Let's talk about Privilege in schools

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Written By Team T2S

Understanding and recognising privilege can be a very personal challenge, it can make us feel uncomfortable, it may bring up other emotions such as anger, guilt and confusion. It can even threaten our core beliefs.  However, it is important that you address your own privilege, come to this work with an open mind, be prepared to change and adapt your thinking. Finally, be prepared for challenging discussions in and out of the classroom. Everybody will have ideas that have been informed by their family, education, environment, media etc and some may be reluctant to accept new or challenging information.  

Consider when we talk about privilege what do mean? 

“Privilege, simply put, is societally granted, unearned advantages accorded to some people and not others. Generally, when we talk about privilege, we are referring to systemic or structural advantages that impact people based on identity factors such as race, gender, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexuality, class, and body type. We might also include the level of education and other factors of social capital under the umbrella of privilege.” 

Privilege is linked to oppression, as some people are disadvantaged by social norms. For example, we spent many years with very inaccessible buildings - nobody really thought or considered how the steps into a shop might disadvantage a wheelchair user.  The design of some buildings privileged some people but contributed to the oppression of others.

Talking about privilege can be difficult. Much can depend on how close you are to privilege - if you or your students benefit from privilege. It can really unsettle somebody’s worldview and it can also challenge societal views that we are all equal and we all live in a society where everybody has an equal chance. Challenging privilege may be very uncomfortable, but it should not be an excuse to avoid exploring this very challenging area.  

Privilege in the classroom  

Privilege in the classroom can take many forms and could include the physical environment, the information and displays on your walls and corridors, the way the curriculum is constructed and delivered.  

Privilege in the classroom - educators:  

  • Pupils may be more likely to engage with you if you present as white, gender conforming, able bodied, affluent, male.  

  • If you experience privilege you may come into the classroom with assumptions that your students have the same privilege as you. 

  • If you have no disabilities and English is your first language, then you may find it easier to meet the challenges presented within school for example when working with policies and procedures or dealing with your workload.  

  • Your key subject area is very likely to have been written by others who also have the same privilege as yourself so nobody would make a suggestion that you were bringing your own personal bias to your field of study.  

Privilege in the classroom - pupils:  

  • Pupils who don’t experience privilege may feel disenfranchised by their educators or other pupils.  

  • If individual pupils’ identity is not represented in the school, they may feel marginalised. Pupils can also at times become the education tool in the classroom particularly if they are for example a Muslim pupil in a predominantly Christian school. The pupil could be used as inspiration, or for a teachable moment this is objectifying the student and abuse of privilege.  

  • Where English is not the first language, pupils may consider that the educators will not take sufficient account of any language barriers or cultural differences in approaches when evaluating their work.  

  • Pupils may fell judged if they are required to provide evidence to validate their needs before being believed or supported in the same way as pupils with privilege.  

Watch: Heart breaking moment when kids learn about white privilege. The school that tried to end racism. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUj  

What thoughts and emotions did the short clip bring up for you?  

Now we have started to consider what privilege is let’s think about what you can do to address privilege in your classroom.  

  1. Do your research and hold yourself accountable.

  2. Choose activities that will be inclusive of all identifies and avoid objectifying oppression.

  3. Construct a reading list that includes many insights from authors who don’t share your privilege identities and include readings that address privilege and oppression specifically.  

  4. Include inclusive language in your syllabus.  

  5. Create a welcoming bulletin board with words and pictures representing diversity not just in your school but from the wider community and beyond. 

  6. Have clear classroom and school agreements that explicitly state bullying of any sort will not be accepted in your school. This would always need to be upheld and modelled by staff until it becomes embedded in practice.  

  7. Prepare for teachable moments – how can you respond when you hear “that’s gay”, or teachers saying “I’m having a blonde, moment”.  

  8. Model inclusive language.

  9. Do not group students by their gender, you wouldn’t group students by the colour of their skin.  

  10. At the start of the school year discuss how we can all be an ally to others and how we can stand up and speak out.  

  11. Establish an equality and diversity group in school made of students, teachers and carers.  

  12. Be willing to accept that you may be wrong sometimes and commit to doing better.  

Some areas that are not so readily thought about when considering privilege are pupils who are reluctant speakers, reluctant writers, shy or anxious pupils, pupil who are living in households with domestic violence, where one or more people have mental ill health, where the household has limited income. 

Can you think of any more and how these pupils are disadvantaged by classroom teaching and expectations of how to work successfully within the school community?

Additional resources on understanding privilege – (Warning some of the links do have occasional swear words  used to illustrate particular points)  

Team T2S
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