Tackling racism in the classroom

25 February 2010

The Faculty of Education, Community and Leisure, in partnership with Liverpool City Council's cultural unit 'Culture Liverpool', launched the Government-backed 'Senseless' education pack as part of the PGCE inclusion conference, which was held on Tuesday 23 February 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Speke Liverpool.

The inclusion conference aimed to support 320 PGCE students in mapping out lessons across the national curriculum using the 'Senseless' creative tool kit.  This is the first time that LJMU has worked in partnership with other organisations to recognise and address some of the issues that these soon to be Newly Qualified Teachers will face within UK schools.

PGCE trainees were asked to use innovative methods to engage in dialogue with young people using 'Senseless', which is the fifth educational resource of the city's Capital of Culture 'It's Not OK' anti-bullying programme. It featured a 20-minute film, CD-rom, lesson plans and ideas for curriculum links.

Peter Horsfall, the Head of Secondary Initial Teacher Training at LJMU, said: “We believe the skills delivered through this conference will be essential in preparing new teachers to work effectively in increasingly diverse school communities.

“The efforts made in this conference compliment other work that is being done in engaging secondary trainee teachers in supporting grass roots community organisations.”

The previous 'It's Not OK' project, 'Denial', dealt with homophobic bullying and, according to the City Council's Bullying Audit 2009, successfully led to a drop in bullying in schools.

Councillor Keith Turner, Executive Member for Education at Liverpool City Council, commented: "'It's Not OK' is a fantastic legacy of being European Capital of Culture and brilliantly demonstrates how creativity can make a difference to every day issues and lives. 'Senseless' tackles a huge problem in our society and taking its lessons to the next generation of teachers is going to have a huge impact in the classroom and beyond.''

Workshops were led by the Aerial Trust and the ECL Secondary and Vocational Education team. The Aerial Trust, a Liverpool-based charity which specialises in multi-media creative education, has devised the Senseless pack for Liverpool City Council. Paul Ainsworth, the Director of Aerial Trust, said: "By providing 300 teachers with a resource like 'Senseless' we hope to reduce the incidence of racially motivated bullying in Liverpool schools."

Preparing the teachers of the future and providing them with the tools needed to support children and young people within the educational environment is at the core of LJMU's values. The aim is to create an awareness of the multi agency assistance available to teachers within the school environment by highlighting the support available for vulnerable groups in schools.

Pictured left to right: Maurice Bestman (creator of Senseless Film), Amina Ismail (BME Recruitment and Retention Advisor), Paul Ainsworth (Director of Ariel Trust), Mark Fitzsimmons (Liverpool City Council Inclusion Manager), Phil Duggan (Secondary Initial Teacher Training), Joanne Stevens (Key Stage 2/3 English Teacher Childwall Sports College)