Cardiff and Vale College reaffirms its commitment to an anti-racist Wales during Black History Month

As the world celebrates Black History Month, Cardiff and Vale College is reaffirming its commitment to being a leading voice in the anti-racism journey in Welsh education.

CAVC Group Chief Executive Mike James is Chair of the Colleges Wales Equality and Diversity Group. The group meets regularly to focus on sharing good practice and meaningful actions that colleges and the Further Education sector can take – the most recent meeting concentrated on the three main strands of Anti-Racist Wales, the 2010 Equality Act, and supporting LGBTQ communities.

CAVC is also leading on the anti-racism materials project, playing a key role in developing curriculum materials for the FE sector.

In May, CAVC was proud to host Zara Mohammed, the first Female Secretary General for the Muslim Council of Wales, where she met and engaged with staff and learners.  In July, CAVC hosted the Remembering Srebrenica Memorial where the First Minister and Mike James reasserted the collective commitment to remembering the Bosnian genocide and moving towards an anti-racist Wales.

Earlier this year, CAVC became the first college in Wales to become an affiliated member of the Black Leadership Group. The Black Leadership Group aims to become the authoritative voice of anti-racism in FE, schools, voluntary and private sectors and further the interests of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds and place an anti-racist culture at the core of all aspects of UK life, education and work.

The College has signed up to The Black Leadership Groups Ten Point Plan to eradicate racism in FE through ensuring the curriculum reflects the experience of people from ethnic minorities; embedding racial equality in staff training, address gaps in ethnic minority representation among students, staff and governors; tackle imbalances in diversity during the recruitment process; and ensure all internal and external communications reflect fair treatment of black and minority ethnic staff, students and communities.

CAVC recently adopted this approach in its last round of staff Continuing Professional Development training. This featured a Black Shared Experience conference where staff shared their experiences with others to raise awareness and understanding. It proved such a resounding success among all College staff that the conference will be used in future CPD training.

CAVC Group Chief Executive Mike James said: “At Cardiff and Vale College we see ourselves as being at the heart of the communities we serve and they are some of the most vibrant and diverse communities in Wales.

“That is why we have signed up to the Black Leadership Group and are committed to focusing on an anti-racist Wales. As the largest college in Wales and one of the biggest in the UK, we can use our position to ensure FE takes an all-encompassing approach to managing and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion across everything that we do.”

Amarjit Basi, Director of the Black Leadership Group, said: “The Black Leadership Group is really pleased to be supporting CAVC, as it continues on its anti-racist journey. Whilst still at an early stage, we believe that its commitment to effect transformational organisational change to enable a truly Anti-racist Wales by 2030, is the right thing to do, for the benefit of all its students, staff and communities.”