Responding to the adultification of Black girls in secondary education
Internal practice
Duration
Began one year ago following a round table. Ongoing work
Reason it was developed
The National Education Union has committed to working with its members on anti-racist approaches to both understand and challenge the varied manifestations of racism in education systems and practice. In the case of Child Q, a concern based on a strong smell of cannabis resulted in an incredibly traumatic strip search while Child Q was menstruating, undertaken by police officers on school premises. No drugs were found, and the review concluded the police in attendance did not appear to follow appropriate procedures around intimate searches of minors (Gamble and McCallum, 2022). Serious questions have arisen around zero tolerance behaviour and discipline in schools that disproportionately impact Black children and can so quickly be escalated to the harshest criminal justice system response imaginable.
Activities
Roundtable discussion in Dec 2022 with this report being released with key recommendations in Feb 2023. Contributions to the roundtable consisted of a rich mix of research evidence, theoretical perspectives, professional experience and personal narratives. Several participants referred to their own schooling, interactions with schools as Black parents and the experiences of their own parents. Currently we are planning next steps to put in some key recommendations from the report including training as part of CPD and awareness raising and linking this in with our Anti-racist framework that is currently being rolled out across England, Wales and Northern Ireland regions of NEU. The adultification work is yet to take shape.
Results
As explained above