermore, do you fully appreciate the challenges the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities face?

This question takes me back to my work directly with young Roma people, as well as managing teams that have worked with the local Roma community. I recall that it was essential that the team gave their absolute commitment to building trusted relationships within the community over a period of months, even years. Yes, we faced many challenges, the young people we connected with were often discriminated against by peers and members of the community, a mutual lack of cultural understanding often led to conflict with other young people, there were also worries about our intentions and our own concerns about the risk of exploitation of Roma young people by others; however, over time the work flourished, and we witnessed many successful outcomes for young people. We found that by focussing on their similarities with other young people – like football, music and dance – we were able to improve relationships and understanding amongst young people and by working with partners in the community and in the local secondary school we were able to tackle some of the more complex issues.

Our work with a group of Roma young people was successful because the lead detached youth worker was knowledgeable about the communities they worked alongside; they always strove to understand their needs and experiences and were committed to developing trusted, yet boundaried, relationships and instilled these values in their team of detached youth workers.

Would a course have improved the team’s and other professional’s knowledge and understanding? Most definitely! That’s why I’m so passionate about the two Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller CPD units the National Youth Agency has produced alongside ODET (Open Doors Education & Training).

The second course provides insights into successful activities to engage young people from the Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities, including.

The importance of youth work with the community and effective approaches to engagement, social inclusion outreach, diversity, integration, and multi-agency work all with a focus on promoting pride and the visibility of cultures.
How to identify and analyse participation barrier challenges.
Examine good practice examples in youth work settings and how to develop inclusive practice in their own settings.

Including case studies, useful templates, and a wealth of resources, the ‘Working with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Young People’ CPD is a must for any Youth Worker or any other professional working with young people who wishes to provide meaningful, trusted, and inclusive services.

You can access the CPD Parts 1 and 2 on the National Youth Agency website at www.nya.org.uk/academy-cpd/

Normalising Difference

Written by Amrutha Anthony

Amrutha Anthony is a trainee teacher at Basingstoke SCITT (BASCITT).

Difference is daunting.

There are many differences and mine is that I am not British. I am an Indian who grew up in the UAE. This was not a problem by itself. However, I had decided to train to teach Secondary English.

I would be a foreigner teaching English to the English.

The humour was not lost on me, nor were the apprehensions.

However, I was lucky enough my main placement school is also where I’d gotten to work at as an LSA for a few months before my training began. From the very first day my school made me feel like I had always been part of the school community. From my days since I have realised why.

My school hosts a diverse community of both staff and students. Last year, 56% of the students were from ethnic groups, and English was second language to 31% of the student populace. My school’s diversity has been channelled into an attitude of inclusivity that permeates every interaction that happens here. In response to the Basingstoke & Deane Inclusions and Diversity Partnership launched in 2021, the school set up a Diversity Lead. Under her guidance, around 60 students signed up to be EARAs – Equality and Rights Advocates. They were trained to challenge and be upstanders in a gentle way. They were also responsible for training other students formally (assemblies) and informally (personal conversations). The EARAs proposed and piloted workshops for KS3 students on LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, and race. Historically, students also led a sign language workshop that proved quite popular.

School students support all forms of diversity because their own uniqueness is celebrated here. I remember being in a history class last year when they were learning about Black history in the UK. Whilst Black history in the US has become popular knowledge, the UK perspective was entirely new to me; together with the students, I soaked up this new angle in fascination. I found out later that this lesson was a result of the school wanting KS3 curriculum to reflect the histories of all its students. This commitment to year-round inclusivity made the schools Black History Month celebration so much more sincere.

My school is also twinned with a school in Cameroon, by the Portsmouth Diocese to which the school belongs. When it was safer, staff and students had gone over to volunteer; now the school supports the college through fundraising activities. On Diversity Day last year, staff and students were encouraged to come dressed in traditional attire and to take part in an evening celebration of all the ethnicities in the school. This mufti day was made meaningful when all staff and students donated a pound each to be sent off to Bamenda.

Being a single faith school, my school often faces a question from the outside about how inclusive it is of other faiths. Those on the inside, however, have the answers. Before the pandemic, my school hosted a student-led interfaith question time. The students were supported in preparing their answers by the RE department, yet they took the lead in bringing the answers to the student populace. The school also hosts an annual multi-faith trip where Year 8 students visit a gurdwara, a mosque, and a mandir. They come back with their textbook knowledge improved by a real-world awareness of how different faiths practice their beliefs. This awareness is strengthened by the practical steps the school takes to accommodate all faiths. A prime example would be the student-led Ramadan assemblies that remind students to be supportive of their fasting peers. Staff are also asked to make allowances for fasting students and the school shifts other celebrations to ensure they do not miss out. A group of Muslim students make regular use of an RE space to pray during lunchtimes and plans for a Muslim prayer space next to the chapel are soon to be realised.

It has been heart-warming to hear parents talk about how this level of support makes their children feel safe at school. In addition to racial and religious diversity, the school also supports children with additional needs. Last year this was 8% of all students. As an LSA, I had been in classes with many of these students and it was delightful to see how the other children wholeheartedly accepted the SEND children. When the SEND children behave differently or are given additional support, none of the other children bat an eyelid. I have heard a SEND child screaming outside and I have seen my class calmly continue with their work; no one wanted to look out the window or even seem surprised. This to me showed true inclusivity – not just about understanding differences and accepting them, but having differences normalised.

Here at school, it is perfectly normal for me to be different.

Here at school, it is perfectly normal for me to be teaching English.

Here at school, I can grow and learn and the only thing that affects my ability to succeed is the amount of work I put in.

I write this as a student teacher, but I write this echoing the sentiments of hundreds of children who walk in each day. I write this having been cherished and supported by all members of staff. I have only been here for about half a year, but I have never felt so accepted anywhere else. The ethos of the school guides the community in respecting the innate dignity of all human beings. The school way is to ‘walk with each other’ and this is practiced by everyone from SLT to support staff to students.

Flour on my Face

Written by Siya Twani

I am a Motivational Speaker who speaks in schools and businesses, on Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, Resilience and Mental toughness.

My name is Siya and I speak in schools and businesses across the country and internationally. Like Nelson Mandela I am a man who stuck my neck out like a giraffe and spoke up against the Apartheid regime. This resulted in me being arrested, tortured, and put in prison for four years. I have a lived experience of facing, the odds, and reinvented myself by defying the regime in letting my voice be heard and recognised as co-equal. The struggle for belonging has been my life long struggle. I went to prison because I wanted to create a South Africa and a world where all of us as human beings can experience the joy of belonging, not just some but ALL OF US TOGETHER.

Our children are dual heritage. My children have struggled with belonging and acceptance or not being accepted for who you are.

My youngest son is Sipho. When he was about nine years old, Sipho and Megan were friends at primary school and one Friday after school Sipho went to play with Megan at her house. On collecting Sipho I noticed that he was covered in white powder, before I could enquire Megan said, ‘Look Siya I made Sipho white like me.’ I said, ‘That is so lovely Megan’, as she was just an innocent child, wanting a friend to look like her. All Megan’s dolls were white and so thought because all her world is white therefore Sipho as friend needed to be white. It was an innocent gesture and attempt of acceptance and inclusion. She wanted Sipho not to feel different.

Now fast forward to when we moved from Essex to Edinburgh. Now in Edinburgh one beautiful summer’s day, I decided to take my three beautiful children to a park to play on the swings at a local park. As we entered through the gate, myself and my children were subjected to racial abuse, called monkeys and told to get out of her you are dirty, you brown people. They taunted my children. They went on to say, ’You are not welcome here’, and my children broke down in tears. I approached these ignorant white kids who were never exposed to a people of different colour or background. They all ran out of the park. Three of the older teens came back to the park to apologise. I then took that opportunity to educate these young people and expand their horizons. I asked them, can you imagine what it must feel like being spat at, called names, being bullied all because I was different? Can you imagine the power of your words, attitudes, and behaviours towards my children? I went to ask them. One day how would they feel if their own children were subjected to racial trauma and abuse. They were stunned and all they did they kept apologising and their apology was accepted as I said to them. it takes a strong person to apologise for their mistakes.

I wish I could say that was the last time that my three little children were subjected to racial trauma and abuse. That incident is stuck in their minds as they often reminisce about it and how big daddy protected then form those empty-headed idiots.

In writing this blog I do not want you anyone of you as readers the impression that either myself or my children had persecution complex. It was our daily bread” our daily experience of being a dual heritage family in predominantly white village just outside of Edinburgh, called Black Hall and by the very nature of the demographics was predominantly white.

My daughter who was then 10 and my son who was then 8 were the only dual heritage children in the whole school. Again, the demon of racism that taunted me growing up in South Africa was now tormenting and terrorising my children and impacting on their mental health and wellbeing. I remember my daughter having cultural and racial identity crisis. One day she locked herself in the bathroom bleached herself because she wanted to be white like all the other kids in the school. She took the scissors and cut her hair off because it was not blond like her mums and the kids in the school. These two stories of my children’s lived experience and their struggle of belonging or not belonging is a real one to this very day. When people see my children, they don’t see white people first they say black children because they are not “pure white” like everybody else around them.

To this day my children live with this creative tension that, for white people they will never be white enough and for black people they will never be black enough. They are in no man’s land. I went to prison in South Africa so my children and my grandchildren could experience the joy of belonging and not have to go through what I went through because of racially divided South Africa. Not so long ago in this country there were signs in the 60s saying, No blacks, no Irish, no gay, no Jews and no dogs.

It was Dr Martin Luther King in his famous speech ‘I have a dream’……. who said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.” The question I ask myself is …why should they be judged in the first place whether they are black, white gay or not gay, trans or not, short, or tall?

The incident I related above of those young people in the park. They did not realise the impact of their words, attitudes, behaviour and the racial trauma my children suffered as the result of their ignorance. Because really, racism is a child of ignorance. They did not know how it would make my children feel for the rest of their lives. ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’ those words cut deep into the psyche of my children, and profoundly affected their mental health, wellbeing and sense of belonging.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou

My passion is to educate, empower and expand young people’s horizons about Diversity & Inclusion That is why I speak in schools and delivery inclusion and diversity workshops and promoting mutual respect. Celebrating diversity and not seeing diversity as a threat but as a strength that unites all human beings. Because there’s only one Race …The human Race.

In my culture we do not have the concept of stranger danger. Every is potential friend or a friend you haven’t met yet. The word for community in Zulu is Umphakathi meaning we are together on the inside. No one is excluded or marginalised, picked on, we all experience the sense of belonging to one another.

In the stage play and movie HIGH SCHOOL Musical : After Gabriella and Troy successfully perform their song (“Breaking Free”), Ms. Darbus gives them the lead roles, making Sharpay and Ryan understudies. Both teams win their respective competitions, and the entire school gathers in the gym to celebrate (“We’re All In This Together”). Chad asks Taylor out, and Sharpay makes peace with Gabriella. We need to be curious, embrace, celebrate diversity and respect differences and not see differences as threat but as a strength.

This is what drives me into schools because as Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon with which we can change the world”.

As a passionate, engaging educator I have moral obligation to educate, empower and enthuse young people to make this world a better place to live in.

Instead of putting flour on my face… let’s put flowers in each child’s life so they can thrive.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela

Tackling unconscious bias within UK schools

Written by Sonia Elmer-Soman

Sonia Elmer-Soman has a background in both law and education. She is a qualified law lecturer and has many years’ experience working as a legal practitioner in two prestigious law firms in the City and now within a reputable law firm local to her home town in Essex. She is also a qualified primary school teacher and is a guest writer for professional journals.

This blog was written for the National Association of Primary Education (‘NAPE’) and Primary First.

What is Unconscious Bias?

If statistics are to be believed, the Gov.uk paper on School teacher Workforce – Ethnicity Facts and Figures (2019) revealed that 85.7% of all teachers in state funded schools in England were white British. 3.8% of teachers were from the White Other ethnic group, the second highest percentage after the white British group and 92.7% of head teachers were white British whilst only 65.4% of pupils are from a white British background.

Whether we like it or not, we all exhibit unconscious bias in some way whether deciding which friend to honour a dinner date with when we’ve double-booked or making application shortlists that reflect our own cultural experiences. Unconscious bias is about patterns of behaviour that affect our everyday decision making and which are influenced by shared background, culture, and personal experiences.

Surely it is time to address the implications of unconscious bias within UK state schools? Of interest is how biases drive high turnover and high attrition among black Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) teachers, in a system where BAME pupils do not see themselves represented in the ‘school community’ and the ‘school community’ does not reflect how wider society or ‘Global Britain’ looks today.

Experiences of BAME teachers

Tereshchenko, Mills and Bradbury (2020) shows us that the proportion of students and teachers from minority ethnic groups is disparate, meaning that BAME students and teachers may not see teaching as a viable option without role models to inspire. Research participants stated that they regularly experienced:
being ‘passed over’ in senior promotions and hitting a glass ceiling which may not have been obvious at the outset. ‘I look at the people at my school that have been promoted or given opportunities to learn and they’re all white British’;
a ‘culture of toxicity which took the form of micro-aggressions, covert bias and injustices’. ‘It matters what the culture of the school is, how they view ethnic minorities and if one walks around a school on interview and they don’t see diversity reflected in the pupils or staff’, then they would be ‘more likely to opt for a school which had encouraged and supported this’;
a revolving door resulting in BAME teachers having to move to more diverse and disadvantaged/SEN schools in London in order to advance their careers;
feeling that ‘wider social inequalities are mirrored and reproduced in school power hierarchies which underpin and drive BAME teachers’ unequal career progression’.

Examples of Unconscious Bias

However, it is not just in education where we see unconscious bias being played out. Channel 4’s Hollyoaks aired a powerful episode on the subject.

In one scene, Martine, a black woman, attends a cancer diagnostic appointment and is first to arrive at the surgery. Tara, a white British woman, arrives after Martine for the very same reason. The receptionist informs the two women that the appointment has been double booked and that only one of them can see the Doctor that day. Tara begins to cry. Martine awaits the decision in silence. The receptionist chooses Tara and tells Martine ‘Tara is clearly upset’ and ‘Have some sympathy’.

It is not unusual for NHS staff to have to make these decisions against the backdrop of a system which is overwhelmed and underfunded. However, Statistics show black women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer due to systematic racism and misinformation (Morris, 2021). When Martine questions the receptionist, she is told to ‘ take a step back and stop being aggressive’. The writers skilfully make the point that the word ‘aggressive’ like intimidating are so often used against black people and people of colour who have ever dared to stand up for themselves. Seconds later, Martine tries to explain that ‘I have a lump too. I am terrified too’, but the scene ends with Martine standing outside in the cold whilst the two women make their way inside the surgery.

This will not have been the only problematic person or challenging situation Martine will have faced that day. For instance, where could she be in her job she wonders, if ‘it weren’t for so many barriers’. ‘The micro-aggressions are so subtle and covert it is hard to prove’. There is a sense throughout the episode that Martine must be’ strong’ and toughen up. Any injustice she feels must be borne with unflinching humility.

Parm Sandhu was the most senior Asian woman in the Metropolitan Police Force and the only non-white female to have been promoted to Chief Superintendent in the history of the Force. Her book entitled ‘Black and Blue – One Woman’s Story of policing and prejudice’ she tells of a challenging thirty year rise through the ranks of the Force where she faced racial and gender discrimination and spurious claims of misconduct after whistleblowing.

In her nail-biting account, Sandhu observes how persons of colour get the jobs and perform as well as, if not better in some cases than, their white British counterparts, but when they come to knock on that door for promotion or to raise a concern, the path is fraught with complexity and struggle and the rules are very different depending on who knocks.

So, could unconscious bias have played a part in the situation with Megan Markle? In her infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey, Megan spoke of the need to avoid polarising people and she found it hard being blamed for something ‘not only that I didn’t do’, but ‘that actually happened to me’. Megan’s quote ‘If you love me, you don’t need to hate her [Kate] and if you love her, you don’t need to hate me’ is the money sentence and will likely resonate. Megan felt she was often compared to Kate, with Kate usually coming off better because when one is faced with fewer battles to fight, they can concentrate on the battles worth fighting. One is far less likely to miss-step when not constantly on a back-foot.

What can Senior Leadership Teams and Ofsted do to improve recruitment and retention of BAME staff?

1. Diversification of the workforce only occurs if there is an ambition and an appetite to make it happen.
2. Look around your school. How many teachers or teaching assistants of colour do you see? Who sits on your leadership team and at the table of the Board of Governors?
3. When advertising for teachers, try to advertise in two different demographics and avoid language as ‘will suit someone from the local area’, but rather you could advertise in such a way as to actively source and welcome applicants from the BAME community.
4. Consider whether opportunities for training are open to persons of colour. What does that training look like?
5. Is there a pattern as to whom you choose for advancement. As one of the participants in the earlier research paper commented ‘First level the playing field and then let’s talk about merit’.
6. Move out of your comfort zone. Spend time with people from different cultures and backgrounds and see things from a different perspective. Less diversity means conformity of thought and exclusion.
7. Ofsted could revise their reports avoiding language relating to demographic as being eg ‘mostly white British with lower than average children with EAL, a statement of need or pupil premium’ and they could also score schools according to if they have made some attempt to recruit and retain BAME staff.
8. Provide opportunities to raise concerns with a diverse team. Use Gary Klein’s “premortem”. Imagine a decision or conflict leads to disaster and detail how it might have happened. Thus, search for overlooked problems.
9. Be comfortable talking about matters involving race. Avoid language as ‘She is more English than us’ or ‘I don’t see colour’ as this only serves to invalidate a person’s background.
10. Think about what social media platforms you share with your staff. Can you remain objective and professional if Facebook (staff) friends are commenting on every aspect of your personal life.

Conclusion

Schools roll out PREVENT training to staff, but do we really understand that those young people influenced into radicalisation are those who are in search of belonging and identity. However, we ‘prevent’ a sense of belonging when our institutions are not geared up to providing role models as part of a pupil’s lived daily reality. We are very good at teaching pupils about tolerance, equality and diversity, but we don’t show them what that looks like within the school environment.

In the wake of the George Floyd Killing, there was much emphasis on social media about ‘learning from it’ and ‘moving on’. Prima facie, this is an ideal but, in reality, how do you ‘learn’ and ‘move on’ if those uncomfortable conversations about colonialism, slavery and trade are not discussed in any meaningful way? This can leave young, vulnerable people grieving and in a situation which is inexplicable to them.

When we only look to recruit and retain those who conform to our own set of values and perspectives, we risk losing skills within the profession but also, we can inadvertently develop some negative and harmful cultures out of complacency, which can threaten the integrity of structural practices. If leaders only create other leaders in the image of themselves with replicas of models that already exist, what real steps have we taken to progress diversity and integration?

Senior Leadership Teams have a key role to play in making diversification of the workforce happen and in shaping the culture, vision and ethos of the school (see Benjamin Aishnine, who is Head of Equality, Inclusion and Culture at the British Medical Association and Racial Literacy at Integrity coaching).

References:

Aishnine, B. (2021) Aishnine. [Online] Available at: https://www.aishnine.com/

HM Government (2019) School teacher workforce. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/workforce-and-business/workforce-diversity/school-teacher-workforce/latest

Integrity Coaching (2022) Coaching & Leadership Development. [Online]. Available at: https://www.integritycoaching.co.uk/

Morris, N. (2021) ‘We are not listened to’: Why Black women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer’, 27 April, Metro [Online]. Available at: https://metro.co.uk/2021/04/27/black-women-are-twice-as-likely-to-be-diagnosed-with-late-stage-cancer-14475521/

Sandhu, P. (2021) Black and Blue: One Woman’s Story of Policing and Prejudice. Atlantic books.

Tereshchenko, A; Mills, M; Bradbury, A; (2020) Making progress? Employment and retention of BAME teachers in England. UCL Institute of Education: London, UK

What DEI Metrics are you using to measure the impact of your strategic actions?

Written by Hannah Wilson

Founder of Diverse Educators

We are data rich when it comes to the students in our schools, but we are data poor when it comes to our staff.

Any organisation leaning into a DEI strategy and action plan needs to consider the data that they have, and the data that they need to have, to inform the why, the how and the what of their approach.

I find that the CQ framework helps us to think about the cyclical steps we need to take to gather, interpret and act on our DEI data:

CQ Drive: Why do we need to gather DEI data? Are our intentions clearly being communicated?
CQ Knowledge: What do we need to know about our workforce and workplace? How psychologically safe do employees feel?
CQ Strategy: How will we gather meaningful data? How will this data be handled and shared?
CQ Action: How will this data be used to inform our next steps? How will this data make our workplace more inclusive?

DEI Metrics in a school / trust thus need to include:

Baseline data
Benchmarking data
Progress data
Qualitative data
Quantitative data
Stakeholder engagement data
Stakeholder feedback data
Recruitment, retention and promotion data
Salary data

We need to remember that this data is about human beings.I once heard a school leader say, we need to focus on the ‘names not the numbers’ in our data trackers in schools. Each piece of data is thus a story, a story about a person.

So this data needs to be handled with care. DEI data is asking people to share their identity, their lived experience and to disclose personal details. This can only happen in a culture of intentional trust and psychological safety.

Moreover, the data needs to be handled in an intersectional way. We need to look at trends within groups but also across groups, for example, pay progression for men v women, pay progression for white v black employees, pay progression for white men v white women v black men v black women.

Recruitment and retention data is a great place to start:

Who are we attracting?
Who are we longlisting?
Who are we shortlisting?
Who are we interviewing?
Who are we recruiting?
Who are we promoting?
Who are we retaining?
Who are we losing?

Some other questions for us to discuss before we create and send out a staff survey.

How do we measure diversity?

Conventional measurements rely on counting the number of people within an organisation who belong to each of the protected characteristic groups, as identified by them.

How do we gauge how people feel about the culture of their workplace?

Employee feedback is one of the most useful data sources for measuring inclusion, especially when leaders can use a “pulse,” a quick survey, to check in with employees without adding to distractions. The challenge, however, is in first establishing the right metrics and then asking the right questions.

How do we frame a DEI survey?

To create a DEI survey that captures employee attention and gets engagement, there are a number of factors to consider:

Creating Inclusive Demographic Questions
Making the DEI Survey Anonymous
Making Questions Non-Required
Being Forthcoming With Intent
Using Expert Resources

What is a DEI dashboard?

A diversity, equity, and inclusion dashboard is an interface that provides companies with a visual representation of their current diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

How do you create goals for DEI initiatives?

Define goals using benchmarking data
Measure outcomes, not just output
Focus on retention, not just recruitment
Review inclusion, not just diversity
Use surveys to measure inclusion

How do you measure DEI effectiveness?

Resources/ funds allocated to DEI strategy
Number of diverse employees across the organisation
Percentage of diverse employees in leadership positions
Investment into development programmes for diverse employees
Gap in pay between different demographic groups
Length of time diverse employees stay with the organisation
Feedback in exit interviews from diverse workforce
Number of incident reports e.g. microaggressions

To help you think about the data you are, and could be, using we are hosting a series of free DEI Metrics webinars with some of our collaborative partners, so that you can find out more about their tools to help you measure DEI in your school/ trust.

3 teams, 3 platforms, 3 solutions:

On Fri 21st October 12.00-1.00pm we will be joined by the Edurio team
On Mon 7th November 12.00-1.00pm we will be joined by The GEC team
On Thu 24th November 12.00-1.00pm we will be joined the Flair Impact team

I’m not weird, I’m neurodivergent – masking as a ND teacher

Written by Catrina Lowri

Catrina Lowri is the founder of Neuroteachers and a neurodivergent teacher, trainer, and coach. As well as having 22 years’ experience of working in education, she also speaks as a dyslexic and bipolar woman, who had her own unique journey through the education system.

Early in my teaching career, I got good at masking. I felt I needed to do this because, at that time (late 90’s/ early 00’s) there was little understanding of neurodiversity. I’m dyslexic. I hid this because I’d get questions like ‘But how can you teach spelling and reading?’ I’m also bipolar. I didn’t know this at the time, even though I’d been in a secure ward. I wouldn’t get diagnosed until I was 10 years into my career. At the beginning I hid this unknown mental health issue because of the shame I felt. I learnt to mask so I could survive working in schools designed for neurotypicals.

The term ‘masking’ originates from the autistic community, but my straw poll of ND friends and family tells me that we all do it. This involves studying the neurotypical people around you and acting like them, whilst also hiding our ND in plain sight. It can be incredibly damaging. Masking takes a huge amount of energy. There is a possibility of fatigue. This can lead to burnout. Dropping the mask in such a fashion can be traumatic.

For more information, please read my blog here https://www.neuroteachers.com/post/it-s-like-her-shoes-don-t-fit-a-story-about-the-consequences-of-autistic-masking

Even though I have understood masking for years, I didn’t consider that it applied to me until, after 19 years of success, it all unravelled.

Carrying the mask requires perfect conditions; I control my sleep, have cut out all alcohol and caffeine. I draw boundaries around my working life so I can fully concentrate on it. This means I don’t indulge in trivial social interactions because I just can’t. If I do, I burn through the energy I need to do my job, which is what I’m paid for. Teaching is a social job. I use what little ‘social’ I must, to build relationships with the children and their families.

That doesn’t mean I don’t make friends at work, I do, I just need them to understand that I can’t/ won’t take part in the following activities.

Banter, small talk, watercooler chat
Group jokes/ threads about your pets/kids or memes shared via email or the office chat facility
Any Christmas do\ Secret Santa\ carolling\ staff pantomime
Going to a pub/ café for lunch during school hours

It’s not unreasonable to ask that I have 20 minutes out of the day, to sit quietly in the office and eat my lunch, without having to interact with anyone. I need decompression time to deal with the demands of your neurotypical world.

I’m not being weird or stuck up. I’m not a recluse or a nutter. I’m neurodivergent and I need to be allowed to remove the mask for a short while, so that I can do my job.

https://www.diverseeducators.co.uk/diversity-equity-inclusion-dei-leaders/

What is your school’s infrastructure for DEI?

Written by Hannah Wilson

Founder of Diverse Educators

I get asked a lot to work with schools to help them shape their DEI infrastructure. There is not a one-size fits all approach as it depends on the size of your school and staff/ student bodies. But a helpful way of thinking about it is to parallel it to the team structure you have for safeguarding – a named lead on SLT, a deputising team, an attached governor but an expectation that all staff are trained, vigilant and take collective responsibility.

As a former start-up headteacher, I apply the same concept to staffing DEI as I did to growing a school staff model year by year – map out what you want the long term staffing structure and stakeholder map to look like and use it as a shadow to capture what you have in place and set yourself targets by term, by year of how you will grow the team and distribute the leadership.

Some school-level roles to consider putting in place, over time to create the infrastructure to bring your DEI strategy to life:

DEI Strategic Lead (like a DSL)

This is the person who has DEI in their job title. Ideally they sit on the SLT so they can work with the strategic plans for the school.

DEI Operational Lead (like a DDSL)

This is the person who deputises for the DEI Strategic Lead. They often sit in the MLT and are part of the curriculum and/ or pastoral team. They might have a specific remit or share the responsibility and co-lead on the strategy.

DEI Governor (like a Safeguarding Governor)

This is the link person on the governing body. Someone to represent the governors but to also build the bridge to the school, furthermore to support and to be a critical friend to the DEI leader.

DEI Working Party

This is a group of staff champions and ambassadors, they can sit anywhere in the staff structure, but it is important to invite everyone and see who steps forwards. Non-teaching staff need to be invited and included as well so consider when the meetings take place.

DEI Student Ambassadors

This is a group of students who are the advocates and activists in the school. They might already be prefects, student council reps or involved in student groups like an anti-racist group or a LGBT group. It is a great way to create new leadership roles for students.

DEI Parent and Carer Champions

This is a group of parents and carers who are the advocates and activists in your community. They might already be involved as your parent governor, as your parent association or as your parent helpers. It is a great way to engage parents and carers who might be the critical friends of the school on these issues.

Some trust-level DEI roles to consider if you are working at macro scale:

A lot of trusts we work with are asking all of their schools to nominate/ appoint a lead for DEI and then they create a horizontal group across the group of schools to bring these representatives together to look at trust-wide DEI needs. There are some key functions to make sure you include in this group such as someone from HR who is looking at the people strategy and recruitment practices.

Some other things to consider:

The language used to frame each of these roles and groups is important and needs to be discussed at length.

Are you using DI, EDI or DEI as your acronym? What are the nuances of each and how do they frame your commitment?
Are you using leader, champion, ambassador, head of or director as the title? What are the nuances of each and what do they say about the power/ scope of the role?
How are you remunerating the role? If you have not given time and money to this role, why not? Would you ask someone to be a SENDCO or DSL without additional allowances?
How are you resourcing the role? Does the DEI lead have a budget that they are responsible for?
How are you investing in and training the DEI team? Does the DEI leader have leadership training coaching and/ or mentoring in place? Are they being set up to succeed or fail in this role?
How are you safeguarding the DEI team? Does the DEI leader have supervision in place to look after them and their mental health and wellbeing to mitigate the emotional tax of the role?

Some signposting for further support:

We have collated job descriptions and personal specifications for different DEI roles to help you frame them. Find out more here:

We have a DEI leaders network on different social media spaces including a DM group on twitter and networking groups in our Mighty Network community space:

https://diverse-educators.mn.co/feed?autojoin=1

We have designed and we deliver a 1 year DEI leaders programme, there are 10 monthly virtual sessions for each cohort. Find out more here:

https://www.diverseeducators.co.uk/our-dei-leaders-programme/

Accessing the voices of students with SENDs: barriers faced by a PhD researcher

Written by Klaudia Matasovska

Former SEND teacher. She worked for 16 years in London, specifically in the areas of autism and sight impairment. She is currently working as a researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London.

I am really enjoying my PhD journey and I wanted to share some of my key experiences here. In particular, I wanted to talk about the issue of access to students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) which I encountered during my recent data collection. My PhD research interests centre around LGBT inclusion with pupils with SEND. For those who have an interest in intersectional research regarding inclusion and equality in education, this blog might be of use.

Based on my previous practice as a former SEN teacher, the barriers to disabled students’ voices being heard are often there because of the attitudes of others. Sometimes the barriers are (openly) presented via the attitudes of those who are supposed to be on their side. I once had an ex-colleague, a senior leader in one of the schools I worked at, confiding in me that she did not regard disabled students’ right to information about LGBT as ‘important’ because she expected them to have no romantic lives due to their disabilities. Other barriers can be presented via fear rather than stigma. Research shows that there does appear to be a deep-rooted fear amongst educators that talking about non-heterosexual intimacy and relationships with students with SEND is somehow risky.

Research involving the actual voices of students with SEND is limited and I wonder if this is partially due to restrictions imposed on researchers by students’ gatekeepers. This has been my experience, too. Earlier this year, I organised a series of research trips for the Year 1 evaluation of the ‘Equally Safe’ anti-bullying project of the EqualiTeach charity. I worked with a sample of eight mainstream primary and secondary schools including faith and church schools across a range of areas. During my interviews with staff and focus groups with students, I asked about aspects of the Equally Safe programme, such as creating inclusive policies and tackling identity-based bullying using a whole-school approach. I was viewing this research project via an intersectional lens and therefore, the evaluation was also seeking to elicit discussions about the LGBT and SEND intersections amongst other things. The gatekeepers, members of the leadership teams, were asked to select focus group student participants representing a wider selection of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act (2010) and involve student participants who traditionally might not have a voice, such as students with SENDs. Unfortunately, as it turned out – there were no focus group participants present who had any recorded SEND.

I understood that this type of research project can feature sensitive information and there is a need to protect any vulnerable students, ethically speaking. Despite this, the gatekeepers’ efforts to deny those from the under-represented groups an opportunity to have a voice in a research project on identity-based bullying was surprising. In sharp contrast, the focus groups included other types of under-represented pupils. For example, they often (but not always) featured pupils who had come out as LGBT. This is an interesting phenomenon given the fact that the controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act (1988) is still impacting school culture in England. This is evident in misconceptions about what is suitable and ‘appropriate’ to teach which some educators can still struggle with. Often when I interview teachers about LGBT RSE topics or the SEND/LGBT intersection regarding their school policies and inclusive practice, I notice a hint of anxiety in their responses. They tend to stress that they follow the Equality Act (2010) and often mention having a considerable number of students with SEND. My experience with having no access to this category of students in these schools makes me question the cause behind this. Is this all happening because these schools just do not see these intersections? If that is the case indeed – why don’t they see them? Could the cause of this phenomenon be partially the result of the influence of Section 28? Do educators find dealing with certain types of intersections difficult and uncomfortable despite the law?

I will carry these questions into the second year of my PhD studies. It will be interesting to see if these issues with having access to students with SENDs will still be evident in the next sample of schools I am planning to visit. I would be interested to hear about your academic experiences in this area and any barriers you may have experienced in collecting data involving those who represent the ‘less heard’ category of students. Please, do not hesitate to get in touch with me.