Is there any advice or learning you can share with those who wish to work with their membership to develop meaningful EDI interventions and initiatives for schools?
Having a specific topic on what you want the resource to be about makes the process a lot easier. We decided we wanted to concentrate on intelligence testing because of our existing historical test collection. That made it simpler to recruit for the panel regarding expertise and skills that were required. Once the panel were recruited, we created a project plan with the scope and aims to make it clear what we wanted to achieve. This open communication and clarity helped streamline the development of the resource.
How did you go about developing this teaching resource and what were the main EDI considerations?
We created a project summary document which we sent to our panel members. The panel then submitted content that they felt would add value to the resource. We collated the content (deciding what would and would not be included) and sent out a draft for the panel to comment on. We allowed for only two revisions as the funding timeline was tight and we needed to make sure we could deliver the sessions by the deadline.
As mentioned before, it was key to the success of the project that we had educational experts from BERA. This made sure the resource was fit for purpose. We also spoke directly to teachers who volunteered to deliver the resource for their initial feedback before they took it into the classroom.
We spoke to a reproduction company (that we used already) and relied on them to reproduce the paper aspects of the tests. To recreate the objects, we sourced these off of online retailers. We put all the different aspects in briefcases, as the originals were.
The EDI considerations were that the resource should be accessible to all abilities at KS4 and that the session should be a safe space for all students, no matter their background.
What advice and learning can you give to other social science societies who are considering developing similar teaching resources?
Working with individuals who had first-hand experience of teaching/running lessons in schools was integral to making sure the resource was fit for purpose and would work in a classroom. You can write the best, most interesting content in the world but if it doesn’t give teachers a clear lesson plan and engaging activities then they won’t want to deliver it.
Why did you decide to work with schools and young people for this work and what was important about this age group?
We wanted to engage with audiences who were not already accessing heritage and would be unlikely to. We are also aware that psychology is not a very diverse profession, and we wanted to engage with schools with a diverse population to give students a taste of psychology and its history.
The BPS have links with psychology teacher networks so we had an existing network that we could draw upon for the pilot.
The sessions were piloted in schools in culturally diverse areas of the East and West Midlands to reach the communities these tests had negatively impacted in the past – how easy was it to identify and narrow down which schools to approach?
We specified that we wanted to target diverse schools in the midlands from the start. We had an existing relationship with the Association for the Teaching of Psychology (ATP), and they were great – enthusiastic about the project and sending out calls to their membership for volunteer schools.
Were there any lessons learnt in how to build relationships with schools where existing relationships were not in place?
We mainly drew on our existing networks of psychology teachers. We were lucky in that we had a few volunteer teachers come forward who were very passionate about the topic and understood what we wanted to achieve.
What has the feedback been from students who have taken part in one of your sessions?
Overwhelmingly positive! We sent out a survey after each session to the teachers to get their thoughts and feedback on the resource, including what the students thought and how engaged they were.
All the teachers felt that the students were engaged and that the resource provoked thoughtful questions and discussion. They loved the tactile aspect of handling the tests and the videos that were included, it really brought the history to life for them. Students felt they should have heard about this aspect of history before the session, and some said it was the best lesson of the year!
How have you balanced the need to address this topic with the need to ensure you are providing a safe space for students for who this might trigger some strong emotional reactions?
We wanted to be as transparent as possible with the content of the resource. We included a lot of information to give teachers as much support as possible, but we also included a note at the start stating that the teacher knows their class and what is appropriate for them / what they are mature enough to discuss. We felt that instead of us trying to second guess how different students might react to certain things, we would trust teachers to tailor the session to their class.
The activities with the tests were the part of the resource we discussed the most. At first, we thought a role play scenario would work with students acting as administers and those being tested. However, a member of our panel rightfully pointed out that that could prove traumatic for some students. We then decided that looking through the tests with prompting questions was enough of a task for the session.
