Cade Lucas
Researchers at Victoria University (VU) in Footscray have piloted a new anti-racism program that they believe can combat rising levels of racism in Australian schools.
The ‘Bigger Than This’ program (BTT) was delivered to 10 high schools in Victoria, including one in the western suburbs, during 2024 and was co-designed by students to address the mental and physical health impacts of racism.
According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, 89 per cent of young people aged 13-17 had either experienced or witnessed racism, with school the most common location.
“Schools are a powerful vehicle for change,” said Professor Chris Sonn, who along with VU colleague, Dr Sam Keast, developed the BTT program.
“We know racism exists in a number of pockets of the school environment and without work, this only festers. We saw a unique opportunity to have this be led by young people for young people at a time in their lives where we could really make an impact,” Professor Sonn said.
Reflecting how serious the school racism problem is, 70 Victorian high schools expressed interest in hosting the pilot, with Professor Sonn and Dr Keast choosing 10 that represented a broad cross-section of location, cultural diversity and size.
Aimed at year nine students, the pilot had a strong creative focus including the use of story posters, shared language cards and a creative activity to educate and empower students to take action when they witness or experience racism.
In their final activity, students were asked to express and communicate anti-racist actions using creative practices of their choice such as poster making, writing, acting and developing apps.
Dr Keast said the responses from participants showed they felt safe to share their perspectives regardless of where their racial literacy was.
“Delivered to young people by young people, helps to build trust quickly but also in the delivery of work on a sensitive topic. Students felt supported to discuss the ways racism impacts mental health and anti-racism actions,” Dr Keast said.
Surveys of students who completed the pilot showed 97 per cent were able to describe something they had learnt, 91 per cent were able to describe how racism impacts mental health, and 90 per cent were able to identify an anti-racist action they could take if they heard or saw a racist incident.
A teacher-focused BTT pilot program will run later this year.
