Training on Diversity- Help!

[BrownPanther]

Hi all, have left this a bit late and really struggling to get started. I'm due to deliver training on the topic of diversity. I work in a field that is predominantly 'white' and middle class and have done some research that looked at how these 'white' practitioners felt when working with those who were BME. I have lots to talk about my project but I don't know how to organise the talk- I have an hour to speak but want it to be interesting and thought provoking rather than boring and mundane. Any ideas?

Ps. For what it's worth; I'm from a BME background myself and don't want my talk to make the attendees feel guilty/patronised. How can I plan a talk that is well thought through, though provoking and relevant?

One thing that occurs to me is is it broad enough? Are you covering more than just bme?

Sorry - I should've been clearer- the majority of the discussion will be about promoting multicultural competency.

Oh OK.
I'm afraid i don't know much about the topic but try to set up facts and scenarios snd encourage participation?

You want an exercise to get people doing something that had them 'feel' something out of the gate. Paper throwing exercise about privilege? I do one about culture shock that I saw a First Nations facilitator do. There's one where you assign people into groups and they have to get into those groups without talking.

Then the discussion and learning comes after.

@MrsTerryPratchett- sounds intriguing. Can you tell me more about white privilege activity please?

Thanks@StealthPolarBear - definitely need to get people doing something rather than just talking at them.

There's a few ways to do the paper one. But essentially you have a bin at the front, give everyone a piece of paper to ball and throw into the bin. Prize for the winner. People at the back complain it's further for them, say, "well if you were better at it, you could still get the paper in". Play the game until you have a winner.

More challenging or contentious and you need more room... have people stand far away from the bin... step forward for various privileges (parents together, never worried about food security, never stopped by police, English as a first language). Then throw the papers.

Is good as well.

Thank you soooo much @MrsTerryPratchett- you've given me a lot of food for thought.

I hope it all goes well!

If you want to make the more privileged people "feel" it more, you could play MrsT's game in reverse - i.e. one step back for each privilege.

Another one - I am a lit scholar so might be too texty for you - is to take a canonical text or image that reflects male/ white privilege but alter the image or text to show women or BME people in positions of dominance. You can find texts that do this like Valerie Solanas's Scum Manifesto or that French film about sexual harassment from a couple of years back.

I think it's about defamiliarisation. Speaking as a MC white woman I know I have privilege but I don't always feel it actively iyswim.

I teach around this - I always start by talking about human differences, and focus a lot on assumptions and judgements we make.

Attended a great training once where the trainer got us all to guess what kind of car he drove eg sports car, hatchback, people carrier etc. Used people’s answers as a discussion point about assumptions eg you assume I’m a heterosexual male approx in 40s from middle class background because you think I drive a reasonably new Audi estate with room for kids. I’ve done the same with asking students to guess what kind of house I live in, it raises assumptions and reveals unconscious bias: that’s a key term to start on.
A couple of good you tube videos, some discussions and that’ll take up ages :-)

Remember to use equality act 2010 protected characteristics as these go way beyond race and ethnicity

Best of luck

The other thing to think about is the “burden of representation” - a BAME colleague of mine speaks of this. The extra responsibility laid on them and so on.

Thank you all for your help and advice. The talk went brilliantly. Lots of opportunities for reflection (me and the audience) making for an interactive session that, I'd like to think, benefitted all.

That's great! I'm doing four days facilitation starting tomorrow so wish me luck!