Fostering Inclusive Reading in Schools: Safeguarding Emotional Wellbeing

Discover how schools can safeguard students against emotional harm by fostering inclusive reading environments. Learn about the importance of racial literacy, the impact of culturally insensitive literature, and strategies for creating a curriculum that inspires and celebrates diversity.

Reading for pleasure? 

Recently, a friend told me how she was stunned into silence when a chair of trustees declared that despite the opposition towards a controversial book, due to its use of racial slurs, it was a good text and should remain within the curriculum. This was despite the school comprising of 97% Global Majority children, 35% of whom are Black. Another colleague told me how, during a learning walk she had asked what the class were reading. After a pensive pause a student responded “Miss, you don’t want to know. This book is racist! 

Ideally these would be isolated incidents but unfortunately, across the country, children are still being asked to sit in classrooms and read books filled with one of the most hateful racist slurs in history. 

As professionals, safeguarding students against emotional abuse is a statutory requirement. Therefore, schools should provide learning environments where children are safe from emotional harm, so they can flourish and confidently move towards the next stage of their life. A foundation for this is learning opportunities that are underpinned by a curriculum that inspires and enthuses students to engage creatively and intuitively with others and explore diverse ideas and identities.

At a recent conference I heard the curriculum described as a 2-way mirror where pupils see themselves reflected in what they learn whilst looking out into a world of opportunities. However, if a student is presented with reading materials that depicts them and people that look like them in a degrading and demeaning manner, it should be questioned what mirror images are being reinforced to those students? Furthermore, what stereotypical windows are being opened to their peers? By using literature that invokes direct and vicarious racial trauma due to its language and negative connotations, some educators are failing to provide emotional safeguards within their classrooms. Often, this occurs due to a lack of awareness of the emotional impact on students’ wellbeing when presented with material that is culturally insensitive as it may leave them open to ridicule and self-deprecation. Teachers being unaware of this impact, further highlights the necessity for racial literacy training for all teachers. A racially literate professional would ensure their resources are inclusive, promotes self-discovery and an exploration of knowledge in a positive and constructive manner. This has never and can never be achieved by using hateful words and a demeaning rhetoric towards any race.

As reading is currently an educational priority now is an opportune moment for English departments to remove archaic schemes of work under the guise of learning about racism. Instead, schools can work alongside stakeholders to co-produce reading curriculums that offer texts which are reflective of all students, with protagonists from all races that inspire positive self-worth and a desire to learn more about their peers. 

Literature should be used as a gateway to new worlds, therefore, as students see themselves positively referenced and celebrated through texts, the desire to read more to know more will become an intriguing and enjoyable experience, that ignites the true meaning of reading for pleasure. 

Resources

• Lit in colour Lit in Colour | Supporting inclusive reading in schools (penguin.co.uk) 
• Teaching diversity through reading in primary schools Teaching diversity through reading in primary schools (schoolreadinglist.co.uk)
• Diverse Fiction for Secondary schools Diverse Fiction for Secondary Schools - MBE Books