By Punam Mohandas @PunamMohandas

We cannot ignore the fact that ‘Whiteness’ has fast become a contentious issue when it comes to discussing an ideal English teacher in Asia. Do educational institutions tend to ignore a teacher’s competency over ethnicity/nationality? This is one of the questions that I sought an answer to from the students themselves.

by Caroline Verdant @cazyv

Must you see the colour of my skin?
Does it change the fact that I want to win!
What is the goal? What is the prize?
If the colour of my skin is my demise!

by Adeola Ohgee @ao1982_

As black women, we have a very close relationship with our hair. Our hair is more than just keratin, it’s a badge of pride and honour because of the history behind it. Let's celebrate World Afro Day on 15th September with the global The Big Hair Assembly.

by Julia Skinner and Lizana Oberholzer @TheHeadsOffice @LO_EduforAll

During a recent presentation for WomenEd’s Global Unconference, we discussed the challenges and key considerations that governing bodies and trustee boards need to make when they consider new members. Diverse Governance, and the importance of diversity of teams, skills, backgrounds, ethnicity, race, religion and gender is highlighted in Section 4 of the latest Governance Handbook (DfE, 2020).

By Angeline Aow @angeaow

Recent global events have ignited an international call-out for educational institutions to take action towards becoming anti-racist, to decolonise curricula, address systemic racism and do more than simply declare that they believe in diversity and inclusion.

The rise of nationalism in many parts of the world, the inequities Covid-19 has exposed and the advocacy of the #BlackLivesMatter movement following the death of George Floyd, have ignited personal and institutional learning about social justice issues across the globe. 

by Charlotte Belmore @charliebelmore

The area of ‘white privilege’ is the uncomfortable elephant in the room that is not going away anytime soon. The idea of racism for many conjures up images of angry white men shouting offensive slurs with many seeing it as something visible and easy to spot. However, this is not the case as modern racism is more subtle and presents itself in ways that you might not expect.

by Cecile Halliday @SuttonPrepDH

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad came to my attention through different avenues. Firstly, tweets from @nourishedschool and @WomenEd so this prompted ordering the book. It then popped up again after some unconscious bias training from a Canadian course facilitator who directed us to the book for further work but it was presented as a workbook. Even though I had the book at home ready for my pile of holiday reading, I went and asked for the “workbook” that had been ordered as a follow up from the training. It was only when it was in my hand that I realised it was in fact the same thing… The book …. and this “workbook” that was clearly a book.

by Claire Nicholls @bristol_teacher

In the @WomenEdBookclub chat led by Angie Browne (@nourishedteacher) on Layla F. Saad’s ‘Me and White Supremacy’ workbook, we discussed key learning, silence and complicity, the discomfort of white privilege and how feminism neglects Black women and other women of colour. My reflections on this were very personal and made me realise how far I’ve come on the journey of anti-racism but crucially, how far I’ve got left to go.

by Dr Valerie Daniel @Valerie_JKD

As a black professional woman I am in this intersectional space of being somewhat respected by my peers whilst still being marginalised within the wider society. I say ‘somewhat’ respected because my entire journey here in England from 1989 until now has been fraught with ‘you are too passionate’; ‘you are very sensitive’; ‘I don’t mean to be offensive or anything but.......’ and my personal favourite ‘You have a chip on your shoulder’.

by Cheryl Campbell  @CherylSBM    #SBLConnect #SBLTwitter

Lockdown being imposed on us back in March 2020 was the start of a new way of working. In my previous blog I talked about how I found that my view of lockdown went through a number of phases as I adjusted to the new challenges and ways of working. I’m in phase 4 now and have restructured my working processes to allow for the new norm. Things I thought I didn’t have time for before I now realise I can achieve with the help of virtual meetings.

By Claire Price   @claireprice1

These last few days have felt insurmountable.

Last Monday, on the 25th May 2020, the world witnessed the death of a black man at the hands of the police. Videos of the death of George Floyd circulated and we felt diminished and we felt angry.

On Tuesday, the government finally published their report into the impact of Covid-19 on health outcomes on BAME people in the UK. The report described the problem but failed to address why this may be the case. Given the huge disparity in deaths of health care professionals from a BAME background compared with their white colleagues, this seemed to be a staggering oversight.

by Kerry Jordan-Daus @KerryJordanDaus

Thank you Francesca Martinez for your beautiful book, What the xxxx is normal? (!). It’s been on my reading list for some time, but in the COVID-19 lockdown context, well I was looking for something to read, and there it was. And it was just what I needed to read. Because this certainly is not xxxxxxx normal! But it’s important that I make it normal because what is normal?