Podcast 55: How Can Schools Improve Attitudes To Hair?


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World Afro Hair Day

Joshua McGovern

Joshua McGovern has been working with Teacher Toolkit since March 2018. He is responsible for our Soundcloud and iTunes channels and is the production manager for podcasts. He has a degree in Music Production and is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University. Aside from working...
Read more about Joshua McGovern

Are our attitudes to hairstyles still hindering inclusion and inadvertently discriminating others?

Hair discrimination has gone unrecognised for decades and needs to be addressed. In our 55th interview, our 31st women-in-education podcast, we talk with Michelle De Leon who is the founder of World Afro Day and author of the Hair Equality Report.

The Hair Equality Report

The Hair Equality Report is needed because there is a lack of awareness about this problem within governing bodies, school authorities and the general public. Listen to Michelle and Teacher Toolkit founder, Ross McGill discuss:

  • How education policies let children in their attitudes towards hair and identity
  • How hopeful she is for women and young girls to not be held back by their gender
  • Reflect on Michelle’s positive and negative experiences in education as a child
  • Highlight how she came to have a career in the media and the aspects of television she is involved in
  • Explain how World Afro Day was born out of her daughter’s love for her own hair
  • How much joy Michelle has got from creating lesson plans for children around World Afro Day
  • Delve into the stigma around black women and their hair
  • Watch Michelle explain the Hair Equality Report in this short video.

Listen

Remember, our podcast is available on iTunes!

There are countless media stories, yet little academic research to suggest having a particular style of hair impacts on pupil performance. To find out more, you can join in with World Afro Day on 15th September and download the lesson plans for your classroom.

You can find out much more on WAD website: www.WorldAfroDay.com


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