Diversity in Schools — Julian Girdham

Bennie Kara’s new book Diversity in Schools is just out in the Corwin series ‘A Little Guide for Teachers’. It is indeed ‘little’ physically, but it is big in ambition: there can hardly be a more important subject than doing our very best to make sure that every child who goes through a school prospers, and the ‘diversity’ that is explored in the book has a justifiably wide range.

Both schools and individual teachers can find it daunting and even nerve-wracking to navigate this area, but the good news is that this is just the book to help in the process. While short, it is really well-structured and clear, and has firm foundations in evidence and experience, moving easily between practical suggestions and their theoretical underpinning. Each chapter has a mixture of approaches, including Hints and Tips, Reflection prompts, Ideas for the Classroom, Case Studies and Note it Down (a guided thinking exercise). Bennie Kara is a reassuring and level-headed guide: ideas are actionable, and are put in the wider context. As she writes, On your own, you can only do so much. But everyone can do something.

Diversity in Schools, though written from the UK perspective, is certainly full of value for Irish educators. Ireland may have been the first country in the world in which there was a successful popular vote for same-sex marriage, but our rapid liberalisation is very recent and possibly very shallow, and we are well behind our neighbours in terms of immigration and a multi-racial society. We have more thinking, and a lot more acting on that thinking, to do, as Simon Lewis pointed out in his recent ‘If I were the Minister for Education’ Anseo podcast about diversity in primary schools (he concentrates on how a system could easily make adjustments, rather than advice for individual teachers).

Bennie Kara starts, as you might expect from an English teacher, in language and its nuances. The first chapter is Why is language important in creating diverse schools? Informing ourselves about the meanings and associations of particular terms, phrases and acronyms is not difficult for anyone. This overlaps with the second chapter, which starts with ‘the power of names’ (how mortifying it is to find we have been calling someone by the wrong name: now think of the deep offence created when that name comes from a diverse background):

On talking to students now, I hear countless times that teachers have mispronounced names that are deemed difficult because they are not traditionally British [we can easily substitute ‘Irish’] names. It is not the first mispronunciation that stays with the student; it is the failure to learn how that name is pronounced and then use it correctly on the second, third, fourth attempt.

There are plenty of other interesting suggestions about language, such as how etymology, for instance, can open up diverse perspectives (the sources of English words are probably the most various of all major languages). A good self-test which will bring many of us up short is: can I teach a lesson on language and diversity if I was asked to? Ummm…

For English teachers matters of language and literature are always on our minds, but teachers of all other subjects will find a good deal of guidance here too for their classroom practice. Often English and History are expected to do the heavy lifting, but true diversity has to permeate all parts of the curriculum. Sometimes this can be hard (especially when there is a nationally-determined curriculum as in Ireland, with relatively little deviation permitted), but Bennie Kara gives suggestions to Maths and Science teachers too. Again, everyone can do something.

A few other points:

For anyone not familiar with terms like micro-aggression, unconscious bias and ally-ship, this is a good book to start with.
Bennie Kara cautions us about potentially tokenistic ‘bolt-on activities’ (though these might have their value in the short term while the curriculum lacks diversity). The ‘shrine in the corner’ of the classroom can be counterproductive.
Display is one of the easiest ways to ‘usualise’ difference. When was the last time you saw someone in a wheelchair in a display in school? Gulp.
Expanding the literary universe through the age-old concept of the journey of the hero in epic literature: When planning the sequence of knowledge in English, providing a working baseline from which English literature springs is a beautiful way of creating a culturally aware classroom. This is a far better way to promote diversity than just choosing texts by BAME writers with no other purpose than to pay lip service to representation.
The single-story narrative problem (echoing Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s famous talk - I was lucky enough to go to the Dublin Convention Centre to hear her talk in 2018 - audio here). To combat this... other than having a curriculum that integrates diversity, we can start to show our students positive representation of global endeavour by BAME communities. Here is my review of a new book which teachers in Ireland could use in classes which certainly expands our Irish literary universe, Why the Moon Travels by Oein DeBhairduin, a lovely production from Skein Press which amplifies the rarely-heard voices of the Traveller community.
The concept of usualising (getting away from the highly-charged word ‘normal’): Tom Sherrington has a valuable post here prompted by this part of the book.
(my recommendation): The Dollar Street website from the late Hans Rosling’s organisation Gapminder is excellent for teachers of all subjects to help classes explore the different ways people around the world live.
There is a thorough ‘sources of information and support’ section near the end of the book, including a ‘diverse school reading list’.
I attended a remote session a couple of months ago with Bennie and Hannah Wilson of Diverse Educators, whose website is worth exploring (the Protected Characteristics are UK ones, but we have our own Equal Status Act).

Close to the end of the book Bennie Kara writes this:

There will never be a magic well of time for teachers to dedicate themselves to this endeavour. We do make time for what we value. It is with that statement that we should consider what, as teachers, we want to dedicate our time to… Taking the step is important.

Just so. This ‘little’ book is a terrific help in starting to take such steps.