Hate crime and prejudice-based behaviours: Bullying, prejudice-based bullying and hate crime

These scenarios are not intended to be prescriptive, but instead to demonstrate some of the ways in which prejudice-based behaviours and hate crime may present in education and assist in reflection for both individual staff and school leaders to help inform and strengthen staff discussion about school procedures in practice. Points for consideration can be found in the notes of each slide and in the Facilitation notes.

The first two scenarios have been adapted by two young people’s story for respect me, inspired by their lived experiences in Scottish education. You can listen to their original 6min story by clicking on the audio icon. Scenarios three and four are fictional examples.

Scenario 1

Ambimbola is a young Black hijab-wearing Muslim girl who moved from Nigeria to Scotland. She is getting used to a new country where everything is different – the streets, the food and even the language. On her first day of school, she was looking forward to eating her mum’s famous jollof rice. As she was taking it out, someone her food over, spilling her rice over the floor.

Ambimbola picked up her tub of rice from the ground and started picking up the little rice grains as she didn’t want the floor to be dirty. A boy across the lunch hall shouted, “look who’s picking up nasty trash, the trash!”. The young people laughed. Ambimbola quickly grabbed her things and ran to the nearest door she could find, tears in her eyes. This was nothing like what she had imagined.

Discuss and reflect:

·       Identify the behaviours Ambimbola experienced at lunchtime.

·       What could be done to respond to these behaviours?

·       What could a whole setting approach to these prejudice-based behaviours involve?

·       What sector might this occur in?

·       How might things be different if it happened in another sector?

Points to consider:

The first incident occurred when her food was knocked over. The behaviour may be rooted in prejudice, possibly linked to race (may be linked to the way people perceived Ambimbola’s Black skin or her culturally significant food) and religion (may be linked Ambimbola’s marker of religion, her hijab).

The second incident occurred when a boy shouts that Ambimbola is picking the trash and making everyone laugh.

To respond to these prejudice-based behaviours, a member of staff should:

Follow the 5 Ds

·       Support Ambimbola and ensure her needs are being prioritised in the next steps, discussing consequences for the perpetrators with her consent.

·       Respond to those initiating prejudice-based behaviours following the settings relationships & behaviour policy

·       Seek support from pastoral care, senior colleagues, youth work managers, social work, Health and Police Scotland including Campus Officers.

·       Preventing prejudice-based behaviours can involve:

·       Embedding social justice, rights and equality across the curriculum

·       Challenging attitudes that normalise prejudice-based behaviours

·       Sustained, whole-setting approach

·       Creating cultural change

Scenario 2

After a week of being called the same insults repeatedly when the teachers weren’t there, she started becoming less happy. A group of girls would think of new ways to make Ambimbola feel miserable by pouring liquids in her bag, messing up with her homework, pulling her hijab, even following her home when her mum wouldn’t pick her up. She tried pretending being on the phone to someone, even changing her routes but they would always find her.

Discuss and reflect:

·       Identify the behaviours experienced by Ambimbola.

·       What impact do they have on her?

·       What might be the barriers to reporting for Ambimbola?

·       If Ambimbola told you about her experiences, what might be your next steps? 

·       What sector might this occur in? How might things be different if it happened in another sector?

Points to consider:

Pouring liquids in Ambimbola’s bag, messing up her homework, pulling her hijab and following her home are all behaviours that will have a negative impact on Ambimbola’s wellbeing.

She is unhappy, scared, isolated, anxious, and distressed. This could impact her ability to learn and feel safe at school.

Potential barriers to reporting for Ambimbola:

she might not want to cause trouble or concern for her family

she might be afraid that reporting the incidents at school for fear this may exacerbate her experiences

she might not trust the adults in her setting to take appropriate action

To respond to these prejudice-based behaviours, a member of staff should:

Follow the 5 Ds

Support Ambimbola and ensure her needs are being prioritised in the next steps, discussing consequences for the perpetrators with her consent.

Respond to those initiating prejudice-based behaviours following the settings relationships & behaviour policy

Seek support from pastoral care, senior colleagues, youth work managers, social work, Health and Police Scotland including Campus Officers.

Scenario 3

A young asylum-seeking person told you that they had seen a post on Facebook that was written by one of their peers, which threatened to attack a local hotel that housed asylum seekers.

Discuss and reflect:

·       Identify the behaviours experienced by the young person and the impact it would have on them.

·       What might be your next steps, both for the young person and the peer? 

·       What sector might this occur in? How might things be different if it happened in another sector?

Points to consider:

Are there immediate safety concerns you need to consider? Are there safeguarding or child protection next steps you should follow? This would be very scary and upsetting for the young person who has reported this to you. They might need immediate support to feel safe and might also be very worried about friends and family. Police Scotland would need to be informed immediately so they can assess whether there is an immediate threat of violence.

It might be helpful for you to identify the online post and save it so you're able to reference exactly what has been said during next steps.

To respond to the young person who has told you about the online post, a member of staff should:

Ensure their needs are being prioritised in the next steps, discussing confidentiality as they may be very scared of the risk of being identified as the person who has shared this information. It is important to let them know that you will have to speak to Police Scotland so that they can carry out a threat, risk and harm assessment

Provide ongoing support as seeing a post like this is likely to significantly undermine their feelings of safety in the education setting and the wider community

Take a trauma-informed approach and consider if there is any mental health support that the young person might access

Seek support from pastoral care, senior colleagues, youth work managers, social work, Health and Police Scotland including Campus Officers

The New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy: 2024 - gov.scot contain guidance around supporting the integration of refugees, people seeking asylum and other forced migrants within Scotland’s communities

To respond to those initiating these behaviours a member of staff should:

To respond to those initiating prejudice-based behaviours a member of staff could:

Speak to Police Scotland as quickly as possible so that a threat, risk and harm assessment can be made

If possible, identify the online post and save it, including the date posted, so you're able to reference exactly what has been said during next steps.

Follow the settings relationships & behaviour policy when planning next steps  

Seek support from pastoral care, senior colleagues, youth work managers, social work, Health and Police Scotland including Campus Officers.

Preventing prejudice-based behaviours can involve:

·      Embedding social justice, rights and equality across the curriculum  

·      Challenging attitudes that normalise prejudice-based behaviours  

·      Sustained, whole-setting approach  

·      Creating cultural change

Scenario 4

A parent calls to inform you that whilst their son was walking home from school with his boyfriend, a group of other young people from the year above shouted homophobic abuse at them. One of them attacked his boyfriend using a plank of wood, which left him needing hospital treatment. The parent is asking for your advice as to next steps on this.

Discuss and reflect:

Identify the behaviours experienced by the young person and the impact it would have on them.

What might be your next steps, and who might you involve?

What sector might this occur in? How might things be different if it happened in another sector?

Points to consider:

Are there immediate safety concerns you need to consider? Are there safeguarding or child protection next steps you should follow?

This would be a very upsetting and scary thing to experience that would likely have an impact on the young people’s sense of safety and mental health.

What could a proactive whole setting approach look like in response to this?

To respond to the young people who have experienced the prejudiced based behaviour and their parent, a member of staff should:   

Ensure their needs are being prioritised in the next steps

Advise the parent that they will contact Police Scotland to report the incident and support the parent to do likewise  

Provide ongoing support as experiencing this is likely to significantly undermine their feelings of safety in the education setting and the wider community  

Take a trauma-informed approach  

Seek support from pastoral care, senior colleagues, youth work managers, social work, Health and Police Scotland including Campus Officers 

To respond to the young people initiating these behaviours a member of staff should:    

Speak to Police Scotland or support parent to speak to Police Scotland as there may be an ongoing risk of violence   

Follow the settings relationships & behaviour policy when planning next steps  

Seek support from pastoral care, senior colleagues, youth work managers, social work, Health and Police Scotland including Campus Officers

Preventing prejudice-based behaviours can involve:

·      Embedding social justice, rights and equality across the curriculum  

·      Challenging attitudes that normalise prejudice-based behaviours  

·      Sustained, whole-setting approach  

·      Creating cultural change