Nanouche Umeadi, came to the UK at the age of 4 as an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She reflects on her childhood, “I couldn’t speak English and was part of a low income household, statistically I should have been failing”. Growing up in Camden and tackling barriers, Nanouche is now a school governor at a Camden primary school, leading the charge calling for more diversity in the education space.
Teaching differently
In 2020, the world saw the resurfacing of the Black Lives Matter movement following the tragic murders of Black lives in the US and the unfair treatment of Black people across the globe. Racism was brought into the forefront of media on an international level that we haven’t seen in recent years. Nanouche expands, “People were asking questions. At my children’s school, parents, and children were also asking questions. I remember waiting to hear George Floyd or the protests mentioned on the school newsletter, but a few weeks passed, and I didn’t hear or see anything”.
When Nanouche mentioned this at a full governing body meeting, she was told that discussions were being had internally amongst the teachers but there wasn’t much clarity on how to address such a sensitive topic. Wanting to do something to change this, Nanouche felt inspired to take the lead in responding, especially as at the time she was the only person from an ethnic minority background in her school governing board.
She first addressed the curriculum and worked with the school to make it truly diverse in not just history and geography, but in every subject possible. Her approach states that having a diverse range of topics isn’t enough, but what needs to be looked at is how they are being taught. “You can say we have diversity by studying India,” she explains, “but what India are you showing? India is beautiful, it has cities, interesting buildings and architecture, so why are you studying the slums?”
“Before, pupils said they were only studying about Black history certain times of the year – mostly slave trade or American history, but now they mention Black examples in maths, IT technology…that’s really exciting.”
Nanouche Umeadi
The way Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities are portrayed in classrooms, how they are celebrated or ignored influences the wellbeing of these children. Imagine you have 1 or 2 Black children in a sea of white children, already they feel different and ‘other’. So it’s October, Black History Month and, like most schools do, use it as an opportunity to reteach the slave trade. Whilst teaching it, the school decides to show imagery of enslaved people – Black people that look like the two Black children. There is no consideration to the imagery used and how the Black children would feel about it. These are the type of discussions and thoughts that I wanted to encourage.
Overtime, the success of these interventions became clear both within the classroom and outside of it. Nanouche explains the evolution within the classroom, “Before, pupils said they were only studying about Black history certain times of the year – mostly slave trade or American history, but now they mention Black examples in maths, IT technology…that’s really exciting.” Outside the classroom, the school has created a safe space for pupils to discuss a variety of topics, from the Black Lives Matter movement, to what is going on in the media. She continues, “We can’t assume that these are conversations they are having at home, so it is a huge thing for the school to provide that space to discuss amongst themselves.”
After inviting Sir Keir Starmer to see the success of her children’s school, Nanouche decided to expand her work and start helping other schools in Camden to decolonise their curriculum and be truly anti-racist. She has gone on to work with several in Camden schools, just in the last 6 months.
“What I could relate to the most was the mental burden of always been seen to represent everyone ‘non-white’ and all racial issues.”
Nanouche Umeadi
Diversity in leadership
To tackle diversity in a truly in a truly 360-degree way in schools, it’s important to look at the racial makeup of teachers, head teachers and governing boards in schools. People in leadership in schools are disproportionately white, and that includes teachers. The area that I focus more within my work is diversity in school governing boards. Governing bodies tend to be white, and this is a huge issue.
Before Nanouche could address and change this, she did research within Camden interviewing current and past school governors from an ethnic minority background. Working alongside Camden Learning, Camden Council and councillors, she looked at the barriers that prevent ethnic minorities from being on governing boards.
Issues and challenges that came up on this research were things like: the way governors are recruited using a CV and having to showcase their skills, the time commitment, childcare issue, being financially able to volunteer your time, the complicated formalities of governor’s meeting, the paper work and jargon.
She expands, “What I could relate to the most was the mental burden of always been seen to represent everyone ‘non-white’ and all racial issues. I am a Black woman, but I don’t represent all Black women, never mind representing an Asian man whose lived experience would be so different to mine”. She believes it’s important that these challenges and barriers are properly looked at and addressed if we really want diverse governing bodies in our schools.
Listen to what she has to say about giving people who don’t look like you a chance, in this video.
Get involved in Camden’s Diversity Mission
Nanouche is eager to carry on championing change in Camden, to ensure the leadership of the borough is as diverse as our communities, and the next generation is ready to follow.
Find out more about Camden’s Diversity Mission and if you have an idea you’d like to share, get in touch today.
Photo credits: Karishma Puri
