Last week, the ABC's Mary Lloyd reported on a survey that found 91% of African-Australian respondents had experienced racism in a school context.
In this rapid response, Professor Leonie Rowan, the Director of the Griffith Institute for Educational Research, said this is supported by another recent study, and that schools are not being provided with the time and resources to make a difference.
Professor Rowan has internationally recognised expertise in many areas of educational and social justice, including the health, well-being and longevity-effects of education, education and social risk, gender and leadership, and values-led research. Her research and teaching are fundamentally interconnected and build on more than two decades of experience in education settings. She has received numerous, prestigious awards for her teaching and multiple competitive research grants.
“Schools CAN play a role in changing culture and many schools create wonderful environments: but this takes time and access to appropriate forms of education,” Professor Rowan said.
“This latest report comes as no surprise to anyone who has been researching the experiences of Australia's diverse learners for the past 20 years. This happens both in schools, and in their wider online contexts.”
A recent study conducted by researchers at Griffith and Deakin Universities focused on the experiences of International High School Students. A survey conducted as part of this research – led by Dr Aida Hurem – showed that 40% of 225 surveyed students experienced racist behaviour online every week.
“And when asked, in that survey, would make their lives in Australia happier, students wrote heartbreaking responses such as: “don’t ask us if we eat dog/cat” and, “(if) I have new skin.”
“This same study also showed that schools play a vital role in creating the kind of social connectedness that can improve student wellbeing: so schools are a vital site for intervention.”
Dr Hurem said schools can play a role in changing culture and many schools create harmonious and inclusive environments, but this takes time and access to appropriate forms of education.
“Unfortunately, when governments and policy makers decide that school performance needs to be raised, or that teacher education needs to be improved, the focus is almost always on adding in extra subject content [more maths, more literacy, more phonics, more science], or implementing specific testing regimes [NAPLAN, PISA, etc] or responding to a crisis,” she said.
"This can take away much needed and incredibly valuable space within a teacher education program to help future teachers understand really crucial and foundational challenges like racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism: and how these all interconnect.”
Dr Hurem said all of these issues run across every aspect of the school experience and appropriate and sensitive responses “shouldn't be learnt through trial and error.:
“People need to fully understand the complexity of the issues so that they can move beyond crisis response to constructive and active planning for genuinely inclusive environments,” she said.
“If Australia, as a society, wants to get to a position where racism is never seen as acceptable, then we need to invest in education that helps people recognise, call out, respond to processes that are overtly or covertly racist, and which allows teachers the time and space to do this important work.”
Dr Hurem said this will benefit all learners, but most importantly, it will allow educators to play a critical role in helping create a society where all people are safe and valued in their schooling journey.
“We have plenty of data to prove that racism in school is alive and well, that racism hurts and has long term consequences in terms of attendance, engagement and achievement. And we also know that even the most experienced and well-intentioned teacher needs more support to address day to day and ongoing experiences of racism,” Dr Hurem said.
“This includes developing the skills to respond to an 'on the spot' incident, and the ability to understand the ways a racist culture is perpetuated: often by poorly thought through decisions regarding curriculum, pedagogy and teacher/student interactions.”
The original version of this story was published in MCERA.