The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has sent ripples around the world and is making us all think about our words, actions and part within systemic racism.
At National Drama we are advocates of equity, equality and social justice but these can be empty words if we do not take action.
We work in both education and the arts, significant arenas which make real change in the world through impact upon young people, and we need to all engage in the debates around systemic racism and de-colonising the curriculum. Inclusion requires us to look at our daily practices, our words and actions, but also a re-appraisal of the teaching materials that we employ.
Yet, de-colonising the curriculum means much more than simply ensuring we are using a non-white traditional tale in our KS 1 & 2 Drama or working with Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses at GCSE (if we happen to be following that particular exam specification!). The accepted canon of works that we employ needs to be re-appraised in terms of the history that it relates and the meaning it has to all of our students today.
We do need to support Black voices and artists, but we also need to have debates about, and campaign for, curriculum change and on a day-to-day basis consider what equity and education about race means when working with, and assessing, the demographic of the students in our Drama studios and classrooms.