Loren Henry: As CEO of Urban Circle Newport, I am instrumental in establishing a strong organisational reputation as a champion of black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. I was recently awarded Visiting Fellow of USW, recognising my expertise in leading anti-racist and anti-discriminatory work. I am also a member of the Anti-racist Wales External Accountability Group.

Lisa Taylor: I am Director of Education in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education at the University of South Wales. I lead on the continuous development of the University of South Wales (USW) Initial Teacher Education Partnership.

We (Loren and Lisa) have written this blog post to capture our partnership journey, share some of our learning from developing our partnership between Urban Circle Newport and The University of South Wales, and the impact it has had upon the well-being and development of our staff, partners, and students.

Background and context

Effective collaboration and engagement are at the heart of the University of South Wales’ (USW) core purpose. USW has developed a reputation for engaging in collaborative partnerships with organisations in the private, public, and third sectors to address local and national challenges, and make a real difference to people's lives.

One such valued partnership is with Urban Circle Newport (UCN) which was formalised by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in January 2023. As one of the few organisations representing young black and Asian people in Newport, UCN actively promotes young people’s voices and facilitates the process of speaking out and challenging injustice.

UCN had been working with the Youth and Community Work team at USW and provides work placement setting, with the advantage of staff and qualified ex-students working as supervisors to trainee youth workers. In August 2022, we were very fortunate to be introduced to each other as UCN moved into the open plan office where the initial teacher education (ITE) team is based. UCN’s passion and commitment to social justice were evident as they talked about the creative opportunities that they facilitate for young people and their communities. These young people have been upskilled and empowered to answer their own questions about their identity and heritage through making two remarkable documentaries: Wales Untold and Humanitree.

Collaborating to address challenges and elicit change

In 2022, the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan called upon ITE partnerships and schools to be allies in tackling “broken systems” and “taking responsibility for actively making the necessary changes” (Welsh Government, 2022, p.16). The plan challenges us all to work with “the considerable strengths and leadership of ethnic minority people” to make “a positive and lasting difference.” (Welsh Government, 2022, p.15). We discussed how UCN could share their lived experience, combined with academic knowledge, to support USW in navigating the changing racial landscape, deliver a social justice agenda locally and nationally, and support students and educators to think and act in an anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive way.

At the MoU signing, Mick Conroy, Youth and Community Work senior lecturer, spoke about the partnership between UCN and USW being an equal one. And that is exactly what it is. Educators learn from UCN’s creativity, passion, expertise, lived experience, and commitment to serving young people and their communities. UCN provide guidance and support to USW in matters concerning black history, anti-discrimination resources, materials, and workshops and share their learning, experiences and research with colleagues at internal and external conferences. Moreover, formalising the partnership ensured a positive future for the charity's Training and Development Strategy.

Faces

As educators, we recognised how valuable the high-quality documentaries Wales Untold and Humanitree would be as professional learning resources for teachers of all age phases. We could see how they could facilitate critical conversations about race, diversity, inclusivity, heritage, true history (like authentic conversations about Cynefin), and identity to develop a shared understanding and sense of belonging in classrooms. The funding secured to create these rich documentaries had run out, so there was no resource to feed them forward. Together, we approached Welsh Government for funding to create professional learning resources for teachers and were directed to DARPL and the inspirational Chantelle Haughton. After some deep, philosophical and heart-warming meetings, we were awarded a pot of funding to create anti-racist professional learning resources based on Wales Untold and Humanitree. UCN also secured funding from USW to develop resources to facilitate anti-racist workshops across USW. Strong relationships were being built internally and externally on trust, mutual support and respect.

Spaces

Brave spaces. Conversations began with a group of teacher educators and UCN leaders looking collaboratively at the initial teacher education curriculum and asking honest questions about how diverse and inclusive our curriculum and resources are. UCN led anti-racist practice workshops for ITE staff and students. Student teachers were invited to a performance of Urban School of Arts, a show written and performed by young people about the realities of growing up in inner city Newport. The show was followed by a Q&A session where student teachers could ask questions to the young people.

Brownsword (2019) argues that many trainee teachers lack an understanding of their own white privilege. Quality training in race and diversity will allow them to challenge racial perceptions and encourage them to explore and address barriers in schools. We don’t know what we don’t know, but we acknowledge this through working with UCN to collaboratively create brave spaces for honest discussions, exploration and learning to take place. Davies (2021) proposes that the notion of race within education is so intricate that it is often deliberately avoided, which weakens the potential impact on future teachers and the education system. We knew this needed to change, one critical conversation and one brave space at a time. Compassion, empathy and mutual understanding are developing. As Loren says, “Real is real”.

Places

UCN is committed to providing places to support young people, families, and communities and giving them opportunities to thrive. The university provides a base for UCN, and UCN can book teaching rooms, lecture theatres, the dance studio, and media suites for sessions and events. Together, we take action to enable the community to see the university as a place where they belong. We raise aspirations, empower young people to achieve qualifications and outcomes, and grow new leaders who see the university as their place.

What next?

We will continue working in partnership to achieve our vision, to develop and share resources and to provide professional learning for our students, staff and partnership. However, this is a long process, it is not a quick fix. It is gwaith calon (heart work), and there are many barriers and challenges to overcome. We value the strength of our relationships, mutual understanding, and trust in taking small but important steps to elicit change. And we are seeing change. Real is real.

As Chantelle quoted when she closed the DARPL National Leadership conference in June, 2023:

“We are not a drop in the ocean, we are the ocean in one drop.” Rumi (13th C)

In 2021, Welsh Government accepted all 51 recommendations of the Williams review¹, with five focused on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and eight for schools. The Athrofa Professional Learning Partnership (APLP), a collaboration between schools and University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), is crucial in delivering ITE to numerous aspiring teachers across south and west Wales. In response to the Williams review, the APLP has taken significant steps to address the recommendations and foster an anti-racist experience.

This blog explores the progress made by the APLP, considering perspectives from both the University, and the schools involved. It highlights ongoing efforts to meet the recommendations, and contribute to an inclusive and equitable education system.

What we did in the University

The APLP holds social justice as a foundational principle, driving our commitment to enhance representation, evaluate the effectiveness of diversity education, and promote anti-racist training within our programs. In line with the recommendations of the Williams review, our aim is to equip students with the ability to engage critically in discussions surrounding social justice and diversity. We collaborate closely with partners to ensure the provision of high-quality anti-racist training. To accomplish this, we have developed a strategic plan that carefully considers the complexities of fostering an inclusive environment.

When it comes to establishing leadership in equity, diversity, and inclusion, it is important to approach the matter with thoughtfulness. While it may seem intuitive to assign a member of staff from the black, Asian, and minority ethnic community to lead this effort, we must all shoulder the responsibility of challenging our colleagues and initiating change. Therefore, strategic leadership of the anti-racist agenda is entrusted to a white colleague who serves as a valuable ally in this endeavour.

Recognising that professional learning is essential, we sought external expertise to develop our racial literacy. This training has empowered us to question the Eurocentric bias within the school curriculum, and incorporate non-white perspectives. As a result of our unified strategic approach, anti-racist themes have been woven into each module across our programs and reviewed annually. The infographic is a visual representation of the racial literacy journey and how the APLP has interrupted racism and inequality at systemic levels. It also recognises how much more we have to do.

A school leadership approach

St Thomas Community Primary School is a leading school in the APLP and is a racially diverse inner-city school in Swansea. The headteacher took a strategic approach to anti-racism by implementing the recommendations in the Williams review, including making anti-racist strategic priorities in their school development plan. This motivated the senior team to examine the privilege afforded by skin colour and racial stereotypes to design a curriculum for the diverse community it serves – real inclusion for all. At the time this intervention was implemented, the diversity and anti-racism professional learning provision had not been launched. Sourcing the professional learning would have been a barrier, but this is now freely available to all schools asynchronously and decreases the barrier to anti-racist engagement. It is recognised that talking about race is not a cultural norm, as society is reportedly racially colour-blind, it avoids talking about race and recognising racial differences (Sue, 2015). Therefore, the trust afforded to the headteacher to challenge unconscious bias was valued and appreciated.

In the subsequent planning, the headteacher actively avoided tokenistic approaches, and favoured embedding permanent change in every aspect of the school experience. This included making anti-racism part of a leadership role in the school to raise the profile and accountability for anti-racist interventions. Moreover, anti-racism spokespersons, under the heading of diversity, were assigned to curriculum planning teams. This was to ensure that all areas of learning and experience from a multicultural perspective were included, so that all the children, and their background, were part of their curriculum. Furthermore, they held a workshop for parents focusing on diversity, and often have parents or children to share their cultural backgrounds in class. An impact has been introducing a prayer space in school, for all children to use, following a suggestion from a family member.

Tackling racism has to be a whole school approach, led strategically by the senior leaders within the organization. However, to embark on it fully, we have to acknowledge our own privilege and open our eyes to the unconscious bias that permeates society. Only then can we really begin to understand how discrimination affects those who experience it, and by doing so, make real changes towards real inclusivity.
Russ Dwyer, Headteacher, St Thomas Community Primary School

Clase School’s approach

Clase Primary School in Swansea attended an anti-racism conference and took on the challenge of promoting racial diversity and inclusion in their school. As a result, they appointed some pupils as Diversity Ambassadors to promote ‘cynefin’ within their school community.

They created a display board where students can share their thoughts and experiences related to promoting belonging and inclusion. In addition, they have developed a program called ‘Celebrating Diversity’, which includes a range of activities such as learning about different cultures and religions and inviting guest speakers to talk to students about their experiences. They also developed links with St Thomas Community Primary School and received funding from Partneriaeth to plan a way forward together across the schools.

Diversity ambassadors in action.

Concluding thoughts

Each educational institution played an active role in supporting anti-racism. For example, the APLP embedded anti-racist curriculum and pedagogy in all their modules, running anti-racist professional learning, and partnering with schools that exemplify an anti-racist mind-set. Additionally, Clase Primary School and St Thomas Community Primary School demonstrate how achievable it is to create a more diverse and inclusive learning environment. Each required the development of racial literacy to create purposeful anti-racist opportunities and found strength by collaborating with partners. If you are just starting your journey, remember that you are not alone. Reach out and maximise your network as part of schools as learning organisations and create safe spaces to build your racial literacy.

by

Lilian Yuet Ling Martin.

In collaboration with Amanda Thomas (Clase Primary School, and Russ Dwyer (St Thomas Community Primary School)

About the blogger

Lilian Yuet Ling Martin is an APLP strategic lead, an anti-racist educator and a Welsh Government funded researcher evaluating the Williams review.

 ^[1] Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities, Contributions and Cynefin in the New Curriculum Working Group: final report

Back in 2019, Public Health Wales (PHW) published a document titled Voices of those with lived experiences of homelessness and adversity in Wales: informing prevention and response. In one of the sections of the document, Preventing homelessness through life course, the authors prescribe two key elements. The first is child resilience – protective factors. Here, they list five key components:

1. belonging to a community
2. trusted relationship with stable adult
3. supportive teachers and youth workers
4. supportive family
5. solving problems

For those reading this who already work in the youth work sector, I’m guessing the affirmative nods have already started.

Before exploring some of these elements a little deeper, I would just like to reflect on the second key element referred to; barriers to support. Again, the authors prescribe five significant factors:

1. not being listened to
2. fear of consequences
3. lack of trust
4. not seeing the person behind the presenting behaviour
5. the child not recognising the adversity.

I predict such information acts more as affirmation than revelation for those working in the youth work sector and others who engage young people.

This is where quality youth work has the potential to contribute to youth homelessness prevention in a real, meaningful way. Cross referencing the elements reflected on above against our own Youth Work in Wales: Principles and Purposes document offers clarity, should the scene still appear hazy.

I offer this statement, from the publication, as an opening gambit:

“Youth work provides or facilitates: places and relationships within which young people can enjoy themselves, feel secure, supported and valued, learn to take greater control of their lives, and recognise and resist the damaging influences that may affect them.”

Let’s just reflect on the relationship element. Youth workers not only develop the trusted relationships with young people, referred to as a protective factor in the PHW document, but go on to use these associations to support young people to develop constructive relations with their families, peers, other professionals, and members of their community. Another blatant reference to one of the prescribed protective factors to preventing homelessness.

It is already acknowledged that a barrier to support is young people not being listened to, and those in their lives not looking beyond the presenting behaviour. For a young person to feel secure, supported, and valued, as referred to in the Principles and Purposes document, youth workers have to look beyond the behaviour. Ask ‘why?’. Not only afford young people an opportunity to speak, but ensure they are being listened to. Where individuals lack the confidence to do so, then work with them to help address such factors. Again, enter stage left; youth work.

One of the unique selling points of our profession and approach is the fact that we work with young people aged 11-25. This affords us an opportunity to develop our relationships and interventions over a long period of time, based on individual needs. Offering a level of consistency, being that ‘stable adult’ referred to above. I can support this anecdotally.

As a youth work practitioner who has worked in various settings for approximately 20 years, I can testify that some of the young people I currently work with, who are now aged 20+, I started to build relationships with when they were aged 11, attending youth club provisions. Not many professions can boast being able to support individuals through the transition from childhood, right through to adulthood, and into a position of independence.

Having reflected on one unique selling point of quality youth work, I would like to list a few more. Not in an attempt to prescribe the profession as a solution that can cure youth homelessness, but rather as a rallying call to my professional colleagues to highlight our strengths, and in an attempt to inform other stakeholders who we can work collaboratively with.

In addition to the proactive engagement of 11-25 year olds, we also adopt a participative approach - doing things with rather than to young people. Ensuring they feel listened to, empowered, trusted, involving them in the solution, and not seeing them as the problem. We are youth and community workers, and have a rich history of assessing and utilising community assets, recognising the benefits of ensuring young people feel part of where they live, and members of these communities are proactive in helping to develop them.

Quality youth work also utilises experiential learning, allowing those with lived experiences to inform and shape meaningful interventions and exposing young people to an array of learning opportunities beyond formal settings. It embraces vicarious learning and encourages young people to learn from others. Finally, it is enshrined in a rights-based approach, ensuring young people are equipped with the knowledge, understanding, and ability to exercise their rights.

Whilst this article has focused on a youth homelessness agenda, quality youth work transcends so many aspects of young people’s lives. Quality youth work has the potential to have such a positive impact. In order to maximise these opportunities though, we need to ensure we use mechanisms and processes, like the EWC Youth Work Quality Mark, to learn from each other, scrutinise our own approaches, and share good practice.

In our latest blog, Howard Williamson, Professor of European Youth Policy at the University of South Wales, and previous rapporteur-genéral for all three European Youth Work Conventions held between 2010 and 2020, provides his insight into international youth work and how we must focus on quality now that the doors of international exchanges are reopening.

By Howard Williamson, Professor of European Youth Policy at the University of South Wales

There is a lot bubbling around the world of youth work at the moment, both in Wales and internationally. As the COVID pandemic seemingly recedes, international youth work exchanges, or ‘learning mobility’ as it tends to be called elsewhere, is now firmly back on the agenda, though perhaps more cautiously given our greater awareness of the climate implications of travel.  

I write this blog as the name of Wales’ distinctive International Learning Exchange Programme (ILEP) is announced – ‘Taith’. It’s hoped this will plug the gaps left by the UK’s post-Brexit departure from Erasmus + (the European Union’s all-encompassing mobility programme). 

‘Taith’ will ‘give learners of all ages and from all backgrounds across Wales the chance to benefit from the life-changing international opportunities to travel and learn’.  It will ‘embed an international approach into every level of our education system’. This includes non-formal education and learning (notably youth work) and it is intended that the youth work sector will secure its fair share of the funding available, for both digital and in-person international contact and learning. 

It is reassuring to know that the new programme will evolve in parallel with other contemporary youth work initiatives in Wales, not least the implementation of a new youth work strategy under the banner of ‘Time to Deliver’ and the further development of the Youth Work Quality Mark through the Education Workforce Council (EWC).

First, a little bit of history.  I’ve just attended, online, the first meeting in 2022 of the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership research and ‘knowledge’ network.  The Partnership is currently working on insights into ‘youth work strategy development’.  I noted that, in Wales, I have been connected to seven such strategies in just under 40 years.  Invariably they invoke the rhetoric of ‘quality’; after all, what else should we aspire to?

More rarely have they accommodated a transnational dimension.  Indeed, a European youth exchange function for the Wales Youth Agency in 1991 was conspicuous only by its absence.  Youth exchanges were only shoe-horned into the Agency’s work through delicate negotiation with the British Council and some careful juggling of resources. 

Grant Poiner, CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Wales, noted in a previous blog for Sôn that the youth sector in Wales has cherished the value of international experiences for young people in Wales, funded significantly through the European Union, from the early days of Youth for Europe to the more recent umbrella of Erasmus +.  Throughout 2021, as the final Erasmus + projects drew to a close, there has been profound concern across the sector about the loss of mobility possibilities within the wider canvas of opportunities and experiences provided through youth work. 

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic put a premature end to physical exchanges, but now learning mobility in Europe and beyond is on the move again.  The youth work sector in Wales will at least be able to benefit from Welsh Government’s own dedicated international learning initiative.  Taith – meaning ‘journey’ in Welsh - will create “life-changing opportunities to travel, learn and experience”, designed to “take Wales to the world, and bring the world to Wales”.

Yet it is important to take a little care about getting too nostalgic about the wonders of internationalism, however much the evidence that youth exchanges can transform young people is not really in dispute.  Projects were sometimes poorly planned and, for many reasons, implemented in a less than desirable fashion.  Very different kinds of youth groups were inadvertently thrown together, with not the best of consequences.  Sometimes it seemed to be the youth workers who had much more of a good time than the young people involved.  None of this is to disparage the idea of exchanges, just to air a note of caution.  It is, indeed, a call for ‘quality’.

And now, in Wales, like a rare eclipse, three dimensions of youth work – strategy, quality and internationalism – are in alignment and stand some chance of converging creatively and constructively for its young people.  Whatever the infrastructure of policy commitment and resource allocation, those at the sharp end of delivery, the youth workers implementing such practice, need a calibrated understanding of the stepping-stones that need to be put in place if transnational activities are to yield optimum success. 

The preparatory work required is considerable – not least the dialogue with the young people likely to take part, their (online) contact and communication with those they are going to meet, and perhaps some more domestic local travel, encounters with other groups of young people, and residential experience.  After all, the localism of some young people is palpable.  Even though, arguably, they are the ones most ‘in need’ of internationalism, a curiosity about other contexts, cultures and cuisine may need to be nurtured rather carefully.  At the heart of youth exchanges is the layered dimensions of inter-cultural learning, respecting and valuing difference.

It is therefore vital to ensure the international practices of youth workers are of high quality. High-quality youth work has a crucial role to play in supporting many young people to achieve their full potential. Through informal and non-formal educational approaches, effective youth work practice builds the capacity and resilience of young people and can change their lives for the better. Through participation in international youth work, young people gain confidence and competence, develop self-assurance and have the opportunity to establish high expectations and aspirations for themselves.

The EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership is about to revise its Handbook on Quality in Learning Mobility (Kristensen et al 2019).  There is incontrovertible evidence about the value of stretching young people to explore the lives and perspectives of others.  Internationalism has always been a feature of progressive youth organisations.  Transnational co-operation and exchange are embedded within the European Youth Work Agenda (of which Wales and the UK remain a part).  Most youth work strategies, across Europe and indeed throughout the world, incorporate commitments to promoting mobility, not just for students but for all young people. 

Today the process can make use of both online and offline resources.  That greater variety of resources allows for an even more nuanced approach to the already very diverse characteristics of international youth work.  We must use it well in the spirit of the flagship ‘extending entitlement’ philosophy to support young people in Wales.  As I once wrote, more generically about youth work in obsessive discussions about measuring the outcomes it produced, “The quality of opportunity and experience extended to young people is paramount and often, though not always, more important than the specificity of outcome”.  Nowhere, across the spectrum of youth work policy and practice, could that be more apposite than in relation to international exchange.

Kristensen, S. (ed.) (2019), Handbook on Quality in Learning Mobility, Strasbourg: Council of Europe and European Commission