Since the inception of the Student Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the group has seen a number of developments thanks to the work of the students involved and the staff supporting them.
Here we look at two initiatives:
Curriculum
One of the areas that emerged early on as being a concern for students was content covered in the curriculum being sufficiently represented. Here are examples of the kinds of questions that subject leaders have been asking:
- What opportunities are in your curriculum for learning about diverse ethnicities and cultures within and outside the UK?
- What positive representations of BAME people and cultures are present within the curriculum?
- What provision does your subject make for promoting Black History Month?
- Which BAME / other cultures texts / resources are used in the curriculum?
- What opportunities are there for pupils to develop their critical thinking relating to diversity in social, economic, political, religious and cultural perspectives?
- How does your curriculum promote equality and tackle racism and other forms of discrimination?
- What steps have you taken to normalise differences and avoid stereotypes in examples and resources in the curriculum? Give specific examples.
And here are some examples of changes that have taken place in schools:
- Islamophobia is being developed into Year 7 work by aligning it alongside other religious prejudices, such as anti-Semitism.
- In Year 7 and 8, students are taught to consider issues such as disability during the hazardous earth topic, and are taught about the multicultural population of Britain as a whole and the diverse cultural mix of cities and areas
- Women and movements from women’s rights and suffragettes is a topic that is covered in detail in KS3 and the position of women during the war.
- There is development in the diversity of poetry that is taught, with a module on Diverse Voices, focusing on underrepresented voices.
- Subjects such as RS, English, History have made changes to diversify the curriculum with novel studies being changed.
Celebration
Before Christmas, in celebration of Black History Month 2021, the Student ED&I Committee produced a short film for schools to enjoy and discuss in lessons or assemblies featuring interviews of “Black Brummies” by our students discussing the city, culture and diversity, and who inspires them. You can watch the film here.
There will be an artistic theme to celebrate Race in this half of the Spring Term. Students are being invited to produce original artwork that "Celebrates the Racial Diversity in our Communities" for submission to an online art gallery.
We will continue to update on other developments and initiatives as the year progresses.
