Anti-racism is a journey, not a destination. This is really important for us to remember and commit to.
It is not about what we will do this year or next. Ultimately it is about ensuring anti-racism is embedded across our schools and processes, both now and in the future beyond our tenures. That is the work that will create legacy.
However, it is challenging to change outcomes overnight. Therefore to address systemic inequality requires a focused, long-term, and deep commitment.
As such, focusing on school policies is crucial. The best school policies are the ones that reflect the real experience of all stakeholders; that seek to dismantle inequalities.
But this can only be achieved if your policy is developed with an informed view of the inequalities in our society and where these inequalities can manifest in our schools or settings.
This article seeks to inform schools and settings about what we can do to review our policies with an anti-racist lens.
Reviewing policies
In order to review policies with an anti-racist lens there are steps we must follow. Undertaking a review of any of your policies goes hand in hand with understanding the data and the lived experiences of the pupils you serve.
- Prioritise anti-racism
- Review current practice
- Build a coalition/identify a team
- Review existing policy
- Identify changes
- Implement and review
1, Prioritise anti-racism
This step is really important and must provide the basis for all our work. There is no point in reviewing your policies if you cannot commit to anti-racism in the long term and at the core of school culture.
To be anti-racist is to actively disrupt inequalities and tackle them wherever they are present in our schools and settings. If we only feel safe to look at certain areas for review and ignore others, then this work will not have impact or create change.
Being committed to the work of anti-racism and prioritising it as an important aspect of our work is key. This could include engaging with all stakeholders in an anti-racist way, working alongside experts, linking appraisals to anti-racism work and challenging systemic practices.
However you choose to show your commitment to anti-racism, you will have to ensure active change – because we all know that if you do what you have always done, you will get what you always have.
2, Where to begin? Who to include?
As part of your journey you will need to review your practice and your policies to allow for a deep understanding of the experiences of pupils, staff, parents and others in our schools and settings.
There are many policies we should review over time and the key decision is where to begin. Do you continue to review policies in line with your schedule for governors or are there policies that need urgent review due to unequal outcomes?
A review of current practice should not just be undertaken by the senior leadership team or the school council. It should not just include those staff or pupils who feel comfortable and have the most secure relationships with the school.
It should include all voices, including those who are the most marginalised (we can identify these groups using our own data but also the marginalisation that we know is experienced across wider society).
We should be speaking to a cross-section of staff, pupils, parents, and governors in a carefully curated, safe environment to understand lived experiences alongside studying in-school data to ensure we hear all viewpoints.
We must be prepared to hear those experiences openly, without attempting to challenge them or mount a defence.
There may also be some policies where it would be vital to invite the parent/carer community to influence the review if we really want to understand current practice.
3, Identify a team to lead this work
We cannot review without a group of stakeholders who really understand the spectrum of experiences through those lenses of intersectionality that can be debilitating for some of the children, families, and staff we serve.
It is tempting to do this work quickly but take your time. Consider if the community can recommend people who we should be working with to review our policies. A good example is at Loughborough Primary School in south London where a review of curriculum and policy involved experts from outside the school – a Headteacher Update article by the headteacher describing this work offers some great insights.
Build a team that can be committed to the work and who can be clear about what they are being asked to do and what impact it may have. That transparency is vital.
All contributors who are part of this team will need to feel safe enough to share the experiences they have had without challenge, isolation, or micro-aggressions.
4, What questions do we ask?
There are many sources of support to help us review our policies and which help us to ask those wider questions in order to understand how well a policy meets the needs of our pupils and community.
A good place to start is the document Reviewing existing school policies with an anti-racist lens from the Anna Freud Centre and co-authored by Stuart Lawrence. The resource recommends asking the following questions as part of our review:
- Do the rules or provisions described in the policy apply exclusively or mainly to pupils, families, or staff from racially minoritised groups?
- Does the policy suggest actions or consequences that treat racially minoritised pupils, families, or staff less favourably than others?
- Does the policy apply a condition or requirement equally to everyone but the proportion of racially minoritised children, families or staff that can comply is considerably smaller than the proportion of others who can comply? Is this detrimental to people from racially minoritised groups?
- Does the policy suggest actions that could violate the dignity of pupils, families, or staff from racially minoritised groups, or that could create a hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment?
- Does the policy suggest actions or consequences that result in racially minoritised pupils and families receiving a less appropriate professional service?
- Do the policies embody unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage racially minoritised people?
I am sure there are other questions you may ask that are relevant to your cohort, school, and community. It is really useful to share and discuss these review practices with your governors to ensure they understand the reason for possible changes and the school’s wider journey to anti-racism.
5, Identify and implement changes
As a result of your review work, there will be some deep reflections that will happen in order to understand the need for any changes. You may seek advice from other experts or colleagues about the proposed changes to ensure you have a wide range of responses and advice.
Ensure any advice or reflections are given by a diverse group of people, including most importantly those that experience systemic racism.
If we want a policy that is understood by all we must have a process of sharing our findings and giving staff and pupils time to understand those changes and reflect on the impact it will have.
Once you have identified any changes that must be made, the process of change should be led by the team you have identified.
Consider how we share those changes. For some policies you may well have to speak to every stakeholder or give them opportunities to discuss the changes that have been made and why they have been made.
6, Continuous review
We need to set a review period to understand the impact of our changes and to understand whether we need to tweak or adjust. Only after we are sure that the changes will have the impact we need can we then go from draft to final policy.
Ensuring all stakeholders are involved will contribute to creating relevant and effective policies that seek to ensure the quality of experience we want for all of our children and their families, as well as our colleagues.
Final thoughts
If I am to leave you with one reflection, I would emphasise that schools who have the most buy in to this work will ensure that the resulting policies have real meaning, are related to actual experiences that happen in our school, and are understood by the entire community.
- Orlene Badu is a former primary school headteacher who also has experience working in alternative provision. She is the author of How to Build Your Antiracist Classroom (https://bit.ly/3YXRDrz) and now works across London as a leadership and management advisor supporting schools and local authorities. She is also a school improvement advisor and is the curator of Hackney’s Diverse Curriculum. Read her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/orlene-badu and visit https://orlenebaduconsulting.co.uk/
Further information & resources
- Anna Freud Centre: Reviewing existing school policies with an anti-racist lens: annafreud.org/resources/schools-and-colleges/reviewing-existing-school-policies-with-an-anti-racist-lens