Anti-racism: how to review and re-frame your curriculum

Learn how to make diversity central to your curriculum, not just a bolt on, and make sure BAME history and achievements are taught all year round. Download our review tool and use it to question and adapt what you’re teaching so your curriculum accurately represents Britain's diversity.

Last reviewed on 1 December 2022
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 40889
Contents
  1. Your review should have 3 aims: representation, re-framing and anti-racism
  2. Download our subject-specific primary or secondary review tools 
  3. How to carry out the review and adapt your curriculum
  4. Use examples of alternative curriculums to inspire your adapted curriculum
  5. Next steps: support staff to deliver this curriculum

This article focuses on how to improve your curriculum in relation to race. You can, and should, apply similar principles to improve diversity in terms of gender, disability and sexual orientation. Use our curriculum audit for gender and LGBTQ+ inclusivity to help you do this. 

A note on terminology: We use BAME (Black, Asian or minority ethnic) in this article as a succinct way to refer to the many ethnic minority groups in England, but we recognise that some people are not comfortable with the term. When talking about this topic in your school we'd encourage you to think about what will work best in your own context (other widely used terms include "ethnic minorities" and "people of colour") – and note that individuals should always be referred to according to their own ethnicity, rather than grouped in this way.

Your review should have 3 aims: representation, re-framing and anti-racism

Improving representation and diversity across the curriculum

This is about asking whose stories you tell and who tells these stories.

It's also about making sure pupils who are Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) see themselves reflected in your curriculum, all year round.

For example, including black Tudors in history lessons or talking about the Arabic origins of algebra in maths.

Re-framing how certain subjects are taught after examining how they are taught through a western or colonial lens

This is also known as “decolonising the curriculum”.

This isn't necessarily changing what you teach, but how you teach it.

For example, teaching the British Empire as “invading and exploiting” rather than “exploring and settling”.

Teaching explicitly about anti-racism and racism (past and present)

It's important to teach this in a British context, and do this all year round.

For example, teaching about the Bristol bus boycott, not just Rosa Parks.

Consider adapting your curriculum intent to include your commitment to equality and diversity – this needs to be central to your whole curriculum, rather than just an add-on.

Want more practical tips on how to create a more inclusive curriculum from the school leader who advised us on this article? Head to IdeaStream from The Key - a curated library of bitesize CPD videos, where experienced school leaders share best practice from challenges they’ve already tackled. If you're not yet an IdeaStream member, find out more here.

Download our subject-specific primary or secondary review tools 

Our anti-racism curriculum review tools will help you review all National Curriculum subjects. 

The questions and prompts will help you pinpoint where the weaknesses or gaps are in each subject.

You can use the next steps to address these gaps and begin to adapt your curriculum. Use them:

  • As a prompt or specific actions while planning your curriculum and lessons
  • In CPD sessions to share ideas and start conversations about diversifying your curriculum
  • As part of your school development or improvement plan

 

How to carry out the review and adapt your curriculum

Create a cross-curricular staff working group

  • Subject leaders or heads of department should ask the questions and prompts for their subject – they know their curriculum best and will be best placed to make changes
  • Create a cross-curricular staff working group who meet regularly and share expertise and ideas. This is especially important for primary schools, where subject leaders aren't necessarily subject specialists. This group should include:
    • The subject leader or head of department for each subject
    • Any other members of staff who are interested in this work and want to take part. They don't have to be teachers – they just need to be passionate about improving diversity in your curriculum
  • This is a big piece of work, so it shouldn't fall to just a few people. Make sure it doesn’t just fall to staff who themselves are BAME – this is everyone’s responsibility
  • Certain subjects might want to work more closely together e.g. English and history, maths and science
  • When carrying out the review, the working group should look at curriculum maps, short and long-term plans, and sometimes individual lesson plans and resources (you won’t always need to go into this level of detail, but you might want to look at a few examples of lesson plans or resources per unit to get a good idea of how content is taught)
  • The working group should also take into account cross-curricular events/days, trips and assemblies
  • How often the working group meets is up to you, and will depend on how much time your staff have. Aim for at least once a term, but half-termly would be ideal

Give staff time to educate themselves on anti-racism

This isn’t going to work unless people are engaged and believe this is important. Before carrying out the review, you'll want to improve staff's 'racial literacy'.

A working group of staff, parents and governors should oversee this work

This group should work alongside any whole-school work you're doing to improve your school's approach to anti-racism, such as a whole school anti-racism audit.

Read our article for more about how to set up a working group and use it to improve your approach to anti-racism. 

Include the whole school community and let them know what you're doing

  • Consider running an INSET or CPD session for all staff to “kick-off” the review (using the webinars above, or extracts from them, as a starting point) so everyone is engaged and feels involved, not just staff in the working group
  • Encourage all staff to feed in suggestions or ideas of what needs to improve, via their subject leader
  • Include pupils and parents in these discussions, even if they aren’t in the working group. Tell them you’re going to review your curriculum and why you’re doing it. For a great example of how to do this, see St John and St James' CofE Primary School's anti-racist statement
  • Let governors know you're carrying out this work, especially any curriculum link governors. Let them know how they can get involved with the working group if they want to

There's no quick fix

It may take up to a year to do the full review, and once you've completed it, the working group should keep meeting to discuss how it's going and any ways they want to adapt the curriculum further. In a sense, this work will never be "finished" – it's likely to be an ongoing process.

  • Your cross-curricular working group might want to meet at the end of each term or half-term (depending on how often they're meeting) to review what’s been taught that term/half-term and how they want to re-frame/teach the content differently the following year – this way the whole review will be completed in 1 year
  • Give staff time to get this right and don't expect them to complete the review in their own time. You could consider setting aside all your INSET days for a year for those staff in the working group to dedicate themselves to this work
  • Ideally, you'd review all subjects simultaneously. But if time or capacity is limited, good subjects to start with are history, English, RE and geography – this is where the biggest changes may need to be made and where you can add the most value. We’ve set out the subjects within the review tools in a suggested order, but don’t forget to review every subject eventually

Use examples of alternative curriculums to inspire your adapted curriculum

The London Borough of Hackney has developed a Diverse Curriculum. It includes resources that highlight the significance of the black contribution as part of the history of Britain. They're free to access, just sign up using a school email address.

The Black Curriculum offers resources including videos and lesson activities. They also offer arts-based black British history workshops, teacher training and assemblies. 

The New York Times has a series of resources that focus on diversifying the curriculum. Many are focused on the US, but some lessons are transferable. 

Please note: the Key does not endorse these specific products.

Next steps: support staff to deliver this curriculum

When you've reviewed and adapted your curriculum, you need to support your teachers to be confident delivering it.

  • The cross-curricular working group should continue to support staff in delivering the curriculum once they've adapted it
  • Use our anti-racist reading lists for staff to help get all teachers up to speed
  • Consider staff training – for example:
    • Show Racism the Red Card – find out about training here
    • EduCare – find out about their online Equality & Diversity training here

These are for information only – The Key doesn't endorse any particular training courses or providers.

Sources

Many thanks to the following experts who helped us write this article and compile the review tools:

  • Gulshan Kayembe is an independent consultant with extensive experience of school improvement. She is passionate about the curriculum and its potential to inspire the best from our learners. Gulshan provides training and facilitation in a wide range of areas including teaching and learning and diversity
  • Pran Patel is the founder of Decolonise The Curriculum. He has 16+ years of teaching experience, working recently as an assistant principal. He currently consults with schools nationally and internationally on decolonisation of the curriculum and different aspects of pedagogy and leadership
  • Shalina Patel is head of teaching and learning and a history teacher at Claremont High School Academy. She has recently run training for Challenge Partners on diversity in the curriculum and has written for Teach Secondary on why schools should teach students about hidden and marginalised figures
  • Sufian Sadiq is director of teaching school at Chiltern Learning Trust. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors and holds various roles with awarding bodies. He is experienced in curriculum planning and design

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