The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

Equality

Carole Green

Three impactful steps schools can take to embed EDI into their settings

Ensuring we are engaging in equality, diversity and inclusion in an impactful way is crucial to the wellbeing of the whole school community. Carole Green shares three steps to take to reach this goal. Settings that struggle to embed EDI are more likely to have environments in which discrimination...
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Sheza Afzal

Three common mistakes schools face in their EDI work

Inclusive environments in schools require a shared responsibility to promote EDI. Sheza Afzal outlines three mistakes and offers suggestions for addressing them. Schools strive to create inclusive environments through their efforts to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). However, this...
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Mel Greenwood

Equity is not equality — we must stop mixing the two

Does your school know the difference between equity and equality? Mel Greenwood discusses the benefits and importance of the two in the classroom. If there are two virtues I see muddled often, they are equality and equity. To pinch a phrase made popular by WomenEd , equality ensures that we all...
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Mel Greenwood

Blue is for everyone. Pink is for everyone.

What are gender stereotypes? Mel Greenwood describes day-to-day life examples and the importance of challenging gender myths. On my fertility journey, hoping to start a family, people often ask me ‘what I want’, and this question irritates me more than it should. Answer — I would like to birth a...
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Candice West

Overcoming three barriers to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion

Finding ways to defeat EDI obstacles can be challenging. Candice West offers tips to locate where unconscious bias, privilege and lack of representation may cause problems. Go straight to Unconscious bias Lack of representation Privilege Educators are passionate about teaching and want young people...
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Sarah Hopp

Why neurodiversity is not a diagnosis

Misuse of the term neurodiversity can promote a ‘them and us’ attitude, Sarah Hopp argues. Instead, she explains how to truly embrace our differences and uniqueness. In recent years, the term ‘neurodiversity’ coined by Judy Singer in 1998 has become prevalent in educational literature and policy...
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Aldaine Wynter

Representation in the curriculum: culture, diversity and inclusion

In the third of his series of blog posts, Aldaine Wynter looks at the importance and impact of a diverse curriculum. In this blog we will look at the following areas in relation to representation in the curriculum: cultural representation embedding diversity into the curriculum creating an...
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Aldaine Wynter

Representation in teaching

‘You can’t be what you can’t see’. Aldaine Wynter discusses why representation in the classroom is an important way to role model for students. In my previous piece I spoke of the importance of representation in education at every level. So far, we have explored representation at school leadership...
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Liz Worthen

Changing and challenging perceptions about disability: the Power 100

The Disability Power 100 list is all about challenging negative perceptions about disability and celebrating the achievements of the many successful and influential disabled people in the UK. How can you get involved? Did you know that a fifth of the UK’s population has some kind of disability or...
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Aldaine Wynter

Racial literacy and what it means for me

What is racial literacy and why should it be incorporated into the school curriculum? Aldaine Wynter shares his experiences. In my first blog post, ‘ Beginning the conversation round race, diversity and inclusion with staff ’, I briefly spoke about racial literacy and its place in anti-racist CPD...
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