06 Oct Black History Month
This weekend, I was reading an article written by Benjamin Zephaniah. In it, he argued that, despite feelings that society has progressed towards greater racial equality, in actual fact, we have not come nearly far enough. He suggests that Black History Month is a symptom rather than a solution; that the current curriculum is not inclusive enough; and that by celebrating Black History as a standalone event once a year, we are actually highlighting an inequality. I tend to agree.
What schools should be doing, is continually ensuring that Black history and culture is an embedded part of the curriculum and is taught on a day to day basis. The challenge though, is to ensure that this is actually happening in schools – it is all too easy to simply assume that it is.
There also has to be a balance in any curriculum. We need to ensure that our schools’ curriculum reflects the diverse community that we serve and that it is responsive and useful to its children and parent body. Knowing our children well, and understanding their varying religious and cultural backgrounds is profitable for everybody: the process of bringing parents into school to talk about their heritage and history, not only provides a valuable learning experience for children, it also gives parents and carers a stronger stake hold and sense of personal value within our school community.
This October, our children will be participating in lots of activities based around learning about Black History. However this is a launch pad, and will be part of a wider long-term initiative, aimed at celebrating personal histories and journeys. We want our children to learn to be empathetic, understanding and curious about their world, and about the lives of those that they come into contact with.
One of our priorities of the School Development Plan this year is entitled Citizenship and Values Education. Through this, we are aiming to promote positive values, such as equality, tolerance and respect. We are also looking to further engage all parents so that they feel valued and can be part of our school community.
We have circulated information about the sorts of activities we have planned for Black History Month this year; however its success also depends on the involvement of children’s families. We very much welcome anyone one who would like to come into school to participate – not just this month, but at any point in the future.