Whole School Approach to Racism and Racist Incidents - equality impact assessment

Executive summary

The EQIA considered evidence from statistics, academic studies, and reports commissioned by third sector organisations. Feedback from the members of the Anti Racism in Education Programme Stakeholder Network Group and Racism and Racist Incidents workstream formed an important aspect of the evidence base. Members of these groups represented expertise in the areas of education and antiracism, and several contributed from the perspective of their grassroots experience of working with children and young people who experience racism. One member facilitated two young people’s focus groups to provide direct feedback on a draft of the Whole School Approach, which was incorporated into the guidance.

While the evidence was from varied sources and covered a long duration of time, the overall message remained consistent that racism and racist incidents remain pervasive in Scottish schools. This has a negative impact on children and young people who experience racism, affecting their wellbeing at school. There are inconsistencies between and within schools in responses to racist incidents. Schools may not have robust policies in place to respond to racist incidents, and this can lead to incidents being misidentified as bullying, a lack of appropriate response and support offered, and further distress for the children and young people involved.

Any child or young person can be affected by racism in school, whether they are adversely racialised or not. Recurring or unaddressed racist incidents can create a perception that prejudice and disrespect will be tolerated. This may increase the risk of bullying for all students and lead to a reluctance to report incidents. Educators have a critical role in nurturing a safe and inclusive environment and preventing stigmatisation and discrimination in school.

The evidence also demonstrated that adversely racialised school staff experience racism while at school, as do adversely racialised parents, carers, and families. A whole school approach to racism and racist incidents therefore needs to take into account racism experienced by school staff, and by families.

The Impact Assessment process confirmed that a full EQIA was required, as this is a new guidance document within an ongoing national approach to relationships and behaviour in schools.