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THE ALLEYNIAN 709
OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
AAM: In the past, minority students have had bad experiences at the school. How do you change things while keeping the same teachers who have been here for decades throughout that troubled past? MRC: With transparency, with trust, with regular communication and by harnessing teaching and learning for behavioural change in ways that aren’t just box-ticking. Safeguarding might provide a useful analogy. When safeguarding was introduced, it wasn’t on everybody’s radar. Teachers who began their teaching careers 25 years ago might never have thought about or heard of safeguarding. Of course, they might have used good instinct and general care to ensure their students were safe. But many thought it might be one of those fads in education policy that they could wait out. Or that it didn’t apply to them because they were not abusers. Of course, not everybody did safeguarding well; not everybody took it seriously or understood that it meant active, ongoing work. Now it has become standard pedagogical practice. Any teacher worth their salt will always prioritise the welfare and safety of their pupils above all else. And because it became mandatory, and a matter of compliance, as well as principle, and something that is supported at whole school level with regular training as well as external inspections, it is now a much more visible element of good teaching practice. While they are far from perfect, and while many schools have a long way to go to get their safeguarding protocols and practices right, I think schools are safer because of this shift. Inclusion is the same – and compliance is one way of achieving inclusivity. So, yes, I would like to see mandatory updates on inclusion practices, and regular training. We don’t yet have the same weight of compliance, but I think we’re getting to the point where gender literacy and race literacy, for example, will become part of the normal responsibilities of all teaching professionals. A second way perhaps to achieve the goals of inclusion is by signalling to everyone that these are our values, and to have these values reflected in the very fabric of the institution, and made legible in its charters, policies and instruments. This can be in the policy documents we create and in the processes we follow, for example, at recruitment or in our disciplinary measures. So the Alliance will review the school’s inclusion policies to ensure they reflect our ethos. As part of the interview process for candidates for example, we now ask questions about inclusion in teaching practice, in the same way that we have safeguarding questions and a safeguarding statement. The goals of inclusion can also be achieved, and are better achieved, without compliance, and through an organic
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We wanted to pool collective resources and to hear from people at all levels of the College
to the policy, and to the constitutional documents. Yes, it should have been there before. I would have loved it if there had already been a Director of Diversity and Inclusion when I joined the College in 2016; I would have loved it if we had been ahead of the curve. I think that we would have been better equipped to deal with and respond to current requirements and demands to be inclusive; we are playing catch-up to some extent and we would have been in a better position if we’d had this Alliance and someone in this role five years ago. We didn’t. This is where we are; but it’s better late than never. AAM: What are your reasons for being invested in diversity and inclusion at the College? MRC : Firstly, it’s a question of social justice and a question of principle for anybody, regardless of their background or experience. My own personal investments aside, I think every teacher should, and does, want the best experience for all their pupils. But we should also
cultural shift. This is where schools as unique learning environments have a special advantage and a real opportunity compared to other institutions. Staff and pupils can embark on a journey of shared learning where the knowledge and skills they acquire allow them to feel confident that they know what inclusion looks like, why it matters, and how it benefits them, and also that they have the tools to leverage its benefits for all their pupils. This means they know how to recognise and manage microaggression or how to ensure their classrooms are inclusive spaces, or how to offset and challenge biases in themselves and others. It’s also really important that we all feel confident that the mistakes we make in the fragile ecologies of the classroom can be addressed in the spirit of a shared journey towards inclusive, diverse, happy learning environments.
aim to ensure that anyone who is vulnerable by any metric – sexuality, race, (dis)ability, gender identity, religious belief, or specific learning need – finds the same sense of belonging, opportunity, access and well-being as everyone else. That matters to me as a teacher, and that is my job as a teacher. But wanting it and feeling that it matters isn’t the same as securing it in a meaningful way. Of course, there are also more personal investments. I know what it feels like to be excluded for arbitrary reasons. I’ve always been aware of the extra work that I have to do in order to fit in with a community. A feeling of exclusion or
Justice is only justice when it’s available to all “
AAM: Do you think this step comes too late?
MRC : It’s never too late. It’s better to acknowledge that some change needs to happen. We want to make sure that we are not just reacting or putting out fires or weathering PR storms – that we’re not just papering over. It’s important that we take time to embed a strategy that reaches all elements of school, from the curricular, to the pastoral, to the sport,
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