Closing the Gap by Valuing Multilingualism
Written by Soofia Amin
Soofia Amin is the Multilingual Trust Lead for Tapscott Learning Trust (TTLT). She is also a Specialist Lead in Education for Multilingualism with vast experience in supporting multilingual pupils and their families. Soofia is passionate about developing excellent practice for multilingual pupils whilst promoting their first languages as a resource in both the classroom and the wider school community. She strongly advocates for a whole-school approach to multilingualism and uses her own school’s example to provide effective models of practice for others.
I recently visited a primary school where low writing outcomes for multilingual children had led leaders to search urgently for ways to “close the gap.” For many school leaders, this phrase often leads to discussions about data dashboards, targeted interventions, and heightened accountability measures. These discussions often neglect one key factor: the children’s first languages.
Many children in this school confidently use two or three languages and travel regularly to their countries of origin. Leaders worry that this rich linguistic exposure might be contributing to weaker writing outcomes. While understandable, this view risks misidentifying the problem.
The challenge here is not multilingualism. Rather how much we, as educators, value and use the children’s linguistic proficiency to further their learning, including their writing. If we focus intentionally on using the multilingual children’s rich language skills to support learning, particularly their writing development, outcomes could look very different.
Building Strong Foundations Through Explicit Language Instruction
Language and subject learning develop together. Children do not learn content first and language later; they learn both simultaneously. Evidence from Cummins states that,
“Conceptual knowledge developed in one language helps to make input in the other language comprehensible.” (Cummins, 2000,p.39).
Therefore, embedding spoken language approaches across the curriculum can strengthen literacy and attainment when language is taught explicitly and in context. For multilingual learners, this means making the language demands of lessons visible and teachable.
In practice, this involves modelling how this language is used in speech and writing.
Classroom example: Year 5 science (States of Matter)
The educator explains evaporation using sentences such as:
“When water is heated, it evaporates.”
“As a result, the liquid changes into a gas.”
The educator unpacks key vocabulary like evaporate and evaporation and gives children sentence stems to support their explanations. Alongside the science objective, sits a clear language objective. Children now have the words and sentence structures they need to explain their thinking clearly.
Strengthening Learning Through Cultural and Linguistic Connection
Multilingual children bring a wealth of cultural and linguistic knowledge into the classroom. When educators recognise and build on this, learning becomes more meaningful and inclusive.
Schools that invest in understanding children’s linguistic backgrounds are better placed to design teaching that connects new learning to what children already know.
In practice, this means:
- Gathering information about a child’s home language/s and experiences
- Using this knowledge to make lessons more relevant and accessible
Classroom example: Year 5 science (States of Matter)
The Educator invites children to share where they see evaporation at home: drying clothes, steaming dumplings, or burning incense. Then explicitly links these examples back to the scientific explanation.
By connecting the abstract concept of ‘evaporation’ to something tangible like ‘incense’ or ‘steaming,’ the child is able to relate to it.
Deepening Understanding by Harnessing Home Languages
Research and classroom practice both show that strong first-language skills are crucial for developing English proficiency and achieving academic success.
“The idea that a multilingual classroom is not only beneficial to EAL students but to non-EAL students (suggests) the need for a strategic whole-school approach to language teaching and integration.” (Arnot et al., 2014,p.7)
In practice, schools should:
- Encourage translanguaging as a learning strategy. Translanguaging enables children to first process complex cognitive tasks in their strongest language, before expressing them in English.
- Encourage families to use first languages to support key topics and concepts
Classroom example: Year 5 science (States of Matter)
The children use their first language to clarify why the change is happening. Once they have secured the concept, they then describe it in English.
The child is not cognitively overloaded. They use their first language to handle the heavy lifting of thinking, and only then move on to using English to demonstrate their understanding.
Final Thoughts…
Closing the gap for multilingual children requires a clear understanding of how language underpins attainment, a commitment to evidence-informed practice and a shared vision that places language at the heart of curriculum design.
When leaders get this right, the impact is profound – not only for multilingual children, but for all learners. Prioritising language isn’t just an inclusion strategy; it’s a school improvement strategy.
References
Arnot, M., Schneider, C. and Welply, O. (2014) School approaches to the education of EAL students. Cambridge: The Bell Foundation.
Cummins, J. (2000) Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Mirrors and Windows: Rethinking the Curriculum for Inclusive Classrooms
Written by Amy Wilby
I am an experienced senior educational leader, currently serving as an Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Curriculum, as well as a Trust-wide DEIB Champion, edublogger, and proud mum to a 21-year-old son. Since qualifying as a teacher in 2009, I have built a career rooted in both academic excellence and strong pastoral care. I bring extensive experience across middle and senior leadership, including roles as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) and Associate Assistant Headteacher. I hold an NPQSL and a master’s degree in educational leadership, and I am deeply committed to evidence-informed practice, drawing on educational research to enhance teaching, learning, and curriculum design.
Walk into most classrooms and you’ll see a curriculum that has been carefully planned, structured, and sequenced. In most schools, this planning is grounded in research, designed to support the acquisition and retention of knowledge.
But there’s a deeper question we don’t ask often enough:
Who gets to see themselves in it, and who doesn’t?
This is where the concept of mirrors and windows becomes essential to inclusive education.
The idea is simple, but powerful:
- Mirrors: Students see their own identities, experiences, and cultures reflected
- Windows: Students gain insight into lives and perspectives different from their own
A truly inclusive curriculum does both, consistently, not occasionally.
Because when students only experience windows, they may feel invisible.
And when they only experience mirrors, they miss the opportunity to understand others.
What do we mean by ‘mirrors and windows’?
If we want genuinely engaging and inclusive classrooms, we need both.
The problem: Representation is often surface, level
Many schools are already working to diversify their curriculum, but often in ways that don’t go far enough, or lack careful consideration of how content is framed.
You might see:
- A one-off lesson or assembly, such as during Black History Month
- Efforts to diversify reading materials in the library
- Occasional references to global perspectives, often framed as ‘meanwhile, elsewhere…’ and confined to specific subjects
These are well-intentioned, but they risk becoming add-ons rather than meaningful integration.
And students notice the difference.
Why this matters for belonging
Students can tell when inclusion is occasional, symbolic, or performative, and this can have the opposite effect to what is intended.
Instead of feeling seen, they can feel outside the main narrative.
Curriculum is not just about knowledge, it’s about belonging.
When students consistently see themselves reflected through the Mirrors of the curriculum:
- Their sense of legitimacy increases
- Engagement improves (with positive effects on attendance and behaviour)
- Confidence grows
- Equity becomes something that is lived, not just discussed
At the same time, windows help to build:
- Empathy
- Cultural understanding
- A broader view of the world
This isn’t an ‘extra’ it’s foundational.
What this looks like in practice
Creating an inclusive curriculum doesn’t require starting from scratch. It’s about intentional, thoughtful adjustments over time.
To begin you could consider the following:
- Audit what’s already there
Start by asking:
- Whose stories are centred?
- Whose voices are missing?
- Are certain groups only represented through struggle?
This process is often revealing.
Too often, diverse histories are framed primarily through oppression. A more balanced approach:
- Includes innovation, leadership, and cultural contributions
- Presents individuals as active agents, not just recipients of injustice
This doesn’t ignore difficult histories, it places them within a fuller, more accurate context.
- Move beyond ‘add and stir’
Inclusion isn’t about inserting isolated examples, it’s about integration.
For example:
- Literature: diversify authors across the year, not just within one unit, include local, national and international texts
- History: embed multiple perspectives within the same topic, rather than adding them at the end
- Science: highlight contributions from a wider range of scientists and challenge assumptions about who belongs in the field
- Avoid single stories
Be careful not to reduce groups to one narrative.
- Don’t present marginalised groups only through struggle
- Include stories of success, leadership, creativity, and everyday life
Students need multidimensional representations.
They should encounter people as fully human, complex, nuanced, and varied.
This leads to richer learning and a more honest curriculum.
- Make it subject, specific
Inclusion is not just a humanities issue, it is a whole, curriculum responsibility.
- Maths: use real, world problems that reflect diverse contexts
- English: select texts that provide both mirrors and windows
- Geography: avoid deficit narratives and explore cultural diversity with depth
- Science: challenge narrow perceptions of who can be a scientist.
Every subject has a role to play.
- Involve student voice
Ask students directly:
- Do you see yourself in what we learn?
- What would you like to see more of?
Their responses often highlight gaps that adults may overlook—and involving them builds both agency and belonging.
Common pitfalls to avoid
Even with strong intentions, there are common missteps:
- Tokenism: adding one example and considering the work done
- Over, correction: forcing representation in ways that feel inauthentic
- Stereotyping: simplifying identities rather than showing complexity
- Inconsistency: inclusion appearing in isolated moments rather than as a sustained approach
Inclusion works when it is planned, consistent, and authentic.
What you can do tomorrow
If you’re not sure where to start, begin small:
- Gather feedback from a class or year group (through a form or discussion) – The Global Equality collective has a fantastic platform for gathering student and staff voice and producing kaleidoscopic data to help to understand where any gaps exist.
- Review an upcoming scheme of work and ask: Where are the mirrors and windows?
- Identify one meaningful change that improves representation
You don’t need to do everything at once, but you do need to start intentionally.
Final thought
An inclusive curriculum isn’t about ticking boxes or meeting requirements.
It’s about answering a simple but powerful question:
‘Does every student feel seen here, and are they being helped to see others?’
When the answer becomes consistently ‘yes,’
you’re not just delivering content, you’re building belonging.
Further Reading
Bhorkar, S., Campbell, R. and Claro, J. (2025) ‘Beyond the tick-box: diversity in the curriculum’, Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching. Available at: https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/beyond-the-tick-box-diversity-in-the-curriculum/
Bishop, R. S. (1990) ‘Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors’, Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3). Available at: https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf
Geographical Association (n.d.) Cultural diversity in geography education. Available at: https://geography.org.uk/ite/initial-teacher-education/geography-support-for-trainees-and-ects/learning-to-teach-secondary-geography/geography-subject-teaching-and-curriculum/teaching-thematic-geography/cultural-diversity-in-geography-education/
Kara, B. (2020) A little guide for teachers: diversity in schools. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
The Global Equality Collective Global Equality Collective KnowHow. Available at: GEC KnowHow
Pearson (2023) Pearson School Report: Diversity and Inclusion. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20231204193347/https://www.pearson.com/en-gb/schools/insights-and-events/topics/diversity-inclusion/schools-report.html
Teach First (2020) STEMinism: How to encourage more girls to study STEM subjects. Available at: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-02/teach_first_steminism_report.pdf
Does your belonging culture include every Generation?
Written by Alex Atherton
Alex Atherton is an award-winning speaker, trainer and consultant who focuses on Gen Z recruitment & retention and leading multigenerational workplaces. He is the author of The Snowflake Myth: Explaining Gen Z in the Workplace and Beyond. He is also a former secondary school headteacher.
Age ranges are growing across UK workplaces.
This is largely because the proportion of workers aged 65 and over has more than doubled in the last two decades.
A four generation workplace with an age range of fifty, if not sixty, years has become increasingly common. At the younger end Generation Z now account for over a quarter of the workforce, with that figure set to exceed a third globally by 2030.
At no point in modern history have so many different generational experiences been present in the same building, on the same Teams call, or trying to agree on what a productive working culture looks like.
Concept of generations
The concept of generations is useful in terms of analysing outlooks and attitudes over time. Fifteen to twenty years is long enough for there to have been enough economic, social, political and technological change for that exercise to be worthwhile.
But we are all the same species, and there is no guillotine between them. Whilst the concept is useful it is also limited, and generational stereotypes serve no one. Differences within generations are far bigger than those between, and I strongly recommend you treat everyone as individuals first with no generational label.
Analysing the impact of change over time can offer clues when understanding your workforce, and therefore what needs to be done to ensure everyone feels they belong.
I want to differentiate between ‘age’ and ‘generations’. The former is, of course, a protected characteristic. The latter is cohort-based. Opinions and outlooks may change for individuals over time, but there is something about those created in the formative years which stick with people in different ways and to various extents.
It would be an interesting tribunal case that sought to separate the two fully. My argument is organisations who consider the full range of their age diversity to be a considerable asset are in a better position to thrive, and considering generational perspective is part of that exercise.
This is the set of names and dates that I use. You may find others elsewhere, which is fine as it reinforces the idea that these are not hard and fast:
- Silent Generation (1925-1945: 81-100 years old)
- Baby Boomers (1946-1964: 62-80 years old)
- Generation X (1965-1980: 46-61 years old)
- Millennials (1981-1996: 30-45 years old)
- Generation Z (1997-2012: 14-29 years old)
- Generation Alpha (2013-2028: max 13 years old)
The snowflake problem
I came into this topic area as a reaction to the youngest generation currently in the workplace, Gen Z, being labelled as ‘snowflakes’.
In my book The Snowflake Myth, I argue that the stereotypes routinely applied to Gen Z (lazy, unreliable, apathetic etc) tell us more about a failure to understand them than about who they actually are.
Gen Z’s academic record is off the scale compared to all who came before them. They are more likely than any previous generation to work nights and weekends for higher pay. They are the most diverse generation we have ever seen, and the most vocal advocates for equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace.
Calling them snowflakes is not a neutral observation. It is an exclusion.
But you know this, otherwise you would not be on this website. So what to do?
Belonging Is not age-selective
Let me tell you something else you already know. When belonging is present, engagement rises, wellbeing is protected and performance improves. When it is absent, the damage is real.
Does your belonging culture extend to the oldest and youngest people in your organisation?
Gen Z in the workplace will tell you, should you ask them, that they are watching. They notice whether the DEIB commitments on your website show up in how decisions are made and who gets a seat at which table. They notice whether authenticity is genuinely embedded in your culture, or whether the sign behind reception is performative. They notice whether any effort has been made to understand their experience, or whether they are simply expected to adapt.
The Boomers (and Silents too) will also give you their feedback as to whether they belong or now feel marginalised, but you may need to work a little harder to capture their voice. It is too tempting to consider that your belonging culture is in the right place because a clear majority say they belong. It needs to work at both ends of your age range.
What multi-generational belonging looks like
The good news is that this is less complicated than it sounds. It requires curiosity more than strategy.
It means seeking genuine feedback from colleagues, and on an ongoing basis rather than just at onboarding.
It means recognising that a generation which grew up collaborating online, co-creating content and working simultaneously on shared documents brings real and underutilised strengths to any team.
It means deliberately noticing what is happening at the edges, and across every group. That includes noticing that the older colleagues who had their eyes wide open as the new recruits refused to stay late or take work home started wanting the same themselves. What used to be ‘Gen Z demands’ has now extended elsewhere.
It means understanding that cross-generational collaboration is not a nice idea for an away day. It is about driving better decisions and developing ownership amongst your workforce that creates the belonging culture you need.
Most importantly, it means accepting that belonging is not something organisations can get away with extending only to the groups they find easiest to champion.
To what extent does your belonging culture cover the full breadth of your age range?
Teaching Teens About the U.S. – Iran Conflict: Building Context and Curiosity in the Classroom
Written by Zahara Chowdhury
Zahara leads on equality, diversity and inclusive education in higher education. She has over a decade of experience in middle and senior positions in secondary education. Zahara is author of Creating Belonging in the Classroom: a Practical Guide to Having Brave and Difficult Conversations. She is founder of the School Should Be blog and podcast, a platform that amplifies diverse and current topics that impact secondary school classrooms, students and teachers.
Secondary students today are growing up in a world where global politics shape their lives more than ever before. The ongoing tensions between America and Iran can feel far removed from British classrooms, yet understanding them helps young people make sense of international relations, energy security, and differing systems of governance.
While the conflict between America and Iran is fundamentally connected to wider Gulf States, their politics and history, it is also distinct. The Iran–U.S. relationship centres on power, ideology, and regional influence, shaped by Iran’s changing political regime since the 1979 revolution and America’s strategic interests in energy, trade, and security.
And yes, teachers are already under immense pressure. Here is another topic that society expects teachers and schools to ‘take care of’. It’s a tough and exhausting gig. But also one that our students want and need us to explore with them.
Topics like this require both time and sensitivity to unpack. This blog and lesson outline are designed to offer a way in, curiosity first, expertise second.
Lesson outline: Exploring the Iran–U.S. Relationship
Lesson Objective
To help students understand how different forms of governance, lived experiences, and global relationships shape international conflict and cooperation.
Before the Lesson – Independent Exploration
Some of these curiosity questions can be set as homework, pre-reading and post-research, giving students time to explore, think and come prepared with ideas. Teachers can take the same approach — set aside a couple of hours for a “deep dive” using trusted sources such as:
- Empire: World History Podcast
- The Conversation (there are various articles that can be searched on this website)
- The Steven Bartlett Podcast (March 2026 episode on Iran and America)
- Al Jazeera – news perspectives
- BBC – news perspectives
Be aware that students will likely use social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube for information. It’s worth pre-empting this and giving advice on how to stay safe and critical online:
- Be mindful and present when watching; if anything graphic or distressing appears, mute or report the content immediately.
- Remember the task is academic — the goal is to understand, not consume upsetting material.
- If students find good, informative videos, encourage them to fact-check using class knowledge about research skills, misinformation and disinformation.
Important!
If you’ve got to this point in this article and realise your students may not yet have a strong grasp of misinformation and disinformation, this is a perfect moment to connect with colleagues through a systems-thinking approach. Work across subject areas — such as PSHE, tutor time, History, Politics, and English — to design a mini integrated curriculum plan. This helps all students develop the confidence to evaluate complex global issues critically and respectfully.
In line with systems thinking, you can also communicate proactively with parents or carers, explaining how the school intends to approach this subject in a politically impartial, research-informed, and curriculum-aligned way. Reassure families that lessons are guided by teacher professionalism and inclusive pedagogy and practice, and that the goal is always to make school a safe space for information, understanding, empathy, and compassion.
Now…back to the plan:
Starter Discussion – “Understanding Perspectives”
Drawing on pre-reading or factual handouts you’ve distributed, design group, pair or a class wide discussion with the following questions:
- How is Iran governed? How is America governed?
- What might life look like for a teenager growing up in Tehran compared to London or New York?
- How does my lived experience in a Western democracy shape how I understand Iran or America?
- How can I “decentre” my perspective to appreciate experiences beyond my own?
Main Exploration – “Why the Tensions?”
You could set the following as group based research questions, ask students to prepare mini presentations or use an impactful teaching and learning approach that suits the students sitting in front of you:
- Why does America care about Iran? Why does Iran care about America?
- What is Israel’s role in this picture? Why is there animosity between Israel and Iran?
- What are their main trade or economic interests (oil, security partnerships, military influence)?
- What are the key political and sociological issues at play — religion, nationalism, sanctions, regional security?
- How does this conflict affect my life now or in the future (energy costs, migration, security, global cooperation)?
More Activity Ideas:
- Use a map from Prisoners of Geography to explore how geography shapes power and alliances.
- Role-play a UN negotiation between the U.S., Iran, Israel, and neutral nations (if your school has a debate club or a Model the United Nations team and club, draw on this expertise).
Reflection or homework task: write a reflective paragraph on how your perspective changed during the lesson. Give students a phrase bank with compassionate, thoughtful and evaluative language and literacy (knock on the door of your English and History, Philosophy, RE teacher friends…they’ve probably got a document full of these, ready to go).
Teen-Friendly Facts: Understanding the Context
Put the below into a reference crib sheet for students to have to hand during the lesson. Ask them to construct questions based on these facts. If you don’t know the answers, that’s fine! It’s another research project sorted.
- In 1979, Iran’s monarchy was overthrown, and the Islamic Republic was established under religious leadership.
- The U.S. and Iran were once allies, but relations fractured after the revolution and the embassy hostage crisis.
- America worries about Iran’s nuclear programme and regional influence; Iran sees the U.S. as a threat to its sovereignty.
- Iran and Israel have longstanding animosity rooted in ideological and regional rivalries.
- Energy and oil play a central role in both countries’ interests in the region.
- Economic sanctions have shaped everyday life in Iran, affecting trade, inflation, and access to technology.
- Conflicts in neighbouring countries often draw in both Iranian and American involvement.
- Global politics already impact young people — from energy costs to international study opportunities.
The book, Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall, is absolutely brilliant and when I read it over 5 years ago, it majorly informed my approach to critical thinking and teaching historical context in my subject area – Marshall now has a series and a Prisoners of Geography version for primary school children – I highly recommend it.
And lastly, my book, Creating Belonging in the Classroom by Zahara Chowdhury to support you to navigate difficult conversations and subject matter in the classroom.
By approaching difficult world events with openness, curiosity, clear boundaries and compassion, teachers empower students to manage complexity, not avoid it. Schools can and should be safe spaces for curiosity, evidence-based discussion, and the building of informed, empathetic young citizens. And, we are all more than equipped and able to do it – we just need to trust ourselves – and schools need to trust their staff too.
Allyship in Action: Finding and Growing Allies in Education, Work, and Everyday Life
Written by Marie Manley
Marie Manley works for SEE Change Happens. She is an advocate for families and friends of Transgender individuals. She loves talking to customers about their DEIB requirements, explaining how SEE Change Happen can enhance organisations with all things DEIB-related. She comes from an administration and compliance background, she has strong analytical thinking, a love of processes, and a strict attention to detail.
Allyship is something I used to think of as a value – something you believe in. But over time, and through personal experience, I’ve come to understand that allyship is really about what you do. It’s how you show up, how you listen, and how you stand alongside others, especially when it matters most.
For me, this became deeply personal when my husband became my wife. That journey shifted not only how I see the world, but how I experience it. It opened my eyes to the quiet, everyday moments where allyship is either present or absent – in conversations, in systems, and in relationships. It also helped me recognise just how powerful true allies can be.
What I’ve learned is that allyship isn’t confined to one space. It travels with us – through education, into our workplaces, and into our closest relationships. And in each of those spaces, we have the opportunity to both find allies and become one.
Allyship in Education: Where It Often Begins
Education is often where we first encounter difference – different identities, perspectives, and lived experiences. It’s also where many of our beliefs about fairness and belonging start to form.
I’ve seen how powerful it can be when educators create spaces where people feel safe to be themselves. Allyship in education isn’t just about policies or statements; it’s about the everyday behaviours. It’s the teacher who challenges exclusion. The student who speaks up when something doesn’t feel right. The environment that makes space for everyone to be heard.
Finding allies in education often starts with noticing those small but important actions. Who is curious rather than judgmental? Who is willing to challenge bias? Who makes room for others?
But we can’t leave allyship to chance. It needs to be nurtured intentionally. When inclusion is embedded into how education works – from curriculum to culture – allyship becomes part of the norm, not the exception.
Allyship at Work: Moving Beyond Good Intentions
In the workplace, allyship becomes even more visible – and, if I’m honest, sometimes more challenging.
Many organisations talk about diversity and inclusion, but without active allyship, those words can feel hollow. Allyship at work is about what happens in the moments that aren’t scripted – who gets heard in meetings, who is advocated for, who is challenged when something isn’t fair.
Through my own work, I’ve seen that allies are not always the loudest voices. Often, they are the most consistent. They are the people who quietly but firmly stand for fairness, who follow through, and who are willing to learn and adapt.
When my own family experience changed, I noticed these allies more clearly. The colleague who checked in. The leader who made space. The friend who didn’t assume but asked. Those moments mattered more than any formal policy ever could.
That said, organisations do have a responsibility. Allyship shouldn’t rely on individuals alone. It needs to be supported by leadership, embedded into systems, and reinforced through accountability. When that happens, allyship becomes part of how work gets done – not an extra.
Allyship in Family and Friendships: Where It Gets Real
If I’m honest, the most complex space for allyship is often our personal lives.
Family and friendships are where we feel safest – but they are also where bias can go unchallenged. When my husband became my wife, I saw this firsthand.
SEE Change Happen – Fireside chat is an example of finding Allyship:
https://seechangehappen.co.uk/speaking-library/the-making-of-me-joanne-maries-story/
Some people leaned in with openness, curiosity, and love. Others struggled, sometimes without realising the impact of their words or assumptions.
Allyship in these spaces isn’t about having all the right answers. It’s about being willing. Willing to listen. Willing to learn. Willing to say, “I might not fully understand, but I’m here.”
It’s also about courage. Speaking up when something doesn’t sit right. Gently challenging language or behaviour. Choosing connection over comfort.
Resources from organisations like Stonewall (https://www.stonewall.org.uk/) can be incredibly helpful in guiding those first steps, especially for people who want to be supportive but aren’t sure how.
What I’ve come to appreciate is that allies in our personal lives don’t need to be perfect. They just need to be present, open, and committed to growing.
Growing Allyship – Together
Across all these spaces, one thing stands out to me: allyship is deeply human. It’s built on trust, consistency, and care.
It’s not about getting everything right. It’s about being willing to try, to learn, and to keep showing up.
If we want to grow allyship, we need to create environments where people feel safe to ask questions, to reflect, and to be challenged. We need to recognise and value inclusive behaviours. And we need to hold ourselves – and each other – accountable.
This is something I’m incredibly passionate about in my work, and it’s why organisations like SEE Change Happen (https://seechangehappen.co.uk/) exist – to support people and organisations in turning intention into meaningful, lasting change.
A Final Reflection
Allyship has become something very real to me. It’s not theoretical. It’s not abstract. It’s personal, and it’s ongoing.
It shows up in the colleague who creates space. The friend who listens. The family member who is willing to learn. And sometimes, it starts with us – choosing to be that person for someone else.
So, I often come back to a simple question: How am I showing up for others today?
Because when we ask that – and act on it – allyship stops being something we talk about and becomes something we live.
Understanding the Experiences of Black Teachers in London: Why Mattering Matters
Written by Tara Elie
Tara Elie teacher, psychologist, lecturer and coach. Tara has diverse experience in education and Learning and Development spanning over decades. She is renowned for her engaging training delivery, both face-to-face and virtually. Her performance background, alongside her passion for supporting individuals and organisations to flourish and thrive, characterise her delivery style. Tara has completed research on Black Teacher Mattering which she is delivering in keynotes. She is passionate about teacher wellbeing and uses the theories of Positive Psychology to inform her work with all clients with a proven record of success. Tara stands for social justice and social change. She appreciates and celebrates the individual, their differing backgrounds, cultures, experiences, perceptions, and values.
Introduction
Understanding the experiences of Black teachers is essential if we are serious about improving well-being, retention, and professional fulfilment in education. Conversations about diversity in schools often focus on pupils, yet far less attention has been given to the psychological experiences of teachers themselves. One concept that offers a powerful lens for exploring this is mattering – the sense that we are valued and that what we contribute has value.
Psychologist Morris Rosenberg (1985) described mattering as an individual’s belief that they are important to others and able to make a meaningful contribution. When applied to the experiences of Black teachers in London, this idea moves the conversation beyond statistics and into the lived realities of belonging, recognition, and professional identity. Understanding whether teachers feel that they matter – to colleagues, to leaders, and to the wider system – may help explain why some remain in the profession while others leave.
Why Representation Still Matters
The relative scarcity of Black teachers makes this question particularly important. Representation in education is not only about fairness in employment; it also has wider implications for students, schools, and communities. The Black Teachers in London report, commissioned by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, highlighted a clear relationship between the success of Black teachers and positive outcomes for Black pupils. In some London boroughs, nearly half of pupils were Black, yet only a small proportion of teachers shared that heritage. Increasing diversity across all levels of education – from classroom teachers to leadership and governance – was identified as essential for improving representation, aspiration, and achievement.
However, addressing the shortage of Black teachers requires more than recruitment initiatives. It requires a deeper understanding of how teachers experience their professional lives, how valued they feel, and whether they believe their presence makes a difference. Without this understanding, efforts to improve diversity risk focusing only on entry into the profession rather than on belonging within it.
A Gap in UK Research
Much of the existing research on mattering in education has focused on students, particular subject areas, or the education system in the United States. In the United Kingdom, despite ongoing concerns about a lack of diversity in the teaching workforce, relatively little research has explored the experiences of Black teachers themselves.
This gap is especially significant in London, where teacher shortages have historically been higher than in other parts of the UK and where the student population is among the most diverse in the country. Exploring the lived experiences of Black teachers in London can help build a clearer picture of what supports – or undermines – their sense of belonging, confidence, and professional fulfilment. Understanding these experiences is essential if diversity efforts are to be meaningful rather than symbolic.
A Positive Psychology Perspective
This research approaches the topic from a Positive Psychology perspective, the scientific study of individual, group, and community flourishing (Hefferon & Boniwell, 2011). Rather than focusing only on problems, Positive Psychology asks what enables people to thrive. Applying this perspective to teaching allows us to consider how feeling valued influences motivation, self-esteem, and commitment to the profession.
When teachers experience a strong sense of mattering, they are more likely to feel engaged, resilient, and able to sustain their work over time. For Black teachers, the experience of mattering may be shaped by factors such as representation, recognition, relationships with colleagues, opportunities for progression, and the extent to which their perspectives are heard. These factors are closely linked to recruitment and retention, but also to well-being and professional identity.
Beyond Recruitment: The Importance of Belonging
Teacher shortages are often explained through workload, accountability pressures, and working conditions. While these are important, psychological factors such as belonging and value may be just as significant. Exploring mattering offers a way to understand inclusion at a deeper level. Policies can increase diversity, but they cannot by themselves create environments in which teachers feel respected, listened to, and able to contribute fully.
Listening to the lived experiences of Black teachers in London can help develop a more nuanced understanding of what supports their flourishing and what undermines it. This understanding is essential if schools are to move beyond representation alone and towards genuine inclusion.
Why This Matters for the Future of Education
Improving diversity in education is not simply about numbers. It is about creating professional cultures where teachers feel that they matter – where their presence is recognised, their work is valued, and their contribution is meaningful. When teachers experience this, the benefits extend beyond the individual to pupils, colleagues, and the wider school community.
Understanding mattering is therefore not only a psychological question, but an educational one. If we want a teaching profession that is diverse, sustainable, and capable of supporting all young people, we must pay attention to whether those within it feel that they truly belong.
What do school governors need to know about DEIB?
Written by Hannah Wilson
Founder and Director of the Belonging Effect (formerly Diverse Educators).
School governors play a strategic, not operational, role in DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging). What they need to know can be grouped into purpose, legal duties, oversight, and culture.
- What DEIB means in a school context
Governors should understand that:
- Diversity: The range of identities and experiences in the school community (e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, SEND, religion, socioeconomic background).
- Equity: Fairness, not sameness – recognising that different pupils and staff may need different support to succeed.
- Inclusion: Creating systems and practices where everyone can participate and thrive.
- Belonging: Pupils, staff and families feel respected and safe in the school.
DEIB is not an add-on – it affects outcomes, wellbeing, safeguarding, staff retention, and reputation.
- Legal and statutory responsibilities (UK-focused)
Governors must ensure the school complies with:
- Equality Act 2010: Protects nine characteristics (e.g. race, disability, sex, religion). Requires schools to eliminate discrimination, advance equality, and foster good relations.
- Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED): Schools must show due regard to equality in decisions and policies.
- Safeguarding duties: Discrimination, bullying, and exclusion can be safeguarding risks.
- Ofsted expectations: Inspectors look at inclusion, behaviour, curriculum breadth, and how well vulnerable groups are supported.
Governors do not deliver DEIB – but they are accountable for whether it is happening effectively.
- Strategic questions governors should ask
Governors should be able to challenge leaders with evidence-based questions such as:
Pupils:
- Are there attainment, behaviour, attendance, or exclusion gaps between groups?
- How does the school support pupils with SEND, EAL, or from disadvantaged backgrounds?
- Do pupils report feeling safe and that they belong?
Staff:
- Is recruitment and promotion fair and transparent?
- Are there disparities in staff retention, progression, or disciplinary action?
- Is staff training in equality and inclusion effective and ongoing?
Curriculum & culture:
- Does the curriculum reflect diverse voices and experiences?
- Are incidents of bullying, racism, sexism or homophobia recorded and acted upon?
- How does the school engage families from different backgrounds?
- Policy oversight (not micromanagement)
Governors should ensure the school has clear, up-to-date policies and that they are working in practice, including:
- Equality and accessibility plans
- Behaviour and anti-bullying policies
- SEND policy and provision
- Admissions and exclusions
- Complaints procedures
They should look for impact, not just paperwork.
- Data literacy and proportionality
Governors need confidence to:
- Interpret equality and pupil outcome data without jumping to conclusions
- Understand that unequal outcomes don’t always mean discrimination – but always warrant investigation
- Balance DEIB work with the school’s context, avoiding tokenism or box-ticking
Good governance focuses on patterns and trends, not isolated incidents.
- Tone, language, and leadership
Governors set the tone. They should:
- Use respectful, inclusive language
- Avoid politicising DEIB or treating it as “optional”
- Model curiosity rather than defensiveness
- Support leaders when DEIB work attracts challenge or misunderstanding
Silence or avoidance can be interpreted as indifference.
- What governors should not do
- Do not manage individual cases unless part of a formal panel
- Do not impose personal ideology
- Do not expect quick fixes – culture change takes time
- Do not delegate all DEIB responsibility to one staff member
- Continuous learning
Effective governors:
- Undertake regular training on equality and inclusion
- Stay aware of local community needs
- Reflect on their own board’s diversity and skills mix
In short:
School governors need to understand DEIB well enough to ask the right questions, meet legal duties, hold leaders to account, and ensure every pupil and staff member has a fair chance to succeed and belong.
Shaping Intention into Impact: How Belonging Creates a Lasting Effect
Written by Hannah Wilson
Founder and Director of the Belonging Effect (formerly Diverse Educators).
We often underestimate the power of small actions. A word spoken. A behaviour modelled. A decision made with – or without – care. Yet time and again, research and lived experience show us that impact rarely begins with something loud or grand. It begins with intention.
To understand how intention becomes impact, it helps to explore three interconnected ideas: the Ripple Effect, the Butterfly Effect, and what we call the Belonging Effect.
The Ripple Effect: Intentional Actions That Travel
The ripple effect describes how a single action creates a chain reaction of consequences, spreading outward like ripples from a stone dropped into water. A kind gesture can inspire another. A thoughtful idea can spark collective change. Equally, negative behaviours can ripple just as far, reinforcing harmful patterns if left unchecked.
This phenomenon appears across economics, sociology, leadership, and personal development because it reflects a simple truth: our actions do not exist in isolation. Every choice – especially those made by leaders, educators, and organisations – sets something in motion.
Ripples are visible. They move outward in predictable ways. We can often trace them back to their source.
The Butterfly Effect: Small Moments, Unpredictable Outcomes
The butterfly effect takes this idea even further.
Originating in chaos theory and popularised by meteorologist Edward Lorenz, it suggests that a small change in initial conditions can result in large, unpredictable outcomes later. Metaphorically, a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world could influence a storm system elsewhere.
Here, the emphasis is not just on reach – but on sensitivity. Tiny moments matter more than we think. A brief interaction. A missed acknowledgement. A single experience of inclusion – or exclusion – can alter a person’s trajectory in ways we may never fully see.
Unlike ripples, these effects are often invisible. But they are no less real.
The Belonging Effect: Where Intention Becomes Human Impact
This is where the Belonging Effect comes in.
The belonging effect describes the profound influence that a sense of belonging has on human wellbeing, motivation, and performance. When people feel they belong, they are more engaged, resilient, creative, and committed. When belonging is absent, the outcomes are equally powerful – anxiety, disengagement, poor performance, and diminished wellbeing.
Decades of research across schools, workplaces, and communities show that belonging is not a “nice to have.” It is a fundamental human need. In educational settings, a strong sense of belonging is linked to higher achievement and retention. In workplaces, it drives engagement, collaboration, and psychological safety. Across all contexts, it supports better mental and physical health.
Belonging does not happen by accident. It emerges when people feel seen, valued, safe, and connected through meaningful relationships.
Shaping Intention Into Impact
The Ripple Effect reminds us that our actions spread.
The Butterfly Effect reminds us that small moments can change everything.
The Belonging Effect reminds us who those moments land on.
When intention is grounded in belonging, impact becomes sustainable.
A leader who intentionally creates space for voices to be heard doesn’t just improve a meeting – they shape culture. An educator who signals “you matter here” does not just support a student – they alter a future. An organisation that prioritises belonging doesn’t just retain people – it unlocks potential.
This is the heart of the Belonging Effect: intentional actions that create human impact, often far beyond what we can measure. Because when people belong, the ripples are positive, and the butterfly effects change lives.
Permeable Minds: How Omission Forms Meaning
Written by Rachida Dahman
Rachida Dahman is an international educator, a language and literature teacher, and an educational innovator. She started her career in Germany as a teacher trainer advocating the importance of relationships above academics. She then moved to Luxembourg where she teaches German language and literature classes to middle and high school students. She is an award-winning poet, co-author of the best-selling book, ATLAS DER ENTSCHEIDER Entscheiden wie die Profis- Dynamik, Komplexität und Stress meistern.
Judgment Formation and the Ethics of Attention in the Classroom
In classrooms where books are read and texts are discussed, students absorb invisible hierarchies of attention and recognition. They learn not only from what is articulated, highlighted, and rewarded, but also from what is omitted, overlooked, or left unspoken. Meaning moves through the room, through the questions asked and the questions avoided. It shapes perception long before students can fully name what they are absorbing.
Schools often articulate strong commitments to inclusion, wellbeing, and safety. These commitments are serious and necessary. Yet institutional language alone does not guarantee coherence in practice. Posters are displayed. Assemblies are convened. Mission statements are published. Classrooms, however, are governed less by rhetoric than by attention. Every emphasis, every silence, every interpretive choice participates in shaping what students come to trust, recognize, and regard as real.
The ethical management of attention in classrooms determines whether institutional commitments become formative realities or rhetorical contradictions.
Policy and Practice
A structural tension exists between policy ambition and classroom practice. Policy speaks in generalities; teaching unfolds in particulars. It is in those particulars, especially in the study of literature, that judgment is formed. Choices about naming, framing, or highlighting elements of a text carry consequences beyond the immediate lesson.
Serious education has never prioritized comfort. What matters is judgment: the capacity to perceive complexity, to recognize human dignity in its specificity, and to interpret without erasing. When this discipline falters, the erosion is quiet but cumulative. Students internalize patterns of recognition and omission long before they can articulate them.
Naming and Omission
When identities within a text are left unnamed in discussion, students learn more than the assigned content. They learn which dimensions of human experience are treated as central and which as peripheral. A novel may be analyzed for structure, language, or historical context. Its craft may be examined in detail. Yet if the marginalized identities shaping its characters’ positions remain unacknowledged, students absorb a hierarchy of relevance.
In classrooms where misogynistic rhetoric is analyzed as a stylistic device but not named as misogyny, some students fall silent, others detach. The discussion continues, yet something has shifted. The omission itself communicates.
Not all silence is harmful. At times, restraint creates space for reflection rather than hierarchy. The distinction lies in pattern. Occasional discretion differs from consistent omission. When particular dimensions of human experience are repeatedly left unnamed, they become less thinkable. What becomes less thinkable gradually becomes less real within the intellectual life of the classroom. Recognition requires courage. Silence is often easier.
Permeable Minds
Developing minds are permeable. Adolescents are not passive recipients of content; they are active interpreters, scanning for relevance, legitimacy, and recognition. Permeability is not fragility. It is the very process of formation.
Educational environments shape judgment through repeated signals of importance and marginality. Over time, these signals accumulate. Institutional language cannot substitute for interpretive practice. The ethics of education resides not only in declared commitments but in the disciplined management of attention within the classroom.
Teachers and school leaders carry responsibility for what students see, hear, and internalize, for what is named and what remains unspoken.
The Double Bind
Schools frequently emphasize care, belonging, and safety. Yet everyday pedagogical practices may convey a different message: indifference, irony without scaffolding, or humiliation without commentary. Students encounter structural contradictions, what Gregory Bateson described as a double bind: two incompatible messages delivered within a relationship that cannot easily be exited or openly challenged.
- Students are told their wellbeing matters.
- They are simultaneously expected to endure unexamined provocation.
- Students are told inclusion is foundational.
- They encounter subtle forms of elitism that reproduce exclusion.
A school may hold a wellbeing assembly, then require students to analyse a text containing degrading rhetoric without space to acknowledge discomfort. The institutional message is “your wellbeing matters.” The pedagogical message received may be “your response is irrelevant to serious analysis.”
When students are instructed to “separate personal feelings from intellectual rigor,” the lesson conveyed can become that emotional experience disqualifies serious thought. The result is rarely open rebellion. It is more often a quiet destabilization, a subtle erosion of trust in the coherence of adult authority.
The Erosion of Trust
The most serious consequence is not offense. It is the gradual erosion of trust. Trust in the teacher’s coherence. Trust in institutional language. Trust in the alignment between word and action. In socially polarized contexts, this erosion matters. Authority experienced as inconsistent cannot stabilize conflict. When institutional language loses credibility, its capacity to guide and de-escalate diminishes.
Research consistently underscores the importance of perceived fairness and relational trust. Students’ sense of psychological safety depends less on the absence of challenge than on predictable and ethical adult authority. Young people do not reject rigor. They struggle when the signals they receive contradict one another.
Coherence as Professional Responsibility
Pedagogy does not promise comfort. Challenging texts and unsettling questions are essential. The question is not whether students encounter difficulty, but whether difficulty is framed within coherent ethical practice.
Public commitments to wellbeing must be mirrored in classroom decisions. Text selection cannot be merely private taste. Provocation cannot be detached from responsibility. Critical distance cannot become an alibi for indifference. Ignoring queerness in texts about queer lives, failing to address antisemitism in Jewish literature, or omitting misogyny in feminist texts constitutes erasure. Erasure teaches students that certain realities do not merit acknowledgment within serious intellectual work.
Teachers operate under real constraints: time, curriculum mandates, community expectations, and political scrutiny. Ethical attention does not require exhaustive commentary on every identity dimension. It requires awareness of pattern. The question is not whether everything is named, but whether repeated omissions accumulate into hierarchy.
Influence in classrooms is inevitable. What circulates within that influence must therefore be examined.
“All one-sidedness remains one-sidedness and carries its own suffering within it. Whoever reduces, constricts. And whoever constricts, causes harm.” – Carl Jung
From Reflection to Action
The dynamics described here have direct implications for practice and policy.
For Teachers
- Name identities deliberately. Where relevant, acknowledge historical context, ethical tensions, and marginalized positions within texts.
- Distinguish restraint from erasure. Consider whether silence creates space for thought or unintentionally signals irrelevance.
- Reflect on attention patterns. Notice which perspectives are consistently elevated and which remain peripheral.
- Model moral attentiveness. Demonstrate that intellectual rigor and ethical recognition are not opposing commitments.
For Policy-Makers
- Align language with classroom reality. Commitments to inclusion and wellbeing must be actionable within pedagogy.
- Support teacher agency. Provide professional development focused on interpretive ethics and moral formation. Enable educators to name identities responsibly without fear of reprisal.
- Evaluate coherence, not only compliance. Assess how students experience recognition and omission in daily classroom life.
Closing Reflection
Classrooms are not neutral spaces. Every discussion, every interpretive choice, every sustained omission participates in the moral formation of students. Teachers and policymakers share responsibility for the ethical conditions under which judgment develops.
When coherence is present, trust strengthens. When word and action align, authority stabilizes rather than destabilizes. By honouring the permeability of young minds, education can fulfil its promise of inclusion and prepare students to engage thoughtfully and thoroughly. In times marked by social fracture, that coherence is not an optional refinement. It is a professional necessity. Without trust, education cannot endure.
Wellbeing coaching for trainee teachers
Written by Amy Sayer
Amy Sayer is an associate, consultant, mental health trainer and content writer. She is a Leading Diversity advisor for the Chartered College of Teaching. She is the author of the book ‘Supporting staff mental health in your school’.
I have had the privilege of being a wellbeing coach for trainee teachers for the past three years. It gives me such hope that ITT providers are recognising the importance of providing this space for trainees to discuss how they are feeling and consider their wellbeing routines and priorities. It can be tricky for trainees to feel that they can be honest about how things are going for them with school mentors or their teaching hub leads who are ultimately judging their performance in one way or another. Having a neutral and confidential space for trainees to discuss their individual needs can provide a valuable extra level of support which can allow feelings to be validated and a bespoke wellbeing plan can be created.
I have been struck by the vast range of different people who want to train to teach, but also the enormous personal barriers that many are currently facing alongside the relentless demands of the teacher training year. I have worked with people who have previously been teachers in other countries, who have relocated their families to come and live in the UK, to become a teacher here. I have worked with people who have had a number of bereavements in their families. I have worked with menopausal trainees suffering from a wide range of awful physical and mental health symptoms as a result. I have worked with autistic trainees who are returning back to the setting which caused them upset and stress as a child. I have worked with people who have battled mental health conditions for most of their life. I have worked with people with physical disabilities who needed practical support on a day-to-day basis. Despite their differences, they all have a common thread. They all want to make a difference in their work. They all want to support young people to feel excited about learning their subject.
Often these trainees have not received support previously and are not sure what they can ask for or might feel ashamed that they will be judged for needing reasonable adjustments or different support options. Before starting teacher training, they might have had lives in which they have felt that they have just about managed to keep their heads above the water despite any difficulties or challenges. However, with the workload and vast amount of headspace and emotional impact, there are usually pinch points when they need wellbeing coaching. It generally tends to be at points when assignments are due, or their teaching load increases but it can also be when something specific such as a bereavement or illness occurs.
There are an increasing number of trainee teachers who are neurodivergent and they need the opportunity to discuss any reasonable adjustments from the very start of their training including during their initial interview. It is important that application forms have time and space to allow trainees to explain any reasonable adjustments that they have had to support their educational journey so far. It could be for example that they have dyslexia and they have been given particular software to use for their essays, and extra time for deadlines if needed. There needs to be a clear explanation about the reasonable adjustments that they can access at their interview and during their training year. This will then hopefully eliminate any shame or embarrassment or misunderstandings around what support they can expect from both their centre-based training days as well as their in school placements.
My advice for ITT providers is that they need to ensure that there are robust and tried-and-tested support policies and practices in place to ensure that trainees have adequate wellbeing support from the beginning of their training to reduce the likelihood of them reaching a crisis or burn out and needing to leave the training. Given the wide-range of adversity that many trainees have going on in their lives, providing safe spaces for them to discuss their needs regularly will be essential in allowing any reasonable adjustments to be put into place for them. We need to give trainees equitable opportunities to shine and be the best teachers they can be and reassure them that they both deserve and should expect this in their future careers.