Blog

How to create a safe, inclusive, equitable learning environment

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by
Gori Yahaya

Education is changing. The huge shift to remote education made it more accessible to some people and less accessible to others. But it also got many of us reimagining what education should look like – and creating inclusive, equitable learning environments has to be at its very heart.

A teacher addresses a class of students.

Here are some practical ways that educators can start to make those changes.  

Break down barriers 

Talent is in abundance but, unfortunately, opportunity is not equal, and the broken talent pipeline starts in education with a lack of role models; a lack of inclusion; and an equal opportunities deficit.  We have to find a way to break down barriers, get people into education and the workforce, provide the right level of support and then make sure they feel like they belong and can thrive.  

There is so much that individual educators can do in the classroom to create a more inclusive environment, from making sure they say students’ names correctly to authentically praising students. It also includes making sure we leverage the accessibility functionality in the technology we use such as text to speech and close captioning, to make learning more accessible. 

We have to find a way to break down barriers, get people into education and the workforce, provide the right level of support and then make sure they feel like they belong and can thrive.

Teachers need to improve their cultural intelligence and educate themselves on how different cultures engage, the different needs of diverse cultures, how to create physical and online spaces that are interfaith, collaborative and gender conscious.

All of this helps to give more marginalised groups the confidence to feel they can really engage, not just with their teacher and learning, but also with the space in which they need to be communicating, building genuine relationships with the people around them.  

Which resources?  

Examine the language and images used in teaching materials. Is the language inclusive, or does it still fall into the trap of the ‘default white male’? If resources include images of people, who’s represented? The same is true at an institutional level with the prospectus and website: do they include images of people from diverse backgrounds?  

When I went to university and even through my entire schooling period, most of the materials I engaged with didn't feel like they were right for me. That needs to change. 

Recruit, recruit, recruit 

Out of nearly 23,000 university professors in the UK, just 160 are black. It's a tiny number – fewer than 1%. If we can invest in getting more black and ethnic minority teachers and retaining them, it will have a direct impact on academic engagement, performance and future aspirations. 

In the meantime, more diverse industry mentors must be brought into the classroom to support students. Representation is crucial. If a student can see themselves in the literature, in their environment, in the people who are teaching them, in the workplace they want to enter, it impacts their aspirations and their beliefs about what they can do. 

Look after black teachers 

Since early 2020, black people in positions of influence, such as teachers or professional staff in education, have felt pressure from within their organisations to stand up and be role models. This is alongside all the micro aggressions they face on a day-to-day basis; alongside all the challenges they face to be able to thrive.   

In many cases, there will be one black teacher in the organisation or at a particular level. That means all the pressure is piled on them to help the organisation or the institution articulate its approach to stamping out racism or to attracting more diverse candidates. Institutions have got to urgently recruit more people from diverse backgrounds to build a wider network. 

Seek external advice 

One way to avoid putting so much pressure on staff is to bring in external expertise – it’s typically why my organisation gets called in.  

An institution may need external help to build a campaign that attracts more black teachers, tackling bias in the hiring process or to re-examine student enrollment. 

One way to avoid putting so much pressure on staff is to bring in external expertise

There are some phenomenal experts out there who know how to build inclusive environments within an organisation, celebrate diversity and accelerate it in a way that attracts more.

To ease the pressure on individuals, ask how they would like to be better supported.  And then – the important part – pledge to try and find that support and invest in changing processes to tackle the lack of representation. 

Educate on allyship 

Black teachers can face additional pressure from colleagues who, with the best intentions, seek their help in being a better ally, asking to be educated about how to address racism. 

Institutions can support  teachers by educating them all on allyship. It takes work and investment, but institutions need to make that commitment to get this right.   

Go beyond unconscious bias training  

If you seek external training, make sure it’s role specific. Unconscious bias training has been a fairly easy go-to for organisations and, while it may get people thinking differently, it's often far from practical. And that's what people need – relatable, scenario-based examples, which really help them feel they can take the information and use it directly from day one.

...go beyond unconscious bias training and build programmes that take people on a journey, so they can take ownership of their learning, engage more with it and move up levels.

In our broad inclusion curriculum, we focus on many different areas, from how to have culturally conscious and gender-conscious communication, to how to manage feedback and career conversations.

So, go beyond unconscious bias training and build programmes that take people on a journey, so they can take ownership of their learning, engage more with it and move up levels.   

Invest in tech with a human connection 

During the pandemic, there have been many ethnically diverse communities coming together to talk about how to support each other and ensure they are visible and heard. Like never before, here is a spotlight on lack of representation and the need for investment in diversity.

At Upskill Digital we want to make sure it stays visible within organisations and that’s where the tech piece and the people piece come together. It means that, when we invest in technology, we want to make sure there's a human connection within it. It’s always got to be people first.  

Gori Yahaya is the founder and CEO of UpSkill Digital, a learning organisation that builds award-winning programmes around inclusion and skills for the workplace. Gori is giving a keynote presentation on day two (9 March) of Digifest 2022

About the author

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Gori Yahaya
Founder and CEO of UpSkill Digital