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A RESPONSE TO PHE’S REPORTS ON DISPARITIES IN RISKS AND OUTCOMES OF COVID-19 FOR BAME COMMUNITIES

Academics from across different faculties question whether the recent Public Health England reports have made any ground-breaking revelations around the inequalities faced by BAME people during the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK.

Public Health England’s (PHE) reports on the disparities in the risk and outcomes of Covid-19, released on the June 2, 2020, and recommendations report released on June 16, 2020, document systemic racism through the lived experiences of around 4000 minority stakeholders. The reports highlight the often-ignored interconnection between inequalities and health. However, documenting alone ought not to be a substitute to action and does not resolve the issues that COVID-19 has laid bare.

We are calling for BAME communities to receive improved experiences and outcomes relating to health care provision and prevention that extends beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first PHE review confirmed that the impact of Covid-19 replicated existing health inequalities related to deprivation, occupation, geography, comorbidities and ethnicity. However, we believe it failed to take into account that the connections between these factors that make BAME groups vulnerable and puts them at higher risk from Covid-19. Portraying BAME groups as a homogenous population, ignoring the complexity of lives experienced by them, has led to simplistic strategies of support, ineffective for sustained improvement of care and inequalities of diagnosis and care related to Covid-19.

The second report on recommendations did later address this omission to some degree, as well as attempt to understand the extent that ethnicity impacts upon risk and outcomes of Covid-19, stating that longstanding inequalities were exacerbated by increased risk of exposure among BAME groups, increasing the risks of acquisition, complications and death. It also confirmed that the strongest and most concerning factor of risk was ethnicity.

Stakeholders clearly pointed out that racism and discrimination experienced by BAME communities were the root cause affecting health, exposure risk and Covid-19 progression leading to deaths. However, there was no explanation why race is a factor of risk other than to say racialized peoples are more likely to be living with the social factors identified.

Although the report outlines recommendations to overcome systemic health related racism in the UK, the intention to implement the recommendations by the government is questionable for several reasons.

Firstly, the report identifies a correlation between discrimination and poorer life chances contributing to greater Covid-19 risk for BAME people. This emphasis on economic deprivation indicates an attempt to ignore racial inequalities. The reports shone a light on the elephant in the room: systemic racism and inequalities in the fabric of our society.

Around 4000 stakeholders engaged in the review, ranging from national, regional and local bodies including the Royal Colleges; the devolved nations; cross-government departments; local government leaders, chief executives of local government, directors of public health, faith groups and more. However, there is no mention of the socio-economic background of the stakeholders involved. This information is important because there could be a disparity between those who feel empowered to engage and individuals from BAME communities living complex lives impacted by poverty, whose voices regularly remain unheard.

It was also noted through the stakeholder contact that both staff and patients of NHS and community health care suffered adverse outcomes relating to Covid-19 due to discrimination and inequality in healthcare. This basic need of respect and ethics of care, whether as a patient or healthcare professional, is a fundamental requirement for enabling systematic change. It is, as the recommendations report relates, key that true representation of BAME populations is reflected at all levels of care and care management to allow improved visibility of diversity, leading to reduced polarisation of experience based on race and ethnicity, thus resulting in equitable policy and healthcare practice.

The PHE reports focus on the danger posed by Covid-19 to Black and Brown bodies. It focuses on the socio-material aspects underpinning greater risk, but fails to engage with the material realities of racism that negatively impact the physical body and psyche. The publishing of the review recommendations to protect those most at risk of Covid-19 was delayed. There was an emphasis on ethnicity as a factor and not racism as a cause. The result of these facts is that Black and Brown bodies are cast as deficit in terms of fighting the virus, and without value because measures to protect them or action to fight racism seem unimportant. These messages of deficiency and imminent danger are not only a result of historical violence and trauma against Black and Brown bodies, they also do the work of reproducing that violence and trauma.

It is interesting to see the clear distinction made by PHE regarding stakeholders’ requests for action in stating this does not represent the views of PHE. This raises wider questions about what the views of PHE are on these issues. The recommendation report was supposed to be the guide for short to medium term actions, but how will the implementation of these actions be possible if the views presented here do not reflect that of PHE. These narratives suggest another lengthy discussion or review, but no action to help protect the lives of people from the BAME groups.

The initiation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to undertake an inquiry into highlighted factors from the PHE reports seems promising, perhaps in the long run, given the nation-wide approach they aim to take. However, since a potential second wave of Covid-19 is looming, it is questionable whether such a large-scale inquiry would yield any expediently beneficial action to mitigate impact on BAME communities.

Implementation of the PHE recommendations is of paramount importance as a matter of priority and urgency if the government intends to protect the lives of people from BAME groups if, and when, a second wave of Covid-19 occurs. This is also important in the wake of the first Covid-19 wave which has underscored that racism and not race seems to be the cause of Covid-19 health disparities.

Notes

A further paper, through the application of critical theory, will be developed looking at the systems of racialised power and how they operate in this COVID-19 moment.

  • ‘Black and brown bodies’ is a term that tends to be used in critical theory. It denotes humanity and impacts of similitude.
  • The following may provide a useful point of connection in difficult times. Disability justice thinking, especially from queer and trans Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (QTBIPOC), is useful for understanding the experiences felt by those considered most at risk from COVID-19 infection. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s book Care work: dreaming of disability justice helps to understand trauma and patterns of violence as felt experiences, the affects they have inter and trans generationally, carried through time and bodies, continuing and accumulating with devastating effects and affects. The book is full of hope and solidarity for this moment. It describes mutual aid care webs as strategies for effective and affective support where institutional care has failed, and it shows how emotional intelligence, borne from experiences of exclusion and inequality, provides an affective/felt knowledge and understanding that can inform breaking cycles of violence and trauma.

Clare Keys, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Dr Gowri Nanayakkara and Dr Chisa Onyejekwe, Senior Lecturers in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Social Sciences, Dr Rajeeb Sah, Senior Lecturer and Dr Toni Wright, Principal Research Fellow in Faculty of Medicine, Health and Social Care.

The authors met through the University’s Interdisciplinary Research Network.

Research, Covid-19 and the science. Why I am more than a number.

By Clare Keys, Senior Lecturer in Special Educational Needs and Primary Education

A consequence of the global pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has been the recognition that human lived experiences, both during this time of fear and lockdown, and the subsequent hopes and desire for a return to a form of social ‘normality,’ are essential to understanding the individual and sociological impact of this phenomenon. Reports of loneliness, separation, loss, and increased mental health challenges and suspected increased levels of domestic abuse have sat alongside appreciation for greater family time, improved pollution levels, examples of bravery, generosity and accepted flexible working methods. This has been apparent in news reports since March 2020, but much of the research and reports created have been quantitative data led. Although journalism highlights lived social experience it relies on sensationalism and responds to political balance of the time, so instead should there not be an ethically reviewed, critically balanced and delicately executed qualitative alternative to sit alongside and form a bridge between the sensationalism and the quantitative data?

In an intense period of 16 weeks, humans have clarified their role as the living participants of phenomena, responding to events in ways that reflect their conscience, lived experience, belief systems and sense of community. It is as if a magnifying glass has been laid across the globe, clarifying the impact of community connectedness, social diversity, intersectionality, and vulnerability of social groups and individuals. This, in turn has resulted in social and personal introspection, communication and reflection. All these elements could be collated as evidence of how society was, is and can be.

Environmental and social challenges accompanying this pandemic, such as the revised relationship of teacher and parent as co-creators of child’s education; the inequality of number of fatalities from Covid-19 experienced by the BAME community; the isolation of the elderly; increased dialogue of racial inequality supported by demonstrations by ‘Black Lives Matter’; fatal earthquakes worldwide, where emergency reaction was affected negatively by the Covid-19 response; these issues and more have magnified the need for a human lens to be used in comprehending the social impact through reflection on these times.

Therefore, at this time of social distancing, when face to face research methods are hampered and travel required for international support and data collection is prohibited, surely creative qualitative approaches to research design could and should be embraced. Feminist, phenomenological and narrative interpretive methodologies to name a few, previously seen by a select population within research academia as the ‘lesser’, more fantastical approaches, could now be the key to carving a new research path. These qualitative approaches can be reactive to these human experiences and the need to understand differing emotional and physical reactions to events that occur. These approaches could begin to clarify the need for research that shows, not just swaths of numerical data, but impassioned, multi layered reality from a few, regarding their lived experience. These few but highly detailed accounts cannot be manipulated like numerical data can, cannot be played with in clever ways that illustrate a point desired by the researcher or user. Instead honest accounts of the impact of an event or experience can, and I argue should, be used alongside researcher reflexivity to illustrate truths to those in power in a way that numerical data alone cannot. Clear impact statements showing differing accounts but with core reactive experience show those in positions of authority or those able to implement change that human experience is what drives individuals and thus society as a whole, whether that be in a positive or destructive direction.

As importantly, these narratives are a form of empowerment, they belong to the participant, it is dialogue that cannot be discarded as they are owned by those who share them, not by the researcher who merely helps to translate them. Lived experience accounts are not nameless and faceless data, but excerpts from human experience and the power and significance of that, alongside the dialogue of societal challenge in 2020, may be the beginning of a new appreciation for these less definable, more challenging research methodologies. This, in turn may result in a less ‘them and us’ stance taken by publications to those exploring qualitative ways to express the world during and after such social and environmental challenge.

Therefore, we must consider how research can and will be reflexive to this global, social journey. Surely, we can embrace this time of vulnerability and expression through the value researchers place on lived experience, creative narratives, and their ability to illustrate social response to phenomena. If collected ethically, with care and sensitivity, these dialogues can help support and empower those sharing their stories. These lived experiences, these dialogues, illustrate personal perspectives of those living at this time and can help positive responses to lead us forward towards an increased social empathy. Numerical data can be vital in highlighting an issue, but it is qualitative data that holds a mirror up to the impact of that reality, a lived reality that reflects a how phenomenon causes ripples throughout the globe. In short this qualitative research can balance the sensationalism, give a name to the numerical data, and create a voice for those who need one. Individual narratives of lived experience relating to these events can be brought together to illustrate the long-term influence of these phenomenon, mentally, physically and socially, and be used to try to advance and support the hope that this level of crisis will not be seen again, that people can be empowered and  that branches of positive social change are possible from the roots of initial devastation.

Find out more about Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Studies which is also available with a Foundation Year.

The Listening Project – part three

Foreword

I was asked to join the Faculty’s ATHENA Swan Self-Assessment Team before COVID-19 had even been heard of, and so this blog if formed of two parts – the first is my reflection on why I felt it was important to be involved and the second offers some reflections on the place of ATHENA Swan in our current circumstances.

Finley Lawson, LASAR Research Fellow within the Faculty of Education

Having previously been involved in another school’s (now successful) submission as a postgraduate student representative I was aware that one of the things you are asked to consider as part of your submission is whether there are diverse role models within your school/faculty. For me, this question of having role models really gets to heart of why ATHENA Swan is important (and it isn’t because we should have role models). I am not saying that being able to see yourself within the leadership, staff or student body is not important, it is a central part of feeling that you “belong”.

However, the challenge I find with the question about role models is that it puts the onus on those who are diverse (whether race, gender, neurologically etc) to stand at the front and show that they are present and so you (as another diverse individual) can belong too, there is an assumption that they can, should and will want to be that representative for all people “like them”.

What I think comes before this is the creation of a community where whether you perceive yourself to be the only trans/non-binary member of staff/ student, or you know yourself to be one of a small number of PoC within a school there is a fundamental need to ensure that not only is your voice heard, but that you know it is genuinely listened to with interest. It isn’t enough to be included in a committee because you are “diverse”, but you should feel that you are included, or seen or heard because you matter and you are also “diverse”. In this sense, I feel that in important part of the Self-Assessment process is, as others have said, a listening project. It is about understanding what we are currently doing to make sure that the quieter voices, the minority voices, and the voices that feel that they are intentionally silenced or unintentionally unheard, are given space to be heard, and that in doing so we understand where we still need to develop to make sure that we are a community that role models what inclusivity and diversity look like, and therefore that the onus is on us, as group, to role model, rather than expecting others to want/have to speak “for”, be seen “for” others “like them” to know that we are a diverse community.

Secondly, with the move to online working (for those that can), despite the surrounding debate about whether this has led to a greater burden on women and those with caring responsibilities. I have found an increased awareness of the need for people to juggle their work and commitments, a greater understanding that just because email can be answered immediately doesn’t mean that I don’t have other priorities that might lead to a response in 24 hours not minutes.

It has been the small gestures I have noticed: a note attached to a meeting request asking if it fits around responsibilities, a greater willingness to ask if people have capacity to take on additional work, and a greater awareness of the need for flexibility – my working hours may not be your working hours. I wonder, and I hope that this requirement for flexibility, that has been brought about by the current situation, and recognition that working off site doesn’t mean working less, will stay with us long after lockdown has ended. The recognition of people’s capacity, and work-life balance has, at least in my experience, become a new part of scheduling work/meetings. People seem to be more aware that others may find it easier to meet “after work” because of childcare, or need a break in the day because of their own health needs, or simply that to be productive we need to be able to step away from the screen during “work hours”.

The ATHENA Swan process asks us to consider what diversity, progression, and representation look like, for us a faculty. I hope that this “new normal” of providing the flexibility for staff (and students) to manage their workload more around their needs and those of their family, will remain when we return to our offices and that we will remember to allow space and support so that we can be an inclusive community that listens to (and hears) the quieter voices.

Finley Lawson is a Learning about Science and Religion (LASAR) Research Fellow. Find out more about LASAR here.

Our students: Keeping education going during the COVID-19 crisis

In the current, unprecedented situation with COVID-19 a lot of attention is rightly being given to key workers who are keeping people safe and the most important aspects of the country running. Nurses, doctors, carers and all manner of other professions are putting themselves in harm’s way for the benefit of the rest of us. Among these are many students.

Teachers are also still very much on the front line. In their multifaceted role not only as educators, but also carers, givers of support and even entertainers, they have kept education settings open for the children of those who have no choice but to work. On top of that, they are providing e-learning on an unprecedented scale, using their innovation and imagination to deliver ongoing education, despite the challenges. Others have even used their education environment to contribute to the fight against COVID-19 by producing PPE.

Our student teachers and alumni are among this army of people who have almost flown under the radar of praise. Here, a few of our students from the Physical Education and Physical Activity course, as well as a Primary Education alumni, tell their stories of working during lockdown!

Current student teachers

Megan Belt – Foundation Degree, Physical Education and Physical Activity: “My school is still open to key worker children and we have been open this week. Yesterday I was in making Physical Education videos for the children who are at home on Google Classroom, they can then send videos back of their techniques and we can mark them.

Megan Belt

Whereas at school we had eight children in, where we delivered the PE lesson that was on Google Classroom in person to the children at the school and also set challenges for them!

We have been making tutorial videos using various sports, such as cricket. However, we didn’t want to give all our tricks away before the Easter holidays as we still need some ideas for the summer term! But the videos involve progression and we are trying to make them really fun.”

Anthony Lloyd – Foundation Degree, Physical Education and Physical Activity: “We have been running an Easter holiday school to take the pressure off parents during this time. The children did lots of arts and crafts activities where they were required to bring in their own pencil cases; we did the Joe Wicks fitness classes and also did lots of outside play. As it was the holidays, we did let the kids enjoy movies and TV shows…

Anthony Lloyd

To celebrate Easter, we also did an Easter egg hunt with pictures of eggs dotted around the playground with the member of staff with a clipboard ticking them off when the pupils found them! This enabled us to allow the children to do this activity but safely.”

Matthew Wilson – Foundation Degree, Physical Education and Physical Activity: “The Tonbridge School Centre has been converted into a Coronavirus Assessment Centre which is functioning solely off volunteers from the school and local GPs. I have been volunteering along with a number of my colleagues as we all try our best to play a part in combating this devastating virus.

Matthew Wilson

For the past couple of weeks myself and around 10 others have been working tirelessly in the school’s Science and Design Departments to produce PPE (head/face visors) for local hospitals, care homes and GPs. I can, with much joy, say that we have managed to produce and deliver 3,000 visors in the last two weeks and will be continuing production this week.

This effort was orchestrated by our fantastic senior management team and heads of the relevant departments involved at Tonbridge. So I must give credit to them and all the other volunteers involved.

Amazingly, we have also had students and their families volunteering in the recent weeks as well increasing the number of volunteers to 30+ individuals. A real sense of school community spirit has been displayed and its so reassuring to see in times like these.”

Faculty of Education Alumni

Megan Snipp – Primary Education alumni: “I graduated from Canterbury Christ church in 2018 with a BA (Hons) in Primary Education. I have to say that in a career like teaching every day is different, but this has got to be the strangest experience so far. Taking the classroom digitally was not something I was expecting when I came into the profession. It has made me appreciate what I do and how vital teachers are to the work force.

Like myself and many others, we are continuing to put ourselves at risk and heading into schools to care for the children who’s parents are out on the front line fighting this virus. Being a teacher has to be one of the most challenging yet rewarding jobs anyone can have the pleasure of doing! This year has thrown up so many different challenges and it really makes me appreciate the work that parents also do at home to ensure their children make progress in their education.

Megan Snipp

Myself and my colleagues have been digitally uploading accessible work to our school website as well as personally delivering hard copies of activities to keep the kiddies entertained over these unusual times. As a Reception teacher it’s hard not being able to give all 29 of your little ones the answers to the uncertain times that they crave. As stressful as this job can be at times, I miss my class so much and it is heartbreaking not seeing all of their faces everyday hearing of the adventures that they got up to over the weekend. For now it is important to stay positive for our children, not all their home lives are the same and their exposure to home learning will be varied so I ensure that I keep in contact with parents at all times, continue to update tapestry and I have set up a Facebook page where I read the kids their favourite stories, the comments from parents are so heartwarming it makes all this time apart seem worth while.

Soon we will be reunited with our classes and eventually things will get back to a very different ‘normal’. The education system will be changed whether that be for better or for worse, but what I do know is, I have made the right choice in career and will be forever grateful to Canterbury Christ church for preparing me for the best adventure that is a primary school teacher.”

***

Across the University we are bringing stories of how our students, staff and alumni are helping in the fight against the COVID-19 crisis. As a faculty, we are extremely proud of everything our people are doing, and we feel that if these few examples are anything to go by, the future of teaching is in very safe hands.

You can find out more about our response to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis here.

Thinking differently: How the lockdown is changing the way my student teachers are engaging in research

Library closed due to COVID-19

By Dr Paula Stone

Becoming a teacher is complex and emotional endeavour, but this year has brought extra significant challenges to our student teachers. On most of our Initial Teacher Education programmes the student teachers are required to undertake a small piece of research for one of their modules, which is an essential part of becoming a reflective practitioner. In more ‘normal’ circumstances their research would be undertaken in school or other educational settings and would examine an aspect of their pedagogy in a bid to improve their professional practice.

But the closure of schools on 20th March, because of Covid-19, has left the students in a position with an assignment to write and no-where to undertake their research.

Furthermore, at a time when many student teachers are looking forward to gaining their qualification and preparing for their first year of teaching, school closures have left many of them feeling anxious about what life will hold in the future. Many are asking questions like; How will I qualify if I haven’t finished my teaching practice? How will I secure my first post? What if I forget how to teach? How will I manage the children’s anxieties when they return to school? Never has there been a better time for student teachers to diarise and analyse their thoughts and emotions for their own well-being, but compiling this data also provides an opportunity to share their commitment and self-determination to wider society as whole.

Drawing on my own experience of writing auto/biographically for my Doctorate I have been encouraging the students to write autoethnographically about their experience of being a student teacher in such strange and challenging times. Tessa Muncey, one of the leading academics in the field, suggests that autoethnography is an approach which enables the ‘participant’ to observe both their own story and its social and political location p (Muncey, 2010). Reflexive self-awareness is integral to what it is to ‘be’ a teacher, indeed what it is to be human so researching using autoethnography will enable our student teachers to write a personal narrative to provide a poignant view of the struggles, fears and opportunities of what it is to be a student teacher during a pandemic. This comes at a time when there is a genuine curiosity about the impact of Covid-19 on the lives of people from all walks of life and many projects using narrative methods are being hastily marshalled to research the impact of the situation, but few are auto-diegetic in which the researcher and the researched are the same.

Autobiographical research is not an easy undertaking for anyone, the layers of a person’s experience revealed in this type of writing can expose a very vulnerable self, but we hope that this type of research will provide our students with a site of exploration to explore the private and public self and continue to construct their teacher identity in the absence of teaching.

Dr Paula Stone is a Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education

Reference:

Muncey, T. (2010). Creating autoethnographies. London: Sage Publications