‘No one should go to school and endure racist slurs or aggression’
Professor Charlotte Williams has personal experience of racism in the Welsh education system. She told Abbie Wightwick about her work to make it a thing of the past
PROFESSOR Charlotte Williams grew up in Wales subjected to “personal slurs”, casual racism and with no sense that her family’s story was part of the history of Wales she was being taught.
Now she has been tasked with helping change all that.
The academic and award-winning author, who went to Craig y Don Primary and Ysgol John Bright in Llandudno, says although the curriculum has moved on since the 1960s “it’s not different enough” and what children learn and do in the classroom must reflect all their lives.
She has been appointed by the Welsh Government to oversee improvement in the teaching of Welsh BAME history and but she warned that teachers alone cannot tackle the racism still “deeply entrenched” in Wales and elsewhere.
She is “outraged” by ongoing reports of racism in schools from Show Racism the Red Card Cymru and schools inspectorate Estyn.
“Racism is so deeply entrenched,” she said. “No one should go to school and endure racist slurs or aggression about their identity.
“I know schools have bullying policies and work very hard on these issues, but it’s evident that racism is present and quite pervasive. I don’t think schools alone can tackle this.
“We can’t just expect schools to put it all right but they do have an important role and that’s known and acknowledged.
“It’s an outrage that anybody should have to go to school to face and experience this (racism) on any level and it should not be happening.
“I think the issue about racism is it is in institutional practices. I don’t think we can say it’s more of a problem here or there, it’s something schools have to take on board.”
Alongside her academic career here and in Australia, Professor Williams is known for her groundbreaking text A Tolerant Nation? Exploring Ethnic Diversity in Wales and her award-winning memoir of growing up mixed race in Wales Sugar and Slate, which won Wales Book of the Year 2003.
As the daughter of a white Welshspeaking mother and black father from Guyana, Professor Williams,66, has written about how her childhood in north Wales left her feeling that “somehow to be half-Welsh and half Afro-Caribbean was to be half of something but never quite anything whole at all.”
She hopes schools can help children in future feel more of a sense of identity.
A graduate of Bangor University and now an Honorary Professor there, the academic retired last Christmas as Professor of Social Work and Deputy Dean at RMIT University in Melbourne.
She was about to return to Wales when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. She is still in Australia and says chairing the working group will be a good way to “reconnect with my home” as well as helping address racism and identity.
The group was set up by the Welsh Government in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and protests in Wales and around the world following the shocking death of George Floyd when he was arrested by police in Minneapolis. Footage of the arrest in May shows a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck while he was pinned to the floor. Mr Chauvin, 44, has since been charged with murder.
Professor Williams and her group will now review learning resources to help teach themes relating to BAME communities across the whole curriculum in Wales. It will also look at professional learning opportunities and resources and help the review of Welsh history teaching being carried out by education inspectorate, Estyn.
Professor Williams, who was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New
Year’s Honours List in 2007 for services to ethnic minorities and equal opportunities in Wales, stressed she does not want to criticise schools or teachers. She said she wants to find out what is happening, and what changes are needed. Initial findings will be made by Christmas with a full report next spring.
“Let’s not pillory schools, let’s give them incentive. I think people think this is extra work but I’m not seeing it that way - it’s just doing things in a different way.
“It would be great to understand what is available to teachers and schools and what support they have.
“We need a review of what’s currently available and we can then ask questions about gaps and what’s not there. There might be signposting for things such as literary sources, music and dance, but it’s not just humanities, it’s also science, health, IT etc.
“We also need representation from people in schools which are not highly ethnically diverse. It would be great to know the current situation and what the level of confidence is.”
Black history should not be separated off and should be part of Wales’ history, she believes.
“Welsh history is black history. It should not be divided, otherwise what we have is stories about black people disassociated from the rest of Wales and its involvement in imperialism and colonialism.
“There are myths about Wales and the idea we are tolerant is challenged by the historical record.
“What should happen to the statue of (slave owner) Thomas Picton in Cardiff City Hall is a question teachers should be asking their classes. I would value debate and deliberation rather than hiding things away. I don’t believe in erasing the past.”
Professor Williams, who has grandchildren at school in Conwy and in Australia, also wants the group to find out why so few BAME people from Wales become teachers or remain here for their teaching careers.
“I know numbers of BAME teachers in Wales are woefully low and surprisingly seeing we have many BAME people wanting to be public servants.
“I have it in mind to meet and talk with some of the black teachers in Wales and ask then what they think some of the barriers are.
“It is important to have a diverse staff - teachers are role models for aspiration and learning.
“It’s also out of step that there are not more BAME staff. It is a disappointment that this is the case after years and years, particularly in areas with well established multi-cultural communities. Why can’t we have homegrown teachers or why aren’t we keeping them?”
As a child, Professor Williams went to school for a year in Nigeria when her father Denis, an academic, was working there. She said this experience of having black as well as white teachers was important.
She hopes the review of the curriculum will not all seem like more work for teachers.
“When we have movements like Black lives Matter it often seems to fall to schools. Schools somehow seem to have to compensate for all ills, which they cannot do alone.
“But schools are very important in formulating values and attitudes and understanding and approaches to difference and diversity, that’s why it’s important to grasp this opportunity and move forward.
“Black Lives Matter has been a real push forward, but with all these things there’s a peak and then there’s a danger they just become rhetoric.
“You have to be careful to avoid that so let’s grasp the opportunity to do something real with our curriculum in Wales.
“Black, Jewish, Italian, Polish, there are many ethnic minorities in Wales. All deserve a place and attention.”