I was chatting to a group of young black headteachers earlier this year and we got to talking about the challenges they have to overcome on a daily basis.
As well as the stresses and strains that all school leaders have to deal with these heads faced an extra set of hurdles.
Parents not believing they were headteachers and being sidelined from the career ladder were among the common experiences we touched upon. It was frustrating to me because it showed how little has changed since the late 1990s when I was a young headteacher, turning around a failing primary school in London.
The conversation proved to me that when it comes to the fight for social justice and a level playing field for all, we still have a long way to go.
It also confirmed to me that people of colour cannot be expected to carry the responsibility of changing perceptions and breaking the insidious influence of racism and prejudice themselves. White people need to be just as much a part of it.
Up until now educators of colour have been expected to do the work to overcome these hurdles, complying to the preconceptions of their white colleagues by keeping a lid on their true selves.
Frankly, it feels as if black educators have been expected to stay in their lane in order to preserve this illusion that we live and work in this post-racial world.
That is why it is important for us all to join together and take a fundamental look at the question of race and how we can each engage with our own experiences and perceptions of it. Once we do that and we begin to have these very personal conversations then I believe we can unlock the potential of everyone to be themselves and give their best.
The cost of not doing this is too high. As I highlighted in SecEd last year (Grant, 2022), continuing to be illiterate about race will mean that we all pay the price, with racism, social inequality and injustice continuing to thrive.
So, how do we do it? First, it is for every leader and teacher – and not only people of colour – to step up and be part of the process. When white colleagues understand what their stories of race are and how their experiences and perceptions intersect with the lives of their racially minoritised colleagues, only then will we begin to change.
This self-analysis is really important. As author and educationalist Dr Beverly Daniel Tatum wrote: “We all must be able to embrace who we are in terms of our racial and cultural heritage, not in terms of assumed superiority or inferiority but as an integral part of our daily experience in which we can take pride.”
She suggests that when we think about racial identity and its development it can be useful to compare it to walking up a spiral staircase. As we progress through life, the ascent is gradual, and when we look down we can get a better view of how our perceptions about race have been forged through specific encounters and experiences.
And each time we look back, the higher we are on that staircase – and we get a slightly different perspective each time.
When I work with teams I ask them to keep this analogy in mind as they look back across the trajectory of their lives and consider four key questions:
- What are the key encounters with race/racism that have disrupted your previous thinking?
- How have they caused you to re-assess your understanding?
- Where are you now in your thinking about race and racism?
- As you seek to maintain a growing racial self-awareness what are the implications for you?
Many people will feel defensive when first presented with questions like these, but they are just one part of a process that will allow an individual to question and then re-assess their understanding of how the world works. It is worth the personal discomfort.
As one white headteacher told me after a training session, by taking this sometimes-discomfiting look at our own relationship with race, we can change our responses to questions of race at a fundamental level.
For me, willingly opening yourself up to this process of self-analysis is ultimately about us claiming our agency as educators and finding ways to become whole human beings. It is about focusing on what it means to be in a good relationship with ourselves, our colleagues and the communities we serve.
If everyone who works in schools can be part of this process it will help to kick-start a process that can ultimately result in the mutually respectful and strong relationships that means that everyone in our schools can be themselves and realise their potential. That, I am sure you agree, is a goal worth striving for.
- Viv Grant is a former primary school headteacher and founder of Integrity Coaching, a provider of coaching, leadership development services and programmes designed to support outstanding and ethical school leadership. Visit www.integritycoaching.co.uk
Further information
Grant: The cost of not being racially literate, SecEd, May 2022: https://bit.ly/3lFDsF7