No . 131 The Trusty Servant
Commoner Foricas , for example , has neither hot water nor soap .’ This letter was dated 11 th October 1967 and urged ‘ expenditure on less exciting but equally important reforms ( such as the provision of new sheets in the Sanatorium )’. Similar opposition had met the transmission of the first ‘ electronic message ’ over the internet and the admission of electronic devices ahead of day pupils into the school . Protest and progress have long gone hand in hand .
And so back to diversity and inclusion . It is another subject where views can be polarised , and voices hushed because of sensitivities on both sides and perhaps even an un-Wykehamical fear of deploying the wrong vocabulary . Over summer and Short Half , the school looked extensively at its curriculum , culture , and the community among the boys and colleagues . It surveyed all pupils , garnering an impressive response of well over 50 %. Over 100 alumni contributed through surveys , interviews and write-ins and almost all pupil-facing staff and managers participated in diversity workshops held in December and January .
Good things are happening because of this groundwork . Ably marshalled by a working group which has involved over a dozen staff to date , we reached our first conclusions at the beginning of Common Time , published on the school website ( search for ‘ Diversity and Inclusion Update ’). Many of these are basic hygiene , such as formalising responsibility for Diversity with the Second Master . Others will need work – for example , aiming for a more representative selection of female and BAME speakers across the school within three years .
Pupils were asking for more involvement within the school on the issue and the first Diversity Ambassador was appointed this term .
The result also pointed to a need to institute more regular polling of boys ’ views – surveys should not be a novelty . Finally , the representation of female and minority teaching staff is too low , particularly for a school intending to admit girls from 2022 , and there is no BAME counsellor currently on the books . The work in ensuring our recruitment adverts are unbiased and reach underrepresented groups has already begun , with greater use of LinkedIn and a refreshed standard job ad . Two recent roles for senior posts received over 80 applications each .
Winchester ’ s hallmark – Div – at core is about developing an ability to challenge orthodoxies and see multiple sides to issues . The Head of VI Book Div , Andy Sparkes , has been leading the drive to bring this to the forefront . While the slave trade was already part of the syllabus , it has been given more time , with most divs debating the statues controversy after Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol Harbour . In the Easter term MP divs discussed imperialism , and examined Britain ’ s colonial record through critical works such as Orwell ’ s ‘ Shooting An Elephant ’ and EM Forster ’ s A Passage to India .
Several classes looked at the history of the US Civil Rights movement , with studies including Malcolm X ’ s autobiography , Martin Luther King ’ s life and his ‘ I Have a Dream ’ speech , the repeal of the Jim Crow laws , plus literary texts including Harper Lee ’ s To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou ’ s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings . Other classes focused on the history of sub-Saharan Africa with work on Chinua Achebe ’ s Things Fall Apart , and an accompanying reexamination of the racist overtones in Conrad ’ s Heart of Darkness . Drawing on a recent BBC Africa documentary series , classes also looked at African music and dance , and the heritage and archaeology of ancient African kingdoms such as Benin and Great Zimbabwe .
Two oft-asked questions were ‘ Why do we need to do this ?’ and ‘ What is wrong with our culture ?’ The answer is two-fold . First , we are an international community with alumni across the globe . If our minority students are not reporting equally positive experiences during their time at the school , we do them and ourselves a disservice . Second , all students will need to thrive as adults in a multicultural world and we owe it to them to prepare them with the right skills and mind-sets .
Organisations including McKinsey and Harvard Business School have produced research suggesting that more diverse teams make better decisions and are more attractive places to work . As with most social science , the data isn ’ t as conclusive as that behind - say - global warming ( complaints addressed to the NHS Fellow please ), but the counterargument for a monoculture is , well , weak . It isn ’ t ‘ woke ’ to aspire to be the best school and the best school to work at in the country , or to aspire to attract the brightest minds – student and teacher alike – whatever their race , gender or class . Ultimately , as educators we are entrusted to encourage understanding , fairness and compassion in how our pupils treat others .
Moving forward , the College has been focusing this term on gender inequality and will focus next term on LBGTQ + issues .
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