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1 Why does representation matter? ‘When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.’ Oscar Auliq-Ice (2019) For me, the response to this question is that it depends. The answer you get is only as good as the context of the question. Representation can sometimes be used as a tool to mask and shy away from the real work that needs to be done. Therefore, it is important to understand the way in which the term ‘representation’ is being used. I could suggest that a room of children is representative, without giving due care and attention to whose voices are being heard, the impact of any silences and what this means for those in the space. It is important that all children can see themselves. We need to challenge the representation we see and integrate the circumstances surrounding it. Overrepresentation can be as damaging as underrepresentation. But before we embark on this work, we must first consider what it is that we are trying to achieve and why. So, why does representation matter to you? The only way you can begin to answer this question is to look within and to think about yourself as an educator. My own relationship with education is a strange one. Being a teacher herself, my mum was fiercely passionate about education. I remember spending days sitting in her classroom in awe of the knowledge that she was imparting to the children in front of her. I also wondered why she was so rare. She mainly taught in inner-city schools. Here were classrooms full of Black and Brown faces, yet for these children, seeing a teacher whose face matched theirs was a novelty. Of course, when a behavioural concern arose, out came an army of Black- and Brown-faced support in the roles of teaching assistant, dinner person, caretaker, cleaner. I wonder what this did to my young mind. Did I ever envisage that a person who looked like me could be in a position of authority? Or were people like me merely there to support and reinforce the status quo?
