Creating safer, braver spaces for the workshops

We have drawn the following guidelines from Education Scotland’s safer braver spaces guidelines.

Some of the workshop content could be distressing and upsetting for some individuals, especially for those with lived experiences of racism. It is crucial, therefore, that educators create a supportive environment where the relationship between the learners and educators is positive. 

We recommend the following approaches: 

• Workshops at each level are substantial and are likely to take more than one lesson/day to complete. However, it is important to ensure you plan enough time to complete the individual workshop activities on the same day.  This will help to ensure any issues or unresolved questions are addressed at the time of the activity. 

• Ensure that all children and young people know they have somewhere safe/appropriate to turn to if they need support outwith your class and that you have communicated who or what this process is (a thought box, an SLT member, a nurture or Guidance Teacher, the anti-racism club etc). These strategies are particularly important if there is only one or a small number of Black or Brown learners in your class, or if there are learners in your class who have newly arrived in Scotland (see Step 2 within example guidance in the link below). 

We have designed an example of how you might co-create these safe and brave spaces with your learners which is easily adaptable for your setting.