What does it mean to our families when we support bilingual literacy?
Written by Emma Sheppard
Emma founded The MTPT Project, the UK's charity for parent teachers, in 2016 when on maternity leave with her first child. She has 12 years experience as an English teacher, Lead Practitioner and ITT Lead, and now runs The MTPT Project full time.
This is a vulnerable blog to share publicly. If you follow me on LinkedIn, it will reveal the hard work and heartache behind the upbeat and practical strategies around bilingual education that I often share.
Of course, we save our shiniest achievements for social media platforms but over the last few weeks – in the real world – I have felt keenly, the crushing failures of being “immigrant mum”.
For context, I am an educated middle-class British former teacher living in France with my bilingual children and French husband. My children were born in the UK, have been fully bilingual since birth, and now attend French state primary school. I’m a fluent French speaker (and have a state-issued certificate to prove it) work in English and socialise in both languages.
Sounds dreamy, right?
But sometimes, I feel as if I am losing my children – that they are so culturally embedded in the country we live in, that they have no connection to the identity of their birth country. My identity.
This fortnight, we have been learning about Advent in our home-learning English lessons. They don’t go to school on Wednesdays, you see, because it’s France.
My son, who had a year of lockdown education, is au fait with the characters. He was, after all, the donkey in his Reception nativity and plodded along to Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph. He best friend Gabriel was… the angel Gabriel.
My daughter, who has been educated in the secular French system since pre-school, has a vague understanding of the baby, called Jesus. The star? Joseph? Virgin birth? Heavenly hosts? Gold, frankincense and myrhh? Even the word ‘shepherd’ in English? All these cultural indicators so essential to the British primary education experience? Not a clue.
It gets worse: for the last three years, we’ve attended the carol service run by the local American church. I alone in my family know the words to Silent Night. My husband and children are ignorant to the joy of “Glororororororia” or “Fivvvvee go’old ringggsss!” and as such, they can’t sit through a full service. I hissingly insisted my husband remove them (and himself) somewhere between Royal David’s City and Angels in the Realm of Glory and – French and relieved – they went to eat waffles and ride fairground rollercoasters in le marché de noël.
Extended writing – the lovely recipes and stories and letters you’d expect in lower KS3 – simply aren’t required of my children yet in the French state system. Admittedly, their grammatical knowledge is fast surpassing my own, but mostly they are asked to copy, or write short responses to comprehension activities.
They have never been asked to be a Victorian maid or a to persuade anyone to save the rainforest. They have not written a diary entry from a ship in the middle of the Atlantic, or a newspaper article about a volcanic eruption. Maybe creativity, generally, will never be required of them?
The request to write the Nativity story therefore resulted in meltdowns on all fronts: my son can’t bear the idea of more than two sentences and disappears into the ether of his daydreams; my daughter can’t remember how to spell ‘all’, even though it’s been on her spelling list for millennia.
My children are spectacular: there is no need to qualify this with any reasons why. They just are.
But they are not British, and they have no other encouragement to be British than me, their mother. Ensuring they retain a sense of this identity has become a base urge in me. They will know who Shakespeare is. They will eat jacket potatoes. They will understand the culture importance of a Harvest Festival. Failure simply isn’t an option.
But a lot of the time I feel like a lone salmon, swimming against the current. And increasingly, I’m experiencing the anticipatory grief of becoming the mother of two French children.
For the first-generation immigrant parents in our school communities, how keenly is this loss also felt?
Do they, too, look at their children and see huge holes where a shared identity should be?
And as schools, what can we do to support families who might be going through similar experiences?
(Here come those upbeat, practical strategies…)
- Understand, appreciate and acknowledge (if you can) the cultures of your school communities – including the educational cultures
- Value and encourage the use of the home language – never fall into the trap of thinking that one language leads to an inability to acquire another because the opposite is true – languages feed off one another and grow together
- Value languages, and teach them well – from the earliest possible age
- Create bilingual streams if appropriate for your school context
- Introduce Community Language GCSEs and A Levels as far as your timetabling or extra-curricular offer can support – and involve parents in their children’s preparation for these exams
- Research community language hubs and signpost these to parents if you don’t have the capacity to ‘in house’
- Align language with culture – food, traditions, literature, film, history, sports – and take opportunities to celebrate these
- Foster opportunities where parents can make connections and build their own language communities
As cultural diversity in our schools increases, assumptions of monolingualism in our curricula and communities will only become a hindrance. Celebration and practical support for families aspiring to full bi- or multilingualism will bring out the best in our students and support the full complexity of their identities.
Developing Cultural Intelligence in Education: A Necessity for School Leaders
Written by Hannah Wilson
Founder of Diverse Educators
Cultural intelligence (CQ) is the capability to relate and work effectively across different cultures, backgrounds, and situations:
- Understanding cultural norms: Understanding how cultures influence values, beliefs, and behaviors
- Adapting to different cultures: Being able to work and relate with people from different cultures
- Making informed judgments: Using observations and evidence to make judgments in new environments
The concept of Cultural Intelligence was introduced in 2003 by London Business School professor P. Christopher Earley and Nanyang Business School professor Soon Ang.
In today’s increasingly diverse educational landscape, it is imperative for educators and school leaders to understand and cultivate CQ. This ensures not only the inclusion and success of all students whilst fostering a rich, diverse learning environment, but it is of equal importance to our staff to feel part of an inclusive workplace which prioritises belonging for all stakeholders.
Why Cultural Intelligence Matters
- CQ Enhances Inclusivity and Equity: CQ allows educators to recognise and value the diverse cultural backgrounds of their students and staff. This leads to more equitable teaching practices and policies that support all students and staff, irrespective of their identity.
- CQ Supports Recruitment and Retention: CQ promotes a commitment to belonging. Culturally intelligent employers, workplaces, leaders and teams will support the recruitment and more importantly the retention of people with diverse identities. CQ enables everyone to flourish and thrive.
- CQ Improves Student Engagement and Achievement: Students are more engaged and perform better when they feel understood and respected. Culturally intelligent educators can tailor their teaching methods to meet the diverse needs of their students, thereby enhancing learning outcomes.
- CQ Strengthens School Community: A culturally intelligent school promotes a sense of belonging among students, staff, and parents/carers. This strengthens the school community and encourages collaboration and mutual respect.
- CQ Prepares Students for a Globalised World: By fostering CQ, schools prepare students to thrive in a globalised world where cross-cultural interactions are the norm. This is essential for their future personal and professional success.
How to Apply the CQ Model
I use the CQ framework when I am working with school, college and trust leaders to shape their DEIB strategy:
- Stage 1: CQ Motivation – what is ‘our why’ for developing Cultural Intelligence and how are we communicating it to all stakeholders?
- Stage 2: CQ Knowledge – what data do we have/ need and how are we using it to inform our journey?
- Stage 3: CQ Strategy – what resources do we need, what milestones will we set and how will we evaluate our impact?
- Stage 4: CQ Action – what training is needed, what actions do we need to take and what behaviours do we want to change?
It is a simple but effective approach and helps leaders who are new to DEIB to get their heads around the cyclical process of shaping a strategy to improve the culture for everybody to flourish and thrive. It is also a core them in our Leading DEIB in Schools programme.
Developing Cultural Intelligence
CQ for School Leaders
- Self-Assessment and Reflection: Reflection to understand our own cultural biases and areas for growth. Tools like the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) can be useful.
- Professional Development: Engaging in ongoing professional development focused on cultural competence and CQ is crucial. Training can provide valuable insights and strategies, as can curated reading. Check out the resources in our CQ toolkit.
- Leading by Example: Demonstrating CQ in interactions and decision-making sets a precedent for the entire school. Leaders should model behaviours that reflect cultural understanding and sensitivity. Leaders should also consider methods of communication and how inclusive language choices are.
CQ for Educators
- Ongoing Professional Development: Organising regular training sessions on cultural competence and CQ can help staff develop the necessary skills. Sessions should be interactive and challenging, an ongoing conversation instead of one-off training events. We can facilitate a space to explore a range of different themes.
- Inclusive Curriculum Development: Encouraging teachers to incorporate diverse perspectives and materials into their curriculum expands our knowledge of others. This not only broadens students’ horizons but also shows respect and develops awareness of different cultures. Find out more from our Diversifying the Curriculum toolkit.
- Mentorship and Collaboration: Fostering a culture of mentorship and collaboration where educators can share best practices and learn from each other’s experiences with diverse communities. Reverse mentoring can be a helpful tool to create a knowledge exchange, find out more in our webinar with RVP.
CQ for Whole School
- Inclusive Policies and Practices: Developing and implementing school policies that promote inclusivity and equity. This includes everything from admission policies to behaviour consequences, from interview processes to appraisals, ensuring they are fair and culturally sensitive.
- Student and Parent/ Carer Engagement: Creating platforms for meaningful engagement with students and parents/ carers from diverse backgrounds. This could include cultural events, forums, and regular communication channels for feedback such as surveys and focus groups.
- Diverse Representation: Striving for diverse representation among staff and leadership. This not only brings varied perspectives but also demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Conclusion
Cultural Intelligence is no longer optional in the realm of education—it is a fundamental competency:
- We need culturally intelligent schools and workplaces.
- We need culturally intelligent policies and processes.
- We need culturally intelligent leaders and educators.
- We need culturally intelligent classrooms and staffrooms.
At Diverse Educators we frame all of our training through the 3 Cs of Consciousness, Confidence and Competence. By becoming more conscious of who we are, of our own lived experience and how it shapes our world view, we can become more confident in how we interact with others, in our inclusive behaviours and our inclusive language. We can then become more culturally competent and develop cultural intelligence. School leaders and educators who develop and promote CQ contribute to an inclusive, equitable, and dynamic learning environment for students and staff alike. By prioritising Cultural Intelligence, schools can better serve their diverse populations, better prepare students to succeed in a globalised society and better support staff in their career progression and leadership development.
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If this theme resonates and is of interest, we have a training opportunity in January 2025. Join us for the CQ (Cultural Intelligence) Certification. There are limited places available so they will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
The Diversifying the Curriculum Conference 2025
Written by Bennie Kara
Co-Founder of Diverse Educators
At Diverse Educators’ Diversifying the Curriculum Conference, Hannah Wilson started the event by reminding us all that the work on ensuring curriculum is deep, broad and diverse is not done yet. Our speakers certainly reminded us just how much we can do to make sure that we are constructing a curriculum for all.
Christine Counsell’s opening keynote was joyful to listen to, not least in part due to her incredible depth of awareness and knowledge about the humanities curriculum. She connected effective learning to effective curriculum design and spoke about how thoroughness is possible and how thin unconnected content does not serve the needs of our children. She reminded us that the humanities are replete with story and that each lesson should have children longing for the next one. In her keynote, she recognised the need to work hard to deliver unfamiliar content but also how that hard work pays off when students have experienced language, symbols and narratives repeatedly throughout the curriculum from year 3 onwards in her words meaning comes from relationships with everything else and that the curriculum should be a series of constant bursts of energy fueled by indirect residents and anticipation.
In Emily Folurunsho’s session, we were treated to an in-depth look at Black British history and how important it is to ensure that British students learn about Black British history and not just the history of Black Americans. She was clear in her message that the first time that students encounter a black figure from history should not be through the lens of enslavement. She talked us through three themes that allow us as educators to give a fuller picture of Black British history as possible. She talked about figures from the pre-Anglo-Saxon past, from the Tudor age and from the Victorian age. It is important, she said, that we study Windrush and its legacy, but that we also contextualise Windrush in light of broader race relations in the mid 20th century. She talked compellingly about how Black British history has a connecting influence in terms of providing representation and presence for black students, touching on her own history in Britain and how she personally learned about Black history. She went on to explore how Black British history is challenged in its presence and its validity. To ensure that Black British history is truly embedded into the curriculum, we must seek sources from Black voices and we must refer to Black historians.
In David Bartlett’s session on the global boyhood initiative, we learned about the need for healthy masculinity and healthy emotions in boys and how that goes hand in hand with healthy gender expectations. He explored what healthy gender expectations look like and how to facilitate young people in breaking free from limitations. In his session he explored gender differences and gender stereotypes, asking: what is nature and what is nurture? He highlighted the idea of pink and blue roles in the development of gender identity and responsibility.
Dana Saxon’s session on roots and relevance started with Dana’s personal experience of history as a subject. She talked about how history was not for her in her early experiences and how she felt that her history had been erased. It was only as an adult that she started family history research and that gave her a sense of personal ownership of her story and the ability to create and curate the family archive. She explored the disconnect in history teaching, asking who decides which histories are more important and invited us to consider who is remembered and who this suggests matters. She was clear in her message that history has been distorted, disfigured and destroyed and that erased histories disempower people. She stressed the need to find untold stories and the stories of migration because there are empowering stories hidden deep in our archives. It is a way, she said, of connecting the dots and answering the questions: how did we get here and why does it matter?
Samantha Wharton spoke about Black British literature. She referenced her work and resources on Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock. Focusing on this text, she explored the context of Pinnock’s play and how teachers can take a cross curricular approach in delivering lessons on it. The text, according to Wharton, is a valuable insight into shared immigrant experiences, family dynamics, the generation gap and matriarchal figures, as well as themes of education and what is deemed sub normal. She encouraged us to go beyond the classroom when exploring literary texts like Leave Taking. She referenced the work of Lit in Colour, outlining the statistics on representation in literature and explored how a simple audit activity can develop thinking about diversity in the curriculum.
Krys McInnis’ session touched on the journey between diversifying the curriculum and decolonizing the curriculum. He asked us to consider positionality in approaching this process, stressing that all people have lived experience and we all have different starting points when undertaking curriculum reform. He spoke compellingly about redistributing power, centring the voices of the colonised and challenging the notion of who holds knowledge and how we make space for marginalised voices and epistemologies. He told us that unlearning is needed and that we need to be willing to adjust, not just approach the process of decolonization as a road map or a checklist so that we can say we are done. In essence he asked us to rethink knowledge and also how language is used today to define power and perspective.
I finished my day listening to Shammi Rahman talking about how RE can help us embrace unity. It was shocking to hear that 500 secondary schools report delivering 0 hours of RE and that led Shammi to ask the question: what is the value of RE for staff, for students, for communities and for parents especially when it can prevent misunderstandings and misconceptions around people and their faiths. Shammi helped us understand that children may be missing out on the opportunity to talk and listen as it is such a central skill in RE and that, in doing so as teachers, we can help them avoid generalisations about groups of people. She stressed that it is difficult to have broad knowledge but that we do need to make time to read and to become comfortable with being uncomfortable in delivering certain aspects of RE. We cannot let our fear of offending people or getting names wrong prevent us from teaching RE lessons that are outside of our own experiences. She went on to talk about what difference it may have made to her peers if they knew about the contributions of her community to the national story. She stressed the need to use quality resources, referencing the work of Mary Myatt and also the work of Nikki McGee. McGee’s work on Black history tours to enrich the curriculum is an excellent source of support for teachers. She finished by reminding us that the beauty of RE is in its intersections.
David Lowbridge-Ellis’s closing keynote reminded us that working in diversity, equity and inclusion is often an unpaid, frustrating and thankless job. He also reminded us that we need to articulate our commitment to the work and to keep bringing about the message of why this work is important. He referenced the work of Dr Rudine Sims Bishop in 1990 on the importance of windows, mirrors and sliding doors as a key metaphor. He pointed out that the choices we make in the resources and examples we put in front of our students may result in students feeling like they belong in the classroom. That it is crucial to make sure that there are windows into the world outside of students so that they are developing a broad cultural capital. He too referenced the work of Lit in Colour. But he returned to his driver and one that perhaps we should all pay attention to, the need to have children we are serving to have a better school experience then we did. It is incredibly important that our values show that we are committed to this work. And it is not just about the curriculum, he spoke about accountability and how some people have the opportunity to shape and influence recruitment, to shape development priorities and equality’s objectives. This is a large sphere of influence.
It was not possible to attend every single session, as much as I would have liked to. But there were common threads and I hope that you can see them in this summary. The Diversifying the Curriculum Conference remains as relevant as it did five years ago because as we said at the start, the work is not yet done.
At The Reverse Mentoring Practice, we want to have BIG, game-changing conversations
Written by Stacy Johnson MBE
Chief Scientific Officer and Founder of The Reverse Mentoring Practice. Stacy is a leading voice on the frontier of justice, inclusion and belonging work. She helps organisations to re-imagine, re-engineer and reset their culture. Her groundbreaking work on reverse mentoring and practice supervision is making waves. Stacy is #TriniToDeBone
We want to talk about reverse mentoring in situations where you’re trying to improve inclusion, as an approach to retaining staff, and who may also be dealing with barriers to inclusion, who may find themselves in tricky situations and circumstances related to their protected characteristic. We do not want to have superficial conversations.
We want to celebrate the lived experiences of people through the magic of reverse mentoring, whether it is informal or formal, whether it’s programmatic in your organisation, or ad hoc.
We want to help you listen differently, to spark change in your organisations by empowering you and your senior leaders to move forward with cultural humility to ignite equitable action.
We sat down with Stacy Johnson MBE, our Chief Scientific Officer & Founder at Reverse Mentoring Practice who shared her insight and research on reverse mentoring. In the online seminar Stacy also held a question-and-answer session where one member asked:
Q: How can we get the people that would benefit from a mentoring relationship interested?
Stacy: Whether you are a very senior person or a junior person, you should periodically pause and assess.
Ask yourself: Am I being mentored? Am I mentoring anybody else? And if one of those things is not true, you need to make that right. You should always, at any point whether it’s formally or informally, be mentoring or being mentored.
It’s about reminding people on both sides of the equation that there is benefit from being a mentor and being mentored.
As far as those who are already converted, we should be more open about what mentoring is.
For example, the way I got a reverse mentor was because an amazing young man said to me, “will you mentor me?” And I actually felt a bit of horror. In fact, I remember saying to him, “I’m a terrible mentor! Let’s just meet and have some coffees!”
And then eventually, after several of those meetings, I said, “actually, will you reverse mentor me?”
I guess that’s because I had never been formally trained as a mentor. Some people have the impression that you have to be really knowledgeable, and you have to have all the answers. The idea of being formally asked to be a mentor is probably quite intimidating to even the most amazing leaders.
For me, I just want to have interesting conversations with this amazing young man and share ideas about things that had worked for me, things that I’d seen had worked for other people who were similar to him, or different to him. As soon as he labelled that mentoring, I panicked. So, it might be the same the other way around.
Maybe for the people who are not yet converted, it’s about offering it up as an informal relationship and connecting with somebody who is more junior to you, or more senior to you. Maybe that pulls them in, they begin to see the benefits and then they can happily then label it mentoring. They will be extolling the virtues of mentoring, and you won’t have to convince them.
If you want to know more, join us at the Diverse Educators webinar where we will explore how we unlock the potential of reverse mentoring and cultural humility in driving personal growth and organisational success. The recording will also be available to playback afterwards.
An Explicit Commitment to Inclusion and Diversity
Written by The MTPT Project
The UK’s only charity for parent teachers, with a particular focus on the parental leave and return to work period.
Like many organisations, The MTPT Project responded to the horrific murder of George Floyd in 2020 by sitting up and paying attention to the voices of the global majority colleagues within our community.
In many ways, we were fortunate: four years after our founding as a social media handle and grass roots network, 2020 was also the year that we registered as a charity. We had a near-clean sheet to start from; few ingrained cultural issues within our organisation to unpick, and a whole lot of learning to do.
Even before The MTPT Project was ready for its current growth, it was very clear to me that we had the potential to be part of the problem: if we were empowering colleagues with networking and coaching opportunities over the parental leave period, they were more likely to remain in the profession. They were more likely to remain in the profession happily. They were more likely to have more options open to them. They were more likely to progress into leadership, and increase their earnings.
Our first Diversity and Inclusion report was published in 2020, and stated, “we recognise that if we fail to explicitly engage with a diverse range of teachers, then we will play a part in disadvantaging certain groups within the education system. This is not what we want.” (MTPT, 2020)
By 2023, our commitment had evolved further: “We recognise that by retaining a diverse range of teachers in the education system when they become parents, we are providing our students with powerful role models. In the long term, we therefore also want the demographic of these groups to represent the student body that we serve.” (MTPT, 2023)
As of October 2024, there are a number of things worth celebrating: in our annual Diversity and Inclusion report, we shared that 22.5% of the participants on our 1:1 and group coaching programmes in the previous academic year were colleagues from global majority backgrounds. This is more than the 10% of Black, Asian, Mixed and Chinese teachers in our wider workforce (DfE, 2024), and closer to the 31% of students from these backgrounds (DfE, 2024).
What’s more, following the first Return to Work workshop of this academic year, we got even closer to our 31% target, with 30% of participants attending our live workshop identifying as Asian, Black, from Mixed ethnic backgrounds, or Chinese.
These statistics look great, but why are they important? Well, while maternal identities and experiences may vary by ethnicity and culture, motherhood intersects with many other identity markers.
By ensuring fully inclusive support is available to the mothers in our workforce, we are also providing support for one aspect of a Muslim mother’s identity. Or for a working class mother’s identity. Or for a lesbian mother’s identity.
By increasing representation across our communal events, we are defeating the “only” phenomenon whereby our community members feel welcome, but are still the only Bangladeshi participant in a workshop, or the only colleague who identifies as Mixed race in a group coaching session.
As representation increases, the identity of the organisation changes, along with its impact: this is a place for us, and we too shall benefit from what The MTPT Project has to offer.
This representation has not come about by chance, but rather an explicit resistance to the ease of creating an organisation that simply reflected its Founder, rather than the education system that we serve.
Start with Stats
As an organisation, what are your key measurables? For The MTPT Project, they are: engagement in our coaching programmes, engagement in our workshops, and involvement in our core team. What are your bench-markers for these measurables, and why? For us, we moved away from aiming for the 10% workforce representation because this in itself is a statement of underrepresentation.
Get Educated, Create Space and Listen
Read, listen to podcasts, attend events. Stop talking when others share their lived experiences, and thank them for doing so. If you ask for support, do so judiciously and with humility: it is not our colleagues’ responsibility to teach us, but some may be very happy to be part of your organisation’s journey. Then reflect on what all this means for your organisation, and your core work.
Be What You Can See
We worked explicitly on our visible role modelling. Whether this was using stock images for our event promotion, or seeking out and platforming our case studies. Wherever possible, we favour images of people of colour and we use these across all our channels: promotional fliers, social media, website, newsletters, panel line ups, guests we recommend for podcasts. If we have the choice between an overrepresented face and an underrepresented face, we go with the face we suspect may need an explicit welcome.
Protect and Empower
Cost will always be a barrier in the education sector, and this is only exacerbated by the expense that comes with parenthood. There are lots of other nuanced reasons why someone from whatever counts as a ‘minority group’ in your organisation (one of ours is men!) may not feel as comfortable asking for funding or opportunities as someone from the majority group.
Wherever we can, we remove this barrier by seeking funding specifically for colleagues from global majority backgrounds, or finding other ways to earmark coaching and workshop places. The message is: we have saved a place for you at this table, and it is ready for you when you arrive. It has made a real difference to engagement.
Make Mistakes with Humility and Without Ego
For someone used to privilege (and a people pleaser!), this is easier said than done. I have made mistakes. Things have not worked. Thankfully, I have not caused awful offence along the way but there have been moments of clumsiness borne from ignorance or simply the natural consequence of experimenting and taking a risk. If a strategy doesn’t work, respond with pragmatism: roll with the learning process, reflect and take stock and… do more listening.
References:
MTPT Project, 2020, Diversity and Inclusion Report, https://mcusercontent.com/bda931ab27a93e7c781617948/files/94280f62-c7e3-4ae8-8362-9b20f86dfa17/2020_Diversity_Report.pdf
MTPT Project, 2023, Diversity and Inclusion Report, https://www.mtpt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2023-Diversity-and-Inclusion-Report.pdf
DfE, 2024, Schools Workforce Census, https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england
DfE, 2024, School Pupils and their Characteristics, https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics
The theme behind my Children’s book – Zeb, Jet and the Ice-Cream Calamity.
Written by Mirabel Lavelle
Mirabel is a qualified Teaching and Learning Coach, Creative Writing Lecturer, Allergy Awareness Advocate and Author of: Zeb, Jet and the Ice-Cream Calamity. An adventure story aimed at raising food allergy safety awareness. She is also the founder of: writebymirabel.co.uk – Crafting stories: where every voice counts and allergies matter. a website dedicated to the art of crafting stories, especially those that help raise awareness to disability, equity and inclusion.
I am a teacher and grandmother who loves stories. Two of my grandchildren carry auto-injector pens because of food allergies. One day, the older of the two asked me if I would write a story book about allergy. Hence, Jet, Zeb and the Ice-Cream Calamity.
I want to encourage the reader to learn about allergy, to become actively aware of how to safeguard and to include children with food allergies at social events such as Easter egg hunts, trick or treating, and parties without the fear of reaction to food – or worse still – anaphylaxis. I would like the reader to ask:
‘How can we plan a party that children with food allergies can safely enjoy?’
Allergic disease is a disease of the immune system, and it is the fastest growing disease among children in the UK. This condition impairs the sufferer on a day-to-day basis, in many different ways.
Sufferers cannot eat the same food as everyone else unless it has been prepared especially. This has substantial implications. For example, in school during lunchtimes a child may be asked to sit at a separate table because of their food allergies. Outside of school a child may be excluded from social events that centre around food because of a nervous adult.
The culture this creates is that if a child is different in any way, for example by having a dietary requirement, then society will exclude them. New studies are showing certain children, who have experienced anaphylaxis, to display allergy related anxieties and behaviours that are similar to PTSD.
This is why I want to raise food allergy safety awareness. I want to educate so that we can eradicate food cross contamination. This way we can significantly reduce allergy anxiety and promote inclusion at all times.
My story book features a relatable fox cub (Zeb) and playful puppy (Jet) as characters, rather than humans, because of the subject matter. Jet has a food allergy and when Zeb meets Jet, he learns how to be allergy safe aware. This exciting adventure encourages children to want to help Jet by telling others about how to keep him safe. It is an adventure that celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion.
I reinforced my message by creating a joyous song. The chorus shows how to significantly minimise food cross contamination. Children love music, the catchy chorus carries the central and crucial message of the book.
This book invites children to learn about allergy safeguarding by finding out about simple yet responsible behaviour around allergic kids. One example is not to leave wrappers, which may contain allergens, lying around but to bin them responsibly. My message to the reader is about building a society of caring individuals so that no one has to get sick because of the carelessness of others.
I added differentiated tasks to encourage readers to ask more questions about allergy. I want children to have fun whilst they learn. After all, it is through stories and through education and by putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes that we become more understanding of others.
Going into schools to deliver allergy safety events is a very rewarding experience for me because of the positive response from children and staff. They are providing me with a wealth of exciting ideas on how to continue taking my campaign of safe allergy inclusion, forward.
When I first wrote the book, I wanted it to be a key educational resource as well as an entertaining adventure. I aimed to provide schools and communities a point of reference that raises awareness and encourages people to want to know more about allergies and their impact. I needed to ensure that allergy sufferers are included in all activities that everyone their age enjoys. Since taking the book and the presentation into schools and libraries, it continues to inspire a range of immersive activities such as art projects, drama, puppet shows and animation.
This book highlights equity and the tasks that follow the story are focussed on finding ways that are fair and inclusive for Jet. The story affords time to explore feelings, such as Zeb’s feelings after Jet got sick. It creates an opportunity for discussion, for thinking, for empathising, and for bringing about positive change.
Useful Links:
The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation (narf.org.uk)
The Benedict Blythe Foundation Allergy & Education Foundation | Benedict Blythe Foundation
The Sadie Bristow Foundation: Don’t Be Afraid to Be Great
Don’t Assume…
Written by Gerlinde Achenbach
Gerlinde Achenbach is a senior education consultant and former primary headteacher. Her career spans more than 35 years, with over 30 years teaching in schools. Since 2021 she has been supporting schools across the UK with Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, specifically LGBTQ+ inclusion. Her expertise is in leadership and changing school culture.
It is a reality that every LGBTQ+ stakeholder within a school community – child or young person, member of staff, visitor, parent or carer – is on the receiving end of constant heteronormative messaging. This isn’t because schools are not complying with their Public Sector Equality Duty or because they’re not focused on being inclusive. It’s because the world is set up to portray ‘usual’ as heterosexual.
The Oxford languages dictionary defines heteronormativity as: “denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation.”
Heteronormativity permeates every aspect of school life. It’s in the images on our walls, it’s in the things we say and in what we do. Put simply, there’s an unspoken acceptance that it is ‘the norm’. It confirms for us that heterosexual relationships dominate the human experience. It also reminds us of the relationship between heterosexuality and gender inequity for women and girls through history. We see this every day, where gendered language, stereotyping and imbalanced expectations still dominate our lived experience in the wider world. We like to think we work hard to challenge this in our schools…but are we doing enough?
What can heteronormativity look like in schools?
Environments
- Most images of families show mums and dads. This can be on ‘welcome’ posters or in books and images on display.
- We find ‘corporate’ cartoon images depicting (stereotypical) boy, girl, boy, girl across school spaces.
- Books and literature have not been evaluated in terms of how representative they are of different types of families or identities.
Systems and Policies
- In primary schools we have a habit of assuming (unless told otherwise) that a child has heterosexual parent(s) and that our children will end up in heterosexual relationships.
- We include ‘mother / father’ on application forms and permission slips.
- The words ‘Mr & Mrs’ are on the tips of our tongues when referring to families.
- Our school uniform policies state gendered expectations for girls and boys, even down to shoe styles.
- Our staff dress code does the same.
- We appoint a Head Girl and a Head Boy.
- Our website staff lists denote marital status first – Mrs, Miss, Mr – and we have the same on classroom doors.
Communication and Language
- We welcome our children with “Good morning, boys and girls” and our staff, or parents and carers, with “ladies and gentlemen”.
- The phrase, “Tell / give this to / show / ask your mum and dad” rolls off the tongue for most school staff.
- Staff address girls as ‘darling’, ‘princess’, ‘sweetie’, and boys as ‘mate’, ‘mister’, ‘dude’.
- We hear the terms ‘Headmaster’ and ‘Headmistress’. We address staff as ‘Sir’ and ‘Miss’.
- We hear adults calling for ‘a couple of strong boys’ for certain tasks around school.
Practice and Culture
- We line up our classes in boys’ and girls’ lines, or in a boy, girl formation.
- We seat them on their carpet ladybird places or at tables in the same way.
- We separate and organise children by gender for the most random of reasons and activities.
- We organise role play, construction and crafts with different genders in mind, albeit subconsciously.
- We appoint class names of famous scientists, authors, sports people or musicians where the majority are male (and straight).
- The staff culture feels fixed, exclusive, cliquey and difficult to break into.
- Staff congratulate themselves on the way they have always done things.
I have deliberately not set out here inclusive versions of the above examples. They are a starting point for whole staff thinking and they’re guaranteed to promote worthwhile discussion. It’s important in our schools to do the hard work required, challenge heteronormativity in all its guises and ask the following questions:
- Might a child with same-sex parents feel quietly excluded in our school?
- Will their parents feel welcome?
- How about a child who has lost a parent, or a child who is care-experienced?
- Have we removed assumptions in all our interactions with families?
- Can a member of staff, whatever their sexual orientation or identity, can be their authentic self at work?
- Are our language and expectations truly gender-inclusive?
- Is our inclusive approach understood by all groups of staff in their varying roles across school?
Why does this matter? It matters because of the need for us all to feel we belong in the places where we, or our loved ones, spend a good deal of time. Marian Wright Edelman coined the phrase, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’, and this matters if you rarely see yourself (child or adult) or your family represented in your school. Representation is validation.
It matters because subliminal messages such as those received (through unthinking words, gendered phrases and activities defined by gender) by girls and women, or by those for whom gender is not fixed or for whom gender causes anguish, can be damaging and self-fulfilling over time.
Be where you are embraced, not celebrated: exploring use of language when developing an equality ethos
Written by Andrew Moffat
Andrew Moffat has been teaching for 25 years and is currently PD Lead at Excelsior MAT. He is the author of “No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools” and “No Outsiders: everyone different, everyone welcome”. In 2017 Andrew was awarded a MBE for services to equality and diversity in education and in 2019 he was listed as a top ten finalist in the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.
Can we talk about the word celebrate?
I am a big supporter of Diverse Educators, but the use of the word celebrate in the tag line I think is not needed, in fact I believe it could be detrimental to our aims. “Be where you are celebrated…” Really? Do I need to be celebrated? For what? Being male, being gay, wearing glasses? Really?
Diverse Educators are not alone using this word; I used it in the past. My first resource on teaching LGBT equality in 2006, “Challenging homophobia in Primary Schools” (published by Coventry City Council in 2007 and by Birmingham City Council in 2010) states in the introduction, “Every child benefits from an ethos of mutual respect and a celebration of who they are.” (p2) and later, “Children need to understand that the world is full of different people who like different things and we should celebrate that fact with them.”(p5)
In my first properly published book, “No Outsiders: Teaching the Equality Act in primary schools” (2015) I state, “We have to be delivering a curriculum where diversity and difference are celebrated.”
But by 2020 I had changed my mind. I was trying to step away from the use of the word celebrate trying to find alternative words. Why? Because I was facing significant challenges to my equality work from a religious perspective, and I had to find a way to bring people on board.
Let me explain…
2019 was a very difficult year. RSE ruined my life! Everything was going fine until new RSE guidance from the DfE suddenly put LGBT+ education into the spotlight. Despite my school successfully running No Outsiders for four years previously to 2019, suddenly there were huge protests outside my school against it. “Stop sexualising children!” “My child, my choice!” “Stop indoctrination now!” “Stop No Outsiders,” read the placards. The protests lasted for 6 months and then fizzled out. Today, that school runs No Outsiders successfully and it’s like the protests never happened. A 2022 Ofsted report for the school opens with the line, “Children say there are no outsiders here and that everyone is welcome.”
During the protests, I received a letter from Mike Smith, a vicar from Cheshire who was also a chair of governors at a primary school. Mike was writing to express support but in the letter, he also mentioned the language I was using. Mike pointed out that I was asking schools to celebrate diversity and that meant in turn, asking schools to celebrate LGBT equality. As a Christian, Mike argued, he could not ‘celebrate’ LGBT people as he believes marriage is fundamentally between a man and woman. However, he could tolerate LGBT people; he wanted to be an ally. Mike asked me to consider using the word tolerate more, rather than celebrate.
Hmmm….
My initial reaction was absolutely not! I have never liked the word tolerate. Tolerate is word used when you are putting up with something; a buzzing noise, rain. I am not going to teach children to tolerate each other. It feels so wrong.
But I was in the middle of this mess at the time. People shouting at me from all sides. And maybe stopping and listening is the best policy. So, I got in contact with Mike and we talked. Mike was brilliant. He really shifted my thinking on this as we came together from two very different places and tried to find a way through.
Mike asked me, “Do you need to celebrate to feel accepted?” It’s a good question. I’ve worked in schools for nearly 30 years, and we’ve always blithely said, “We celebrate diversity,” whatever school I’ve been in. But let’s just step back for a moment and ask what that looks like. How do you stop that being tokenistic? ‘Ooh it’s pride month – get the rainbow flags out!’
The other problem here is that we don’t live in that rose tinted world. Homophobia exists, racism exists, misogyny exists. There are some people in our communities who simply do not wish to celebrate Pride month or celebrate gay people existing, and they should not be forced to. As an adult, you are not forced to join a pride parade; you cannot stop it happening and there are laws that protect the existence of LGBT people, but you do not have to celebrate that. You just need to accept it happens.
Should schools be celebrating LGBT+ people? If we are truly preparing children for life in modern Britain, shouldn’t we instead be teaching children that Pride exists, asking why it exists and recognising that some people join pride parades as a means of protest, some as a means of celebration, and some people don’t agree with it. Children should form their own opinions. As long as a child is not othering someone, judging and saying they are wrong for being who they are, I think it’s ok for a child to choose not to celebrate pride. Pride exists and will be celebrated whether that child joins in or not. You could argue a debate about Pride where children are encouraged to disagree, only strengthens the arguments for Pride existing!
There was a perception at the school where we had protests that we were forcing children of faith to celebrate LGBT equality. I don’t think we were doing that, but perception among parents is everything in schools, isn’t it. After conversations with Mike, together we came up with an alternative word to celebrate which was “accept”. At my school we spoke to parents about removing the word celebrate and we changed displays from “We celebrate diversity” to “We are diverse” or “We accept each other’s differences”. I really tried to show that I was listening and changing my language and the parents appreciated my efforts. I wrote a chapter in the second No Outsiders book “All different, all welcome” (2020) called “Tolerate, celebrate, accept” where I explained what I was trying to do. Lots of schools, particularly where there was a large faith cohort, told me they liked this strategy.
But I was never happy with the word “Accept”. I was constantly searching for an alternative word and then it came – “Embrace”. I think “We embrace diversity” is fantastic. You can embrace something without necessarily agreeing with it. You don’t have to celebrate it.
So, since 2021, embrace is the word I have been using. In my own school hall we have a great display (see below) with the words “We are different – we belong here” which is perfect. I think celebrating can be triggering for some people, particularly when talking about LGBTQ+ and faith, so I have simply removed it.
I always discuss this in my training, and I always say, “Of course, I may be wrong about this!” I have been wrong in the past and maybe I’m wrong here, I think it’s certainly worth a discussion and I may change my mind in future. I also want to make clear that I absolutely celebrate Pride every year myself. I have been to three Prides this year and I love them. I love being gay and I’m very proud to be gay and to be out to people. But I don’t need you to celebrate me. I do want you to accept me without judgement, but I don’t need a clap!
Find out more about No Outsiders: www.no-outsiders.com
Find our new No Outsiders scheme of work for 2024 “No Outsiders: We belong here” by Andrew Moffat (Speechmark, 2024)
Watch the film of Mike Smith talking about our conversations and language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PeUmCprYfo&t=2s
How to lead a diversity research group
Written by Jayne Carter
Jayne is the Director of Ignite Education Ltd, providing consultancy for practitioners within the Early Years & Primary sector. She uses coaching a a model for change, facilitating professional conversations which are focused on empowering others & generating growth in knowledge & skills.
As part of the L.E.A.D Teaching School Hub’s extensive offer for EDI, I was invited to lead a diversity research group based on Bennie Kara’s fantastic book: Diversity in Schools. This blog is intended to support others who may wish to run similar groups for teachers and school leaders.
The research group was structured around one session per month for each book chapter. It worked well for each participant to read the focus chapter in preparation for the meeting, to be ready to discuss their reflections and implications for their own practice.
Discussions were facilitated around the key messages included in each chapter with the addition of extra resources focused on the needs of the group.
The aims of the research group included:
- To use research & literature as a tool for school improvement
- To develop a culture of peer-to-peer support & critical analysis
- To implement key strategies & approaches at a whole school level
Some of the attendees wanted to focus on whole school implementation, whereas others wanted to improve their own subject knowledge in preparation to share at school.
Each session included a planned gap task based on the focus of the chapter as well as an individual gap task which was identified by each attendee in order to meet the needs of their school.
For example, the third session focused on the chapter ‘How can we create a diverse classroom?’ Everyone carried out the audit included in the book. Individual gap tasks that were chosen included;
- sharing UNESCO inclusion research with members of their SLT
- exploring the free trial of Lyfta as a whole-school EDI resource
- considering how to organise their seating plan to ensure inclusivity
- evaluating the use of cold calling/trio conversations in their classrooms.
Time was planned into the following sessions to discuss reflections from the individual gap tasks and all resources were included in a workgroup padlet. The padlet worked well to ensure that everyone had constant access to key resources/research. It also provided an effective means of communication between meetings.
Being able to meet frequently with attendees helped me as a workgroup lead to understand the priorities for each school and what was important to them. As the meetings progressed, I was able to structure the sessions to become even more personalised to the group’s needs, with additional research and tools being shared and added to the padlet.
Over the seven sessions, attendees enhanced their EDI improvement plan or developed their own EDI plan. The next steps identified after each chapter supported these improvement plans by providing structure and focus.
During the final session the overall impact of and reflections about the workgroup were collected:
- All attendees found the structure of the workgroup useful as it moved from a training session to meetings which were collaborative and supportive of an action research improvement model.
- Attendees liked the planned gap tasks; especially the opportunity to carry out a shared task, which helped shared discussions but also a gap task which was personalised and prompted change at a school level.
- All attendees noted that the additional resources sourced and added to the padlet were valuable with everyone committing to using the padlet next academic year.
As the workgroup lead, the opportunity to guide attendees into analysing research was valuable as it gave me a useful reminder of day-to-day school priorities. One of my own personal outstanding reflections was the knowledge that the plans developed would be sustained as they had been developed carefully and with the vision of not only what needed to be in place but why.
My thanks to Bennie Kara for creating such an accessible and informative book. I hope that this blog encourages others to lead more reading groups or research groups on diversity in schools across the sector.
LGBT+ Education in School - Having Effective Conversations with Parents
Written by Mel Lane
Mel Lane (she/her) is Head of Education at Pop’n’Olly. She has been a primary school teacher and teacher trainer for nearly 30 years and worked in schools on LGBT+ inclusion policies with thousands of children and school staff. Mel is a co- author of What Does LGBT+ Mean? (Pop’n’Olly, 2021).
When it comes to LGBT+ education in school, parents are often portrayed in the mainstream media as unsupportive and battling with teachers – but the reality is completely different. 82% of parents actively want their children to be taught about diverse families, including those with same-sex relationships. Having worked with over 10,000 children, I have experienced, time and time again, that parents are almost always supportive of LGBT+ inclusion work in school.
However, there are of course still a minority of parents who struggle with, and have concerns, about LGBT+ education. This is why empowering schools and teachers to have effective conversations is important. But how do we do this? Here are some themes that you may wish to include in these discussions:
Ethos and Values
Chances are you already promote equality and celebrate difference in your school. Maybe it’s in your school mission statement? e.g.
‘Brave, unique, caring and kind’
‘Hope, community, respect, love’
‘Respect for each other, Respect for our school, Respect for learning’
LGBT+ isn’t an add-on, it’s part of this whole-school approach. So when having conversations with parents, it’s vital you keep coming back to your whole-school ethos and discuss how LGBT+ education is a part of this.
Children’s Mental Health
We know that children learn better when they feel relaxed and able to be themselves. One teacher was so pleased to share with me how much more animated and engaged a Year 1 child had become after a session on families included two Mums, just like her family. All children benefit from conversations about LGBT+ inclusion because when we celebrate diversity we send a message to everyone that they are welcome in school whatever their uniqueness looks like.
Knowledge and Understanding
63% of 8-15 year olds know someone close to them who is LGBT+ Children are already having conversations about LGBT+ lives and some of them are searching for information online. School is a safe place where children can ask questions of trusted adults to find out reliable, accurate information. UK children all live in a country where being LGBT+ is protected by law and we shouldn’t hide this information from students. In fact, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), all children have a right to this information.
Legal Obligations
Helping young people understand and develop positive relationships with people who are different from them is part of UK law and included in the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) Guidance for Schools
The Public Sector Equality Duty (Section 149 of the Equality Act, 2010) states that schools must have due regard to “the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.”
Ofsted guidance also states that, “Schools can choose to teach the beliefs of any faith on the protected characteristics. They may explain that same-sex relationships and gender reassignment are not permitted by a particular religion. However, if they do so, they must also explain the legal rights of LGBT people under UK law, and that this and LGBT people must be respected”
Supporting Parents
Sometimes parents worry that life will be harder for their child if they are LGBT+. Sometimes they’re worried about being judged by other parents. Schools often have a lot more experience supporting LGBT+ young people than parents do. A parent of a trans child told me how much better they felt that their child’s school was supportive of their child’s transition – it gave the parent confidence and helped them navigate a completely new and sometimes challenging time.
Conversations with parents almost always eliminate fears, tackle misconceptions and build better relationships. You can find out much more information on how to have these conversations in Pop’n’Olly’s ‘Discussions With Parents’ document.