How The DfE’s New Guidelines Impact The Future Of Liberatory Teaching
On the 24th September 2020, the Department for Education shared new guidance for PSHE programming which has left us extremely concerned. As a social enterprise seeking to embed the teaching of Black History in schools throughout the year, we felt we should share how this guidance could affect teaching, the school experience and how to support organisations that are challenging the recent guidelines.
The guidance (which can be found here) outlines information to implement into the statutory curriculum for the now mandatory Relationships, Sex and Health Education. Within it, schools are advised that they “should not under any circumstances work with external agencies that take or promote extreme positions”. Examples of this include engaging in or encouraging active or persistent harassment or intimidation of individuals in support of their cause, promoting divisive or victim narratives that are harmful to British society, and presenting information to make unsubstantiated accusations against state institutions.
This guidance makes it extremely difficult for educators to teach honestly about how our experiences of the world are different due to institutionalised and everyday racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia at every part of society; Or about the organisations and individuals working to fight against these injustices.
I spoke to a friend and PSHE teacher (Ms G) of mixed British and Grenadian heritage who talked about how this recent guidance jeopardises the development of the young people that she teaches.
“I think specifically for children of colour, the majority of my students are from working-class backgrounds with different ethnic parents outside of White British. A massive thing we learn about at school is empathy, so this idea of “not teaching victim narratives” means the children will not be learning how to empathise with other people. The whole point of looking from a victim’s point of view is to stop them from ever being the perpetrators.”
It is clear that the guidance aims to embed a sense of status quo and hegemony within teaching - ultimately a form of gaslighting where difference is flattened and there is not space for generative conversations about making necessary changes in society, caring for trans and LGTBQIA+ children, or critiquing the relationship between economic systems, institutionalised racism and inequality.
The guidance is also staunchly against schools working with organisations with “extreme political stances” such as abolishing capitalism. Thinking about world-building is exciting and empowering as a way for young people to actively engage in their future. PSHE allows young people the space to relate to one another, to understand how to navigate the world around them and make informed and empathetic decisions. This is particularly important for all working-class young people. In particular, Black and of colour young people who experience such huge disparities in social mobility, due to the very structures that are now not allowed to be interrogated in teaching.
Ms G commented “We cannot live in a civilised community and world if we are not teaching children from all angles. They have inquisitive minds and are far more open than adults. It’s far better to give them all of this information in constructive settings, within a classroom where they have the opportunity to ask the right questions. It’s not only about educating through grades, it’s our responsibility to make sure that they have the tools to make informed decisions so when they grow up, they are adults that we want in this world and are going to make a difference.”
The guidance attributes alternatives to our current societal and political structure as “extreme”. It states all teaching should be impartial and any opposition to “freedom of speech” is to be considered as an extreme political stance. This emboldens far-right sentiments and means liberatory organisations such as Black Lives Matter, School Climate Strikes and Extinction Rebellion will be restricted from the curriculum.
It also means that The Black Curriculum’s very own teaching would be restricted on the grounds of these guidelines and in turn affects our relationships with reaching new schools, young people and curriculum reform.
One of our educators, Christina Peake, shares her thoughts: “When I think of the training and dialogue around racial literacy and then developing the emotional and social intelligence to engage this learning from a child to adulthood, it is fundamental to the systemic change we are trying to action. The art of relationships, of negotiating conflict within them, how to cope with not belonging because for many that will be a feeling you may have to deal with at some point in your life whatever your ethnicity. I think that is a state that is one of being humane as well as the social cohesion that this informs. To support the psyche of the black community via healing as well dynamic education and engagement “
The guidance stresses impartiality in teaching, which means accountability and honesty cannot be fully integrated, and therefore diminishes the possibility of teaching Black History all year round in all different forms. But, the good news is that here at The Black Curriculum, we’re not disheartened. We will continue towards our goals of education and empowerment, whilst working with young people, grass-roots organisations and educators to support each other and make progressive and necessary change.
CARE (Coalition of Anti-Racist Educators and Black Educators Alliance) released a statement on the 28th September about the DfE’s guidance as policing political education and racial gaslighting. They said the guidance “is a thinly veiled attack on a wide range of movements fighting for urgently-needed social justice causes, and has implications far beyond its apparently narrow scope”
As well as this CARE & BEA have set up a fundraiser to “liberate our classrooms” which you can contribute to here. Funds raised will go towards legal action against the DfE and calling them to withdraw the much opposed guidance. Their statement concludes by saying “We will not accept an education system designed on these terms, and will resist it every way we can”.
The Black Curriculum works to embed Black Histories into the National Curriculum, and to create a sense of belonging and identity in young people. To do this effectively, we must empower young people with the tools to interrogate, explore and understand the complex history of Britain. Which, more often than not, excludes the presence and contributions of Black and people of colour, whether in historical events, politics, literature, music, or the arts. To teach creatively & honestly is integral to our mission. Yet the DfE guidance works to do the exact opposite.
As we continue to live through the Covid-19 pandemic, the recent national and international Black Lives Matter protest, and the publishing of this blog post during Black History Month, it is important that we understand the severity of what is being normalized within education through these new guidelines. And, it’s imperative to work together to ensure liberatory education for all.
