Racial Equity in EducationPromoting racial equity in education leadership and beyond
Our most recent Break the Cycle Conference 12 March 2022
Our fourth Break The Cycle Conference on 12 March 2022 was entitled “We Shall Overcome” and was inspired by the song that became the anthem of the Civil Rights campaigners in the 1950s and 60s as they battled against racial inequality. Baroness Valerie Amos led our debate on the next steps required for eradicating inequality in and through education. Click here to watch recordings of the event.
Break the Cycle is a national grassroots movement, hosted by the Oasis UK charity, aimed at tackling the current massive under-representation of Black and Asian heritage leaders in education by promoting African, Caribbean and Asian leadership across education and youth work in the UK. Below you can find more about the aims and achievements of Break The Cycle as well as video resources from previous conferences.
Our objectives
In 2019 Oasis convened Break the Cycle, a national grassroots movement committed to promoting Black and Global Majority leadership across education and youth work in the UK.
The Break the Cycle Manifesto is an action plan for all schools and their communities as we work to challenge and change the cultures that hold back the next generation of Black and Global Majority leadership.
The numbers speak for themselves
Under-representation of Black and Global Majority leaders
The current massive under-representation of Black and Global Majority leaders within children and young people’s work – especially at senior levels – fails all our children and teachers as well as our whole society. This must change in order to:
- Tackle racism in and beyond our schools
- Encourage Black and Global Majority students to aspire to the highest levels of leadership
- Address the unconscious bias that ‘leadership is white’
The Break the Cycle movement is supported by a Manifesto and an Action Plan for local communities. These are designed to help individual schools and our ‘local task groups’ challenge and change the cultures that hold back the next generation of Black and Global Majority leadership.
Resources from 7 November 2020 conference
| Title | Date | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Key speaker: Marvin Rees Mayor of Bristol | November 10, 2020 | See video |
| Key Speaker: Prof. Kevin Fenton, Director of Public Health. London | November 10, 2020 | See video |
| Dr Gabriella Beckles-Raymond, strategic consultant, Transforming teacher training | November 10, 2020 | See video |
| Mandy Coalter, Recruiting and retaining teachers from BAME backgrounds | November 10, 2020 | See video |
| Dwain Brandy, How to tackle racism in schools | November 10, 2020 | See video |
| Question and Answer session | November 10, 2020 | See video |
| 'Tired' a dance poem by Analeise August | November 7, 2020 | See video |
| Dwain Brandy, Plan of Best Practice for schools | November 5, 2020 | See download |
| Dwain Brandy's blog 'Leading Equality' | November 7, 2020 | Go to website |
| Dr Beckles-Raymond, Towards Transformational ITT | November 5, 2020 | See download |
| Joy Madeiros and Dr David Bailey, Change ITT response to Dr Beckles-Raymond's paper | November 5, 2020 | See download |
| Mandy Coalter, Making Schools Great Places to Work | November 7, 2020 | See download |
| Mandy Coalter, Talent Architects | November 7, 2020 | Go to website |
| Famous Scientists | November 7, 2020 | See Powerpoint |
| Famous Female Scientists | November 7, 2020 | See Powerpoint |
| Famous World Scientists | November 7, 2020 | See Powerpoint |
| Famous BAME Scientists | November 7, 2020 | See Powerpoint |
| Famous Salford Scientists | November 7, 2020 | See Powerpoint |
Resources from 18 July 2020 conference
Use the links below for further information and resources.
| Title | Date | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Break the Cycle Manifesto | October 26, 2020 | See download |
| How to set up a local action plan | October 26, 2020 | See download |
| Break The Cycle logo and descriptor | October 26, 2020 | See download |
| Steve Chalke’s article: ‘How a Racist Education Produces a Racist Culture’ in the Times Educational Supplement | July 18, 2020 | View the website |
| Tessy Ojo, CEO Diana Awards, My Story | July 18, 2020 | See video |
| Dwain Brandy, De-colonising the Curriculum | July 18, 2020 | See video |
| Lord Michael Hastings, I Can't Breathe | July 18, 2020 | See video |
| Prof. Robert Beckford, How a Racist Education Produces a Racist Culture | July 18, 2020 | See video |
Change is already underway
The Break the Cycle Manifesto produced by the 2019 conference is an action plan for all schools – primary and secondary – committed to challenging and changing the cultures and systems that hold back the next generation of Black and Global Majority leadership.
Since the first Break the Cycle conference in 2019, local groups have been meeting in schools, tackling conscious and unconscious race inequality in school infrastructures and practices – from recruitment to leadership training.
Within Oasis, progress is being made thanks in part to the impact of Break the Cycle. In the last twelve months, five leaders of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage have been appointed to principal, associate principal, and deputy principal positions. The proportion of Black and Global Majority participants on Oasis’s annual National Professional Qualification for Headteachers course has increased by thirty-six percentage points.