Building Racial Literacy

This programme follows a new model for collaborative programme development with different types of engagement and partners as listed below: 

Design partners

The programme prototype is being designed in partnership with members of the School Leadership and Professional workstream of the REAREP, as well as anti-racist organisations and training providers including the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), the Scottish Association for Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE), ScotDec, the Third Generation Project, the University of West of Scotland and Education Scotland. The design partners collaborate to design professional learning experiences for educators, planning for recruitment, evaluation, communication and sustainability of the Building Racial Literacy programme. Partners are encouraged to collaborate for several iterations of the programme, until there is more capacity in the system to deliver the programme more widely.

Content creation partners

Content creation partners are being invited at different stages of the programme development to create content that will be used in the Building Racial Literacy programme. Content includes learning activities during programme events as well as online learning and reflective activities using a variety of texts, such as short video and audio clips. Some of this content may become open access for wider use and some of it will be restricted to Building Racial Literacy participants.

Being mindful of their emotional labour and potential capacity restrictions, content creation partners will be contacted for focused, remunerated engagement. Clear requirements for each type of content will be set with the support of design partners and Cohort 1. Content creation partners can include:

• third sector organisations and community groups empowering people with lived experiences of racism in Scotland
• youth groups with demonstrated commitment to young people’s activism
• individual activists and academics
• artists, writers, social media influencers and graphic designers to design the content (eg videos, capturing lived experiences during and outwith programme events)
• education practitioners.

Content review partners

Content review partners quality assure the content created and improve the design of each learning experience in the Building Racial Literacy programme. Content review partners could equally become Critical Friends supporting programme participants. Content review partners can include:

• Cohort 1 participants
• design partners and delivery partners
• education practitioners
• third sector organisations and community groups empowering people with lived experiences of racism in Scotland
• youth groups with demonstrated commitment to young people’s activism
• professional learning providers.

Delivery partners

During live programme events (eg induction day), delivery partners are required to facilitate different learning activities. Due to the sensitive and emotive nature of racial dialogue, careful consideration needs to be given to facilitation to ensure that safer spaces are created for white people and for people of colour / Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people with lived experiences of racism. Delivery partners can include:

• Education Scotland Lead Specialists (so far one person of colour and two white people)
• interested design partners with experience of facilitating professional learning
• external facilitators with experience of facilitating anti-racist professional learning
• qualified counsellors to support any participants for whom the programme content may trigger racial trauma and emotional distress
• for future iterations, Cohort 1 alumni who apply to support delivery and successfully complete relevant training.

The Building Racial Literacy professional learning programme will be delivered entirely online for Cohort 1 through the Education Scotland programme website, online events on Microsoft Teams and the collaborative platform Slack.

As a member of the very first cohort for this new national programme, you will be expected to:

• commit to two full event days, three twilight webinars and approximately five hours or more of self-directed online learning
• keep a reflective journal and submit a short extract of your final journal entry with your anti-racist action plan to present to your peers at the end of the programme
• engage your school and/or learning community in the programme (through programme tasks provided on the programme website and professional dialogue)
• evaluate and support co-construction of the programme and its future iterations
• become part of an anti-racist learning network and a national movement for racial literacy
• lead anti-racist change following your personalised action plan with the support of the learning network
• support anti-racism in your context/local authority. This can include: supporting colleagues, children and young people, and wider communities to engage in anti-racist learning; supporting colleagues to engage with anti-racist resources and professional learning opportunities; and applying to support the delivery of future iterations of the Building Racial Literacy programme (this requires attendance to future Train the Trainer sessions).

By completing this programme, you will:

• build your racial literacy. In particular, start learning about the nuances of racism and anti-racism (with the language to name it) and build the skills to continue this learning long after the programme is over
• begin developing the skills, confidence and resilience to engage in racial dialogue
• develop a personalised action plan to lead anti-racist change

You will also receive a certificate of completion.

For the first iteration of this new programme, we are expecting to welcome a first cohort of 82 participants from across Scotland. We are offering two places to each Scottish local authority, for teachers and for local authority officers. For local authorities with a more ethnically diverse population, we are offering an additional two places for early learning and childcare and community learning and development practitioners, with protected spaces for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) practitioners. Additional spaces are offered to Scottish BAME educator networks.

Programme participants do not need to have an understanding of anti-racist practice; we actively welcome participants with differing levels of knowledge of racism and its impact. However, please note that this programme is not suitable as a restorative measure where a problem has been identified.

Essential criteria for nominations are the ability to commit to the entirety of the programme and a willingness to engage in professional learning and to take an active role in evaluation of the learning. An interest in supporting the professional learning of others is desirable and differing levels of anti-racist knowledge and experience are welcome. Scottish local authorities have until 30 November 2021 for nominations, so please get in touch with your local authority to enquire about nominations.

As we improve the prototype programme and increase capacity for its delivery, it is expected that the programme will be more widely available across Scotland for educators from a range of different backgrounds.

Once you are registered on the Building Racial Literacy programme, you will be able to access the programme area on the Education Scotland professional learning and leadership website by logging in. From there, you will be able to see and complete the programme tasks. The programme tasks require you to:

1. Read/listen/watch/reflect using the programme area and your reflective journal
2. Post your responses to tasks on Slack in your private channels
3. Collaborate on Slack by commenting on the task responses of the peers in your private channels.

The additional online learning will take place during programme events such as twilight webinars. You will be sent instructions to join these online events on Microsoft Teams.

Whilst learning online, we expect participants to:

• work independently and in a self-directed manner
• get in touch with the Programme Leads and/or Critical Friends if additional support is required
• devote appropriate time to the programme (excluding programme events, spend at least five hours on self-directed learning)
• read, listen to and watch relevant texts and find out more about anti-racism in education
• develop or enhance the skills of critical thinking and reflection
• post responses to programme tasks on Slack and comment on group members’ responses
• have a reliable computer and broadband internet access
• work with computers, including using the internet to access Slack and Microsoft Teams for programme events.

The first iteration of the programme will take place between January and March 2022, excluding a programme welcome twilight session on Wednesday 8 December. The key programme dates include:

• Wednesday 8 December (3:45-4:45): Welcome twilight and FAQs
• Wednesday 12 January: Induction day
• January – March: three twilight webinars (dates to be confirmed)
• Wednesday 23 March: Sharing the Learning Day
• September 2022: Post-programme evaluation twilight session (date to be confirmed)

The Building Racial Literacy programme prototype is funded by the Scottish Government’s Race Equality and Anti-Racism in Education Programme. For Cohort 1 only, funding is being offered to local authorities for two days of cover costs for each participant as they will actively co-construct the prototype and its future iterations. It is not expected that funding will be available in future iterations. The programme is free for participants.

By racial literacy, the Building Racial Literacy programme refers primarily to France Winddance Twine’s definition as 'a form of anti-racist training' with:

• a recognition of racism as a contemporary, not just historical, problem
• a consideration of intersectionality (the ways racism intersects with other factors such as class and gender)
• the development of language to discuss race, racism and anti-racism
• the ability to decode race and racial micro-aggressions.

The following organisations and Scottish local authorities have successfully nominated participants for the Building Racial Literacy programme:

• The Scottish Association for Minority Ethnic Educators
• The EIS
• The NASUWT
• Aberdeen City Council
• Argyll & Bute Council
• Highland Council
• Moray Council
• Orkney and Shetland Islands Council
• Edinburgh City Council
• East Lothian Council
• Fife Council
• Midlothian Council
• Scottish Borders Council
• Clackmannanshire Council
• Falkirk Council
• Stirling Council
• West Lothian Council
• East Ayrshire Council
• South Ayrshire Council
• Dumfries and Galloway Council
• Angus Council
• Dundee Council
• East Dunbartonshire Council
• East Renfrewshire Council
• Glasgow City Council
• Inverclyde Council
• North Lanarkshire Council
• South Lanarkshire Council
• Renfrewshire Council
• West Dunbartonshire Council

The Building Racial Literacy programme Induction was completed on 24 January 2022. 81 participants managed to attend the Induction events despite the pressures caused by Omicron. Those unable to attend still have the opportunity to catch up with recorded versions of the events. For the first part of the Induction, the keynote speaker, Professor Rowena Arshad, introduced the concept of developing racial literacy in Scottish Education, providing clarity on some key ideas for anti-racist education. The Building Racial Literacy team, made up of Programme Leads, Critical Friends facilitating group discussions, a Creative Reporter to capture the learning taking place and Compassion Captains to support the wellbeing of participants, dedicated a significant part of the Induction to establish safer, braver learning spaces as a cohort and in the different programme learning groups.

The notion of an anti-racist journey, with different models and vocabulary to make sense of these journeys, really resonated with programme participants who find themselves at different stages of their journeys. The different experiences of racism faced by Children and Young People in Scotland were brought to light with a variety of multimedia extracts, centring their wisdom and hard-hitting lived experiences for participants to learn from. Examples of allyship also inspired some next steps and actions for many participants who don’t share those lived experiences.

Feedback from Cohort 1 has so far been overwhelming positive, with changes in their understanding of racism already being signalled and a desire to deepen their learning.

BRL Induction Participant Feedback

“The most valuable lesson that I have learned so far is that I am not alone. I may be the only person of colour in my school but I am part of this huge community of educators who want to make the right change for the young people in our care.”

“The content has been expertly selected and has been incredibly powerful. The speakers have been truly inspirational and immensely credible. The tasks have helped me to formulate my own response to the materials provided, which have been extensive and intelligently curated. Caters well for white and Black participants.”

“The stories from others both on screen and through the videos that have been used have been very powerful.”

“very well run and organised.. The amount of work that has gone into making these sessions effective learning wise is clear to see. The team's communication has been super well organised and very supportive. Importantly the time taken to build up the sense of a safe space to allow for people to open up and be honest has been so beneficial. I already feel like I'm getting to know my group.”

“It is ok to feel the emotions I feel as a result of this learning. It is normal for this to be hard and challenging. That is why this is such an important journey. If it was easy, it wouldn't mean anything!”

“I hadn't imagined some of the experiences of people of colour, I was quite taken aback about how I hadn't considered certain things such as how a child of colour might feel in a class of white people”

“I have spoken with my management about the programme and I have been more active in creating opportunities to discuss race and cultural diversity. I definitely feel empowered.”

“There is a large body of colleagues within the Scottish Education system who want to see positive change. This gladdens my heart!”