Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board minutes: 2 September 2022

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Khadija Mohammed, Chair
• Nuzhat Uthmani, Diversity in the Teaching Profession and Education Workforce (DITPEW) Subgroup 
• Jovan Rao Rydder, Curriculum Reform Subgroup
• Farah Farzana, Racism and Racist Incidents Subgroup
• Mélina Valdelièvre, Education Leadership and Professional Learning (ELPL) Subgroup
• Peter McNaughton, Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)
• Monica Medina, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)
• Victoria Smith, General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)
• Carol Young, Coalition for Race Equality and Rights (CRER)
• Ndaye Lisa Badji, Intercultural Youth Scotland (IYS)
• Nikhat Yusaf, Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) BAME Network
• Crisantos Ike, Member of Scottish Youth Parliament MSYP, Rutherglen
• Rosy Burgess, Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP)
• Sam Anson, Deputy Director, Learning Directorate, Scottish Government
• Judith Ballantine, Learning Directorate, Scottish Government
• Pauline Hendry, Secretariat, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Laura-Ann Currie, Education Scotland
• Matthew Sweeney, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Aqeel Ahmed, Equality Unit, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome, introductions and apologies

The Chair welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the reconstituted Programme Board. All attendees introduced themselves, and apologies were noted. 

Scene setting

The Chair reminded members of progress to date:

The REAREP was established in March 2021 after the public discourse on the Black Lives Matter movement, and following several months of stakeholder engagement. More than 50 education and anti-racism stakeholders worked with Ministers and SG officials to identify the key areas which require addressing in order to tackle racism in schools.

A range of actions were suggested by those who participated in the discussions, with the vast majority of them falling under the following headings:

• education leadership and professional learning
• the lack of racial diversity in the teaching profession and education workforce
• reform of the curriculum
• racism and racist incidents in schools

Working groups were established to consider and refine the actions. They reported to a large stakeholder network group, which considered the actions and shared them with the Cabinet Secretary for sign off. 

A small internal programme board, oversaw the REAREP. Its main role was to provide coherence, quality assurance and scrutiny (particularly in terms of value for public money).

Following feedback from members, the programme structure has evolved, putting more emphasis on the programme board and themed sub groups, and less on the stakeholder network group. The functions of the Programme Board are as follows:

• leadership
• coherence
• lived experience and anti-racist expertise
• professional expertise
• quality assurance
• transparency
• scrutiny (particularly in relation to value for public money)

This group will meet monthly for 60-90 minutes. Feedback from members that the 2 hour Stakeholder Network Group meetings were too long has been taken on board, as has the requirement to increase the number of members with lived experience and anti-racist expertise. The requirement to provide feedback loops ("you said, we did") has also been taken on board and the Secretariat will enact that.

The stakeholder network group will move to fulfil the function of a Knowledge Hub operating as an online resource. Information on this will be issued shortly.

Programme Board Terms of Reference and membership

The draft Terms of Reference was introduced. Members were invited to comment, and made the following suggestions:

Engagement with children and young people

• the Programme Board’s relationship with children and young people/a children and young people’s group should be more explicit
• a reference should be made to the existing input this group has had from children and young people, including that provided by Show Racism the Red Card as well as the viewpoints made by children and young people in the meetings at the beginning of the REAREP process with the Deputy First Minister and the Minister for Equalities in January 2021, and the documents which the Curriculum sub group developed

Accountability

• accountability processes should be referred to, specifically who is accountable for the outcome of the programme
• it was suggested that evaluation of how the workstreams are operating internally could provide useful learning in progressing the work
• the complaints process within the sub groups and the programme board should be made explicit. Clarification was sought on what that process is. Members were advised that any concerns regarding conduct should be reported to the chair of the relevant subgroup in the first instance. Alternatively, members can contact Khadija Mohammed, as Chair of the Programme Board, or Judith Ballantine, Programme Manager, or Sam Anson Deputy Director, if they prefer

Intersectionality

• specific detail is required on how an intersectional approach will be taken

Board membership

• it was suggested that to foster progress and continuity, the Education Leadership and Professional Learning (ELPL) subgroup should have a permanent member sit on the Programme Board, instead of their rolling chair. The ELPL subgroup will agree who should do so

Action: ELPL subgroup to consider permanent representation at the Programme Board.

Parental involvement

• it was noted that there are no references to parental engagement. It was pointed out that there was some engagement with the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS) early on in the REAREP process, but the forum does not undertake much engagement with minority ethnic parents, or develop anti-racist practices
• a parental engagement group, called Connect, was also suggested, but neither group are considered to productively support minority ethnic parents
• it was noted that SAMEE carries out work with minority ethnic parents
• a plan for meaningfully engaging with minority ethnic parents in relevant areas should be considered and included in the Terms of Reference

Miscellaneous

• add a sentence in Section 8 (papers and minutes) allowing group members to submit written comments up to a week after the meeting
• the term ‘schools’ is used throughout the document, but it was suggested that ‘learning establishments’ would be more inclusive, covering early years and community learning and development settings

Programme Board draft anti-racist principles

The draft anti-racist principles document was introduced.

It was agreed by members that the anti-racist principles document be incorporated into the terms of reference, to avoid any confusion or duplication between the two. It was suggested that some of the more ambitious aspects of the Curriculum Reform subgroup principles document should be replicated in this one.

It was also suggested that operational procedures (in relation to things like anti-racist expertise and lived experience, or engagement with children and young people) are set out clearly, with lessons learned from previous experience within the programme, resulting in it operating in an optimum way going forward.

Members queried how the document aligned with other principles, specifically:

• UN Convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC)
• Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
• Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC)
• Curriculum for Excellence (CfE)
• The Equality Act 2010
• UNESCO report

It was agreed that a section on principles within the terms of reference could include a link to key documents used to inform them, such as those listed above.

Next steps and any other business

The Chair expressed her appreciation to all participants for their time and input and outlined the immediate next step: 

• REAREP Secretariat will circulate the minutes of the meeting by 9 September 2022
• members should send any comments on the TOR and anti-racist principles document to the Secretariat by 9 September. The Secretariat will update them and re-circulate

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 28 September from 15:00-16:30.