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Hello! Welcome! Come On In!

Oh, hello there! Welcome to Let's Get Proud. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time now. But where do you begin? On an adventure like this? I suppose it would be useful to introduce myself and explain what this is all for. I'm Scotty, a 2nd Year ECT (Early Career Teacher) teaching English and Media Studies in an 11-18 school in the East Midlands. The school where I teach I actually went to for my 11-18 education. Talk about walking down memory lane. I grew up a Derbyshire Lad and for 4 years of my life I became a Salford Guy (or rather Salford Gay). Although I have had relatively little time on this Earth so far, I would say I have accrued an experience and a half. Be it work, or life lessons. It has not been all plain sailing. Indeed, getting to where I am now has taken time and graft. Both work wise and personally. But that is for further posts. One thing I will share however is that right now, I have never been so happy in how I look and feel about myself. Tru...
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A Little Data Says A Lot - EDI in Schools

Well, it is January. Start of a new Half Term, a new Term, and a New Year. They say that Christmas is a time for reflection, and for me, this Christmas, I decided to reflect on my progress over the course of 2022 - as a person, a teacher, and someone with a keen and genuine passion to see my students - past, present, and future - live their truth . I also got thinking about others working in EDI - particularly in schools, what do they do? How much do they do? Do they get paid? A title? Some time to work in? With those thoughts, I set out to my Twittersphere and got to work. I composed a poll for UK teachers, set out in three stages. The first stage is for all UK teachers and the second and third are for those involved in EDI within their schools. I am incredibly grateful to those that responded (82 lovely people in all). So, the Judge's scores are in (sorry, couldn't resist the Strictly vibe). The first question in my poll asked 'Do/Did you have someone responsible for, lea...

Back To School: Waterloo Road returns!

A new term at Waterloo Road  (BBC, 2006-2015,2023-) kicked off on Tuesday 3rd January. People rushed to class to see what awaited them on the curriculum. It was met with mixed reviews. For me? I loved it! SPOILER ALERT - I am discussing the new series below, so if you haven't watched it, please go to BBC iPlayer and catch up before proceeding (You have been warned!) I loved the original run of Waterloo Road, and distinctly remember seeing the final episode of Series 2 where Izzie Redpath (played by the infamous Jill Halfpenny - many currently hear her as the voice of Argos) was tragically stabbed by a ruffian going after then-Headteacher Jack Rimmer (played by Jason Merrells). I was absolutely devastated. And since then, I became a regular viewer of Waterloo Road. Eventually managing to go back and see the episodes preceding Izzie's tragic fate. After 10 series, the BBC axed the show in 2015. I was gutted, the series stopping just before my final A-Level exams would kick off....

"For we may not be the young ones very long" - Young Teachers & Microaggressions

Often in EDI work, we engage in discourse and education on microaggressions. If microaggressions are completely new to you, I'll give you a quick TOM. T ERM: Microaggression O RIGIN:  It is noted that the term was coined by a Harvard University psychiatrist called Chester M. Pierce. First used in 1970. M EANING: The originally meaning by Pierce was to denote the slurs and comments made towards People of Colour (POC) by white people, sometimes known as 'put downs' (Pierce,  C. et al., 1978) . Coming into the 21st century, as with all language, definitions undergo a metamorphosis, and microaggression began to be used widely for any casual slurs towards marginalised groups in society. It is, however, important to consider how microaggressions can apply to more than just our social groups who face explicit injustice and prejudice (i.e. LGBTQ+, POC, People with disabilities) but that microaggressions  can apply to other subgroups in society. When we discuss the Equality Act 20...