Reparation in Education
Addressing Race in Scottish Schools
An Open Letter to First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney, and the Scottish Government.
This letter has been drafted by a diverse group of people, many of whom have directly suffered the consequences of the failings of our education system.
The events of the past two weeks have caused many people across the world to examine the state of race relations in their own countries. Many have finally opened their eyes to the harsh reality of Scotland’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. While not often discussed, the repercussions are still viscerally felt.
These issues run deeper than simply acknowledging the historical context. We believe an extensive examination and remodel of our education system is required to address and correct Scotland’s role in the continuing racism which pervades Scottish culture and social life.
We have devised three objectives, the implementation of which ought to be seriously considered. We strongly believe that had these existed before now, they would have seriously benefitted our personal experiences in school. We hope that their implementation will facilitate a better experience for current and future young BAME people in Scotland.
1. Curriculum for Black Excellence
Only recently has Scotland’s prolific involvement in the slave trade come to the forefront of our nation’s consciousness. However, it is not enough to address this in history classes alone. The ongoing pressures faced by minorities highlights the need for a deeper cross-curriculum broad general education. Drawing upon the aims of the existing Curriculum for Excellence, a focus on the social, political and historical contexts of BAME experiences should be essential to our learning. This can be achieved through the explicit teaching of minority experiences, as well as an increased inclusion of materials by BAME creatives and academics across the entire curriculum.
We urge that the Scottish government make this a compulsory element of students’ learning.
2. Diversify Representation of Teaching Staff and Leadership
A good educator should be a role model in a young person’s life. However, there is an unmistakable absence of BAME representation amongst teaching staff in Scotland. Despite BAME individuals making up 4% of the Scottish population, (1) only 1% of primary and 1.7% of secondary educators are from BAME groups. (2) Not only do the numbers show a 65% underrepresentation, but there appears to be an attitude which contributes to the marginalisation of BAME educators. BAME teachers are often expected to leave their identity at home. Minorities feel pressurised out of the system, which could be one of the reasons as to why only 0.6% of promoted positions are made up by minority individuals. (3) There is no question that Scotland is a majority white country, which often exacerbates the isolation experienced by many minorities. We ask that the importance of having role models who look like you, or who have shared experiences, is not underestimated by your government.
Through the use of effective incentives and other measures, we demand an increase in the diversity of teaching and leadership staff in every school across the country.
3. Educate our educators
Before drafting this letter, we contacted a wide group of teaching staff and students. From our research it is clear that racial awareness in the classroom is a secondary consideration. Education students unanimously informed us that there is no compulsory racial awareness element to their courses. This forces many new teachers to tackle racism for the first time inside the classroom itself, without any guidance as how to appropriately deal with such incidents. Furthermore, for teachers already in the role, there is a distinct lack of specific and up-to-date racial awareness training. The Curriculum for Excellence outcomes are broad and vague, which we understand is designed to promote the importance of teachers’ autonomy. However, racism in the classroom must be dealt with in a specific and direct manner. Moreover, inclusion training for in-service days are left to individual senior leadership teams’ discretion, with promoted personnel not receiving regular, if any, additional race-specific training. Having experienced racial abuse from head teachers in the past, we have well-founded concerns that this issue is all too easily being ignored by staff, amplifying the pain of children and young adults across our country.
Therefore, we demand that completion of a racial awareness course must be a compulsory requirement for all education degrees in Scotland, as well as continuous, up-to-date training for already qualified teachers.
We understand that these changes would require financial support from the Scottish Government in order to ensure effective implementation. We are also aware of the tangible, long-term economic impacts of COVID-19 and the restraints that this will inevitably place on Government spending. However, we believe that this investment is not only owed by the Government, but it is long overdue. Far too many young people and adults in Scotland have experienced and continue to experience the consequences of the education system’s neglect of racial awareness. In addition, teaching unions such as the Educational Institute of Scotland and the Scottish Union Learning can help to facilitate and encourage these essential conversations and action that needs to be taken.
Your government’s Curriculum for Excellence aims to build: successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors. How can we hold our pupils to such standards when the Scottish Government and education system are neglecting their duty to empower minority students and effectively tackle racism within our schools? The Scottish Government has made incredible strides regarding inclusivity, especially as we are now the first country in the world to implement LGBTQIA+ compulsory learning in our curriculum. We encourage you to, again, lead by example and support BAME communities which make Scotland our home.
Yours Sincerely,
Madeleine Joseph
Juliet Joseph
Florence Joseph
Reuben Joseph
Along with invaluable help and the research of many amazing collaborators
1. According to Scotland's 2011 Census, Release 2A: https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/StatsBulletin2A.pdf
2. Scottish Government Teacher Census 2017: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/teachcenssuppdata/TeaSup2017
3. Scottish Government, Teaching in a Diverse Scotland: Increasing and Retaining Minority Ethnic Teachers in Scotland’s Schools, November 2018.