Penryn College: Transformation & Diversity Workshops

Posted: 01 August 2018

What are your students’ biggest worries? Is there anything that is preventing them from achieving at school? Do they have any beliefs or prejudices which may affect their lives, or the lives of others, in the future? Penryn College Transformation & Diversity Workshops create a safe environment for these difficult questions to be identified, debated and resolved. Having spent the last few years refining their model, Helen Ashley shares the school’s learnings on how to run effective scholar transformation and diversity workshops.

Author and position: Helen Ashley, Deputy Scholar Affairs; Head of History

School: Penryn College is a co-educational school situated between the towns of Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit), and White River in the province of Mpumalanga, South Africa. The combined school serves over 1200 scholars from both the local area and neighbouring countries, and is therefore both a school for day scholars and boarders. The school has a diverse population of scholars. The medium of instruction and communication at school is English.

Introduction

South Africa is grappling with the aftermath of apartheid and Penryn, like many other South African schools, is continuously looking for ways to encourage debate, open minds and tackle stereotypes in a drive to consciously deal with the legacy of apartheid. The workshop themes, however, have moved from not only focussing on racial division, to encompassing diversity based on gender and other forms of discrimination. The conversations that are stimulated add value to any country or community undergoing change.

Background

Staff Training

Penryn College Transformation Workshops were introduced by a forward thinking, former headmaster, Greg Theron.  The entire staff of the school were initially required to spend three days in a massive, externally conducted transformation workshop. This was received with mixed success by the staff, depending on the facilitator a group had. Based on the overall success, the first student workshops were held in 2009.

From Teacher to Student-led Workshops

I personally experienced the staff workshop as a massively positive life changing event, and got involved in the first scholar workshops as a facilitator.  It became clear, however, as the workshop sessions progressed, that the facilitation role was more suited to some teachers than others, and there were concerns expressed that having some teachers in the room discouraged some of the students from speaking openly.

Headmaster, Greg Theron, then took the bold step of delegating the task to a member of the Scholar Executive Committee (SEC). The SEC is the Grade 12 leadership committee which is elected by the entire school body.

The first SEC member in the Transformation portfolio, Shafee Verachia, showed a natural ability for this role. He ran workshops for grades 8 to 12 which were very successful. He was then asked to take the format to our sister school in Johannesburg and also to present a talk on the workshops at a conference for headmasters.

From 2009 to 2015 we achieved mixed results during the student-led workshops.  While much was positive, in some of the workshops, students asked to ‘speak-out’ about issues in the grade. These speak-outs at times became very personal and rather than diffusing conflict, aggravated it. Some issues that arose were beyond the Scholar Transformation Committee’s expertise to deal with. As a result, there was sometimes ‘fall-out’ in the days afterwards and as the stories become public, a number of staff became increasingly opposed to the idea of the workshops, and we came to the point where they were at risk of being discontinued.

A Change in Format: Using Mentors as Facilitators

In 2016 I was inspired by a model of Transformation Workshops facilitated by the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in Cape Town, and rolled out for the Mandela Rhodes Scholars, where they engaged on matters facing South Africa and the African continent. When sharing her experience of these workshops with me, Penryn alumna Natasha Ashley, suggested that a similar model could work at school, and emphasised that we had to be talking more, not less.

Therefore, in 2016, Natasha came to Penryn and used the experience of the Mandela Rhodes  Workshops to run ones with our own scholars. Being in her twenties, she had some distance in maturity from the scholars themselves but could also relate more closely to their experiences and so was well received. She guided the Scholar Exec to deliver their own workshops that allowed the scholars to explore difficult issues in a non-threatening way, and acted as a co- facilitator on the day.

Furthermore, she brought a number of Mandela-Rhodes scholars (from Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe) to engage with the three senior grades at the school through a panel discussion on African affairs, entitled Young African Voices. The discussions included subjects like the impact of colonisation, independence, leadership, corruption, decolonisation, white privilege and democracy. Their personal lived experiences resonated with all, being inspiring and uplifting. They challenged South Africans to look hard at the reality of our situation through a fresh approach to old impasses. They were received with standing ovations from the diverse audience and this set the tone for very thoughtful workshops where the scholars engaged in deep and positive ways.

The positive experience of two years with this model, has led to us incorporating it as a permanent fixture. In 2018, with three University of Pretoria graduates (one being alumnus Richard Hay), the themes of the panel discussion involved feminism, rape culture and toxic masculinity. The workshops that followed included the visitors who were used for the debriefs after activities, giving the benefit of maturity and expertise, as well as objectivity and anonymity.

I believe these workshops are critical for the development of a healthy understanding of the diversity which is a global reality.  As a History teacher, I have become increasingly concerned, as teachers in many countries no doubt feel, about the increased polarisation of the public mood in so many countries, the change in attitudes towards diversity, and its impact on politics. I believe we have a responsibility to challenge the thought processes that can lead to hardline views, which in turn aggravate tensions, and can result in acts of violence. We need to face the fears of all parties and to reconnect with our common humanity.

Planning

The Team

Each grade of approximately 100 scholars gets a separate workshop geared to their developmental stage or the topic of the panel discussion.  The workshops are generally 1.5 hours long and are run by students as part of a committee that we call the Transformation and Diversity Portfolio.   The committee is made up of volunteer Grade 12s and is the largest of all the available committees in the school, which gives an indication of the positive way the scholars themselves perceive the workshops, and the need for them.

The committee is overseen by two students. We started with a single head of the portfolio, but have increased the position of head of the Transformation and Diversity Portfolio to two because of the increased demands of the position. An important addition to this team from 2016 was the guidance and oversight as well as presence provided by a young adult or a staff member who understands and respects the process.

Timetabling

The workshops for the juniors take place at the end of the school day as we find that emotions can be high after the sessions and the scholars need the space after school to digest the experience. The senior workshops take place during the school day after the panel discussion which is held first thing in the morning. It is only possible to hold the grade 11 and 12 workshops after the discussion because it is very demanding on the energies of the facilitators. The grade 10 workshop gets held as soon as possible thereafter.

Workshop Format

During the workshop, the grade will do some activities together as a whole; and then other activities will see them deliberately divided into small groups. The groups are then ‘shuffled’ a few more times during the session to ensure mixing in a multitude of ways to prevent scholars staying in ‘safe’ social groups with their friends. Through the breaking of the cliques the scholars will be able to experience the workshop more freely and focus on their authentic inner self with less peer pressure. We also choose a spacious location for the workshops to help relax the students into the tasks involved – our community hall offers a large space for this.

Advance planning has to be tight and well-thought out. I always ensure that I hold preliminary briefing sessions with all external speakers to ensure that they understand what we are looking for, and a reminder that they are dealing with a very diverse community and must be sensitive to the rights and fears of all.

Additionally, all facilitators and their committees require prior training in running small group discussions and debates. There must also be a debrief after each workshop for the team with the staff member in charge. The team may need a debrief session for what has happened during the workshop; they may need to talk about issues that arose. The debrief may involve some pointers from the staff member present (or external facilitator) on how to improve the workshop for the next grade, and what they need to watch out for. The staff member needs to also discuss the next workshop topic with the team and the pitfalls and opportunities the topic holds.

The facilitator and committee must run a slick, purposeful workshop, paced for the age of the individuals involved. While some members of the team are interacting with the scholars, the others should be ensuring that the next activity is ready, or collating information from a previous activity for immediate and meaningful feedback. All leaders must know in advance what they are going to be doing and understand fully their role.

Activity – Examples

The example activities provided separately in the ‘Accompanying Resources’ section need a debrief session with the participants immediately afterwards to unpack what they have learnt. It is better to break the group up into small groups of 6-8 participants who together with, or guided by a committee member, discuss the activity.

Challenges

• Careful selection of facilitators – Running a workshop on deeply personal and sensitive themes is a real test of the facilitators’ emotional intelligence. Sometimes we are not aware of our own prejudices but the reality is that our beliefs are coloured by our own personal experiences and upbringing, and we bring this to the workshop where we are dealing with diversity. The aim is that no one should walk away shamed by the experience, which will happen if they feel judged.  Facilitators need to walk a fine line between recognising they have a viewpoint and being that presence that allows all to talk freely in a safe environment.
• Supporting participants – Inevitably there are those who are uncomfortable with the process and can act out in a challenging and otherwise way. If the facilitator is struggling, and the success of the workshop is being threatened, this is where the young adult/staff member should intervene.
• It is advisable that the Scholar Exec and their committee gain experience by starting the workshops with the more compliant grade 8s and then refining them as they move up through the grades. Grade 8s work at a slower speed, and more questions and activities need to be added for the grades above them.

Impact

The workshops have been life-changing for some of our students. They realise that they are not alone in some of the pressures and difficult situations they are facing, and are able to talk about thorny issues in a way that is generalist enough to preserve their anonymity, if so desired, but relevant enough for them to gain from the discussions and learnings.

A successful workshop where real issues have been discussed has profound impact as a learning experience for the grade; they will always remember the lessons learnt. It can lead to positive and mindful behaviour change.

The feedback forms after the workshop, which are filled in anonymously, give the scholars opportunity to express themselves about the workshops freely. Most ask for more workshops, and express their gratitude at getting to know more about the grade. Some want deeper topics.

The workshops are also incredibly valuable for the staff member present. They give a window into our students’ world – the situations they are facing outside of the classroom, or the challenges they are facing in school.

The Future

The workshops currently take place once a year but there is a very big demand for two a year per grade from the students. This is a big commitment of time from the grade 12 team, and will have to be carefully planned and monitored.

I am looking at ways to formalise a generalised feedback to staff not involved in the process without breaching the confidentiality of the workshops, and the trust of the scholars. It is essential that the staff also experience a workshop, with follow-up sessions, as staff members who go through the process personally are so much clearer on and more supportive of the benefits. A complaint from the students that recurs is that certain staff members make discriminatory comments during class. A workshop would help prevent the opportunity for offence being given; a useful tool in an age of headlines, and lawsuits.

I also want to establish a feedback loop for students so they see that the issues they have raised in the workshop are being taken seriously by staff and where appropriate, that we are taking action to help them. This may be through bringing in further guest speakers to address an issue raised, such as the bullying experienced on social media. The feedback loop we already use is a personal evaluation form about the workshop with comments and requests.

Advice

• Believe in the process – We have seen the workshops ebb and flow over the last decade but it is only when the staff behind it believe in the process, that the true benefits can be realised. In an increasingly polarised world, we need to be facing diversity issues head on, and having more conversations than ever before.
• Find the right facilitator – Consider the age and life experience of those scholars or adults facilitating the workshop. A combination of a scholar with an adult mentor is advisable. Think about the emotional qualities the facilitator will need to use to draw-out the views of the scholars in an honest and authentic way. It must not become an opportunity for the facilitator to pursue a personal agenda.
• Be prepared for the fallout – The feelings students experience during and after the workshop are sometimes not comfortable but discomfort is at times part of the students’ growth. The team should have access to the phone numbers of some kind of support service where appropriate.
• A well-constructed workshop should not allow opportunity for any discriminatory or personal attacks. All scholars must feel included and be involved. It MUST be a safe environment for growth. There must be recognition that we are all on a journey, and have much to learn about life.