Advice request: white teacher heading pupil group in school

[sadmillenial]

Firstly, i know this isn't a board for white women to ask for things, so please don't think i am expecting responses from everyone and if you think its inappropriate then report it

My pupils at school have asked to create an African and Caribbean group to discuss amongst themselves and socialise in a predominantly white school. No teachers of colour want to lead the group, so i was asked by a pupil to be the staff member associated with it (which is necessary for safeguarding reasons)
I would never pressure a black colleague to get involved in pupil groups simply due to their race, so i'm in a position where i either accept or it doesn't happen and i do think its important for pupils to have a space of their own

i suppose my reason for posting is simply this - what do you think would be useful for this group? at the moment i am taking my lead from the pupils and we have had a group meal at a local restaurant, we have talked about the riots and one of the pupils has delivered a presentation about their family who were part of the windrush generation. From experience though, teenagers can get swept up in GCSE/A Level stress and have weeks where they need the group but dont have the space to organise things and i want to be able to support them when that happens

There are white people in both Africa and the Caribbean.

I'm white OP so I'm not sure I can answer with much authority. I did teach at a college where I was the only white person in the room.

Looking at traditions and the reasons for them eg whether to wash meat before you cook it is always a lively conversation.

Health and beliefs associated with it, whether food grown above ground or below makes a difference to its nutritional value.

Customs / rituals around birth.

Health inequalities.

I was teaching health and social care - you can probably tell.

Create (or ask them to create) a calendar of various festivals / national days and celebrate or commemorate those events. For me this means food. But you can also decorate the room

Language, look at different styles of language used. Can any speak patois or an African language? Can they write poetry / songs / rap in those languages?

Maybe history of Black people in Britain. Charity Adams springs to mind, also the battle of Bamber Bridge. I say black here because these are Americans but there were many many people around the world who put on British uniforms.

Also WWI William Robinson Clarke was the first black British pilot.

When they are coming up to exams what about having some films? Some TV shows?

There was an excellent recent TV series called 'erased' about, well how black people's contributions in WWII were erased.
https://www.natgeotv.com/za/shows/natgeo/erased-ww2s-heroes-of-color-season-1

Bloody hell I miss teaching.

Sorry for the ramble, my brain does this sometiumes.

There are white people in both Africa and the Caribbean.

This! An older member of my family was born & raised in an African country - white as a sheet with ginger hair, but every black African I know calls him an African. Because he was born there - it's a beautifully accepting ethos.

Of course, I know it's not what you're really wondering about. And I know it's different in Africa than in the diaspora in the UK. But just to suggest that any differences or divisions don't have to be impermeable.

I had a white Jamaican landlady for a while. I worked with a white South African nurse.

Contact the Black Cultural Archives. They can advise you about workshop topics. They also have a youth forum that engages young people through the arts.

Could you send a survey to the pupils and their parents to ask what their priorities are? Could they contribute they giving their voices to improving equalities and tackling discrimination in your school?

OP are you asking what topics to suggest, or how to encourage the group to continue to meet in a supportive space during times of stress? I think the second one is very useful, and doesn't need a theme. Just music (playlists picked by pupils) and conversation. I'd avoid coming up with 'cultural' topics for them, as it can inadvertently end up being about what outsiders like to see (festivals, colourful traditional clothing, difference) which might not be what the pupils would want if the choice was entirely theirs.

Before I respond to the OP, can I please respectfully request that white people in this thread look into the history, politics and social statuses of white people in African and Caribbean countries. Please do not shoehorn white people living in these places into African and Afro-Caribbean community groups. These groups are for African and Afro-Caribbean people, not those who are there as descendants of colonisers and now benefit from the culture and communities that have developed from the very oppression many Afro-Caribbeans have been forced to live through, or the already strong and rich cultures and communities in African countries. Please allow some things to be “for us”.

OP, it sounds like what you are doing is the best way. Allowing these children a safe space where they can discuss, plan and lead is exactly what they need. I think it’s important that white teachers sit back, listen and be guided by the children in these situations. Advocating for them is also important. We all know how those staff room discussions can go and a lot of white teachers make comments about kids that they don’t realise or acknowledge are laced with racist undertones. Calling these out where you see fit will benefit those children to no end.

For the group, perhaps you could have them brainstorm a topics they would like to tackle and then your role could be to put together a schedule for how each one can be addressed (almost like a medium-term plan?). I would start by having them work out what their ‘end goal’ is and see how we can work that into a project (like a cultural event, a performance, workshops, drop down days or something).

It’s always the white posters that rush to answer these questions when clearly the OP wants the opinion of black people hence why they have posted here!
Always desperate to answer for black people! SMH

How old are they? Do they actually need involvement from a teacher-apart from any practical stuff like room booking? Are there any 6th formers who would get involved?

My pupils at school have asked to create an African and Caribbean group to discuss amongst themselves and socialise in a predominantly white school.

If this is the purpose of the group then as a PP said have a brain storming session for the next session to find it what topics they want to talk about.

Oh and please don't send a survey to their parents. Teens can speak for themselves and those that can't need to be encouraged to before they are 18.

Also if something happens locally or nationwide just be prepared to see if the group wants to talk about it that week.

You are basically the chair and while you can encourage each of the individual teens to speak, they may not want to say things in front of you for various reasons.

This is great, thank you

thank you - i agree, it needs to be their space and i would like it to be flexible enough to react to current live discussions

i now - but actually in a school environment you do actually need teachers to be present in pupil groups. Partly for safeguarding reasons RE peer on peer abuse but also to ensure there is no bullying/power imbalance being abused between year groups. Its unpleasant but necessary

Could you have some unstructured meetings where everyone just brings snacks and talk about whatever they want? Granted I'm 30, so this may not be what teens want to do, but sometimes I find it's honestly just nice to exist in a space where other people look like me.

also a great idea, and one i can delegate to the sixth formers so they feel in control of it :) thank you

If you are just looking at a back-up activity for the group, if there isn't one planned, then you could watch American Fiction over a couple of sessions then let them discuss it the following week.

They could then go onto debate tropes/microaggressions/cultural appropriation (e.g. in rap, in youth slang etc)

I’m astonished at the first few responses being WHITE PEOPLE CAN BE INCLUDED HERE TOO. Yes, maybe you’re white Caribbean. But these children clearly arent, nor is the op white african/caribbean, and they didn’t set up this group to socialise more with white people of any kind. You could have just thought that in your head and not replied. (Im white so nothing else to add for the op sorry!)

Why won't the other teachers do it?

Personally, if I went to a Sikh orientated class I'd want a faithful Sikh heading it.
An Indian orientated class I'd want an Indian teacher.
I only go to yoga classes if the teacher is Indian and religious.

I guess if the kids are OK then that's not an issue.

What kind of religious do these Indian yoga teachers need to be??

Take them to Bristol show them the ports and the significance.

Talk to them about the injustice of Stephen Lawrence.

Talk to them about the Brixton riots.

Show them crime statistics and how they will always be targeted and what they need to do to survive.

Let them know they'll have to work twice as hard just to get a foothold in any career.

Let them know that Black people from the Caribbean and similar islands have taught the world integration and assimilation isn't wanted by the natives of the western world.
That they can have the same names, the same religion, the same culture - but they will still be targeted, followed around in shops suspected of shop lifting, mocked for their appearance and hair whilst the same is marketed and capitalised upon by white people, the will still be murdered whilst awaiting a bus and never get justice.

If they get a decent job they will be taunted it was tokenism.
If they lose at football then they will hear monkey noises.

Life isn't any better for black people today.

BTW I'm not black - doesn't mean I can't see the injustice they face.

No point in learning yoga from an atheist, who eats animals and drinks alcohol and smokes.
Someone from a 'Bhakti' faith, practicing not just someone born into one.

Yes all pupils groups and clubs need supervising.

i dont think it matters why they dont want to do it, i can talk to them about that separately but i wouldnt ever want teachers of any race to feel pressured to lead groups like this. Its not an expectation, and i dont think it should be put on them.

@TransformerZ - have you come into this thread to be nasty too, like the other thread?

Get a grip.
Pointing out the injustices black people face isn't being nasty, it's a reality.
Being aware Yoga is a religious and spiritual practice isn't being nasty it's a fact.