The granddaughter of Wales’ first black headteacher, Betty Campbell, and one of her former pupils have developed pioneering anti-racist training for schools. The training was launched by Education Minister Jeremy Miles at Llanwern high in Newport.
Betty Campbell’s granddaughter Rachel Clarke and her former pupil Chantelle Haughton said racism in schools was about more than the insults and attacks that occur. Racism was also present in the texts, syllabus and topics taught in schools and the weight given to stories and histories of communities.
They cited set GCSE texts like Of Mice and Men, a 1937 novella by John Steinbeck, which uses the n-word, and teaching about the Atlantic slave trade in isolation, as examples of racist content in schools. Rachel said they did not want content removed, but taught in context and alongside other texts and histories of diverse communities.
