By Rose-Anne London Unteach Racism how it can help your practice Example one Example two 4-year-old Māori boy has an intense love of all things sport, whose attention would quickly shift from one thing to the next. Although some kaimahi were apprehensive, kaiako A arranged to take him on a trip to a local sports centre where he could see his local heroes honoured on a sporting wall of fame. During the excursion the boy stayed right next to the kaiako A, chatting about where they were going, what they saw, and on return to the Early Learning service thanked for taking him, as he had never had an opportunity like this, where someone had trusted him, before. Kaiako B looked at the pukapuka on the bookshelf and wondered about the stereotypes that these books may be inadvertently be perpetuating. Kaiako B noticed that in the pukapuka the villains of the stories either had darker skin or were wearing black and heroes were portrayed in lighter colours. Kaiako B then set about ensuring that all learners could see themselves as the heroes on the bookshelf. What is Unteach Racism? The first iteration of Unteach Racism was released in May 2021 with an aim to help teachers, identify, confront, and dismantle racism in education. The Teaching Council | Matatū Aotearoa partnered with the Human Rights Commission’s Give Nothing to Racism campaign to create conversations around racism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Teachers have a unique opportunity to shape the hearts and minds of children and young people, so Unteach Racism has been designed specifically for you. How does it work? Unteach Racism recognises racism is learned and therefore can be unlearned. Unteach Racism aligns to commitments in Our Code, Our Standards | Ngā Tikanga Matatika, Ngā Paerewa and presents a professional learning opportunity through: ● ● Unteach App - made up of eight key modules that sit across the concepts of identifying and confronting racism ● ● A website – kaiako can access the app from the website as well as key resources to use during professional learning ● ● Quarterly newsletters – including guest narrative, tips, and updates on when new resources become available ● ● Toolkit – including downloadable posters and social media graphics to support you and your colleagues to Join the Movement. Modules currently available There are eight modules currently available, covering identifying and confronting racism. One example is Module 2, which is themed around low self-belief. This module guides kaiako through understanding intrapersonal racism and learner experiences of this. It guides kaiako through an activity ranking learner quotes, such as: “Im really good at maths but my teacher just thinks I’m stupid so never gave me any time cept to get me n trouble. But if you’re Pākehā its all good” leading kaiako to then consider a ‘where to next’ with this understanding of interpersonal racism and low self-belief. Examples of kaiako practice Here are two examples of practice where kaiako attempt to counter the negative perceptions of learners’ race. Consider these examples and the prompting questions below. June 2022 { 14 }
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