Race equality curriculum development case study

The race equality journey so far

• Joined the No Learner Left Behind – Black Caribbean Achievement project in 2021
• Participated in whole school, online training around challenging disproportionality and race equality in the curriculum
• Assistant headteacher is the race and diversity lead and there is a nominated lead governor
• Key focus has been the curriculum and tracking Black Caribbean, White & Black Caribbean and Somali pupil progress

What we did/The Impact/The changes:

• Assistant Head worked with subject leaders to review the curriculum in light of the race equality training; using the resources provided
• Added to and adapted the existing curriculum offer, ensuring it was more reflective of the school community, e.g. replaced Mayans with Early Islam
• Developed some areas further such as Ancient Egypt to ensure it was a factually accurate representation of black history
• Refreshed displays and resources

Positives

• Training enabled staff to see where the curriculum could be improved
• Regular pupil voice includes questions about seeing themselves in the curriculum
• Challenge Partners report recognises diversity and equality as a strength
• Ofsted report praised the diverse curriculum

Challenges

• Trying to engage parents; have focused on meetings with individual parents rather than groups of parents
• Staff training around areas such as unconscious bias highlighted different perspectives and led to necessary, and occasionally challenging conversations. Staff able to move forward positively for the benefit of the pupils

Next steps

• Further refining the curriculum offer; focus on rolling out the new PSHE scheme of work
• Plan to roll out Challenging Disproportionality training to staff, also ensuring new staff and ECTs have race equality training

Advice to other schools:

In relation to adapting the curriculum - start small and keep it manageable

One word / phrase to sum up

Enlightening – this work has encouraged staff to reflect on their own experiences as well as the whole school community

Contact: Rob Butler for further information and to arrange a visit: rbutler26.307@lgflmail.org

We welcome thoughts, comments and feedback: Education Race Equality EducationRaceEquality@ealing.gov.uk