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Anti-racist Professional Learning has become more desired by many in education and beyond. George Floyd's racist murder in 2020 opened the eyes of the world, particularly the eyes of those who are racialised as White, which is undoubtedly a contributing factor to this thirst for Anti-racist Professional Learning and development. In education, this has been rewarding and incredibly challenging to plan and facilitate.
Educators have the power to mould, form and shape the minds of learners. However, due to our societal culture being so steeped in systemic racism, noticing and confronting the very existence of systemic racism has been demanding at times. The challenge has come in the volume of new knowledge that needs to be understood on the journey to being anti-racist. Many of those in education whose development I have led, have had to do lots of unlearning. This unlearning to be in a state that supports effective 're-learning' has been one of the biggest challenges and as a facilitator, who is a Black Female, this has been tough at times. This difficulty reinforces the importance of reflexive pedagogy for educators (Iszatt-White, Kempster, and Carroll, 2017) where the role of ‘the educator’ and ‘the student’ needs to be re-framed for new learning to begin.
Educators are used to having lots of answers; however, anti-racism renders many into a deeper space of the unknown, which can raise anxieties. This ‘…disruption and challenge to our [educator’s] taken-for-granted sense of identity and power within the student–educator relationship’ (Iszatt-White, Kempster, and Carroll, 2017) is what I have experienced frequently and has blocked people from being receptive to this new knowledge. This state of being ‘dislodged from an implicit position of mastery’ (Hibbert and Cunliffe, 2015: 186) by the adoption of a reflexive pedagogy (1989, cited in Hibbert and Cunliffe, 2015: 186) is even more challenging for some because of my racialised identity and gender identity. This intersectionality can work against new learning being received and, within the arena of anti-racism, can garner more resistance. As such, needing to contain feelings of upset and pain to facilitate and support the new knowledge development of others has not been easy.
However, I have found that setting correct levels of challenge that appropriately stretch participants, along with ensuring the climate that promotes brave interactions is intentionally established are ways that effectively counteract such behaviour (for most). As such, educators more readily understand and accept that they will have to leave their comfort zone and adopt a more courageous mindset adopting this strategy, otherwise little to no new learning can take place. As educators, it’s important to accept that anti-racism is a life-long commitment, and we have an opportunity to harness positive change that many others started long ago.
Whilst doing so, we must resist the feeling of defensiveness and be more willing to accept the experiences of the interpersonal and systemic racism faced, and question whether our levels of resistance would be as strong if the person facilitating the learning was racialised as White. Never is anyone operating outside of the many identity markers carried and thus we need to be mindful that Power and Positionality are always at play. After all, if people racialised as Black and Brown with lived experience of systemic racism don’t continue to share knowledge to develop our collective understanding, whom will frame our learning and growth and how?
References:Iszatt-White M, Kempster S, and CarrolL B (2017) An educator’s perspective on reflexive pedagogy: Identity undoing and issues of power. SAGE Jounal:Management LearningVolume 48, Issue 5
Hibbert P, Cunliffe A (2015) Responsible management: Engaging moral reflexive practice through threshold concepts. Journal of Business Ethics 127(1): 177–188.
Ellsworth E (1989) Why doesn’t this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review 59(3): 297–325
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