Twelve Schools Present at Anti-Racist Action Research Day

14 June 2024

Last week, 12 schools from across the Vale presented their findings after participating in an Anti-Racist Action Research Project over the last 6 months.

Two members of staff from each school who participated, presented their action research to fellow cohort members, representatives from schools across the Vale, Local Authority Officers from the Vale and neighbouring authorities and third sector organisations at Stanwell school in Penarth.

This was the second cohort of schools in the Vale to participate in the project where the sessions are run by Rachel Clarke from an anti-racism consultancy Apex Educate.

A former deputy headteacher herself and a member of the Global Majority, Rachel facilitates the tough conversation surrounding race and how we may not realise that just because we are not racist, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are actively anti-racist.

The project is intended to help schools take the necessary actions to become actively anti-racist. Anti-racism is about calling out racism, challenging racism, discrimination and negative stereotypes, respecting and valuing diverse and unique identities and working to break down systems that facilitate inequality.  

But another notable aspect of anti-racism is people in power taking action to tackle racism within their organisations, which is why the staff from the schools who participated in the research project were all senior leadership members, including headteachers.

As part of their action research, the schools were assigned reading and asked to investigate their school environment. All schools took note of the ethnic make-up of their staff and pupils, the number of staff who were confident in recognising a racist incident, and the number of staff who were confident in dealing with a racist incident.

They also shared details about the significant changes they have made throughout their school either in policy, curriculum or family and community engagement since staring the project.

For example, most schools noticed that their school libraries and toys were severely lacking in representation in terms of Global Majority.

Steffan Ellis, Deputy Headteacher at Ysgol Sant Baruc, said: “I met Lowri when she was six years old - she is an extremely friendly, polite, and engaged student.

“But when we updated our school library to include more Global Majority authors and characters, Lowri instantly reached for a book which had a black girl with afro textured hair on the cover and she clutched on to it all afternoon.

“It was in that moment I realised this is probably the first time she’s ever seen herself represented in her school environment.”

Some other significant changes included incorporating pupil’s home languages into school displays, hosting culture days which both pupils and their families participated in and establishing pupil-led school networks that discuss anti-racism and implement change within their school environments.

All schools who participated said that the number of recorded racist incidents in their school has increased since starting the project. However, each school noted that staff were now more confident in recognising and dealing with racist incidents and pupils were more comfortable reporting racism.

Maria Prosser, Deputy Headteacher at Whitmore High School said: “The Anti-Racist Action Research Project has been an incredible journey for us, it's been so inspirational.

“Throughout this journey we have been offered a safe space to deal with some really difficult and challenging issues but also model the approach that we need to take in our school when we're dealing with these issues.”

Martine Booker-Southard, Learning Links Manager for the Council, oversees the Anti-Racist Action Research Project.

Martine said: “This is our second year facilitating the anti-racist action research project in the Vale and I am so proud of how far the schools have come over the last few months.

“The sessions we have with Rachel are emotional, powerful, and informative – often opening the participants eyes to things that may never cross their mind, but non-white people may think about all the time.

“Race is a complex and tough topic, but as we say in our sessions ‘you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.’

“I am always so blown away by their commitment to making a real change to their schools, their enthusiasm to keep learning, and their promise to never stop their anti-racist journey.”

The twelve schools who participated in this cohort are Stanwell, Whitmore High School, Cadoxton Primary School, Dinas Powys, Fairfield Primary School, Holton Road Primary School, Oakfield Primary School, Rhws Primary School, Romilly Primary School, St Illtyd Primary School, St Joseph’s RC Primary School, and Ysgol Sant Baruc.

5 Vale Schools participated in cohort 1 of the action research project last year, with over 20 expressing interest in taking part in the next academic year.

If you are interested in starting your own anti-racist journey, the Council’s Diverse Staff Network is open to all members of staff including allies.

Diverse meets regularly both online and in person. You can learn more about the network, join, find resources, and contact information on their webpage.