Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board minutes: April 2023

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Khadija Mohammed, Chair 
• Nuzhat Uthmani, Diversity in the Teaching Profession and Education Workforce Subgroup (DITPEW)
• Farah Farzana, Racism and Racist Incidents Subgroup (RRI)
• Monica Medina, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) 
• Asif Chishti, General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)
• Peter McNaughton, Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)
• Louise Barrett, Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE)
• Carol Young, Coalition for Race Equality and Rights (CRER)
• Nikhat Yusaf, Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network 
• Laura-Ann Currie, Education Scotland 
• Aqeel Ahmed, Equality Unit, Scottish Government
• Judith Ballantine, Learning Directorate, Scottish Government
• Pauline Hendry, Secretariat, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Mélina Valdelièvre, Education Scotland
• Jovan Rao Rydder, Curriculum Reform Subgroup 
• Victoria Smith, General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)
• Crisantos Ike, Member of Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP)u
• Rosy Burgess, Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP)
• Samir Sharma, Education Leadership and Professional Learning Subgroup (ELPL)

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The chair welcomed everyone to the Anti Racism in Education (AREP) Programme Board meeting. Apologies were noted, and substitutes indicated as below:

• Asif Chishti attending in place of Victoria Smith, General Teaching Council for Scotland

Minutes of previous meeting

The minutes from the last meeting were distributed with the papers for this meeting. An update was provided on the actions:

• Secretariat to share ITE Framework with members once published – Closed - This has now been published and the link was sent out to members alongside the minutes for the last meeting
• Secretariat to contact SG colleagues in the Trauma, ACEs and Resilience team to explore how best to access training – Ongoing - Members to consider National Trauma Training Framework (link in TOR) as part of wider thinking around becoming a trauma informed group
• Secretariat contacted colleagues with responsibility for ITE and CPL teacher training to discuss how they might develop training on racial trauma. Consideration to be given to how to include training on racial trauma as part of ITE. Secretariat to flag with ELPL subgroup – Closed - Secretariat have been in touch with the ELPL team on this topic
• subgroup leads to confirm to Secretariat how they intend to submit their responses to Phase 2 of the Hayward Review - Closed - The extended closing date for submissions is this Sunday 30 April. Further discussion on this topic will take place under agenda item 5
• Secretariat to ask Curriculum Unit colleagues to share Education Scotland’s publication date for the Anti-Racist Curriculum Principles, and any associated promotion plans. – Ongoing - Publication anticipated next month, promotion of the principles can be included in comms for the summit

There were no further comments and the minutes were agreed.

Update and overview of today's meeting

The Chair re-stated the requirements around respectful dialogue which are set out in the Terms of Reference, now permanently attached to the agenda for ease of reference.

Members were reminded that during the previous meeting they discussed:

• the emerging thinking from Professor Hayward on her review of qualifications and assessment and the subgroups’ potential responses
• the evaluation framework and associated findings presented by Hakim Din and Colin Duff (Calabar Education Consultants Ltd)
  • having had time to further digest the report, members agreed that they would like to invite Hakim Din to attend a future meeting in order to further consider their reflections Action: Secretariat
• Intercultural Youth Scotland’s proposal to engage with children and young people, and agreed that it should be submitted to Ministers for consideration and approval

Finance

The Secretariat confirmed that Scottish Government budgets in 2023-24 have not yet been agreed. As soon as agreement has been reached, and the budget available to deliver ambitions which fall within the scope of the AREP is known, the Secretariat will update members.  

Education reform (including National Discussion and Reform of Assessment and Qualifications)

Members were asked previously to further consider what they wish to reflect in the most recent set of responses to the Hayward Review, which can be submitted until close of play on 30 April.
Subgroup chairs were asked to outline their thoughts around the content of submissions their groups intend to make. The co-chairs of the DITPEW subgroup advised that their submission would restate their initial position, including reference to the Hayward Review interim report’s concerns that assessment could carry the risk of bias. DITPEW will submit that diversity in the teaching profession and among staff in national agencies who are involved in the design and delivery of instruments of assessment should be considered as mitigation to this risk.

While it was acknowledged that the work of the Hayward Review is considering fewer of the ambitions of the DITPEW sub group compared to the ambitions of the other groups, Board members were advised that where there are intersections with the DITPEW and the other groups, points could be sent to the DIPTEW co-chairs for inclusion in their submission.

The Chair reflected that race and ethnicity did not feature prominently in the interim report, and would like to see it embedded much further in future reports from Professor Hayward.

Progress updates from each of the chairs of the AREP subgroups

Each subgroup chair was asked to provide a verbal update on progress in their subgroups, based upon the written updates provided as annexes to these minutes.

Diversity in the Teaching Profession and Education Workforce (See Annex A)

Education Leadership and Professional Learning (See Annex B)

Curriculum Reform (See Annex C)

Racism and Racist Incidents 
Meetings of the co-chairs of this group are scheduled during June 2023, with a view to reconvening members.

Anti-racism in education summit

The Secretariat noted that work has continued to progress on the Anti Racism in Education summit, including endeavouring to secure the new First Minister’s participation.  They advised that colleagues in the Equality Unit are also looking to hold an anti-racism summit, highlighting the work they have been doing to progress the development of the Anti-Racism Interim Governance Group (AIGG).  Having discussed with the First Minister’s Policy Unit there was deemed to be value in joining the 2 events together, lending a more strategic focus to education ambitions.  Current planning envisages a 1 day event, with the morning focussing on the AIGG and the afternoon focusing in anti-racism in education.  The date identified currently is 7 June.   

A colleague from the Scottish Government’s Equality Unit outlined the work of the AIGG, co-chaired by Professor Ima Jackson and Talat Yaqoob, to date (Developing National Anti-Racism Infrastructure: Interim Governance Group). They noted the independent nature of AIGG, the recommendations it will be making to the SG in terms of developing anti-racist infrastructure and the robust reporting required.  

Members expressed that they would welcome a meeting with the AIGG chairs and that it would be useful to potentially invite them to a Programme Board meeting. ACTION: Secretariat 

The Chair expressed her hope to achieve absolute commitment from the Scottish Government at the summit, and welcomed the link with the AIGG, as a demonstration of the AREP sitting within emerging SG anti-racist infrastructure more prominently.

Draft commitment

Members were gratified to see previous comments reflected in the recent draft, and offered further comments:

• the perception that the pledge has six different priorities as a result of them being numbered raised concerns among members.  Members were clear that the areas are interlinked and should not be pursued separately/in isolation.  A commitment to all six areas of focus in the pledge should be implicit in signing up. It was suggested that the six areas of focus be denoted by bullet points, rather than numbers, underlining the message that all six themes are indivisible
• the first area of focus within the pledge links to the Anti-Racist Employment Strategy, which is not connected to racist incident reporting, and therefore should not form part of this section
• it was suggested that there be some rationale at the start of the pledge, outlining what is expected to change as a result of implementing it, and linking what is to be discussed, with what organisations are being asked to do

Members were advised that they should submit further comments on the draft pledge to Secretariat via email, and should do so as soon as possible.

Next steps and any other business

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

• Secretariat will circulate the minutes of the meeting by 12 May 2023

Members were reminded that requests had been made for Programme Board meetings to be held on a different day of the week. Members expressed a desire for a later start time to accommodate a change of day, but no other issues were identified. The next meeting will therefore take place on Wednesday 24 May at 15:30 and on Wednesdays thereafter.

Any other business

Teaching Scotland Issue 96 (readymag.com) – GTC Scotland commissioned an internal project researching children and young people's views on race and anti-racism in Scottish education. The work was carried out by Children in Scotland and Intercultural Youth Scotland. This article outlines the important messages to be shared – members are encouraged to share with their networks. 

Annex A

Workstream reporting - Diversity in the teaching profession and education workforce

Key achievements

• the eighteenth meeting of the DITPEW subgroup took place on 25 April 2023. The agenda covered:
  • a discussion on next steps for the DiTPEW re the Hayward Review
  • an update on Asif Chishti’s role within GTCS
  • a follow-up discussion on the annual data report post publication
• the annual Diversity in the Teaching Profession Data Report was successfully published on the 18 April 2023. Following this a letter was issued to ITE institutions and to Directors of Education outlining the key findings and sources of support for driving forward change. The letters were accompanied by guidance, drafted by Asif in partnership with other stakeholders, around enhancing levels of ethnicity data declaration
• the SCDE framework, developed on behalf of SCDE by Khadija, was published on 6th April. The formal launch is scheduled for June however there has already been really positive feedback following the soft-launch. A new Anti-Racism in Initial Teacher Education (ARITE) network has been launched to help drive change, it had its first meeting last week

Forward look

• work is underway to develop a session to be delivered as part of the Developing the Young Workforce programme. This will be focused on a range of issues such as pathways/how to be a teacher, what it means to be a teacher and support for teachers – all with a focus on encouraging minority ethnic children and young people into the profession. A small working group has been established to take this forward

Risks

• no known risks currently

Annex B

Workstream reporting - Education leadership and professional learning

Key achievements

• applications for the new Lead Specialist and Programme Lead for the Building Racial Literacy (BRL) programme have closed and interviews are expected to take place in May
• the ELPL workstream met in April to discuss plans for the BRL programme running in 2023 – 2024. ELPL members agreed that ITE practitioners, Middle Leaders and Headteachers applications should be prioritised

Forward look

• a fourth cohort is expected to run with the new BRL Programme Lead, but a fifth cohort with the current delivery model would not be feasible in this financial year. Instead alternative delivery models will be explored and tested, such as in-person delivery for a key target group such as headteachers
• the ELPL workstream will be welcoming an inspector as part of its membership to help progress the ELPL action plan
• anti-racist leadership remains a key area for development and the Anti-Racism Summit in June with a pledge/commitment is expected to build momentum
• the ELPL workstream will continue to review its action plan, with an understanding that its work needs to join up with the other three workstreams

Risks

• confirmation of funding for 2023/2024 has been welcome, with continued funding for the new BRL Programme Lead to be expected

Annex C

Workstream reporting - Curriculum reform

Key achievements

• work is underway to create a webpage on Education Scotland’s website with the Anti-Racist Curriculum Principles and a range of supporting material and case studies. Sub Group members will help to refine and develop the page. The publication plans for April have been revised to May to allow time for the new Cabinet Secretary to be advised of the plans
• members of the Sub Group have been invited to present at the ADES Curriculum and Qualifications Meeting on Friday 28 April. This will provide an opportunity to reflect on information gathered in the report of practice, and to consider what the Principles mean for local authorities in advance of the Summit
• SQA colleagues presented to the Group on the considerations underway to update the Higher History qualification to reflect some of the key issues that have been raised in relation to inclusion, decolonisation and anti-racism
• visible developments from the small grants for children and young people-led activity - Orkney Library on Twitter

Forward look

• plans are ongoing to develop an outline for Early Years and PSE resources led by WOSDEC and ScotDEC and with collaboration and engagement being fundamental to the approach
• four working group approach will continue in progress key priorities
• hope that the output of the National Discission – its vision and call to action – provide a new platform for articulating and amplifying anti-racism and the curriculum

Risks

• lack of clarity on funding for 2023/24 presents considerable risks to the delivery of SubGroup ambitions and expectations