The 2021/22 academic year has got off to a flying start, our busiest to date.
Across September and October we visited 25 schools and talked to over 6,800 pupils about prejudice and discrimination. On top of this we delivered CPD (teacher training) sessions for almost 1000 teachers and PGCE students this half term.
To put these numbers in context, we have witnesses a three-fold increase in bookings compared to our pre-lockdown numbers.
On one hand we can celebrate the success of the department and thank the many HOPE Education Fund supporters that allow us to provide all this free to schools. On the other hand, the fact that demand for our services continues to grow, shows just how alive concerns about prejudice still are in communities across the UK.
The nature of the issues we are facing in the classroom continues to evolve, and we are adapting our modules to reflect the topics being brought up by pupils. For instance, post BLM we are seeing many students having a much more nuanced approach to understanding racism, allowing our lessons to dig deeper into structural prejudice and how power dynamics influence this. However, we are also seeing a rise in anti-feminist rhetoric (as seen in our Youth, Fear & HOPE Report) in the classroom.
The HOPE not hate Education Team work daily in classrooms across the UK to not only educate pupils about the holistic challenges of prejudice but also to empower them to stand up for fairness and equality; to help make their schools a better place to learn and live.
“The kids have all said how much they enjoyed it and they said they “actually found it fun” – meaning they thought it was going to be very intense but it was a fun and easy way to learn about BIG ideas…very interactive and engaging due to teacher input broken up by accessible activities with interesting content and great supporting resources.”
Aldington School
“Engaging, relevant and useful advice for the students on how to tackle homophobic and racist language at a base level.”
Colne Community School and College
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