Race Ahead anti-racism course from EDP Training

EDP Training conducts Anti-Racism training courses for workplaces to develop their awareness through discussion, education and self-evaluation.

Bianca Jones, the Managing Director of EDP Training, came to Southend to work with A Better Start Southend (ABSS), our Parent Champions, and Engagement Team. We had identified that in order to confidently connect with our diverse community, we needed to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be anti-racist.

During the lead up to the course, we were all invited to complete surveys which asked us to analyse our experiences and grade ourselves on how anti-racist we believe we are as individuals and as an organisation and to outline our desired outcomes from the training. This formed a blueprint for Bianca to design specific training based on our feedback.

The sessions began with open discussions and the reassurance that we could safely express our thoughts and questions. It was fascinating to hear others’ concerns, experiences and levels of confidence when it comes to discussing the topic of race. Group work encouraged deeper conversations, brainstorming and sharing with other teams. We were shown statistics, videos, case studies and shocking history timelines. Bianca asked us to think about the language we use, its meaning and how it can be perceived by our communities.

Towards the end of the course, we were asked to identify how we would implement our learnings. As individuals, we were encouraged to make personal pledges of how we rated our understanding and anti-racism status at the end of the course. The results were noticeably different to the start of the course and included our increased confidence as allies and empowering others.

The outcomes of the training have been significantly beneficial for the team. Since the training, we have been collecting the feedback through internal surveys and we are currently creating action points such as identifying external groups to work with to support our goals, re-evaluating internal recruitment processes, the language we use in external messaging and celebrating what we have achieved so far and how we can develop those achievements.

Laura Burke, Operations Manager, “It will certainly help the workplace and it has given us a clearer awareness about how to ensure we are anti-racist. We are putting in place the action plan which was discussed during our session and also reviewing the language used on our website and in our publication information.”

About A Better Start

A Better Start is a 10-year project set up by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.

Sign up the A Better Start mailing list.

Read learning updates from across our programme.

The National Children’s Bureau is coordinating an ambitious programme of shared learning for A Better Start, sharing the partnerships’ experiences in creating innovative services so that others working in early childhood development or place-based systems change can benefit.

Find out more on The National Children's Bureau - A Better Start.