Leading for and managing diversity

Six years ago, I was appointed Dean of the School of Education at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The School is large, with around 185 full-time academic staff, high numbers of part-time staff and over 2,000 students, both local and international. I became the first woman of colour to take that role in the history of schools of higher education in Scotland. I am known in Scotland and internationally for my work on equality, particularly on race equality. I had worked my way up the ranks in the school from someone coming in on a series of temporary contracts over 25 years to ending up in the top job. This article offers reflections on those 6þ years in the role and how I have tried to take forward equality and antidiscrimination issues in the School. My reflections will be shaped by the fact that most of my teaching and research has largely been focused on the areas of improving racial equality and challenging racism. The School of Education, of which I am Dean, is overwhelmingly white, and although diversity and inclusion issues are discussed and supported in an intellectual sense, ‘race’ issues remain peripheral. There is no critical mass of colleagues pushing for greater race equality or anti-racist education. The notion of delivering for a culturally relevant curriculum with culturally responsive teaching is a ‘work in progress’. Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of teaching (Ladson-Billings, 1994). For example, if you are a music teacher and your class is largely interested in rock or rap, to stimulate engagement from the outset you could start from there to then broaden to other genres.