Media & Published Work

reports

From Intention to Impact: A Cultural Humility Approach to safeguarding black girls in Education (2025)

How can we move beyond surface-level representation to create schools where Black girls feel seen, safe and supported?

From Intention to Impact is a collaborative research report that explores this question through the lens of cultural humility. Co-authored by Jade Ecobichon-Gray and Joel Dunn with funding and support from King’s College London and Impact on Urban Health, the report draws on the lived experiences of Black girls in school, as well as the perspectives of parents, carers, teachers and school leaders.

This research was inspired by Milk Honey Bees’ landmark 2023 See Us, Hear Us report, which powerfully evidenced the structural harm Black girls face in education. We set out to build on that foundation by creating a process that was reflective, community-rooted, and grounded in the principles of cultural humility: lifelong learning, power consciousness, and relational accountability.

What we did

We engaged with students, parents, carers and educators, using focus groups, surveys, creative sessions and workshops. Every part of the process was designed to centre voice, encourage reflection, and hold space for complexity.

The data was analysed thematically and interpreted through a cultural humility framework to surface not only what was said, but how it reflected deeper patterns of power, recognition and relational harm.

What we found

While the experiences shared were diverse, some themes echoed across all groups:

Misrecognition and stereotyping
Black girls often felt misunderstood or reduced to narrow labels that didn’t reflect their full selves.
Emotional labour and suppression
Students shared how they learned to withhold emotion to avoid being labelled disruptive or dramatic.
Relational harm and lack of trust
Many parents felt that raising concerns resulted in defensiveness rather than care. Educators often felt ill-equipped to respond meaningfully.
The desire for reflective spaces and co-creation
Across all groups, there was a shared call for deeper, ongoing dialogue that prioritises listening, self-reflection and meaningful collaboration.

Why it matters

Too often, equity work in education remains performative - rooted in intention, but not matched by meaningful change. This report argues that cultural humility offers not a checklist, but a practice. One that requires time, trust, and a willingness to reflect critically on the ways power is held and distributed in school settings.

As Ebinheita Iyere writes in her powerful foreword:

“Black girls do not need saving. They need systems to stop harming them. They need safe spaces, reflective adults, and institutions willing to change.”

What’s next

We believe this research is just the beginning. We are actively seeking to expand the work across the UK, centring the voices of Black girls and their communities, and supporting schools to engage in long-term, relational, and transformative equity practice.

Race Equity in Education Group: A Community-led Exploration of Race Equity in Education (2025)

What does it take to build a meaningful coalition for race equity in education?

One that centres relationships, recognises complexity, and challenges extractive practices in knowledge creation?

This reflective report, Race Equity in Education Group: A Community-led Exploration of Race Equity in Education, captures the journey of REEG, a cross-sector coalition working to address systemic racial injustice in education through a process grounded in community voice, relational accountability and collective learning.

As the learning partner, Jade Ecobichon-Gray worked alongside REEG members to hold space for deep reflection, support critical dialogue, and frame shared insights in a way that honours both the urgency and the complexity of the work. Rather than offering a polished or prescriptive set of answers, this report embraces the discomfort and contradiction that often accompany genuine efforts toward equity.

What this report explores

Over the course of a year, REEG members built a coalition rooted in care and community. Together, they navigated the tensions of alignment, the pressures of delivery, and the risks of replicating the very systems they hoped to change. The report draws out key learning moments, including challenges, in order to provoke more honest conversations about how change really happens and what it demands of those who seek it.

Rather than treating reflection as an afterthought, the report positions it as a vital form of praxis, necessary for slowing down, disrupting ingrained habits, and resisting the urge to produce impact at the expense of relationships.

four key themes

Our research surfaced four interconnected themes that cut across all data sources.

1. Performative Equity and Systemic Distrust

Students and families shared deep scepticism toward schools' anti-racist commitments. Charters and posters are widely seen as symbolic gestures with little impact on day-to-day experiences. This has created a culture of distrust where students turn to friends over teachers, and many no longer believe the system will protect them.

2. The Emotional Cost of Racism in School

Young people described feeling policed, misjudged and emotionally drained. Poems spoke of being "caged" or "trained like an animal." Parents echoed this, noting how their children’s confidence and wellbeing are eroded by a system that fails to see them clearly.

3. The Power of Community-Led Spaces

In contrast to school environments, workshops run by local organisations were described as safe, validating and transformative. Students expressed pride, belonging and hope. These spaces helped them move from silence to voice and from critique to confidence.

4. The Call for Accountability and Structural Change

Across all groups, the message was clear: enough talking. There is urgent demand for schools to move from statements to systems. Participants want ongoing structures where families and communities help shape school culture, policies and responses not just comment on them.

three powerful recommendations

1. Establish and Fund the Community-Led Advisory Group

Schools need a new accountability structure that includes students, parents and local community leaders. This group should have a formal role in shaping school culture, reviewing policies, and holding leaders accountable for anti-racist practice.

2. Invest in Long-Term, Non-Extractive Funding Models

Community-led work cannot thrive on short-term project grants. Equity work must be resourced in ways that value time, lived experience and care. Funding must support both delivery and infrastructure.

3. Embed Anti-Racism Across the Whole School

Equity cannot be a bolt-on. Schools must treat anti-racism as central to safeguarding, leadership and learning. This means reviewing internal systems and practices, not just training staff.

Why it matters

This report is more than a documentation of activity. It is an invitation to do things differently. To resist the performance of allyship. To slow down and listen. To centre those most impacted. And to recognise that race equity work is not just a technical fix or a policy lever. It is emotional, relational, and often uncomfortable.

For funders, practitioners and education leaders, it offers a model of reflection-led coalition that holds as tightly to process as it does to purpose.

Download the full report here.

If you would like support facilitating learning partnerships in your own organisation or network, or to explore the practice of cultural humility in collaborative settings, please get in touch via our contact page.