Improving anti-racism accountability systems in K-12 education

Implement policy and legislative safeguards for PADs

Recommendation 41: The Ministry of Education must boost access to advocacy services for students/families of African Descent. Such dedicated advocacy services must be backed by strategic policy that emphasizes implementation by teams with the necessary cultural humility and lived experience. This can be mandated either under the Representative for Children and Youth Act or under the pending Anti-racism legislation.

Improving anti-racism accountability systems in K-12 education

Implement policy and legislative safeguards for PADs

Recommendation 42: The Ministry of Education must develop, in conjunction with educators and psychologists of African Descent, the necessary competencies and toolkits for contextually interpreting the evaluations and assessments of educators and principals of African Descent by students and reviewers, respectively. This is critical as a de-contextualized review system could reflect anti-Black racism and discrimination that in turn affects the professional and career chances of educators of African Descent.

Improving anti-racism accountability systems in K-12 education

Implement policy and legislative safeguards for PADs

Recommendation 43: The Ministry of Education must ensure that the eventual K-12 Education Anti-Racism Action Plan recognizes the peculiarity of anti-Black racism and its implications. It is critical that the Ministry of Education pursues an implementation strategy that supports collaboration with Black-focused organizations and educators of African Descent to promote the action plan within the Black community. The associated oversight and implementation committees must include students, educators and community leaders of African Descent.

Deepening representation in schools

Increase the recruitment of PADs

Recommendation 44: The Ministry of Education must prioritize the training, recruitment and retention of more mental health and career counselors of African Descent for BC schools.

Deepening representation in schools

Increase the recruitment of PADs

Recommendation 45: The Province must support and require BC schools to prioritize the recruitment of Black educators, principals, and administrators. It is critical to design and implement teacher education programmes that target students of African Descent and attract them to the teaching profession in BC. Programs such as UBC’s Indigenous Teacher Education Program can be adapted to suit the needed contextualized training for future educators of African Descent. Implement targeted incentives to attract Black students to teaching such as grants, tuition reimbursement and Black-centred mentorship and skill development programmes.

Deepening representation in schools

Increase the recruitment of PADs

Recommendation 46: To meet the Black-educator deficit in BC schools, the Province must design a credential recognition system that recognizes and allows qualified Black educators who have immigrated to BC to more easily practice their teaching in BC. A supplementary approach is to encourage and support opportunities for part-time teaching, talks and sessions for Black professionals including interested retirees. The education Ministries can maintain a list of willing participants.

Deepening representation in schools

Deepen equity in service delivery by and to PADs

Recommendation 47: The Ministry of Education must provide educators of African Descent with the needed emotional and material support as they face navigate racist structures and institutions. This includes dedicated support to Black professionals within BC’s education sector to run their solidarity and mentorship programming. Also, it is critical for the Province to design and support training programs for educators of African Descent on how to effectively deal with the racism they will encounter from students and peers. The program must be led in design and implementation by educators with lived anti-Black racism experiences as an unreflective program can be retraumatizing.

Deepening representation in schools

Support PAD professional development

Recommendation 48: The Ministry of Education must support the professional growth and retention of educators of African Descent through dedicated training on leadership, career advancement and succession planning.

Improving K-12 curriculum, training and socialization

Improve cultural sensitivity programs and anti-Black racism training

Recommendation 49: The Ministry of Education must fund and support anti-Black racism education and training programs in schools for all students, educators and other staff across BC. These programs must be designed by persons with lived experiences and aim to re-socialize non-People of African Descent while providing People of African Descent with resources to navigate concerns with expected and real incidents of anti-Black racism.

Improving K-12 curriculum, training and socialization

Reform and promote accurate representation of PADs

Recommendation 50: The Ministry of Education must promote the use of an anti-Black racism lens in curriculum development and content delivery in schools. It is important to draw on educators, students and experts of African Descent in the development of such an anti-Black racism curriculum. The study of Black cultures and histories in BC schools must center the excellence, science, arts and innovations of People of African Descent and does not emphasize People of African Descent as victims or as perpetrators.