I was at a local authority event recently, welcoming this year’s cohort of probationer teachers in Scotland. It was lovely to see so many new, eager and slightly nervous teachers starting their journey.
Yet, as a teacher of colour, to my dismay, the new cohort still lacked diversity, with only a handful of teachers representing any ethnic minorities. Given that, how do we ensure that the curriculum delivered to our young people will include wider perspectives than what has traditionally been offered?
I think we can all agree that the purpose of education is about developing skills for life, as well as for work. We don’t want a production line of workers, we want the adults of tomorrow to be critical thinkers and global citizens, and to strive for equality and fairness.
To achieve that, however, we need to understand the barriers and challenges faced by different communities, locally and globally. This includes checking our own biases and privilege, a requirement of our professional standards for teachers here in Scotland.
Here are my six tips for embedding social justice in the classroom:
1. Learn about the Sustainable Development Goals
Fairness and equality should be at the core of any school and any lesson. There are less than 10 years left to achieve the aims of the Global Goals that were adopted by UN member states in 2015, yet there is a lack of understanding around how these relate to the curriculum.
In my experience of mentoring student teachers, there is also not enough being covered in initial teacher education (ITE) to ensure new teachers can incorporate these Sustainable Development Goals. However, in the past few years, there has been a growing network of educators in Scotland and beyond sharing good practice and professional development opportunities. I’d recommend joining my Global Citizenship in Education Scotland Practitioners Network, signing up for CPD through the International Development Education Association of Scotland, and following the amazing practice of @Mr_Minchin and @MtAbuSchool, to mention just a few helpful Twitter accounts.
2. Understand the Equalities Act 2010
This legislation is crucial to human rights and children’s rights. You must take time to understand the nine protected characteristics and reflect on what challenges and barriers society places on those that identify with them.
However, be mindful of intersectionality. This refers to how a person can hold different social identities and how these intersect, adding to the potential of discrimination the person may suffer. You may feel strongly about gender equality for example, but understand that the experience of all women and girls is not the same. In a society where a white girl is discriminated against for being a girl, another girl who is Black or Asian will often have additional barriers and discrimination placed in her path. How will you ensure you’re meeting all those needs?
3. Don’t treat children equally
This may sound like a shocking sentence, but if you are treating everyone the same then you fail to acknowledge the unique background and lived experience each child brings to the classroom. Equality is only possible when you are cognisant of that individuality and can adapt your teaching to the needs of those learners. The impact can be enormous if a teacher takes the time to get your name right, to read a story about a character who shares the same beliefs as you, or has their class learn about someone with two dads.
4. Use interdisciplinary learning as a starting tool for lesson planning
Understanding all the above means you then need to think about how they relate to all aspects of the curriculum. How does what you are teaching link with the aim of achieving fairness, equality and sustainability in wider society? Interdisciplinary learning allows learners to ask deeper questions about why the world is the way it is, who benefits and who is disadvantaged. It opens the door for them to explore how we solve a big problem and whose responsibility it is to bring about change.
5. Diversify your resources
Embedding diversity is not necessarily the same as being antiracist. It means you consider the protected characteristics in the Equality Act and ensure they are represented across all aspects of your curriculum. Be wary, however, of standalone events that, on the surface, show you value diversity, but actually encourage harmful stereotypes. It’s good to celebrate Diwali or Chinese New Year, but is that the only lens through which you explore that culture’s contribution to the world?
It is vital that we present role models from all sections of society to our young people, not only so that they see themselves represented but also to build knowledge, tolerance and respect. Ensure your class library has characters from different backgrounds, including LGBT+ and disabled characters. Don’t always use images that portray poor brown children. Don’t always speak about the history of the Black community as slaves; instead, explore the origins of colonised and enslaved communities.
Most importantly, be honest about our history of empire and colonialism, homophobia and misogyny, the harm it caused to millions and the valuable contributions of diverse communities since then. Antiracism is an act of solidarity - it means you will stand up against racism in all its forms.
6. Question, reflect and never stop learning
Whether you have just completed your initial teacher education or have been teaching for years, you should never stop learning. We must also be prepared to reflect on our use of language, our ignorance of other communities and the history we were never taught. And we must never be afraid to ask for help, to seek advice and support in order to ensure we are being socially just and fair.
The worst habit you can develop is saying, “We’ve always done it this way”. In those famous words attributed to American writer Maya Angelou, “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
Nuzhat Uthmani is a primary teacher, an acting principal teacher for equalities, chair of the EIS teaching union’s antiracist sub-committee and founder of the Scotland-based initiative Global Citizenship in Education
