Teaching curriculum topics linked to racism and handling racist world events

A lesson planning guide for teaching a curriculum topic that is linked to race and racism, or for when a potentially traumatic racist incident occurs in the wider world.

The UK Trauma Council defines trauma as ‘a distressing event or events that are so extreme or intense that they overwhelm a person’s ability to cope, resulting in lasting negative impact.’

When this event or events are related to race, it is sometimes known as ‘racial trauma’.

Experiencing overt racism – for example being a victim of a racially-motivated hate crime - could cause a trauma response in young people. However, racism can have a traumatic impact even when it isn’t something that directly happens to you.

Racist and race-related events may occur in the wider world that may cause traumatic responses in young people; for example, the 2020 murder of George Floyd in the United States.

There may also be topics that are part of the curriculum – for example, learning about slavery or the Holocaust in history lessons – that may be painful for young people to learn about.

In this resource, we have created a lesson planning guide for teaching a curriculum topic that is linked to race and racism, or for when a potentially traumatic racist incident occurs in the wider world.