Inclusion

Diversity in children and young peoples’ reading

Written by Sarah Bagshaw-McCormick

Sarah Bagshaw-McCormick has 25 years experience in schools, professional development and leadership. She has spent the last 5 years working in teacher-education, with a focus on teacher and leader professional development as a learning designer. Over her career, Sarah has developed expertise in literacy, English, and school leadership. Throughout this work, Sarah finds and creates opportunities to embed and champion Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

The global culture wars are busy creating division within and across communities. And, much too close to home, schools are banning books and removing them from the shelves of libraries for questionable reasons. Let’s reflect on why diversity in children’s reading is good.

For some time, following the events of 2020, schools, libraries and the publishing industry were making positive headway in diversifying the representation in books made available to children and young people. But in the last 12 months that has changed. The political landscape and divisive political narratives have had a tangible effect on the proportion of children’s books written by and featuring diverse characters (Inclusive Books for Children, 2025).

It is ironic that, in this national year of reading, I (and others) should have to make a case for considering and championing of diverse representation in texts. In this blog I will invite you to consider the role that diverse representation in texts can play in bringing us together and the benefits of diversity of representation in the texts read by all pupils.

Diversity of authorship and representation means books that are written by, and feature characters, experiences and places that encompass a diversity of experiences, cultures or backgrounds. This can include racially diverse writers and characters. It can include a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, encompassing different homes, such as flats, council houses or temporary accommodation, or it can include characters with disabilities, both learning and physical.

Reflection

Consider your own experiences of the world growing up and now. Is it easy for you to find books that feature characters like you, and experiences that are familiar to you?

Three decades ago, Sims-Bishop (1990) provided us with the analogy of books as mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors to describe the role that books can have in allowing children to see themselves in books, see others in books and enter whole new worlds through books. This is reinforced by more recent evidence, which suggests that narrative fiction has the potential to support young people to understand themselves and others. Let’s start by exploring the ideas of books as mirrors, windows and doors.

Mirrors

There is a power to seeing characters like you in print. Whether the thing you have in common is your age, gender identity, disability, home, or socio-economic status. Reading texts with central characters, events and settings that young readers relate to is important.

Relating to characters in stories make children feel seen, in being seen they feel important and find comfort in knowing that others are experiencing the same things as them (Santi, 2023). This empowers young people, not only allowing them to see themselves in texts, but also to understand themselves more deeply (Santi, 2023). This has a positive impact on young peoples’ self-esteem (Koss 2015; Wopperer, 2011).

In addition to this, books that are representative of young peoples’ lives and interests are beneficial for encouraging volitional reading. Diverse texts enable young people to access books which are personally meaningful by reflecting and representing their identities, lives and experiences (Picton and Clark, 2022).

Windows

In addition to understanding themselves, diverse authorship and representation in texts enables children and young people to understand and experience other people, their lives and experiences, through interacting with texts. In fact, this has the potential to change children and young peoples’ attitudes to people whose identity or points of view differ from their own (Kaufman and Libby, 2012). By reading books which expose children and young people to different cultures, perspectives or experiences than their own, they are enabled to pay closer attention to the needs of others. Reading texts with diverse authors and diverse representation can help children to develop empathy (reference).

Sliding Glass doors

The texts children read offer them opportunities to enter into new worlds, both realistic and magical. Neuroscience has explored how readers experience immersion into these worlds and the benefits of this.

When people read fiction, research suggests that their brain reacts in ways that are very similar to the way it reacts to ‘real life’ experiences. When children and young people are actively engaged in reading, it is thought that reading is a form of neural simulation, which enables them to practice socio-emotional responses in a low-stakes environment (Tamir et al, 2015). This also allows children and young people to experience situations they’ve never experienced themselves, which is beneficial, because of its potential to positively impact their attitudes and behaviours in relation to their peers and others in their communities.

“Children… want to see the world reflected back at them just as much as they want to read about worlds they don’t know” (p.22 Excluded voices report).

Reflection

How do the texts in your library and classroom provide children with mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors?

Where might you improve your offer?

How could you find out whether the children agree with you?

So, we know that in providing children with these mirrors, windows and glass doors is beneficial, but beyond this analogy there are wider benefits of accessing texts with diverse authors, settings, experiences and characters.

Access to diverse texts is inclusive. The presence of texts that reflect the realities of children and young peoples’ lives communicates pupils’ value. This can support belonging, make young people feel welcome and create psychological safety (Bulatowicz, 2017; Lifshitz, 2016).

More than this seeing characters who share their background, identity and experiences (particularly characters who are complex, successful and vibrant) expands young peoples’ sense of what is possible for them (The linking network, 2024). This provides young people inspiration, which informs their future aspirations, and makes concrete the reality of the adage ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’.

Access to and engagement with diverse texts supports readers to build personal connections to characters and stories (Hafflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001). These diverse stories are also supportive of young peoples’ autonomy in reading choices (Webber et al., 2024). These positive experiences support their reading motivation (Cremin, 2023 -NATE), which in turn positively impacts children and young peoples’ volitional reading.

The opposite is also true. When books that reflect diverse experiences of the world are not available to young people it excludes them from seeing themselves as readers, can signal a lack of importance and lead young people to conclude the literacy and literature are not for them (Bronson, 2016; short, 2018).

So, it is essential that we choose to surround children with books that are affirming, communicate their value and offer them opportunities to explore their own and others’ identities.

“We know that if children feel invited into the world of books, when they recognise elements of themselves in the pages, they are more likely to form a love of reading”. (P.4 Excluded voices report).

Reflection

What do the books available to children in your setting communicate to them?

Do the texts available support reading motivation and volitional reading?

How could you check with the children and young people?

If you are looking for diverse recommendations for children and young peoples’ literature, please join me at my teachers’ reading club at The House of Books and Friends on the 14th April.

Subscribe to my blog, where I will share reading recommendations following the event. See my previous reading recommendations for children and young people here.

References

Bishop, R. S. (1990, March). Windows and mirrors: Children’s books and parallel cultures. In California State University reading conference: 14th annual conference proceedings (pp. 3-12).

Bulatowicz, D. M. (2017). Diverse Literature in Elementary School Libraries: Who Chooses and Why? (Doctoral dissertation, Montana State University).

Cremin, Teresa (2023). Motivation and reading: Focusing on disengaged readers. Teaching English(32) pp. 32–36.

Hefflin, B. R., & Barksdale-Ladd, M. A. (2001). African American children’s literature that helps students find themselves: Selection guidelines for grades K-3. The Reading Teacher, 54(8), 810-819.

Inclusive Books for Children. (2025). Excluded Voices report. https://www.inclusivebooksforchildren.org/excluded-voices-report

Kaufman, G. F., & Libby, L. K. (2012). Changing beliefs and behavior through experience-taking. Journal of personality and social psychology, 103(1), 1.

Kucirkova, N. (2019). How could children’s storybooks promote empathy? A conceptual framework based on developmental psychology and literary theory. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 121.

Koss, M. D. (2015). Diversity in contemporary picturebooks: A content analysis. Journal of Children’s Literature, 41(1).

Picton, I., & Clark, C. (2022). Seeing yourself in what you read: Diversity and children and young people’s reading in 2022. National Literacy Trust. PISA (2011). Do students today read for pleasure, 1057-1092.

Santi, E. (2023, May 12). Reading and narrative fiction: Understanding ourselves and others. BERA. https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/reading-and-narrative-fiction-understanding-ourselves-and-others

Tamir, D. I., Bricker, A. B., Dodell-Feder, D., & Mitchell, J. P. (2016). Reading fiction and reading minds: The role of simulation in the default network. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(2), 215–224.

The Linking Network. (2024, December 4). Diversity in children’s books: Why representation matters. https://thelinkingnetwork.org.uk/diversity-in-childrens-books-why-representation-matters/

Webber, C., Wilkinson, K., Duncan, L. G., & McGeown, S. (2025). Motivating book reading during adolescence: qualitative insights from adolescents. Educational Research, 67(1), 79-97.

Wopperer, E. (2011). Inclusive literature in the library and the classroom. Knowledge Quest, 39(3), 26.

This post was originally published on the Research Schools Network through the work that Soofia does with East London Research School.

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?

www.alexatherton.com

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.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 Consultation

Written by Belonging Effect

Belonging Effect is committed to shaping intention into impact and supporting people with their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging strategy and training needs.

On 12th February 2026, the Department for Education published a new draft of the statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges: Keeping Children Safe in Education.

Amongst other changes, the new draft guidance includes an amended section titled ‘Children who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual’; and a new section titled ‘Children who are questioning their gender’.

Since the draft guidance was published, these sections specifically have been reported on widely. We have read and listened to much of the coverage from diverse sources, and are concerned to see some exaggeration or misrepresentation of the current situation. To be clear, this is not currently statutory guidance – it is a draft of proposed guidance, which has been opened for a 10 week consultation period ending on 22nd April 2026. Currently, schools and colleges should not make changes which are informed by this draft guidance. They should continue to follow the 2025 version of KCSIE.

Our intention in this piece is to set out the context in which this draft guidance has been released, the details of the guidance, and provide information about the ongoing consultation as accurately and clearly as we can in order to encourage those involved in education to express their views through the consultation. In order to do so, we have tried to avoid presenting our own opinions in much of the following piece. However, we think it is important to be transparent before we begin. We have worked with transgender, non-binary, and gender questioning students, and we are fully committed to their inclusion and belonging in educational spaces. We believe that any statutory guidance for schools and colleges should provide workable and inclusive guidance that protects all students from discrimination, and ensures safety, dignity and respect for all young people in education – including trans students. With that clear, let’s begin.

The Context

Chances are, if you are reading this piece, you are very familiar with the statutory safeguarding guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (often referred to as KCSIE). It was first published in 2014, and is reviewed and updated by the Department for Education annually, with updated versions typically becoming statutory each September. Most years these updates come without consultation, but a consultation or call for evidence may be made when substantive changes are proposed.

In the KCSIE update for September 2022, under the section ‘Children potentially at greater risk of harm’ a new category was added, titled ‘Children who are lesbian, gay, bi, or trans (LGBT)’. This new guidance was brief, but acknowledged that being LGBT, or being perceived to be LGBT, could be a risk factor for bullying. The following year, in the 2023 September update, this section was slightly expanded. It stated:

‘203. The fact that a child or a young person may be LGBT is not in itself an inherent risk factor for harm. However, children who are LGBT can be targeted by other children. In some cases, a child who is perceived by other children to be LGBT (whether they are or not) can be just as vulnerable as children who identify as LGBT.

204. Risks can be compounded where children who are LGBT lack a trusted adult with whom they can be open. It is therefore vital that staff endeavour to reduce the additional barriers faced and provide a safe space for them to speak out or share their concerns with members of staff.

205. LGBT inclusion is part of the statutory Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education curriculum and there is a range of support available to help schools counter homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic bullying and abuse.’

Later that year, in December 2023, the Department for Education published draft guidance relating to trans and non-binary students in schools, which they called ‘Gender Questioning Children’. This was draft, non-statutory guidance, which opened for a 12 week consultation period ending on Tuesday 12th March 2024. You can read more about this draft guidance and consultation here.

Shortly after that consultation closed, the Cass Review was published in April 2024. The Cass Review was intended to be an independent review of gender identity services for children and young people. It has been widely criticised since its release. Although not an education focused document, the review made some recommendations relevant to schools and colleges.

In the same year, the UK saw a change of government with a new Labour government elected in July 2024. The Labour government committed to looking at the results of the consultation into the ‘Gender Questioning Children’ guidance and to publishing finalised guidance for schools. They also committed to enacting the recommendations of the Cass Review.

On 12th February 2026, The Department for Education published a new draft of the statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges, KCSIE. Amongst other changes, this new draft guidance includes an amended section titled ‘Children who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual’, and a new section titled ‘Children who are questioning their gender’.

In materials published online, the DfE explains their choice to position gender guidance as part of KCSIE, rather than in separate non-statutory guidance as first proposed in 2023. They state that they “propose instead to include this content in KCSIE so that children’s wellbeing and safeguarding are considered in the round, and so that schools and colleges can easily access this information in one place”.

The DfE also provides some limited details about the results of the consultation. They explain that the consultation into the draft ‘Gender Questioning Children’ guidance received 15,315 respondents and “demonstrated that this is a highly contested policy area with no clear consensus on the appropriate approach, but more respondents expressed negative than positive views about the usability of the draft guidance published for consultation”.

This draft guidance is now open for a 10 week consultation period, ending on 22nd April 2026. The following sections will set out the details of this proposed guidance, and information about the ongoing consultation.

The Guidance & Consultation

Although other important changes have been made, we focus specifically here on the parts of the guidance titled ‘Children who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual’ and ‘Children who are questioning their gender’.

Part Two of KCSIE sets out the statutory guidance around the management of safeguarding, and it includes a section on ‘Children potentially at greater risk of harm’. It is within this section that LGBT identities are discussed under the following two headings.

‘Children who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual’

This amended section used to include the word ‘trans’ (2022 & 2023), and later ‘gender questioning’ (2024, 2025). That has now been removed, and this section focuses specifically on sexual and/or romantic orientations lesbian, gay, or bisexual. The draft guidance states:

“244. A child or young person being lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not in itself a risk factor for harm; however, they can sometimes be vulnerable to discriminatory bullying. In some cases, a child who is perceived by other children to be lesbian, gay, or bisexual (whether they are or not) can be just as vulnerable as children who are. Schools and colleges should consider how to address vulnerabilities such as the risk of bullying and take steps to prevent it, including putting appropriate sanctions in place.”

‘Children who are questioning their gender’

This new section is the result of the 2024 consultation into the then draft non-statutory ‘Gender Questioning Children’ guidance. It includes some general information, followed by specific advice on:

Preventing and responding to bullying
Decision making when a request is made for social transition
Parental Involvement
Physical Spaces (toilets, changing, accommodation)
Record Keeping
‘Children living in stealth’
‘Children who wish to detransition’

This section of the draft guidance is long so we have not quoted it here in full, but it includes significant changes in how schools should work to support trans, non-binary, or gender questioning young people. We would encourage you to read it in full in the draft guidance released by the DfE, or in this longer article published by Pride & Progress.

The draft guidance is currently open for a 10-week consultation period, which ends on 22nd April 2026. The consultation invites responses from a variety of educational spaces, and those working in them.

The consultation is divided into 9 sections:

Section 1 – proposed changes to the ‘about this guidance’ section and general updates to KCSIE
Section 2 – proposed changes to Part one: Safeguarding information for all staff •
Section 3 – proposed changes to Part two: The management of safeguarding
Section 4 – proposed changes to Part three: Safer recruitment
Section 5 – proposed changes to Part four: Safeguarding concerns or allegations made about staff including supply teachers, volunteers and contractors
Section 6 – proposed changes to Part five: Child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment
Section 7 – proposed changes to Annex B – further information
Section 8 – proposed changes to Annex C – the role of the designated safeguarding lead
Section 9 – expanding our evidence base

You can view all of the questions asked in each section of the consultation in the DfE consultation document. Section 3 of the consultation is where questions are asked about the proposed changes to Part Two of KCSIE. There are no questions asked about the guidance relating to ‘Children who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual’. Of the guidance relating to ‘Children who are questioning their gender’, three questions are asked. They are:

Question 33: Does the updated section of the guidance on children who are questioning their gender provide clarity about the considerations schools and colleges will need to take into account?

Yes, No, Not Applicable, No Opinion, Please Explain Further (Optional)

Question 34: Do paragraphs 104-115 provide clarity for schools and colleges about their legal obligations relating to toilets, changing rooms, and boarding and residential accommodation?

Yes, No, Not Applicable, No Opinion, Please Explain Further (Optional)

Question 35: Do paragraphs 94-97 provide clarity for schools and colleges about the circumstances in which the school is justified in having a policy of single-sex sports?

Yes, No, Not Applicable, No Opinion, Please Explain Further (Optional)

These questions focus on the clarity of the advice set out in the new draft guidance, but they offer a vital opportunity for those working in education to consult on the workability of this guidance. As stated earlier, we have worked with transgender, non-binary, and gender questioning students, and we are fully committed to their inclusion and belonging in educational spaces. As, in our experience, are the vast majority of those working in the education sector. We believe that any statutory guidance for schools and colleges should provide workable and inclusive guidance that protects all students from discrimination, and ensures dignity and respect for all young people in education – including trans, non-binary, and gender questioning young people.

Actions you may wish to consider taking

We hope that reading this piece has helped you to feel more informed. Below are some actions you may wish to undertake as a result of what you have read:

Please challenge any mis-characterisations of this draft guidance. This is not currently statutory guidance – it is a draft of proposed guidance, which has been opened for a 10 week consultation period ending on 22nd April 2026.
Please contribute to the consultation process, and consider specifically the workability of the guidance set out, and whether it is inclusive guidance that protects all students from discrimination, and ensures dignity and respect for all children in education. You may wish to delay your contribution to the consultation until other organisations have released guidance and support on doing so.
Consider encouraging colleagues and connections to read about the draft guidance, and contribute to the consultation themselves. The previous consultation had over 15,000 responses – the more people who contribute, the more informed the finalised guidance can be.
Finally, you may wish to begin considering what policies and practices you may need to review when the finalised guidance is released in September. What has been discussed here is the draft guidance, and no changes should be implemented yet, but it may be a good idea to begin to consider your policies and practices relating to LGBT+ students ahead of the final guidance being released later this year.

This piece was written by members of the Belonging Effect team and is intended for informational purposes only. This blog was published on 17/2/26, and all information was to the best of our understanding at the time of publishing.

The Sandwich Generation: Hidden Needs in the Workplace

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.

Ageism in the workplace is often an under-acknowledged and yet deeply felt influence on career progression, belonging, development and wellbeing. Early in my career, I was often met with phrases like “age before stage” when I applied for promotions, “have your babies first” when balancing career plans, and most recently the flattering-yet-deflating, “you just look so young.” These comments project assumptions about capability and life stage, often rooted in (un)conscious bias.

But recently I have found myself close to a very particular phase of life, I’ve recognised an aspect of ageism and workplace invisibility that doesn’t get enough attention: the experience of the sandwich generation.

Who Are the Sandwich Generation?

I only recently became familiar with this term. The sandwich generation refers to adults who are caring for ageing parents or relatives and dependent children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. It is a role and phase that people find themselves in and to me, a role and phase that we are unprepared for and do not necessarily imagine ourselves in as we age. According to recent UK research, there were an estimated 1.4 million “sandwich carers” aged 16-64 between 2021 and 2023—people juggling dual caring responsibilities. Around half of these were aged between 45 and 64.

When we look at the workforce more broadly, about one in three workers in the UK is aged 50 or over, a figure that reflects changing demographics and longer working lives.

Caring for Ageing Parents: Nuances Often Missed

Caring for a parent with declining health, or simply through the aging process, is not just about practical tasks. It’s emotional and exhausting work. In my experience, unlike caring for a toddler (who grows and develops with you), looking after a parent often means mourning the loss of who they were, even as you help them with the fundamentals of daily life:

Helping them eat, walk, or bathe.
Navigating digital systems—especially healthcare—when “online” is an alien concept for them.
Managing the emotional shift from being cared for, to being the carer.
Coping with the mental, physical and emotional health decline that often accompanies ageing and illness.

These aren’t small tasks—they are intensely personal, triggering, time-consuming and emotionally draining responsibilities that are often invisible and unacknowledged at work.

What Sandwich Caregiving Looks Like Day-to-Day

Right now, I do not find myself in this generation, however from my observations and conversations, this caregiving reality doesn’t exist in isolation—it intertwines with modern work expectations:

High-demand jobs that leave little room for care breaks.
The tug-of-war between career aspirations and care commitments.
The current confusion and blur between working from home, hybrid working, working in the office, emails in the evenings, ‘managing your own workload’, which doesn’t often take into account the ‘homeload’
Guilt over saying “no” — whether to extra hours at work, social outings, or even rest.
Juggling care for children, grandchildren, nephews or nieces and ageing relatives.
Being interpreters of technology, healthcare systems and cultural norms for older relatives.

And unlike the standardised support often afforded to new parents (paid parental leave, flexible hours, visibility of care needs), care for older dependents tends to be less recognised, less supported, and much more assumed to be “just part of life.”*

*I am fully aware that support for new parents has a long way to go, however relative to the support for carers and the topic of this article, it is miles ahead.

Cultural Layers: A Personal Reflection

Being South Asian, I’ve been acutely aware of the cultural dynamics of caregiving:

Bilingualism has been a strength—flipping between English and Punjabi while navigating health systems, care plans and cultural expectations.
Convincing elders (and wider family) that healthcare systems aren’t to be feared—especially in the face of longstanding racial inequities—adds an extra cognitive and emotional burden.
Explaining to friends from other backgrounds why care homes aren’t just “a solution”, but often conflict with deeply held values about family, faith and community.

For many in my community, caregiving is not simply a logistics challenge—it’s a moral and familial duty. Saying older adults “need family, not outsiders” is not just cultural pride—it’s a lived priority and a core feature of love, respect and duty.

Why This Matters in the Workplace

We talk about supporting new parents in the workplace, which is vital. But we rarely talk about supporting carers of older adults, even though their needs are equally pressing:

Longer working hours are being expected while caregiving demands rise.
Compassionate leave policies typically offer 3–5 days—but that barely scratches the surface of extended medical appointments, hospital stays, or full-time care needs.
Older carers may not ask for help—they were raised to keep their heads down and get on with life.
The toll—loneliness, stress, overwhelm—can become normalised, unspoken, and unseen.

These are professionals who are burning the candle at four ends: their careers, their children, their parents, and often their grandchildren too.

What Employers Can Do

As we reimagine talent strategies, cultures of belonging, and retention plans, we must:

Expand caregiving support beyond newborn and ‘early years’ parental leave.
Offer accessible flexible working, without stigma, for all lived experiences, particularly those of care givers.
Recognise caregiving as a legitimate and diverse need—not a personal burden to be hidden.
Support wellbeing programmes through a lens of multiculturalism, cultural intelligence and multi-generational stress.

The sandwich generation is a caring generation, too—often unseen and rarely discussed. I am guilty of the latter too, ironically, until it has impacted my own lived experiences. Creating cultures of belonging means seeing these employees, understanding their lives outside of work, and acting with policies that genuinely meet the full spectrum of caregiving realities.

What does it mean to grow up mixed-race in a world that is obsessed with tidy boxes and simple definitive answers, and what does a journey towards belonging look like?

Written by Emma Slade Edmondson

Emma Slade Edmondson is a sustainability consultant, writer, journalist, podcaster, TEDx speaker, presenter and founder of ESE Consultancy. She is recognised as a Forbes 100 environmentalist and is deeply interested in an intersectional approach to environmentalism. She is the co-host of the Mixed-Up podcast, the co-author of The Half of It and the author of Mixed.

It took me a long time to understand that ‘belonging is not a destination – it’s a journey’. It was journalist and broadcaster Afua Hirsch that first shared this nugget of wisdom with me during an interview on my podcast ‘Mixed Up’ and I’ve carried it with me ever since.

When I was young I remember there being a lot of questioning… What felt like an incessant need for others to unpack and define ‘who’ and perhaps ‘what I was’ seemed to be to an underlying theme. From quite a young age – I believe I knew instinctively that this was inextricably tied to the idea that I was a mixed-race child, and later as the boom and bust of youth arrived – a mixed-race teenager.

Filling out school forms – I often ticked the ‘other’ box, wondering which part of me it was meant to capture…P.E teachers reading me in a sea of caucasian children as ‘Black’ would ask me why I couldn’t, or worse – wouldn’t fulfill my potential on the running track – you see “they could tell by looking at me that I had the potential”…I remember classmates telling me what they thought I was, as if my own story were a puzzle they could confidently solve.

And outside of school hours when I was seen with my family – I fielded questions about whether I was adopted? Where was my Black parent? How could this be my mum? Why didn’t we look alike? Were those my step brothers?

The last question I found always left a particularly bad taste in my mouth as we never use that kind of language in my household. My brothers are my brothers – it’s as simple as that..

Some days, I felt like I could belong across cultural divides. Other days, I didn’t feel I belonged anywhere at all. And I don’t think I became aware of this until I was in my 30’s but those small moments, a question in a hallway, a look of confusion at a family gathering quietly shaped how I saw myself.

There wasn’t one particular moment when things changed for me but I do know that finding my voice and the confidence to assert myself and my identity began with creating space for other voices. In 2020 I launched the Mixed Up podcast – exploring race, identity and belonging through the lens of the Mixed race identity. The podcast was born from a simple idea: that mixed heritage people were asking for a safe space to talk about who they are,about their lived experiences and their histories without having to simplify them, and without judgement?

What I learned through those conversations surprised me. Again and again, guests shared the same sentiment – they were not just asking to be seen, but to be understood. Belonging, I now know, is as much about fostering community and confidence and creating spaces for others as it is about finding out where you fit..

The podcast became a space for conversation rather than answers. I wanted to hear how other people navigated their own layered identities, how they made sense of heritage, of multiple and blended cultural touchpoints, language, and belonging.

Through interviews with ordinary mixed race people wanting to share their stories to those with extraordinary stories of displacement and loss, anti miscegenation and adoption – to conversations with mixed actors, historians, psychologists and even a pretty iconic moment with Mel B – each episode was part therapy, part learning curve. Through this dialogue, I started to see my own experiences reflected back to me and I felt an immense sense of connection and pride.

I wanted to keep sharing the beauty and the challenge of what I’ve learned through all of the insight and the stories I’ve been gifted by so many people over the years and writing Mixed– (a children’s book dedicated to exploring and celebrating your mixed identity) felt like the perfect next chapter.

I wanted to create something young people can hold in their hands and something families and educators could return to for support. In a world where identity is often debated or categorized, it is my hope that the book offers gentle guidance, that it can facilitate reflection, recognition, and a permission for children to see themselves, not as half – but as whole – not as too much of one thing and not enough of another – but whole.

There are two things I really love about ‘Mixed – Explore and Celebrate Your Mixed Identity’. Firstly – that the book is based on the idea of pen pals so each chapter starts with an inspiring letter from a Mixed Race icon with lots of wisdom to share. I loved pen palling when I was young and I feel like it opened up the world to me, teaching me the importance of asking questions and learning about others. I wanted to reintroduce this idea to children.

Because the book features letters from the likes of poet – Dean Atta, footballer Ashleigh Plumptre, actress Jessie Mei Li, author Jassa Ahluwalia, and activist Tori Tsui among others – readers will get insight into a range of lived experience perspectives that traverse different cultures and ethnicities. I hope readers will feel seen and that parents and educators will use these letters as tools to foster conversation and exploration with their students.

Secondly I’m really proud of how many practical exercises I’ve been able to include in the book that can be done between a child and a parent, caregiver or educator – from working on talking about our Mixed identities and learning to describe ourselves in a way that suits us, to learning terms and language like ‘cultural homelessness’and ‘misidentification’ to help us describe uncomfortable interactions and situations that might come up for us.

Ultimately I hope this book helps its readers – whether mixed children, parents, educators or otherwise – understand and appreciate that the mixed race identity is best approached as an ongoing conversation, and a dialogue – not a destination or a foregone conclusion.

My Top Tips for Educators who want to include and facilitate exploration of the mixed-race experiences of their students:

Normalise multiple heritages in the curriculum – represent mixed-race voices across subjects wherever possible.
Create space for student storytelling – invite learners to share their intersecting identities. Ask them to share how they identify themselves and why whenever you can. You may find this is a surprising and delightful question. *The first time I was asked this was by a guest on my podcast when I was well into my 30’s and I must say it was an epiphany moment for me.
Address assumptions gently – guide students to question fixed labels and fixed categories, especially when they don’t feel like they fit.
Model inclusive language – celebrate rather than erase nuance and complexity and avoid flattening storytelling or description that involves multiple cultural POVs.
Partner with families – ask what cultural strengths they’d like reflected in class.

Celebrating Multiculturalism at Home & School

Build festivals of culture that go beyond tokenism.
Showcasing music, food, stories and languages from all backgrounds and celebrating mixed heritage families where these cultures may intersect and overlap is more important now than ever given the current geo-political context and the political landscape Britain is facing. Cultivate ways to remind students that their layered cultural heritage is something to be explored, shared and celebrated.
Foster curiosity over correctness – teach children to ask about their classmates’ heritage or identity with respect. Asking rather than telling others about their identity is key.

Supporting Linguistic Diversity

Value home languages as intellectual assets.
Celebrate code-switching as a cognitive and cultural skill, not a deficit or a deceit. Often Mixed Race people’s ability to move through different cultural landscapes can be described as deceitful, dishonest or duplicitous – we need to normalise the idea of being able to straddle worlds and cultures when you’re of mixed heritage because it may be part of your identity fluidity and daily vernacular.

You can get your copy of Mixed – Explore and Celebrate your Mixed-Race Identity here.

Navigating Inclusion as a Trainee Teacher

Written by Catherine Wilson

I have worked in the special educational needs sector since 2017 and I am currently undertaking my teacher training with Exceed and doing my PGCE with Leeds Trinity University.

While I have known I wanted to work with children and young people for a long time, it has taken me some time to find that I wanted to teach and in particular teach in an SEN setting. I initially started my work life as a Youth Worker, working evenings at my local youth club before completing my BA in Youth Work & Community Development. After completing this youth work roles were scarce after a change in government and funding cuts so I then took a role in a college supporting young people who had additional needs and found my passion for supporting children with SEN. From here I then moved to an specialist SEN school working as TA and have worked my way up to doing my initial teacher training, which is where I am today!

Navigating diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging as an ITT can feel daunting. Am I using the correct terminology? Am I creating a culture of inclusion and belonging in my classroom? Do I feel confident enough to challenge people’s views in the classroom? It can be a lot to think about and navigate on top of all the other aspects of completing teacher training.

I have always thought of my practice as being inclusive and promoting equity and diversity but having Exceed SCITT as my teacher training provider has really opened my eyes to how much more I could be doing and made me evaluate my own practices and thought patterns. I have been really lucky that alongside the training they have provided me with they also signed us up to attend the DEIB Conference. And what a thought provoking day it was! Hearing from such knowledgeable practitioners has really made me stop and think.

My standout speaker of the had to be from event organiser Hannah Wilson and her session around Cultivating a Culture of Belonging. Her discussions on where we have felt like we belonged the most as we have grown up and moved into adulthood made me think about my own experiences growing up, of feeling most settled when I was with “my people” and also how it felt when I didn’t have those feelings of belonging. It made me reflect upon how I want to create that culture of belonging in my classroom and for all my pupils to feel like they belong. She also talked about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and for a lot of the pupils that I work with they don’t have all of their safety needs met, as a lot have health needs that they need support with, but it made me reflect on how I can help meet the Love and Belonging needs that they have. Making connections with them and their families and supporting them to feel like they matter and are seen and can be themselves, especially in a world where they are still written off as not being able to do because they have a disability.

I was also really inspired by Bennie Kara and her session around Diversity in the curriculum and I think this is where I could really have an impact with my pupils. Her talk discussed how you can adapt the curriculum to be more diverse. I work in predominantly White British, low socioeconomic status school and I hadn’t really given much thought to the impact it would have on the pupils who are not White British and the impact it would have on them not seeing anything that represents them culturally. I use a lot of Widgit symbols on my powerpoints and resources for the pupils and always just use the default skin tone which is that of a white person, there is the option to edit this and have different skin tones so when I’m creating my resources going forward I am going to vary it.

While Hannah and Bennie provided the ‘lightbulb moments’ for me I really appreciated what Krys Mcinnis, Jo Brassington, Lewis Wedlock and Mariam Tomusk had to say and will take points from their sessions into my own professional practice. Hearing from each of the practitioners really cemented my beliefs that diversity and inclusion are not just ‘tokenistic’ or something that are achieved and then forgotten but should be something that is a continuous development.

References:

Exceed SCITT: https://www.exceedscitt.co.uk/

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html?scrlybrkr=5cc7f61c