Challenging Racism.
Not part of my world.
15th March 2019 - when what we knew about ourselves, our country and our nation’s identity shifted overnight. Had we always lived in a country where racism and white supremacy had a place? Many, many New Zealanders were saying that they had been the victim of racist words and actions from a very young age and that it had started at school… in our classrooms.
Aotearoa New Zealand had imagined ourselves a different country and suddenly the reality was, undeniably, standing right in front of us - demanding acknowledgement.
The Brief
Create a School Kit in response to the national conversation that immediately followed the massacre.
• Challenge racism in the New Zealand classroom;
• Be brave and bold in your outlook;
• The kit must be able to be used by any Year 3-8 teacher regardless of the cultural makeup of them or their students. Acknowledge the existence of racism in New Zealand and in New Zealand classrooms.
The Goals
Do no harm - establish protocols and benchmarks for culturally safe sharing. • Support teachers to challenge their own racism and identify their own privilege.
Create a trial that reaches 1250 Year 3-8 classroom teachers and their 40,000 students.
A focus on social and emotional learning grounded in Rosemary Hipkins’ Key Competencies.
Counter the preference of NZ teachers to defer to a strategy of ‘colour-blindness’ when challenged.
Build cultural competence - in teachers and in their students.
The Solution
A personal reflection journal for the teacher filled with a series of plain English descriptions of concepts connected with racism but reframed to specifically address racism in a NZ classroom setting.
A cultural competence model focussed on continuing to move forward from where you are. Outwards from the centre is the goal. Being better than we were yesterday.
• Acknowledge that it is empathy that makes the difference every time and create activities that build empathy in a student to student capacity, in a teacher to student capacity, in a teacher to whānau capacity and in a school to community capacity.
• Make it child-centred. At Year 3-8 ‘my world’ is my classroom, my family, my friends. Goals are small, immediate and achievable. This kit is not about changing the wider world it is about changing my immediate world - the one I live in every day.
• Set a foundation for having brave conversations in the classroom. Get comfortable with the discomfort.
Teacher Feedback.
Acceptance and hidden bias
“Acceptance of other students and the uniqueness that they bring to the class. Students were challenged by their hidden bias and a change in vocab and general playground chatter began to change..”
Strengthened friendships
“Students became more accepting of others in the classroom. They began to see that everyone may have different values and this is what made our class unique. Existing friendships were strengthened and new ones were started.”