WHAT’S IN A NAME?

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Your name is a part of who you are, a part of your identity, one of the things that distinguishes you from everyone else. If someone cannot be bothered to remember that name - or if they don’t learn to pronounce it properly then you can feel disrespected, as though you are not important enough to be addressed correctly. Conversely, when someone does say your name in the right way and chooses to use it, then they are creating a connection between you and making you feel a part of something.

To feel ‘a part of’ rather than ‘apart from’ is something that is important for us all. A sense of belonging can give us confidence and help us flourish. To be on the outside can leave us isolated and doubting ourselves.

These concepts play out when we look at students; at Black and White students specifically, and how when Black students feel they are in a place where they are made to feel they do not really belong, they perform far less well than their White counterparts.

Charlotte Wanendeya is the Head of Law at BPP University and ViceChair of the City of London Law Society Training Committee. She is passionate about working to make Black students feel more included. This stems from her own personal story as Charlotte has two mixedrace daughters whose father is Ugandan. She has seen first hand the effects of being made to feel you do not belong. When Charlotte’s eldest daughter started school at the age of five, she came home on her first day and said to her mum “If someone won’t play with me because of the colour of my skin, I just ignore them right?” and this was the beginning of the journey that those girls would have no choice but to navigate. At their Secondary School, Charlotte recalls going to open days and assemblies and seeing her daughters’ faces stand out amongst a sea of White pupils. Her youngest daughter struggled so much with it, at Sixth Form she chose to leave and go elsewhere. It continued through their university lives; in fact, through every step of their education.

One of the first pieces of research Charlotte became involved in after her move from being a practising solicitor at Clifford Chance LLP to a full time educational role was looking at the attainment gap between Black and White students. This was 25 years ago. Whilst we have managed to shift the dial in so many other areas during those 25 years, nothing has really shifted in this instance.

Research shows the problem begins from very early on, even from pre-school days. Problems can be caused when Black boys reach puberty and teachers - who may well be young, White and female, can feel intimidated and start to leave the boys out of things.

In 2018, BPP set up what was then called a BAME reverse mentor pilot scheme - BAME students were matched with White tutors and for five sessions roles were reversed and the White tutor became the mentee. The key highlight from that is that a sense of belonging is paramount and fundamental. This inspired Charlotte to use this as the basis for her post graduate thesis. She interviewed the tutors who had been a part of the pilot to try and drill down to what can be done to narrowing the attainment gap through inclusive teaching methods. Simple things like breaking up groups of tables and mixing the students up more can be highly effective. As can be saying a name correctly.

“At BPP, I launched a campaign called ‘Say My Name’. To break down the thinking - I need to feel I belong in order to feel motivated to engage. If I engage, I will do better.’ One very simple way to achieve that, with no cost involved, is to use names correctly, to not resort to shortening a name to a more English easier equivalent. Yes, it’s hard especially with East Asian Chinese names but the effort pays off. It shows respect. If a teacher doesn’t use a student’s name because they are embarrassed they may say it wrongly then that student starts to feel excluded - and that is where the motivation drops off. Bothering to learn how to use names correctly is a tiny thing to do but it has a massive positive effect.”

Whilst many factors are contributory to the attainment gap - socioeconomic, parenting - little is said about institutional culture which may be subtle or unconscious but, nonetheless is there.

“For law schools our tutors have to have been in practice so it’s a vicious circle. Our students need to have teachers in the classroom that look like them; role models. But they do not exist because there are not enough Black solicitors and barristers so that trickles down into a lack of teachers. It’s Catch 22.”

Interestingly, research also shows that Black students are the least likely to be predicted accurately on A-level outcomes and Charlotte thinks this has to be a consequence of unconscious bias. And, just as we live up to expectations, we can live down to them too so the prediction becomes a reality. If a Black student is predicted to have poor results, they are then less likely to get a place at a good university and so their future is curtailed before it has even had a proper chance.

Charlotte thinks that all educational institutions from pre-school onwards need to take the sense of belonging factor seriously as that is the key to everything. Only if Black students are made to feel they do belong, that they are seen and understood can their potential be fulfilled.

Exeter University have just published a pierce of research (which can be found on the SRA website; sra.org.uk/sra/research-publications/ potential-causes-differential-outcomes-legal-professionalassessments/

This report highlights the significance that this sense of fitting in has on performance. Of course it is a complex and layered matter and socio-economic factors play their part but we really cannot overstate just how important a sense of belonging is.

It is the collective responsibility of educators, law schools and right the way through the entire educational journey from pre-school onwards, as well as of law firms, to take action to be truly inclusive. To simply take on someone on who is Black is not enough; with that comes a duty of responsibility to ensure they fit in. And we can all start with something as simple as saying a name correctly. 

When Charlotte’s eldest daughter started school at the age of five, she came home on her first day and said to her Mum, “If someone won’t play with me because of the colour of my skin, I just ignore them right?”