This post is one of three where I will share reflections and insights from my work towards becoming an anti-racist educator. In this post I’ll communicate my rationale and motivation for intentionally taking up anti-racist work in my role as an educator. In the next two posts I’ll provide insights and resources that have informed my current thinking and practices in the hope that they will be useful to others who are also striving to become anti-racist educators by infusing their work with anti-racist practices.
I’ll begin by explaining that I’m striving to become an anti-racist educator because I understand that my beliefs about race inform the way I see, treat, and teach students. I also understand that race matters. Meaning, while racial differences are socially constructed and have no scientific basis, a persons’ perceived race will impact how they navigate different communities. Their perceived race will also inform how they are seen and treated by others from within and beyond their communities. Therefore, I believe that if I opt to adopt a colour-blind politics by pretending that I don’t see the racial profiles of the students I teach or recognize how my racial profile informs what and how I teach, I risk exacting harm on students; particularly Black and other racialized student populations who in general have questionable schooling experiences.
Further, I use the verb striving to describe my work towards becoming an anti-racist educator because I understand that learning to employ anti-racist practices is a continuous and ongoing process that changes depending on a series of factors. Some of those factors include the context in which I work, the students and colleagues with whom I work, the curriculum contents, and the socio-political climate in which the teaching and learning are situated.
I began striving to become an anti-racist educator in 2020 following an Ontario Ministry of Education review of my school board that found anti-Black racism to be systemic issue penetrating every level of the board. A few key findings from the review include some board trustees using derogatory terms to identify schools with large Black populations. Administrators disseminating harsher punishments to Black students for undisclosed reasons; and some educators disproportionately streaming Black students into non-university bound tracks without adequately informing students and parents/guardians of the consequences to their secondary and post-secondary pathways.
What I found particularly disturbing from the review and what compelled me to action were the comments from Black students. During the review many Black students shared that they felt they were streamed into lower academic tracks due to misperceptions about their cognitive and academic abilities, and that they noticed that they received harsher punishments than their non-Black peers for similar misconduct.
Wanting my work as an educator to more purposely support identifying then removing barriers to Black student engagement and learning, I committed to infusing my work with anti-racist practices. I think that any educator who commits to infusing their work with anti-racist practices receives a call to action; a moment when they make a conscious decision to become part of the change that they want to see within schooling then take intentional steps to make that change a reality. I also think that it is imperative that we as educators at any stage in our career remain mindful that we have a sphere of influence where we can effect change.
In my next post, I’ll share one of the steps I took to change my practices. I’ll also share two resources that helped me to take that step by interrogating my beliefs about race in addition to other identity markers and the importance of interrogating inherent personal biases prior to engaging in any anti-racist.
