Inside the first conference for “ground-breaking” anti-racist initial teacher education framework

Rachel C Boyle, Dean of the Carnegie School of Education, is speaking at the recent Anti-Racism Framework for Initial Teacher Education (ITE/T) Conference, a milestone event that has brought together education professionals from across the UK to discuss best practice use of the Anti-Racism Framework.

“These types of events are very, very rare, so we’re really excited to bring people together with this theme in mind.” She adds.

The conference has already led to lively discussion about how the framework can be embedded within education institutions and networks.

Rachel continues: “Most of our colleagues here are qualified teachers with backgrounds in primary or secondary education, so the buzz in the room is around how we better prepare our students to tackle racism through education.”

Rachel C Boyle, Dean of the Carnegie School of Education

For Carnegie School of Education Professor Vini Lander, who leads the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality and co-developed the framework, hosting the conference is an achievement in itself. It’s the beginning, she hopes, of a conversation that will lead to cultural change at education institutions across the country. 

“At the beginning of the conference, I asked the delegates if they had been to a conference on anti-racism in initial teacher education, and no-one raised their hand.” She says. 

“I don’t think there’s been an event like this for about 30 years. It’s a vibrant, supportive environment and people are really enjoying the dialogue.

“Our keynote speaker, Dr Sarah Pearce from Goldsmiths, was brilliant. She advocated against deficit thinking of black and global majority teachers that come into our courses, and how we can develop everyone’s racial literacy to deal with racial microaggressions in any educational environment.”

Professor Vini Lander, Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality 

The Anti-Racism Framework has been developed by Professor Lander and Professor Heather J Smith from Newcastle University, providing ITE/T institutions with a systemic model for culture change within the provider and its partner placement schools.

It has been modelled on the Centre for Race, Education & Decoloniality’s Anti-Racist School Award, an assessment tool to evaluate current practices and initiatives related to race and racism within schools.

Lilian Martin, conference attendee

Over 200 schools have already signed up to the award following its launch, while the university signed a partnership with Liverpool City Council in March to deliver a bespoke programme aimed at tackling racism in all of the city’s schools.

“We’re incredibly excited about the work and partnerships we’ve recently announced, it’s really impactful and timely work.” Rachel adds.

“As we’ve seen, schools across the country are crying out for this kind of support and training, and we’re really excited to deliver it to them.”

Find out more about the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality.