Embedding anti-racism in the teaching, learning and assessment of the Community Development and Youth Work programme: Lessons learned to date.

Abstract

The Black Lives Matter movement has placed a spotlight on racism, not just as a global phenomenon but as a feature of Irish society. Research conducted with Community Development and Youth Work students on the TU Dublin Blanchardstown campus found that some had encountered racism on placement and felt ill-equipped to deal with it. As a group of white lecturers working with diverse students, we sought and received funding to conduct a project during the academic year 2020/21 which aimed to embed anti-racism in the teaching, learning and assessment of that programme. An action-research methodology using a mixed-methods approach was employed, and focus groups, surveys and reflections were used to gather the evidence base. Following an overview of the theoretical framework underpinning the work, this article charts the journey to achieve the proposed objectives: namely, to change the programme content/delivery, to increase the racial literacy and reflective practice of lecturers in terms of anti-racism, and to enable students to identify racism and empower them to respond to it. The article concludes with an analysis of some lessons learned and emerging issues from the ongoing work.

Keywords

• irish higher education
• whiteness
• community development
• youth work
• practice education