Building Racial Literacy Programme (United Kingdom)

The ultimate goal of the Building Racial Literacy programme is to make every educator in Scotland racially literate, effective at dealing with racism and confident in leading anti-racism.

By racial literacy, the Building Racial Literacy programme refers primarily to France Winddance Twine’s definition as ‘a form of anti-racist training’ with:

• a recognition of racism as a contemporary, not just historical, problem
• a consideration of intersectionality (the ways racism intersects with other factors such as class and gender)
• the development of language to discuss race, racism and anti-racism
• the ability to decode race and racial micro-aggressions.

Benefits

• By completing this programme, you will:
  • build your racial literacy. In particular, start learning about the nuances of racism and anti-racism (with the language to name it) and build the skills to continue this learning long after the programme is over
  • begin developing the skills, confidence and resilience to engage in racial dialogue
  • develop a personalised action plan to lead anti-racist change
  • You will also receive a certificate of completion.

Expectations 

• Participants on this national programme are expected to:
  commit to two afternoon induction events, one full day at the end of the programme, three twilight webinars and a minimum of six hours of self-directed online learning between programme events.
• keep a reflective journal and submit a short extract of your final journal entry with your anti-racist action plan to present to your peers at the end of the programme.
• engage your school and/or learning community in the programme (through programme tasks provided on the programme website and professional dialogue)
• become part of an anti-racist learning network and a national movement for racial literacy
• collaborate and support anti-racist change in your context following your personalised action plan and with the support of the learning network. This can also include:
  • supporting colleagues, children and young people, learners and wider communities to engage in anti-racist learning;
  • supporting colleagues to engage with anti-racist resources and professional learning opportunities;
  • and applying to support the delivery of future iterations of the Building Racial Literacy programme.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Building Racial Literacy programme is open to all educators in Scotland. The programme is for those interested in becoming anti-racist educators and leaders, those seeking to build their confidence in discussing and challenging racism and those who need help identifying and implementing anti-racist behaviours and processes in their everyday practice.
• They welcome educators at different stages of their anti-racist learning.

For more information, visit Education Scotland.