Teach Secondary Issue 14.7

There are some stories you can’t unread. For me, the Child Q case sits in that category – a horrifying moment where the failings of schools, the police and local authorities collided with the body of a 15-year- old Black girl in the most brutal way. Stripped, searched and humiliated by officers in her own school. And worst of all? No one in that room thought to stop it. We need to sit with that for a moment. Because the truth is, what happened to Child Q didn’t come out of nowhere. It was the result of a deep-rooted cocktail of adultification bias, systemic racism and institutional tunnel vision that sees some children – particularly Black girls – as less deserving of protection and more deserving of suspicion. And, if we’re being honest, many of us in education either missed it, misunderstood it or quietly moved on. But we can’t afford to move on. Because if safeguarding means anything, it must mean safeguarding all children – especially those who society too quickly frames as threats, rather than in need of care. WHEN ‘SAFEGUARDING’ FAILS In an incident that took place in 2020, Child Qwas suspected by staff at her school of smelling of cannabis. Based on that suspicion alone, teachers called the Police, and the Police – without an appropriate adult – proceeded to conduct a strip search on school premises. No drugs were found. The girl was left traumatised. The adults responsible either failed to see her vulnerability, or chose to overlook it. Now, imagine if it had been a white child. The likelihood is that the situation would have been handled very differently. That’s not a radical statement – it’s backed by a report subsequently published by the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (see tinyurl.com/ts147-LL1) , which found that racismwas ‘likely’ to have been an influencing factor in how she was treated. The uncomfortable truth is that Black children are not always afforded the same innocence as their peers. They’re more likely to be excluded, more likely to be stopped and searched, and, as in this case, more likely to be ‘adultified’ – that is, perceived as older, more responsible and less in need of care. Racism should be treated as a safeguarding issue. As made clear in Power The Fight’s 2024 ‘Protecting Young Black Lives, Celebrating Black Professionals’ report (see tinyurl.com/ts147-LL2) , when young Black people experience racism in schools – whether overt or systemic – it has real safeguarding consequences that impact upon their mental health, sense of safety and long- term outcomes. A failure to address racism amounts to a failure to protect. The fallout fromChild Q’s experience should be a sharp jolt to schools across the country. This isn’t about a rare ‘mistake’ that happened in a London borough, but a call to reflect on our school cultures, safeguarding policies and unconscious biases. FROMOUTRAGE TO ACTION Safeguarding isn’t a passive process. It requires teachers to challenge, question and sometimes obstruct authority when a child’s welfare is at stake. It means asking whether calling the Police is the right step. It means pushing back when a proposed solution could cause more harm than good. It means seeing Black girls as children first. So, here’s the challenge – schools, are you ready to embed anti-racist, culturally sensitive practice in every part of your safeguarding? Local authorities – are you prepared to co-create solutions with the young people you claim to serve? This isn’t about removing ‘a few bad apples’, but real systemic work leading to sustainable change. Because Child Q deserved better. And so do the children walking through your school gates today. You must maintain consistently high expectations of all your students – that’s academic, behavioural and social expectations (social expectations being how the students interact with you and with each other). High expectations tell your students that you fully believe they have what it takes to achieve, behave and interact in the ways that they should. Low expectations convey the precise opposite – that they can’t achieve, can’t behave and can’t get along with each other. But how can you know if your expectations are genuinely high? After all, every teacher you’ll ever meet will tell you they have high expectations – yet expectations between teachers can actually vary wildly. So here’s what you do. In any given situation, try to imagine what the best possible student behaviour looks like, and make that your expectation.Whether it’s students entering the classroom, following instructions, paying attention, answering questions, working in pairs, working in fours, doing homework and so forth – imagine the best possible scenario and then aim squarely for that. Because here’s the key point – whether high or low, students’ behaviour will move in the direction of the expectations placed upon them. So keep your expectations consistently high. Robin Launder is a behaviour management consultant and speaker; this column is adapted from his book, Brilliant Behaviour in 60 Seconds or Less (Routledge, £18.99) DOTHIS CONSISTENTLYHIGH EXPECTATIONS ROBINLAUNDER PRESENTSHIS TIPS FOR OVERSEEINGBRILLIANT BEHAVIOUR... BEN LINDSAY OBE IS THE CEO OF POWER THE FIGHT – A CHARITY DEDICATED TO EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES TO END VIOLENCE AFFECTING YOUNG PEOPLE. HIS SECOND BOOK, WE NEED TO TALK... ABOUT RACE , IS AVAILABLE NOW (SPCK PUBLISHING, £10.99) FOCUS ON… CHILD Q 76 teachwire.net/secondary