Paul Carberry: Vision is for schools to promote inclusion for all young people

Recently, we were very proud to launch a nation-wide scheme which will recognise the efforts of schools in tackling discrimination and prejudice within the classroom.

Action for Children Charter Mark launch at Broughton High School

The ‘Inclusion and Diversity Charter Mark’ will allow schools to further enhance social justice and inclusion for Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) young people while also placing pupil-to-pupil learning at the heart of the project.

The scheme was inspired and developed by young women who are part of our ‘Heritage and Inclusion’ project in Edinburgh, a service which was recently recognised at the Youthlink Scotland awards with the ‘Equality and Diversity’ award. The project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, has to date worked with four secondary schools across the capital and around 50 young people of more than 20 different nationalities. It has the aim of building knowledge of cultural history and increasing participation in education and community activities for the young women it supports.

Joined by Anas Sarwar MSP, the convenor of the cross-party group on Islamophobia at the Scottish Parliament, we were delighted to do the launch of the ‘Charter Mark’ at Broughton High School. That is a school we have worked closely with since we launched the project. In fact, they were one of the first schools to pilot the ‘Charter Mark’. Through this work, and the piloting of the ‘Charter Mark’, Broughton High School have shown themselves to be a forward-thinking and pro-active school in the battle against discrimination and prejudice and are, rightly, being held up as a model of best practise.

We believe the ‘Charter Mark’ will encourage schools to further promote equality and anti-racist education within the classroom while also demonstrating to all young people that their school includes and supports them to identify their rights and provides understanding and support to their individual needs.

Our vision is for schools across Scotland to achieve accreditation for their commitment to promoting the inclusion and identity of all young people. This is a legacy-based model which is self-sustaining through identifying ‘Inclusion Champions’ within each school and building their skills and capacity. Young people then play an active role as ‘agents of change’ who then support their peers and help instil a culture of inclusion from the inside out.

The next step will be the roll-out across Scotland with schools and other organisations who work with young people. We are in the process of contacting heads of education in each local authority before meeting with them to discuss how the ‘Charter Mark’ works and how schools can benefit from being part of it.
If you are interested in finding out more about the ‘Inclusion and Diversity Charter Mark’, and how it can benefit you and the young people you work with and support, contact us on: 
[email protected].

Paul Carberry is Action for Children’s Director for Scotland