‘Pockets of Possibility’ by Heather Smith and Vini Lander
This article shares key messages from the research that underpins the Anti-Racism Framework for Initial Teacher Education/Training (ARF), commissioned by the National Education Union (NEU) and funded by Newcastle University, NEU and UCET (Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers).
Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) is a partner in the current project to disseminate the ARF, working alongside other partners: Centre for Race Education and Decoloniality; Universities of Sanctuary; BAME Ed Network; NEU; NALDIC; NASBTT; UCET.
Against the current deracialised backdrop of education in England (Smith, 2023, 2024; Smith & Lander, 2023a), including in initial teacher education/training, it is encouraging to report that institutions, teachers, and teacher educators are finding pockets of possibility for actively promoting anti-racist practice (Smith and Lander, 2023b). Our research review of the global literature, and survey of colleagues working in ITE/T in England, found confirmation that the role of teachers is viewed as paramount in promoting anti-racism to develop a racially equitable society. It is positive to report that all survey teacher educator respondees were unequivocal in their support for anti-racism becoming an aspect of ITE/T provision.
However, given the regulatory constraints of the current context, there is an urgent need for specific, coherent, consistent and embedded anti-racist pedagogies in ITE/T. Our research revealed that when anti-racism has been part of courses it has tended to be one-off or standalone sessions. The ARF advocates for specific education about anti-racism, embedded within courses, where race is not subsumed into teaching about wider equalities.
Developing racial literacy needs to be a central part of educating new teachers, and needs to break through anxieties about fear of causing offence or getting it wrong. New teachers need to be prepared to deal with racist incidents in the classroom, and should be knowledgeable about statutory legislation as specified in the Teachers’ Standards. Course evaluations of anti-racism practice can be useful for identifying shifts in student teachers’ thinking and behaviour.
Embedding anti-racism across a course (and wider, across an institution) needs the use of a variety of pedagogies to be effective. We found that a Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies framework can be particularly successful, using counter storytelling to dismantle false understandings. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the emotional side of learning to be a teacher, it is equally crucial to not let trainee teachers demonstrate an avoidance and evasiveness when learning about racism and about Whiteness. Such behaviours can get in the way of interrogating the privilege of white students and teachers, and of acknowledging and addressing how racism manifests in ways that impede the educational access and outcomes for Black and Global Majority students and teachers.
Applications to ITE/T broadly reflect the ethnic diversity of the UK, but there is a steep drop-off of for Black and Global Majority student teachers at course acceptance, training, and qualification milestones (NFER, 2022). This contributes to a profession where white teachers are overrepresented, but responsibility and pressure for teaching anti-racism is often unfairly placed upon Black and Global Majority staff. ITE/T providers should develop ways to record student teachers’ experiences and witnessing of racism on the course or on placement, both to support trainees and to build understandings of racism and its effects.
Our project continues to be a positive space for teacher educators to share their experiences of anti-racism in ITE/T, and to share examples of effective practices. Please do continue to engage with and share the ARF https://www.anti-racism-framework.co.uk/.
We also welcome structured feedback from teacher educators via our survey https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/newcastle/arfimpact.
This short article is based on Heather Smith and Vini Lander’s 2023 full article ‘Finding ‘pockets of possibility’ for anti-racism in a curriculum for student teachers: From absence to action’, in The Curriculum Journal. The original article is available online: https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.177
References
Smith HJ. 2024 Deracialization. In: Mitja Sardoč, ed. Encyclopedia of Diversity. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95454-3_618-1
Smith HJ. 2024 Racist Nativism. In: Mitja Sardoč, ed. Encyclopedia of Diversity. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95454-3_619-1
Smith HJ. 2023 The doublespeak discourse of the race disparity audit: An example of the White racial frame in institutional operation. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 44(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2021.1931035
Smith HJ, Lander V. 2023a State of the Discipline of ITE/T in England and the urgent need for anti-racism. Research Intelligence , (154), 20-21. https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/spring-2023
Smith HJ, Lander V. 2023b Finding ‘pockets of possibility’ for anti-racism in a curriculum for student teachers: from absence to action. The Curriculum Journal, 34(1), 22-42. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.177
Smith HJ, Lander V. 2023 Creating the anti-racism framework to transform the curriculum for student teachers in England. In: Moncrieffe ML; Fakunle O; Kustatscher M; Rost AO, ed. The BERA Guide to Decolonising the Curriculum: Equity and Inclusion in Educational Research and Practice. Leeds: Emerald Publishing. https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/294814
National Foundation for Educational Research (2022) Racial Equality in the Teacher Workforce: An Analysis of Representation and Progression Opportunities from Initial Teacher Training to Headship. Summary Report. Available at: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/ytnjlaz4/racial_equality_in_the_teacher_workforce_summary_report.pdf