Carrie McWilliam thinks everyone deserves a voice.
She’s been using her platform as an English teacher at Speyside High School to champion young people who have experienced discrimination or felt sidelined by society.
And after just two years at Speyside, Ms McWilliam has earned national recognition for her efforts. This week she was named joint winner of the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s (GTCS) Saroj Lal Award.
The Saroj Lal Award celebrates the work of teachers who challenge discrimination to promote a culture of equality and diversity.
She called the award a heart-warming validation of her impact, and said she couldn’t help but shed a tear when her students congratulated her.
“Having kids that say you’ve made a difference in their life, that’s what it’s all about.”
But, more than anything, she said the award is an indicator of the hard work put in by her students and colleagues to make Speyside a safe, welcoming community for everyone.
Creating a safe environment
Not long after arriving at Speyside in 2020, Ms McWilliam got to work galvanising students and staff to make equality a priority.
Some of her initiatives include: leading an equality and diversity working group; running an LGBTQ+ pupil action group; and delivering ‘Understanding Prejudice’ workshops for S2 and S3 pupils.
And creating a safe environment is a full school effort, she said.
“I am a product of all of the students and staff I have worked with and all the training I’ve done to get here,” she said. “It means that they’re being recognised as well. They’ve made my job more important and more meaningful.”
She went on to praise the inclusive education training she received as a newly qualified teacher, which she was able to pass on to colleagues.
Equality and diversity training can be especially important at a small school such as Speyside, she said.
“We don’t have a very diverse role here, and students aren’t always able to get much exposure to those from different walks of life.
“It’s important to go out into the world and accept others, but it’s also important to be accepted.”
Sometimes, accepting others is where accepting yourself starts, she said.
Acceptance needs to run full circle
“I feel like I’ve created a safe environment where students can be themselves,” she said.
“Being yourself will never be unacceptable in the classroom.”
Establishing the school’s LGBTQ+ action group has changed the game for students at Speyside who felt marginalised before, she said.
“There are so many people out there who are like them and they need to know that they’re not on their own.”
But the group is also paying dividends for the staff. By opening honest lines of communication between students and staff about how to talk about race, gender and LGBTQ+ concerns, teachers are more confident.
The pupil action group is currently working on a glossary of terms for staff members. They’ll highlight what terms are offensive and what to use as correct terminology. Ms McWilliam said she hopes this helps staff navigate difficult conversations.
“As teachers, a lot of uncertainty comes from now knowing the right terms,” she said.
“Sometimes I feel like I don’t always know the right term or the right way of saying something. We need to know that we have as much to learn from students as they do from us.”
Saroj Lal Award: Carrying on a trailblazer’s legacy
Ms McWilliam impressed the judges with how quickly she became a positive voice at her school.
“As an early career teacher, she has been central to improving the opportunities and experiences for young people at Speyside High School who may otherwise feel side-lined and experience discrimination,” they said.
Named alongside Ms McWilliam as this year’s other winner was Katie D’Souza from Newark Primary School, Port Glasgow.
The award is named in honour of Saroj Lal. She worked at the forefront of multicultural and anti-racist education in its earliest years in Scotland.
Her son and award panellist, Vineet Lal, said that this year’s winners embody his mother’s trailblazing. Importantly, they are inspirations to their pupils and peers to carry out their work.
“The GTCS Saroj Lal Award recognises outstanding endeavour by educators in the field of equality and diversity,” he said.
“The joint winners of the 2022 award exemplify those principles magnificently. In Katie and Carrie, we have two remarkable women who, in their own different yet complementary ways, have chosen to challenge established norms, to forge new paths and break new ground.”
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