Support for Schools to Decolonise Education
Diverse Educators
Diverse Educators Ltd is a training company committed to moving the agenda forwards regarding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the school system. They work with state schools, independent schools and international schools to support their DEI strategy and training needs.
“We believe that we are stronger, and that we can go further together, in collaboration. Thus we collaborate with a number of national and international organisations.”
If you are looking for an organisation or training provider to work with your pupils/students, teaching/support staff, leadership team, governors or parents/carers, have a look at the Diverse Educators directory which is an A-Z overview of everyone in their extensive network.
They also have a new book, Diverse Educators: A Manifesto, which is divided into ten chapters – Age; Disability; Gender Reassignment; Pregnancy and Maternity; Marriage and Civil Partnership; Race; Religion and Belief; Sex; Sexual Orientation – with a tenth chapter exploring intersectionality.
Omnis Education
Omnis Education is a global, self-directed, online school which prioritises Diversity, Equity and Belonging. They say:
“Decolonizing education means telling ALL the stories; it means presenting and including perspectives that haven’t previously been included, since the curricula of most conventional education systems in the Western world have been created and designed by white people… and typically white men of an older generation. This enabled them to present a very white-washed version of history which isn’t a) fully representative of what happened, and is b) hugely one-sided.”
Omnis offers examples of this on their website here. They say:
“Consider the world we live in today… the polarization, the lack of empathy, sympathy and understanding between people, cultures, societies and countries. We lack awareness. We lack connection. We lack community.
How do we cultivate that again? Through greater awareness, through greater understanding and through more diverse and broader perspectives. When we only have one side of a story, we cannot possibly achieve a well-rounded view of the world in which we live – how we got here and where we want to get to.
We need diversity, we need difference and we need to learn how to cross these divides even though – because – they exist. And where better to begin than with our children and the generations who will inherit the world we live in today.”
To decolonise education, Omnis believes we need to be telling more sides of all the stories. At OmnisEducation.com you can sign your students up for online classes on this topic and at OmnisSchool.com you can find an anti-racism club for adults which is invaluable because they acknowledge that it’s very hard to teach decolonisation work without decolonising ourselves first.
The Black Curriculum
The Black Curriculum is a social enterprise which aims to:
1. Provide a sense of belonging and identity to young people across the UK.
2. Teach an accessible educational Black British history curriculum that raises attainment for young people.
3. Improve social cohesion between young people.
They offer industry leading consultation, teacher training and certification for schools, bespoke school learning programmes including workshops and assemblies, as well as their out of school Springboard programme, and a 12 topic curriculum which they license to teachers and schools.
We Are Teachers
The US We Are Teachers website states how crucial it is for parents and teachers to feel confident and prepared to lead important discussions about what it means to not only be “not racist,” but to resolutely be anti-racist. They have compiled a list of 21 videos to get you started.
Diverse Books for Kids
Diverse Books for Kids is an Instagram account promoting books with diverse characters and stories for the classroom and home.
ThoughtBox
“From Black Lives Matter to Fridays for the Future to Decolonise the Curriculum, young people across the world are responding to the big issues affecting their futures.
Many young people are seeking to learn more about equality and justice in our society, yet most are struggling to know where to go for guidance, whilst teachers are being offered minimal support on how to welcome these conversations into the classrooms.”
The Equality & Justice curriculum from ThoughtBox exists to help make this happen – and they’ve made it free for schools across the world.
The Antiracist Educator
Through his website TheTeacherist.com, Pran Patel is consulting with schools and organisations nationally and internationally on (amongst other things) decolonisation of the curriculum. You can watch his TEDx below, and his book, The Antiracist Educator is now available to order.