We are pleased to introduce an opportunity to be involved in our SWIFT Reference Group as part of our Teaching School Hubs’ responsibility of programme delivery to schools and continued commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The Reference Group will be founded on inclusion and collaboration and we welcome expressions of interest from all colleagues of all backgrounds and positions within all organisations across our Teaching School Hub region. Participation will not be limited by any of the Protected Characteristics (Equality Act 2010): Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage and Civil Partnership, Pregnancy and Maternity, Race, Religion and Belief, Sex, and Sexual Orientation. Principles Membership of the Reference Group is voluntary and staff-led and any member of staff across our schools and partners is eligible to apply to be part of the group. The Group is intended to be a safe space that will build high-trust relationships within a diverse and inclusive setting that will:
Importance We believe that Reference Groups are important because they can: 1. Foster an Inclusive Workplace and a Sense of Belonging and Acceptance 2. Enhance Employee Experience 3. Promote Cultural Awareness 4. Improve Innovation Timeline for the Reference Group We are seeking to launch the Reference Group in November 2023, with the first meeting in January 2024 and it is our intention that the meetings will be half termly. More Information and How to Express your Interest
You can read more about the SWIFT Reference Group by clicking on the link below. If you wish to express your interest to be part of the group, we invite you to complete a short form on the link below by Monday 6 November 2023 at 12 noon. Thank you for your interest in our proposed SWIFT Reference Group as part of our work to promote Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.
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12/9/2023 0 Comments Diversity in the History Curriculum with Dr Miranda Kaufmann| Black Tudors and Other Untold Stories "Whatever the curriculum says, YOU have the power to change what happens in the classroom.” We were pleased to welcome historian, author, raconteuse, Dr Miranda Kaufmann at the end of term to conclude our 2022 – 2023 SWIFT History Masterclass series with her talk on Diversity in the History Curriculum: Black Tudors and Other Untold Stories with inspiration from her book, “Black Tudors: The Untold Story.” "[It is too easy] by emphasis and omission to make children believe…that every great thought was a white man’s thought and every great deed…a white man’s deed.” (W.E.B. DuBois, American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist and author). The impactful inclusion of Black British History is clearly and increasingly a vital priority in diversifying the curriculum. Yet, curriculum observers will know that it is not new. Teaching Black History dates back to the introduction of the National Curriculum 30 years ago with guidance to teach “the essential knowledge that they [children and young people] need to be educated citizens.” The important starting point is to acknowledge that Black History is British History. It is not and should not be a hidden truth. Even if some school History textbook covers have conventionally (and painfully) mispresented Black History with clichéd images of enslaved people. Quoting from Zadie Smith’s acclaimed novel “White Teeth,” Miranda highlighted this recurrent ignorance in the miseducation of Irie Jones. In the story, when Irie, the daughter of an Englishman and a Jamaican woman is studying Shakespeare’s sonnets, she asks her teacher Mrs Roody if the “dark lady” is “black” to which Mrs Rooney replies: “No dear, she’s dark. She’s not black in the modern sense. There weren’t any… well, Afro-Carri-bee-yans in England at that time, dear. That’s a more modern phenomenon, as I’m sure you know. But this was the 1600s. I mean I can’t be sure, but it does seem terribly unlikely, unless she was a slave of some kind, and he’s unlikely to have written a series of sonnets to a lord and then a slave, is he?” Uncomfortable, and as Miranda was to show us, inaccurate. But the good news is that this perception is changing and clarifying. In a highly engaging talk, it was a refreshing revelation for me, and the Subject Leaders and Teachers of History in the audience to know and understand that over 200 Africans were living freely in Tudor England as Miranda drew on examples from her book featuring the stories of ten Black Tudors. Wonderfully intriguing and individual roles, such as John Blanke, the Trumpeter, Jacques Francis, the Salvage Diver and Mary Fillis, the Moroccan Convert. All of which intensely and intelligently refuted two common assumptions about Black British History. Firstly, there were Africans in Tudor England over 400 years before the first Windrush immigrants disembarked in Tilbury, Essex. Secondly, they were not enslaved. A clear and compelling case to refute those stereotypical textbook covers. Next, by teaching Black British History, those students with African ancestry can feel a sense of belonging, in that they are part of British History too. Clearly, an important piece of diversity, equality and inclusion work; which will hopefully encourage Black students to pursue history to GCSE, A Level and beyond; eventually impacting the way History is studied and presented by academics and popular historians, enhancing the discipline with a broader range of perspectives. Teaching Black British History can help to support the struggle against racism in challenging racist assumptions that immigration is a 20th Century phenomenon – and can be reversed. As Miranda shows in her book, focusing on the stories of African figures from the past can encourage empathy. By extension, this helpfully supports a timeline of understanding the ‘before’ the period of slave trading and colonisation and the after; and powerfully demonstrates the role of questioning assumptions in the study of History. The “interruption of the psyche” (Whitburn and Mohamed, Justice 2 History). As in any curriculum change, there needs to be a long-term commitment and schools and teachers can play their part and we thank Miranda for sharing the following helpful suggestions to upskill and up-knowledge teaching of Black British History in the classroom:
With thanks to Miranda for her motivating and enlightening talk that made us all think about the endurance of Black British History and for sharing ways to teach and bring to life this significant part of history that can inform the present. By Jude Owens, PA to the Executive Team and Governance "When people feel safe to talk this becomes self-perpetuating and positive." More than a catchy course title, this training session part of our on-going Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work with Diverse Educators was set to be a life-affirming session for the SWIFT Central Team and Delivery Partnership Group. How do we empower everybody to ask questions, share views, and things that should have been said? Typical examples of Courageous Conversations include handling conflict, confronting a colleague, expressing an unpopular idea on a team, asking for a favour, saying no to a request for a favour, asking for a raise, or trying to have a conversation with someone who is avoiding you. Research shows that in particular, many women find such ‘courageous conversations’ to be challenging. Think of the language that betrays who can “get away” with certain behaviours. Men are labelled the boss and women as bossy. These mindsets are reflected in the workplace and how women have been conditioned. Too often, the premise of courageous conversations is associated with conflict, fills us with dread and we descend into a defensive, blame culture that magnifies the existing tension and struggle and becomes a negative scenario. Whereas we need to act in a neutral, open way, without bias and to show a willingness and openness to learn. The fear zone of hurting someone risks inhibiting us and we can worry more about having the courageous conversation than the act of doing it. We waste energy attempting to mind-read what people are thinking and feeling that boxes us in. Know your strengths and what you bring and learn to control yourself. Consider the power in having a conversation. No-one shies away from safeguarding conversations. It should be the same for a courageous conversation that whilst often difficult and necessary, when done effectively, it can have a dramatic impact on how we lead ourselves, the team and/or the organisation. It can be difficult to find a time to talk in a busy school and it is important to book in time and to reframe as part of the workplace culture that builds positive psychology and a collective commitment. But for many of us, we have to step out of our comfort zone to discuss a topic that can be emotionally charged and we fear an emotional response. Whilst we might seek to avoid such conversations, they can help to build an inclusive workplace and push through to the learning zone to learn about ourselves, our team and the wider culture and ultimately, to ensure growth. See Matthew Syed’s book, “Rebel Ideas” that asks if we are open to ideas and the importance of learning how to reframe and negotiate. For example, in asking for flexible working, or a salary raise. We need to build our confidence to build our competences as strategic intent and a framework of training. Intentional psychological safety should be for everyone in the workplace. The ideal reset opportunity is in September at the start of a new term, building in “contracting” for courageous conversations at a neutral and unemotional safe point. All staff should be trained. Not only the dominant, senior and more confident members of staff. Experience shows when all staff are trained, the best response is from operational staff who have never had a voice in the school. Sub cultures across an organisation need careful navigation. By building psychological safety in a school, all staff will have the courage to speak out and share how it will be received and processed with positive intent. Practically, this means creating a subtle and private space, especially in an open office and equally on the telephone. Tell the other person that you are in a confidential space to show mutual respect. There are many advantages of psychological safety (door open policy). Staff feel valued, and are more productive and creative with higher wellbeing, thriving and a feeling of belonging, leading to better staff retention. Energy is conserved as there is an agreed way of talking and less frustration, with more flexible working that is very positively mirrored in the classroom. The negatives of psychological safety (doors shut) are damaging to an organisation. It can result in high absence; staff have a limited sense of purpose and connection and disengagement of staff. When it comes to courageous conversations with parents and carers, it is not always possible to plan for what are often unexpected meetings. Understandably, a parent is emotionally attached to their child and might be defensive if they perceive the conversation to be a challenge. But it is encouraging that this generation of students seem to be more open to courageous conversations. Essentially, understand that we have the responsibility to raise the courageous conversations if an issue or something has happened. Pre-empt. But be aware that one conversation is not the same for everyone. Make the time for the conversation. Be intentional and think through and reiterate the key points. Listen actively and hear through it and do not take it personally and strive to be objective. With the Radical Candor model (Kim Scott) the balance is towards growth and to bring awareness to the person you are having the conversation with. “When you said this, it made me feel like this…” and join up the dots in the conversations. Part of the problem is letting someone behave badly. But if you have a courageous conversation, you can do it in a caring way, “I care about you so I am going to challenge you…” and this can disarm people in a positive way. Think how we modify ourselves to other people and our relationships and the use of language. This modifies from the early phase of a professional relationship in the opening interactions and evolves over time when you have a positive track record. Use a buddy as a sounding board. Then, if difficult situations arise you can leverage the relationship capital from your authenticity, credibility and integrity. Move from impulsion to intentional. With the Fierce Conversations model (Susan Scott), “Create an organizational culture where candor and curiosity are the expectation…Think passion, integrity, authenticity, collaboration. Think cultural transformation. Think leadership.” “Get curious rather than critical.” Part of coaching, reframe questions to how or what – not why. Meet in the middle and learn from it and learn some awareness from each other and tackle the challenge, contracting how to move forward. “It’s the conversations that we don’t have, that cause the biggest problems.” The key principles of fierce conversations are:
If you are good at regulating your emotions you can guide the other person to stay regulated too. Preparation before the courageous conversation is essential to anticipate how they might respond. For example, lesson observation feedback in the person's classroom. If it is good or bad, they will be in their own space. Use emotional intelligence of how and where they are sat in the classroom. Or book a phone call later to suit you both and use an out of office sign, and phones and emails off so that you can give your full attention. “The conversation is the relationship.” The impact of not having a fierce conversation can be the breakdown of employee relationships and a lack of respect for them and us and damaging the organisational/school culture. There can be a mismatch and an unhealthy dissonance culture between what they say and what they do and bad situations can fester. Learn also how to manage the emotional wake and the emotional wake of others. Useful sentence starters can allow time to process. “Am I hearing you correctly to reclarify?” “Can you tell me more..” “What I hear you saying is..” Remember the power of the pause and encouraging comments and always regulate yourself as how you respond will dictate how they respond. Do not hijack their story or interrupt. Do not play one-upmanship and minimise the difference or discount and explain away. Do not get defensive or take it personally or try to validate assumptions. Remember also, self-reflection after the conversation about what went well. A strong strategy is to build opportunities and routines into the way we work. For example, a mid-year appraisal and create an expectation as the norm. As deliberate practice courageous conversations can become the Code of Conduct and working proactively helps to make the workplace a psychologically safe place to work. “We make the weather in our own environment.” Radical candor = consistent behaviour. Proactive to the workplace culture.
Fierce conversation = to resolve something. Not all the time. Reactive to challenge something specific. We thank Diverse Educators lead, Hannah Wilson for guiding us through this empowering session on Courageous Conversations and reminding us of the value of a shared collective, close to our SWIFT heart founded on partnership. Report by Jude Owens, PA to the SWIFT Executive Team “Sometimes as a person of mixed race leaves you in the middle or left out completely.” As part of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work to raise awareness and continue the conversation about this important agenda, I spoke with Louise Jaunbocus-Cooper, co-founder of MixEd, a platform for educators (and others) to discuss race, racial identity and diversity. MixEd works closely with Diverse Educators, who are leading DEI training across our SWIFT partnership. Mixed heritage is the fastest growing ethnic group in the UK. Mixed race is currently the most under-represented ethnic group in leadership with only 1% of senior leaders of mixed heritage. Founded during the pandemic following the death of George Floyd, MixEd co-founder, Marcus Shepherd contacted Louise in response to her Tweets about her own mixed heritage. Louise has a White-British mother and Mauritian Muslim father and grew up in Oldham in the Northwest and engages in the religious and cultural aspects of her dual heritage – for example, celebrating Easter with her Mum and Eid with her Dad. Whereas, Marcus is a black man of White British and Ghanan heritage who has little contact with his Ghanan family and is immersed in his British family culture. Together, Louise and Marcus believed that they could do something to get their voices across. Exchanges ensued and MixEd as a platform was born that featured their own blogs and with an invitation to other guest bloggers to contribute. The website has evolved from mixed race to intersectionality, including religion and race and sexuality and race. 1. How do you envisage the continued role of education in opening up the conversation about mixed race? Both Louise and Marcus are senior school leaders and value the role of education in providing a space and an understanding about mixed identity. Louise is Deputy Headteacher at Wellington School, a 11 - 18 years school with Academy status in Timperley in Greater Manchester and Marcus is Regional Education Director for E-ACT. I believe it is always important to look at things from an educationalist’s perspective and to consider our outside work persona and how others are treated. Student voice is an essential part of this conversation in education and you can read a powerful blog on the website by Jordan a secondary student of mixed race, sadly, on the fringes of criminality who writes about his experiences and hopes. In my own school, we have looked at decolonisation of the curriculum that required a staff mindset change, beyond a departmental or teacher level as a culture shift about identity. The biggest misconception for me is around the misconception about who you are. I am known as “white passing” because I am still quite fair skinned despite my dual ethnicity that means it stays hidden. People sometimes say things to me - including casual Islamophobia - and do not realise that this is offensive to me. But because I feel that I do not fit into a neat ethnicity space because of the colour of my skin, it does not feel right to be offended. It is the opposite experience for Marcus, as people make misconceptions about his culture due to the colour of his skin and assumptions about his appearance of ethnicity. Assumptions can be based on what people cannot see, which makes it a unique experience for people of mixed race. However, it is significant to note that even people of mixed race are not a homogenous group. They are all very different and with very different lived experiences. I recall an incident when I was a child in McDonald’s in Rochdale with my Mum and brother, who is darker-skinned than me. A lady came up to my Mum and said “How lovely, you’ve got one dark and one white.” It was well-meaning, but clearly inappropriate and growing up in Oldham as a family we were used to overt racism. Part of our MixEd work is providing training in schools to support them on their journey – which starts from reviewing policy to staff training, to the curriculum and we are big on promoting student voice.
In our school, we have a Gender Equality Council who have led awareness campaigns on period poverty, sexism, and gender pronouns. Our Race Equality Council Year 8 students led a thought-provoking assembly on afro-textured hair and talked about the history of hair discrimination dating back to the Transatlantic slave trade and will be leading a future assembly on micro aggressions. Whilst the LGBTQIA+ Council has looked at gender pronouns and making schools safe for transgender students. “As Educationalists, you could say that we have the most important role to influence the future generation.” 2. Are you optimistic in our Black Lives Matter era? Yes, I am optimistic that education is proactive in the post-George Floyd Black Lives Matter sphere and has galvanised thinking. But we need to do more. A growing number of Schools and Multi Academy Trusts are approaching MixEd. So, there is lots of hope of positive change and young people are brilliant. However, I am mindful of the recent Met Police report and blatant racism that was very disheartening, which I believe has a lot to do with the institutional structures. I also worry about immigration rhetoric and racism in certain areas of the country that is polarising one group against another and is often used as a weapon against people. See the recent issues about immigrants in Liverpool. So, there is wider work to be done. 3. What do you consider to be the success (es) of Mix-Ed to date? Quite simply, but significantly, MixEd is a platform that amplifies the voices of people of mixed race and as part of our work, Marcus and I meet some amazing people who want to work with us and we are proud to be the trailblazers in this work. Our collaboration with Diverse Educators is another important space for us and we are grateful for the opportunities provided to us. 4. What are your personal gains in leading Mix-Ed? Huge! Marcus and I are “very, very proud on a personal level” of what we have created today that was conceived from a chance chat on Twitter. It still blows me away how many new wonderful people we meet who are passionate and engaged and want the same things as us and that we can help to make them feel safe. It also affirms a sense that the world is a good place – especially, if and when, you read the doom and gloom on social media. “It heartens me and keeps me going and we can only impact what we can impact.” 5. Looking to the future, what are your main aims for Mix-Ed? The big one is to allocate some more time to MixEd from next year. We will be relaunching the website and will be offering low-cost training to help retain and recruit minority ethnic staff to help support the recruitment crisis in the teaching profession; especially as so many people of mixed identity say that they do not see themselves represented on the staff body. We will also be offering a coaching model from September to coach Early Career Teachers and aspiring senior leaders. And finally, we want others to continue to join us and to feel safe in their mixed identity. We thank Louise and Marcus for sharing their experiences and for their ongoing MixEd work in providing a safe space for others of mixed ethnicity and identity and may it continue to be rewarding, as well as successful. Interview by Jude Owens, PA to the SWIFT Executive Team As part of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) commitment to creating a sense of belonging for everyone, SWIFT is working with Hannah Wilson, co-founder of Diverse Educators. Initially a grassroots network, Diverse Educators is now a training company working with all types of schools to support their DEI strategy and training needs, in the belief that schools are stronger, and can go further together, in collaboration with national and international organisations. VISION | Everyone is celebrated in every classroom in every school. MISSION | A collaborative community that celebrates the successes and amplifies stories of diverse people. VALUES | Promoting acceptance; increasing visibility; encouraging celebration; creating belonging and enabling learning. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion celebrates the nine Protected Characteristics identified by The Equality Act (2010) SWIFT is endeavouring to understand the needs of all the nine Protected Characteristics groups and seeks to improve a sense of belonging. As part of this pledge, we have created consistent branding and are creating new representative artwork and photo images as improved imagery on our website and socials that and humanises our community. DEI should be about celebration, not tolerance (as in the hero image below): For Diverse Educators, DEI is about the three Cs: Consciousness, Confidence and Competence. Diverse Educators will be providing training and support for SWIFT, our partners and schools; incorporating the development of our DEI Policy and Procedures, strategy and vision and we are embedding DEI through a partnership committee to leverage insights and diversify perspectives. Improving our DEI awareness and how we use inclusive language will increase our confidence and enable us to increase our competence to share within our team, and also help us to raise awareness of our shared goals and approaches with everyone we work with: our partners, school leaders and teachers, Early Career Teachers, Mentors, trainers and trainees. We want to breakdown any barriers so that everyone feels included. For our training events we are seeking to make reasonable adjustments to ensure accessibility and we have been striving to increase the diversity of speakers at our SWIFT conferences, Curriculum and Leadership Forums and CPD events. Last Autumn Term, we provided menopause training and maternity / paternity training and established a SWIFT Equality & Diversity Professional Community led by Ruhaina Alford, Executive Headteacher of The Carey Federation (find more information about the April meeting here | free to SWIFT members and £25 for other colleagues). We are reviewing our staff recruitment and retention policies so that everyone feels welcomed and a sense of belonging with equitable opportunities for career advancement. The number of people being promoted in education to senior leader positions is low, especially here in the South West, particularly for women and black people and as part of our initial teacher training responsibilities, we will be putting DEI at the centre of our new SWIFT SCITT. Ultimately, at the heart of our affirming, validating and celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion, we understand that this will positively impact on our pupils and young people and we welcome news of any interesting DEI work undertaken by our partners. More Information and Resources To support the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion journey in your school, you can find lots of free resources on the Diverse Educators website, including a toolkit, a DEI Directory organised by the nine Protected Characteristics, and key words and acronyms. When scheduling events in your organisation, you can find a list of awareness and celebration days/weeks/months of religious and cultural significance. Listen to the #DiverseEd Podcast in which co-hosts Nick Kitchener-Bentley and Yamina Bibi interview a contributor from each of the 10 chapters of “Diverse Educators: A Manifesto.” For regular news and views, read the Diverse Educators blog. Report by Jude Owens, PA to the SWIFT Executive Team |
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