BLACK LIVES MATTER – Responses, resources and re-imagining your curriculum

Black History Month work at Medina Primary School

The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and following protests that spread across the world, including the UK have shone a spotlight on the the racism that still exists in our society. Children and young people are asking questions about what happened in the USA and what is happening in the UK and in Portsmouth. As educators it is important that we are able to answer those questions and to challenge racism in our schools and in society.

Staff in Portsmouth City Council’s Children, Families and Education directorate are working with teachers to consider the support the council could provide to schools around Black Lives Matter (BLM), and areas in which we could encourage schools to make positive changes.

The NEU has developed a very helpful Framework for Developing an Anti-Racist Approach. This framework has been designed to help you explore ideas around race equality and plan how to tackle racism with children, young people and staff. It provides stimulus for peer reflection and school/college self-evaluation. It is not easy to improve anti-racist practice or to develop and embed an anti-racist approach to education without talking through some of the myths about racism and the assumptions that are barriers to equitable practice.

In terms of areas of engagement and action we propose a three-pronged approach:

Black Lives Matter classroom resources
Teaching black history in schools and decolonising the curriculum
Longer-term, transformational institutional change

For further details on these three areas click here.

USEFUL RESOURCES

BLM-specific and anti-racism resources

Resource	Description	Additional notes
The British Red Cross: Black Lives Matter session	This session is designed to help young people reflect on the Black Lives Matter movement with a focus on how people might experience racism and how it might feel.	This resource includes voices of black people in the UK likely to be familiar to young people.
What is racism and how do we challenge it?	Aims to provide some of the tools to show resilience and leadership in being anti-racist, which means actively challenging racism.	Takes as its starting point George Floyd and uses it as platform to discuss racism.
Black Lives Matter PowerPoint presentation	PSHE activity delivered to all pupils remotely at ALNS.	Locally developed. Good examples around why BLM is an important message at this time.

Curriculum support

Resource	Description
Framework for developing an anti-racist approach	This framework, developed by the NEU has been designed to help you explore ideas around race equality and plan how to tackle racism with children, young people and staff. It provides stimulus for peer reflection and school/college self-evaluation.
Black curriculum The Black Curriculum Report	Re-imagining the future of education through Black British History – aims to curriculum altogether so black history and the above issues are not considered in isolation.
Collaborative Project – Black History	A collaborative teacher’s network that others can contribute their resources to.
BBC Teach Black Lives and Black History resources	Classroom resources from BBC Teach, and content from around the BBC, accompanied by teacher notes to aid classroom use, covering KS1 to GCSE.
Decolonising the curriculum	Campaigns ongoing at various universities, including SOAS and Keele.
Starting a conversation – staff training	Starting a conversation: attempting to engage with our own and students’ questions following the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests of May and June 2020.
Starting a conversation with staff – developing an anti-racist English curriculum	Builds on the above and considers what an anti-racist, decolonised English curriculum might look like.
Black History Month website	This site contains a wealth of resources and articles to support your anti-racist work throughout the year, alongside specific BHM resources.
Think piece – The “R Word” – what schools must learn about race	This short, thought provoking, article explores issues for white educators and asks us to consider “What if being called “racist” was the beginning, not the end, of the conversation?”

Related anti-racism and justice resources

Resource	Description
Parent guide for talking about BLM	Yoopies UK has created a free, downloadable guide for parents that is designed to provide an easy-to-use resource to help parents start these important, but challenging, conversations with children of all ages.
Show Racism the Red Card	This organisation has a range of resources to support teachers with advice and activities that will help institutions to prepare student teachers to tackle racism and promote equality in the classroom.
Deliberative classroom pack	From the Association of Citizen Teaching on the topic of democracy, protest and change. The pack begins with a briefing paper to help teachers think about the depth of conceptual knowledge students need as they learn about democracy and its key characteristics and the different ways citizens can influence change.
Anti-racism resources	US-focused – links to films, books and articles for white people and parents to deepen their anti-racism.

Promoting diversity and anti-racism through reading: books for kids

Resource	Description
Book collection – anti-racism for kids 101: starting to talk about race	If you’re nervous about talking about race with your kids, these books about racial diversity will give you an easy place to start destigmatizing difference and celebrating racial diversity. US site.
Looking for excellent ‘diverse’ books for children? Start here!	Tips from Embrace Race about choosing diverse and multicultural children’s books, including links to multiple lists.
Cassava Republic Press – children’s section	A publishing company founded in Nigeria with the aim of bringing high quality fiction to a global audience.
Children’s books that discuss race and racism	A thread on Twitter by an educator listing children’s books that discuss race and racism.
Reading list for educators	Suggested reading improving racial literacy in British history and education.

UN ANTI-RACISM DAY 2021

UN Anti-Racism Day took place on 20 March 2021. Pupils from schools across Portsmouth created artwork on the subject of racism, some of which was displayed around the city.

Scroll through the images below of the fantastic artwork contributed by the following schools: