Anti-racist training launched to support new Curriculum for Wales
New high quality, free, diversity and anti-racist professional learning (DARPL) is now available to all education professionals across Wales, as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic histories and experiences become a mandatory part of the Curriculum for Wales.
The Welsh Government has committed to creating an Anti-Racist Wales by 2030, which calls for zero tolerance of racism “in all its guises”.
In order to achieve this, our education system must broaden pupils’ understanding and knowledge of the diverse cultures which have built our past and present. This new professional learning will help achieve our ambition.
Wales’ first Black headteacher, Betty Campbell MBE, pioneered a curriculum which included Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic histories.
One of her former pupils, Chantelle Haughton, Principal Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Cardiff Metropolitan University, is driving a national approach to empower all educational staff with the knowledge, skills, empathy, and confidence to celebrate and value diversity.
Resources, training, and guidance for educational professionals are available in one place through the DARPL virtual campus. This progressive project is led by a coalition of partners with professional and lived experience to support those working in education to understand and develop anti-racist practice.
The grass roots of the project were sewn earlier this year, with anti-racist professional learning for school-based practitioners. From the autumn term, provision will extend to early years and further education practitioners. A new anti-racist professional learning module for senior education leaders will launch in the Spring.
DARPL has been fast-tracked as one of the new professional learning areas supported by Welsh Government as part of our recently announced National Professional Learning Entitlement.
The training is crucial to delivering the Curriculum for Wales and achieving high standards and aspirations for all.
The Education Minister, Jeremy Miles, launched the project at Llanwern High School alongside DARPL Director Chantelle Haughton and Rachel Clarke, Mrs Betty Campbell’s granddaughter and a partner in delivering and steering DARPL.
Llanwern High School has its own connections to the ground-breaking headteacher.
It works in partnership with Team DARPL, and was the first-ever winner of the Betty Campbell MBE award for promoting the contributions and perspectives of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities at the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru.
Pupils and staff at the school have shown strong leadership in celebrating diversity, developing their curriculum to create an inclusive environment, with pupils from the school’s Diversity Club as the driving force.
Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles said: “It’s been a pleasure to launch this exciting project at Llanwern High School, while seeing the important work pupils and teachers are already doing to make their school and teaching truly anti-racist.
“This high-quality national approach to professional learning will help the education workforce deliver a curriculum which reflects and respects everyone.
“I strongly urge all educators to get involved with DARPL and as we work towards our ambition for an anti-racist Wales by 2030.”
Chantelle Haughton said: “At this time of step-change with the new Curriculum for Wales, we have the opportunity to support educators to ensure significant change.
“Professional learning and re-thinking professional practice are the golden keys. DARPL provides the opportunity to enable equity and cynefin for every child in Wales.
“Please join us in DARPL’s national conversation and action community. DARPL is for everyone involved in education and childcare in Wales.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Creating an “anti-racist” Wales by 2030? Yeah that’s entirely unachievable. For one thing, racism is a generational thing for the most part. Unless there’s plans for a cull that I don’t know of a la Logan’s Run. Quantifiably less racist by 2030 is doable. But anti-racist? I recall an optimistic period of about 5 years in the 2nd half of the 1990s when things started going right. There seemed to be fewer wars. Russia was a mess but seemed to be working it out peacefully (by their standards). The anti-nuclear proliferation treaty was doing its work. Gulf War I was… Read more »
Is it okay to raise issues of immigration and native cultural sustainability, without succumbing to racism?
You tell me. The topic bears discussion certainly. It depends very much though on the goodwill of the parties discussing it.
There are a great many noisy ignorant day-drinkers still shouting about this, despite the unmitigated disaster of Brexit.
But there are intelligent people acting in good faith who are pondering it too.
Depends which of those groups you are in I guess.
Not just referring to my good self, but to the possibility of discussing these things in society generally. It seems to me that we are debarred from having a grown-up conversation about matters cultural and related to immigration, for fear of being called racism, fascist, Nazi, and so on. Its incredibly frustrating, but I don’t think a country in Wales’s position can afford not to discuss these things.