Being Black, British working in Education



by Louise Hall. 



I am new to the startcono team. Here is a a little bit more about me. 
I studied fine art BA and graduated with first class with honours from Arts University Bournemouth in 2020. After graduating, I became Student Union President running on agenda to reform education and make my university a more inclusive and more diverse environment. I had spent much of my time as an undergrad battling the system to feel seen and visible. 


A proud moment of my undergrad was writing a long list of books and texts that the library should have with some notable authors like bell hook, Audre Lorde and many more. I felt like many other students there was a clear lack of representation, there was a lack of celebration of cultures, gender identities, disabilities, and different lived experiences beyond a mainly white male curriculum. When challenging the lack of voices from different lived experiences on the reading list, it often came with well these are the greats why change what we know? 


During my time as SU president, I wrote a report questioning what had changed since my university promised to change in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Not much had.. I felt this was a key time to continue to hold the university and education system accountable and a key time for learning and change. 


After leaving the role of president, I knew I wanted to say in education. So, I took a role at a prestigious independent in London that had funding to try to tackle educational inequality. 

I found being in this role like balancing on a knife edge, there is so much work that needs to be done and so many barriers within the institution that wasn’t ready to always ready to hear the change. I faced countless microaggressions and a barrage of sexism, in coded language and just overtly. During my time at this school, I never truly felt safe like I could express myself without fear of microaggressions and backlash. It was clear in some areas of the school, that discussions around identity and racism weren’t happening. It was uncomfortable. But hey, that wasn’t going to stop me from trying to discuss how we could make impactful changes within the education system with the resources we had. 


During my time at this school, I was able to observe lessons and watch the work we were doing to be more Inclusive. It was then I realised my role was to be in front of a classroom, teaching. I want to be able to be a role model to the next generation. With the hope to help solve educationally inequalities, with a diverse and empowering curriculum that our young people will feel seen and inspired by. 


There are clear issues with education and educational policy, which have not been addressed by this current government. The drastic impact of covid and harsh cuts to funding to a system which is key to our society. There a clear lack of diversity within the teacher sector, for example, that back in 2019, 85.7% of all teachers in state-funded schools in England were White British. I remember my education and having a distinct lack of Black teachers, especially in primary education. 


So I decided this year to document via this blog my experience as I embark on my teacher teaching training in primary education. I wanted to create a space to reflect, learn and share my experience. I want to create a safe space to share my own experience as a trainee teacher. 


Here is a few questions for you. 


Will my experience be different because I am from a black background? 

Why is there a lack of black teachers in Education roles? 



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