Responding to racist incidents: Creating a whole school anti-racist environment and ethos
The term 'anti-racist environment’ is used to describe a setting in which all elements of a school community work together to proactively address and challenge racism within the school community and wider society.
Schools will be mindful of how racism and racist incidents may be likely to manifest in their own local contexts and can consider the development of their whole school approach in light of this.
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty, local authorities and school leaders must promote positive relationships and proactively safeguard against racism and discrimination. They must understand racism and discrimination as a source of serious harm for learners, colleagues, families, and wider community members.
School leaders have a responsibility to identify, implement, and model any change that is necessary for schools to adopt as part of a whole school approach to anti-racism.
A vital step in responding appropriately to racism is in recognising the different ways that racism can manifest in school.
All school staff must be supported to engage in professional learning and collegiate discussion to develop understanding of:
- the nuances of racism and anti-racism
- the language to name it
- ways to engage confidently and sensitively with the subject
This is referred to as racial literacy.
Equality is an important aspect of teachers’ Professional Standards Code of Professionalism and Conduct and teachers have a role in modelling anti-racism.
Scotland’s Anti Racism in Education Commitment promotes a commitment to continual personal and professional learning to develop a high level of racial literacy for all school staff.
All children and young people have a role to play in creating a whole school anti-racist environment.
Article 12 of the UN Convention on Rights of a child states that all children and young people have a right to have opinions and for these opinions to be heard and taken seriously.
This is part of their learning in becoming responsible and active citizens.
Work by the Children’s Parliament showed that children and young people have a strong desire to learn about how to stand up to racism. Their Calls to Action outline what they believe adults should to do support them, including helping children and young people to identify racism and how it hurts people.
Consultation with children and young people should always involve two-way communication and provide opportunities for views to have an impact on the development of policies. Scottish Government has produced guidance to support the involvement of children and young people in decision making.
Education Scotland's Youth Voice Toolkit aims to support a genuine approach to youth voice and consultation activities across schools and communities.
Pupils with lived experience of racism will be well-placed to identify the impact of racism and how school staff can best support them. However, they may feel unable, unsafe, or unwilling to share their experiences and should not feel compelled to do so.
The approach taken should recognise the importance of balancing engagement with children and young people whilst being sensitive to the emotional load that this may place on them, particularly adversely racialised children and young people.
Anti-racist clubs
An anti-racist club can be a useful tool for supporting people who experience racism, empowering pupils to practise anti-racism, and developing racial literacy within school communities. Other Equalities clubs and Pupil Councils can sometimes support the same functions.
An anti-racist club should be part of whole school measures to address racism rather than a standalone action. The valuable staff resource needed for clubs should be considered ahead of committing to plans to establish a club.
Education Scotland runs an Anti-Racist Clubs Network meeting for educators interested in finding support and resources to set up or run an anti-racist club for pupils, staff, or parents in their schools and learning establishments. Any educator interested in setting up an anti-racist club can sign-up to the Anti-Racist Clubs Network .
Parents, carers, and families play an important role in creating a whole school anti-racist environment.
Collaboration with parents, families and carers helps children and young people to have continuity of values at home and school.
Schools should:
- work to amplify the voices of parents, carers, and families from adversely racialised communities
- engage with parent councils about racism and work to build racial literacy in partnership with parents from all backgrounds
- recognise that parent councils may not be representative of the parent body, and work to remove barriers to participation
- create meaningful opportunities to support and encourage all families to engage and share their views
- ensure that families do not feel obligated to take part in anti-racism work and recognising the emotional load that this may place on some families
Schools can also consider how to support their parent councils to develop relationships and engage with all families in the school community. For example, through one-to-one conversations, anonymous feedback opportunities, or group meetings, and accessible communications.
