Union people
Fighting for equality and diversity THE former National Union of Teachers established the Blair Peach Award in March 2010. It is given in honour of Blair Peach, a former president of East London NUT, who was murdered during an anti-racism demonstration in London in 1979. The award recognises members who have made exemplary contributions to the work of their school, association or district on equality and diversity.
Blair Peach award winner 2020 Doug Morgan, Birmingham district
Nominee Curmiah St Catherine
Curmiah has worked hard to contribute to the understanding and importance of equality and diversity in her school. She has created lessons which are integrated across the curriculum and include topics such as refugee journeys, voices of migration and a range of World Book Day activities. “I found that many of my students in diverse inner London classrooms did not see themselves in what they were being taught and found it difficult to appreciate the curriculum without questioning it. “They often became disconnected or felt that school was simply one big memory test. In embedding cross-curricular and personal development projects, I’ve found that this encourages students to collaborate.” Curmiah’s school said: “Curmiah has made a permanent impact on equality and diversity in our school.” 36
Doug has spent his life campaigning for equalities. Fighting tirelessly for others, his calm, passionate determination is an inspiration to all. Recently he has been central to the campaign in Birmingham around relationships and sex education (RSE) teaching. He has encouraged an atmosphere of considered and purposeful mediation in an environment that has been difficult for both the LGBT+ and Muslim communities. He has campaigned within Supporting Education of Equality and Diversity in Schools (SEEDS), a group set up to end the protests in Birmingham schools and ensure people understand the reality of RSE teaching. Doug relentlessly promotes the message “No to Islamophobia, no to homophobia”, which has encouraged members of both communities to unite and fight for equality in education. For many years Doug has worked with Stand Up To Racism and Unite Against Fascism, organising local and national events. In 2017, he wrote an open letter to Ofsted opposing the ban on the hijab in schools. Doug says: “No matter what their background, ethnicity, sexuality, gender or religion, every student and every staff member matters. Schools should be places where we celebrate each other and not hide who we are. Classrooms should encourage understanding, debate and learning about our many communities.”
Nominee Alex Kais
“I think the fight for equality and diversity in schools never stops. As a member of the LGBT+ and BAME community, it is even more apparent to me how much inequality and diversity there is in schools. It is up to us as educators to continue the fight for more inclusive education.” Alex is a champion for the rights of LGBT+ members and an active district member. He organised a teacher training and CPD event for more than 120 LGBT+ teachers and allies. The event was a huge success and led to many LGBT+ teachers joining the NEU. “I was inspired by the NEU LGBT+ organising forum and all it does to promote diversity and equality. It was extremely supportive of my efforts at my school and of a large teacher event that celebrated diversity and equality through the arts.”
educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)
Nominee Emma Mort
“As educators and trade unionists, it is incumbent on us to be at the forefront of the fightback against the rise in racism and fascism that we’re seeing in our communities, nationally and globally.” Through her work with charity Care4Calais and Warwickshire NEU, Emma has shown that you can tackle injustice. She is making a real difference, as part of the union, in standing up for refugees and providing practical aid and solidarity, and has engaged with members who hadn’t been active in the union. On the last delegation to France, she took eight teachers from her school to Calais and organised a school collection. “One of the highlights was when a year 11 student brought me a big bag of his T-shirts to donate, with the plea to ‘tell the refugees that one day I hope it will be better’. That’s what keeps me going!”
