Tackling the lack of representation in Bristol’s schools

It has been an incredible year for Aisha Thomas, who has gained national recognition in her campaign to challenge the lack of representation in schools.

The assistant principal of City Academy did not know the full scale of the crisis when she agreed to work with the BBC on an investigation, which revealed that just 26 out of more than 1,300 of the city’s secondary school teachers are black – equating to less than two per cent.

The documentary aired in September 2018, but that was only beginning for Aisha, who has gone on to highlight the lack of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) teachers at a national level. She has also taken a lead role in creating Bristol’s new ‘One Curriculum’ that aims to truly represents the history and contributions of black people.

Aisha says it’s been a whirlwind year

“This is the best year of my life,” exclaims the assistant principal, sitting down at a desk inside the school’s Russel Town Avenue premises one recent Monday morning. It’s near the end of term in what has been her busiest year to date, but Aisha is bursting with infectious energy.

“When we started to do the investigation in the wake of the Runnymede Trust report, I could not believe it, I had no idea it was that bad,” she reveals.

“In a city I have lived in all my life, nine of the state schools had no black teachers whatsoever. It made me realise how important it is, not just for black children but for white children as well. From then, it’s just been a massive whirlwind.”

Since starring in the documentary, Aisha delivered a key note speech at the national Black Teachers’ Conference, spoke at the Department for Education’s recruitment and retainment event and was approached by mayor Marvin Rees about hosting a BAME teacher recruitment event in City Hall.

“To see so many BAME people from across the country, it was a real boost,” says Aisha. “People were saying ‘Aisha, you are telling our story’.”

She admits there was a lot of debate about whether or not to expose the school and the city prior to taking part in the documentary.

“Then we thought this is such an important issue for everybody,” Aisha tells Bristol24/7.

“We are at a time when we cannot ignore what Brexit has done and the president [Trump] and more black deaths in America – these global issues are affecting us on a day to day basis.

“There is not a profession in the world that doesn’t begin with a teacher and if we continue with this idea that a teacher can only be a certain colour and background, it becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Despite her passion for her chosen field, Aisha had never initially intended to be a teacher and was instead training to be a lawyer when a chance encounter changed her career path.

“I met a young man in prison through some work I was doing with The Prince’s Trust and he said ‘if you were my teacher I might not be in prison’ and I could not let that go,” she says.

“I could not stop thinking about it and that was the beginning of the change.”

Aisha says it has been no mean feat for Steve Taylor, the CEO of Cabot Learning Federation, which runs City Academy and several other schools in the city, to agree to step up and tackle diversity.

A successful open-door recruitment event, hosted at the academy, aimed to encourage more BAME people to consider teaching and leadership roles.

“It’s not about coming to this school, it’s about saying ‘we see there’s a crisis, let’s get more BAME people into teaching’,” says Aisha.

“It’s important to have people talking about the profession with the respect it deserves. It’s about raising the aspirations, particularly of BAME students.”

Plans to launch a new, inclusive curriculum for Bristol were first announced at the final Year of Change event at Bristol Old Vic in February.

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Read more: Time for change in Bristol

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The ‘One Bristol Curriculum’ aims to broaden the delivery of education in Bristol’s schools by embedding content from a global majority perspective that will complement the current curriculum.

Aisha has been working with Bristol Music Trust and partners on helping to develop this and a series of meetings and consultations have been held.

The Bristol Bus Boycott successfully challenged the Bristol Omnibus Company’s racist policy of refusing to employ black drivers

“Not only is black history not fair and equitable, it’s not even about Bristol,” she says. “Most of our kids know about Rosa Parks but not the Bristol Bus Boycott.

“At the very least, those who have contributed to Bristol should be in the curriculum. It’s about aligning the curriculum with another set of resources, we can’t change the curriculum, but we can enhance it.

“For a long time, black people lived in fear of telling their stories because they worried about the consequences.”

A pilot project called ‘What’s in a name’ is due to launch in September. Each year group involved will explore the question along a different theme.

“It’s a chance for us all to be connected,” explains Aisha. “Getting black history in and doing it on a way that’s empowering and individual, but also making it relatable to everyone.

“We are speaking to parents, students and teachers before and after the project and we will come up with a best practice model that will be delivered without taking away from the curriculum.”

In addition to her work to fight for representation in schools, Aisha has been on a secondment with Bristol City Council’s Safer Options Team as education inclusion manager, tackling serious youth violence and child criminal exploitation.

She believes communication and education are key to combating racism and related serious issues.

Asked why she took on this role on top of everything else, Aisha says: “Because I’m a mother of two black boys. I have a son who is going to go to secondary school, and I cannot ignore what I see in the media.

“I can’t ignore that he is more likely to be stopped and searched and more likely to leave school. This is about changing that narrative.

“We need to stop criminalising young people and see them for what they are.”

Aisha intends to build on the momentum to keep challenging the lack of representation in education

Read more: ‘I didn’t know how bad the lack of BAME staff was’