Best Practice

Responding to and dealing with racist incidents in school

Safeguarding Anti-Bullying Pastoral issues
How does your school ensure that racist incidents are met with a safeguarding response that protects the child and does not entrench racism? Orlene Badu advises
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Following the Child Q report published more than a year ago (Gamble & McCallum, 2022), many schools, settings and organisations are now clear that a key safeguarding responsibility for all children is to protect them from racism.

There is a growing number of voices calling for living with the experiences and consequences of racism to be classified as an adverse childhood experience (ACE). These experiences can and often do have lifelong consequences and can have a negative impact on the lives of children and adults alike.

In 2020, a study published by YMCA England and Wales found that 95% of young black people have heard and witnessed racist language at school (YMCA, 2020; see also Weale, 2020).

The research also found that 70% of black British children feel under pressure because of having afro hair and almost half (49%) said they believed racism was the biggest barrier to academic attainment.

With so many children experiencing racism in schools and living in what can feel like a polarised community, it is imperative that we focus on those experiences in our schools.

To actively safeguard children against the experiences of racism in our schools, our processes need to be reviewed and/or refreshed to ensure we are hearing the needs of the child and demanding a safeguarding response every time.

In June, in a follow-up report to the Child Q incident (Gamble & McCallum, 2023), the authors heard the voices of young people and their experiences of racism in schools. They make 14 recommendations to ensure the continued safeguarding of children and young people in our schools and settings.

Recommendation number 5 states: “The City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership should review and revise its awareness raising and training content to ensure that the Child Q case is referenced, with a specific focus on reinforcing the responsibilities of practitioners to advocate for and on behalf of the children they are working with.”

The reports says that “the aim of this recommendation was to ensure that professionals are both competent and confident to robustly advocate for children; and where required challenge and escalate the decisions of others”.

Meanwhile, in the UK racial hate crimes have risen from 92,052 in 2020/21 to 109,843 in 2021/22 (Statista, 2022).

It is a rise many of us are seeing in our schools, which as ever are a microcosm of wider society. With that in mind, this article begins to look at some of the actions we can take in our schools to safeguard all children.

 

Reporting incidents

The importance of safeguarding children and ensuring that we are not causing further racial trauma for children, young people and their families cannot be over amplified.

In my book, How to Build Your Antiracist Classroom (Badu, 2023), I discuss how to ensure we handle racist incidents in a way that does not cause further harm or racial trauma.

I discuss, too, the importance of us being clear about how we apply a safeguarding lens when supporting children and young people who may be experiencing racism in our schools.

When completing pupil voice in schools and settings I often ask young people what their experiences are of racist incidents in school and how they can report these incidents if they do happen.

One thing that is consistent in all the sessions I have facilitated is a reticence among black and global majority pupils to report when they are experiencing racism in their schools. Previous experiences of negative outcomes mean that they do not always bother reporting incidents. These negative outcomes can include:

  • Pupils not being believed that the incident was racist.
  • Pupils left feeling ostracised by staff or their peers.
  • Pupils being made to apologise for suggesting that what they experienced was racism.
  • Pupils being aware that the feelings of adults have taken precedence (particularly if the complaint of racism is levelled against an adult).

These responses are also very similar to those of parents/carers when I have asked them about their child’s or their own experiences of racism in their child’s school.

 

A consistent and effective response

There are processes that we can put in place to ensure that every child who experiences racism receives a safeguarding response and is not further traumatised by our response.

Ensuring that every staff member is aware of how to treat any incident of racism, proven or otherwise, is vital to ensure that children receive a consistent response across the school and that their experience is not dependent on who is dealing with the issue. I share a number of strategies in my book, including:

 

Training

Ensure all staff members have training in being culturally competent and have a developed racial literacy. This ensures that all staff have an awareness of how race and racism operate in our systems and are better informed on how to handle situations that arise. This will also help their empathy for children when they experience racism. This does not have to be complicated: are there books that you can ask staff to read, or podcasts that may be worth sharing and discussing?

 

Processes and paperwork

A clear and consistent process for staff to follow will ensure that a child is not made to “prove” if an incident was racist in the immediate aftermath but is well supported to be able reduce any further racial trauma they may experience.

Having a clear process will ensure all staff keep an objective lens and do not spend their time focused on proving something was not racist rather than supporting the young person and understanding the harm they have experienced.

The initial response is to safeguard, find out what happened and pass the incident on to the identified member of staff who will take it further.

A safeguarding response will require that a consistent, school-wide form is completed to support that safeguarding approach. Much like any safeguarding incident we report, ensure it is free of opinion and catalogues the feelings and understanding of the young person and any others who were involved. It will not require the staff member to give any opinion. But the child can give theirs.

 

Parents and carers

A clear and consistent approach is needed when engaging with parents about what their child has experienced (if they were the victim) or what their child has done (if they were the perpetrator). Parents being able to engage with staff who are well equipped to deal with racist incidents will support the right process and provide reassurance.

Similarly, there will also be staff who will not be able to support that safeguarding process or who are not best placed to deal with racist incidents. Ensure training and support is given to them so they do not increase the racial trauma experienced.

And of course, we should avoid contacting parents in a rushed call at the end of the day. When we contact them we should be clear about what will happen next and how children will be educated going forward.

There should be a clear communication strategy when talking to parents/carers about incidents. Being keenly aware of the racial trauma parents/carers will experience if their child has been the victim of racism is imperative. We must understand how poor management of an incident can heighten concerns and increase racial trauma for parent/carers.

 

The education response

There should be a clear process about how you will “educate” children about anti-racism and what processes you will use as a school to deal with any racist incidents that occur. What texts will you use? What workshops can you run?

 

A safeguarding response

Your process must also include reminders for all staff about how we ensure a child is safe in our school after such an incident. Not only should we be concerned about the consequences given, but also about how the young person who experienced racism has been coping since the incident (a day, a week, a month later).

Understand and make clear the role of the designated safeguarding lead in racist incidents. What should they be involved in and how are they tracking responses to racist incidents and ensuring children are being safeguarded? How are they advocating for the child?

 

Data

Ensure we are tracking racist incidents. This will help us to understand if there is any wider work that needs to be carried out to ensure we are continually responding to the needs of our community. It is also useful to continue to report incidents to governors with data about trends and what actions we are taking to challenge racism in our school.

 

More practical tips

  • If you have members of staff who are better skilled at dealing with sensitive safeguarding incidents then they are best placed to support the creation of training/documentation.
  • If an incident does occur, the staff member, once they have dealt with the initial engagement, must pass it on to a trained team member who has responsibility for dealing with racist incidents.
  • Every incident should also be reported to the designated safeguarding lead so they can understand the experiences all children are having in the school and how they are being safeguarded.
  • Every adult has responsibility for ensuring the child feels safe and well supported. As a school determine what language or actions can create this, such as, “I’m sorry you feel this way”, “I am going to support you”, etc.
  • A designated member of staff must contact the parents/carers as soon as possible after the incident. Follow school protocol on what to share with the parents/carers in that initial phone call. This must be stuck to ensure that every parent/carer has the right conversation and are spoken to in the correct way.
  • As well as supporting the victim – and any bystanders who may have been harmed by the incident – it is important that the process on how to respond to a racist incident includes learning and education for the person who was racist. And then afterwards, we must confirm what they learnt. How will they understand the impact of their words/actions? How will they know that we do not accept this at our school?
  • Have you checked in after the incident (perhaps a week/fortnight after) with the person who experienced racism in your school? Have a process to ensure that the young person has access to support post-incident. They may experience delayed or continued trauma and need on-going support.

 

Final thoughts

Ultimately it is important that we find a consistent approach that can be shared with all staff. Reducing racial trauma and having a system in which their views are heard, and their concerns are dealt with will offer children and their families the vital support they need.

If our pupils are not receiving that support it says more about us than it does them. In my book there are checklists on what to include in your processes and an extensive discussion about dealing with incidents, how to support the child who experienced racism, what support to provide for the perpetrator, and how to communicate effectively with parents in a way that will support healing and repairing of relationships.

Orlene Badu is a former primary school headteacher who also has experience working in alternative provision. She is the author of How to Build Your Antiracist Classroom (https://bit.ly/3YXRDrz) and now works across London as a leadership and management advisor supporting schools and local authorities. She is also a school improvement advisor and is the curator of Hackney’s Diverse Curriculum. Visit https://orlenebaduconsulting.co.uk/. Read her previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/orlene-badu/ 

 

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