Educational inequities and rainbow learners

What challenges have you seen rainbow students face at your school? And how has having a space helped with those challenges?

I spoke to a student this year, a year 12 student, and she told me that um… It was a very interesting conversation with her; we were discussing rainbow issues. And I asked her what her experience was like at school and she said she was… rainbow students in schools generally are invisible. She said they go through the school and the curriculum doesn't address in any way any issues, any history, any individuals, you know. And that the only time that issues to do with rainbow students are addressed is where they have to justify their existence. 

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And you know, I try to explain this to people by saying that, like you can imagine if you were a woman, for example, if you imagine coming into a school [and] no one ever mentioned women. You went to lessons, there were no role models who were women, right, and there was no history of women. And the only time women were ever mentioned was in the context of whether you become a woman by nature or nurture, so you justify your existence. So it seems to me that one of the challenges that students have faced is simply that this key part of their identity has been invisible and not addressed by the school. 

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With having a club set up where senior management can come and visit; talk to the students. I mean we had an amazing meeting the first time the principal came in to meet the students. Like myself, he was really uh shook by what he heard. And in exactly the same way I think that happened to me, you just become so aware of what some of these students go through.

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A thing that… a kind of by-product of the space that's interesting is that we create a set of posters just identifying, you know, where the room was on. And various teachers put those up in classrooms. It sounds like a really tokenistic, simple thing but children seeing rainbow flags, just small rainbow flags. You have a white wall [and] there's a rainbow flag up there, tells you. Just those small steps that schools can make I think are also important. 

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There are other steps coming out of discussions with those students. And also I think then senior leadership reflecting on these things themselves, they have made other changes. So we have like gender neutral bathrooms. We have PD planned for next year. We were going to have it in 2020 but due to Covid, you know, that wasn't possible. We're also looking at hopefully having some student voice, where teachers can connect and discuss things with students. And so as to raise awareness. So the school wants to move forward in various ways. And the school I think is now really aware. And part of that comes through having a focus like that.

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What would the dream school look like for rainbow students?

I have absolutely no idea. So let me tell you this right, you see the thing is, is that the actual space… if you're considering setting up a space, for example, it's not my space. The space was created by students to begin with. And I actually consider myself a guest within that space, for those students. And I think it's really important for… that if you create a space, it's really important that that space is a space, especially if you're entering this space for other people, it's a space where you enter and listen. I think if you listen to students you learn, you know, and I think from that, change will come because it just so opens your eyes to what these children go through.

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And a kind of dream version of that I suppose, certainly from the students’ point of view, is where this is a non-issue; where you know children are able to just simply be who they are. And, you know, we're taking steps towards that. 

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Another thing that senior management are doing here is that our uniform contract ends soon. And when they draw up the new uniform schemes they're going to have those uniforms as diverse, so students can choose which uniform they use. So I think it's with steps like that you get towards that. And, you know, you're moving towards that sort of that kind of dream environment.

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What take-away message do you have for people watching this?

My takeaway for anyone watching this is that if you don't have a space like this, you really need to create one for students. I am staggered by what some of these students have to deal with. The thing that's quite heartbreaking really is that for some of the students, it’s only for some, great parents, you know, great friends, but for some of the students those people who are most important in their lives sometimes find what the students are going through very difficult to deal with. And that as you can imagine growing up, that can be really quite hurtful. 

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And so I think it's important that we raise our awareness of what some of these students are going through. And that we try to support them as much as we can, and in the same way that we'd like people to support our own children if they were in situations. We should afford the same to these students.

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So yeah, set up a space, have a conversation. Set up a space, talk to students, listen. Listen.