5 examples of education and reparative justice

Engaging with the local, civic context is important to institutional efforts to decolonise education.

Below, we summarise a few examples of recent educational city-wide interventions aiming towards reparative justice within Bristol. What kinds of similar civic programmes exist or could be developed in your context?

1. Race Equality in Education Group (REEG)

The Bristol Learning City Partnership sponsored the creation of this group in April 2017. It brings together educators from early years to university as well as those working in other structures such as supplementary schools and education consultancies.

Its primary aim is to address racism in education and improve the learning and other outcomes of children and young people of colour in Bristol. REEG advises the Learning City Partnership on race equality issues and reports to the Bristol Commission on Race Equality.

2. Commission on Racial Equality (CoRE)

The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, set up this commission in January 2018. Education is one of the key strands of the Commission and works alongside three other key themes (Heath and Wellbeing, Economic and Social Inclusion, Neighbourhood and Communities).

It is a strategic group, working with key institutions across the city to address issues of race inequality. Its aim is to provide scrutiny and challenges to institutions, influence practice and amplify the voices of people of colour.

3. Global Majority Teachers Network (GMT Network)

Dr Marie-Annick Gournet set up this group in June 2019, following requests from teachers to have a space to discuss challenges and opportunities as Black and Asian Teachers.

The GMT Network aims to address the issue of access, retention and progression of Black and Asian teachers, members as currently all qualified teachers in Bristol. It works collaboratively with the learning city Partnership and the Commission of Race Equality to help address key issues raised by its members.

4. One Bristol Curriculum (OBC)

The One Bristol Group initiated the OBC in 2019. The One Bristol Group is a collective of organisations in the city that have had historical ties to, and or benefited from, the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans.

It works with representatives from Black communities in Bristol, local arts practitioners and historians, schools and teachers. It developed the OBC to provide support for young Black people through education and employment aspiration.

The OBC addresses the absence of extensive and inclusive teaching and learning around the contributions of Black people to the city, the nation and the globe.

5. Bristol Black Scholarship Programme

The University of Bristol introduced this programme in 2020 with a £1m fund seeking to redress the historical under-representation of Black and mixed-Black heritage students at the university.