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Representing every child - why experiences of neurodiversity and invisible disability matter on governing boards
334 Plays5 months ago
In this episode, we explore the importance of raising awareness of invisible disabilities and neurodiversity in schools, the impact this can have on children and young people, and the unique perspective neurodivergent people can bring to school governing boards.
To discuss this topic, we’re joined by three passionate and knowledgeable voices - Chantal Boyle, Communications Manager at Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, Dr Claire Walsh, Chair of Governors (co-opted) and neurodiversity advocate, and Sue Blyth, Headteacher of Fourfields Community Primary School.
Read a transcript of this conversation: https://bit.ly/3UFi0Cn
Apply to become a school governor: https://bit.ly/43im7qz
Find out more about our Inclusive Governance campaign: https://bit.ly/3SYwk8A
Discover the Hidden Disabilities sunflower: https://bit.ly/3y3dtkn
Music by: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: GGXDEC3OBQEGW4XO
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Purpose
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode of the Governors for Schools podcast, the best place to learn about a wide range of issues affecting today's governance landscape. My name is Joyce, the partnerships manager for Wells and South West England, also a school governor myself at a secondary school, and I'm delighted to be one of your hosts today. Just to know that this podcast will be transcribed.
00:00:24
Speaker
In this podcast, we will explore why representation of neurodiversity and disability matters on our governing boards in alignment with our inclusive governance campaign. You can find out more about the campaign which is sponsored by Governor Hub through the link in bio.
00:00:41
Speaker
We know inclusivity is at the forefront of many minds within the education and governance landscapes. So we launched a year-long campaign to encourage a wider pool of volunteers to take up all important governance roles. The inclusive governance campaign is running throughout the 2023 to 2024 academic year and will encourage prospective and current governance to consider the strategic role and helping nurture a more inclusive education system and governance landscape.
Guest Speaker Introductions
00:01:10
Speaker
We have brought together three guest speakers with experience of working with people with visible and invisible disabilities or lived experience to speak on the panel. I'm also joined by a co-host from governance for schools to talk about school governance.
00:01:27
Speaker
So without further ado, I'll let the rest of the panel introduce themselves. Over to you, Harriet. Thank you. Hi, everyone. It's lovely to be co-hosting this podcast today. I'm Harriet Bowen. I'm the partnerships manager for the South Central region here at Governors for Schools. I'm also a school governor myself at my local primary school, so I'm really looking forward to kind of learning as we go along today.
00:01:51
Speaker
Hi everyone, my name is Sue Blythe and I have been the head teacher at Four Fields Community Primary School near Peterborough for 11 years. In 2018 we were named Britain's Happiest School. We're a flagship school for inclusion and we also hold the Gold Award for being a National Pioneer School for Wellbeing.
00:02:10
Speaker
Hi, my name is Chantal Boyle. I'm from Hidden Disability Sunflower, which is a globally recognised symbol and tool to help people identify to others around them that they have an invisible disability. So we started in the UK, but we are, I mentioned globally,
00:02:29
Speaker
So we're in 230 airports worldwide. We are in lots of sectors including retail, hospitality, leisure, sport, different forms of travel, education, and we do have a presence around the globe now, so that's me.
00:02:48
Speaker
Hiya, I'm Claire. I am a current co-opted governor at a small rural school in Derbyshire. I am also neurodiverse and I'm mum to neurodiverse twins who are unfortunately not in school due to autistic burnout. I have had previous roles in the NHS and the higher education for inclusion and equality diversity. But I had to stop working to look after my kids in 23, so there's been a real abrupt kind of career change for me to support my family.
00:03:18
Speaker
and my pronouns are she and her. Thank you all for your time today. So now let's get cracking.
Role and Impact of School Governors
00:03:28
Speaker
Today we're going to talk about two topics, school governance and neurodiversity or disability. So the first question I'd like to ask for those who might be new to school governance is what is a school governor? Yeah, absolutely. So school governors are simply amazing people who volunteer their time, their skills and their experience to
00:03:51
Speaker
impact the effectiveness of a school. The role itself is strategic rather than operational, so school governors don't get involved with the day-to-day running of the school. Instead, they work at board level to support and challenge the school's leadership team to drive school improvement. The school governors will sit on a board of around 7 to 12 people who are equally passionate about improving opportunities for young people. You have to be aged 18
00:04:21
Speaker
or over. But other than that, everyone can consider the school governor role. Definitely. Thank you so much, Harriet.
Understanding Neurodiversity
00:04:28
Speaker
The second key term I think we need to define is neurodiversity. And I feel like it is something that we increasingly mention in schools and our workplace
00:04:38
Speaker
but people might have different understandings of it. So Chantal, what is neurodiversity? So neurodiversity is a difference in processing and way of interacting with the world. It's an umbrella term, so people who aren't neurodiverse may be referred to as being neurodivergent, but the
00:05:00
Speaker
identities that fall underneath that are autism and this is some of them there will be more but the ones that will be more popular that people will know about more common autism dyspraxia dyscalculia ADHD Tourette syndrome ataxia FASD tick syndrome so they are some of the ones which will be more well known so it's a difference in thinking it's a difference in way of interacting with the world it doesn't mean
00:05:28
Speaker
And when I say a difference, a difference to the other term, which you may have heard is neurotypical. That's how society is set up. It's set up for neurotypical brains and the systems are all set up in that way. So it's very difficult for somebody who does think differently and looks at the world differently.
00:05:45
Speaker
to fit into this kind of round circle. If you're a square, the analogy is which I would use to describe that. But in supportive environments, neurodivergent people can absolutely flourish. They have so much to bring to the table. It's really important that we have diverse diversity of thinking as a society, as a culture, as a world. Very often you may have a co-morbidity, which means that you'll have a co-occurring
00:06:15
Speaker
So not always, but quite often if somebody is autistic, then they may also be have ADHD or dyslexia or one of the other ones that I've mentioned as well. So there's, you know, there's a lot to navigate if you are neurodivergent living in a neurotypical society. There's different ways in how neurodiverse people interact. I'm thinking particularly with ADHD.
00:06:42
Speaker
and autism. So there will be differences of maybe social interaction, social cues, not picking up on social cues as well, which makes that social integration can be a bit challenging at times if people don't understand and are not able to adapt the way in which they interact with one another.
00:07:01
Speaker
One of the things that we find that how we were raised and brought up is if you don't look at me, you're being very rude, you're not listening. And for many people who are neurodivergent, that's actually a painful thing to have to do whilst they're putting all their energy and focus in looking at you.
00:07:18
Speaker
they're not able to actually concentrate on really what's happening here so you're not getting the full person and you're actually causing physical pain to that individual. Everybody is different so what I'm saying here might not apply to every single person but there will be elements of this. Also to say I'm not an expert on neurodiversity but these are the things that I have learnt through working at Hidden Disability Sunflower because of course the sunflower is for everybody who has an invisible disability of which we know there are
00:07:47
Speaker
over 900. So, but Nenora diversity is a huge element of that. It's important that this podcast is happening and taking place and that we look to learn and educate ourselves about what those differences are so that we can make adaptations to affect a equity within the world in which we live. Yeah. Thank you so much for explaining. And I really like what you said about
00:08:13
Speaker
We're all different, but we all have something to bring to the
Raising Awareness in Schools
00:08:17
Speaker
table. Great. So now that we've gained more clarity on key terms, let's talk about the importance of raising awareness of neurodiversity or invisible disabilities in schools.
00:08:29
Speaker
So what are your thoughts guys? Sure, I would say that certainly since the pandemic in schools we've seen a huge increase in children coming to school with additional needs. So for example, before the pandemic we had in a two-four-mentary primary school of 450 children
00:08:47
Speaker
We would have had 10 children with an educational health care plan. That's now increased to 32. And certainly the majority of those would fall under the autism, ADHD categories. We had parents even this week and I was talking to a family who have neurodiverse children and are neurodiverse themselves. And we were talking about, you know, when they were at school, how it just wasn't recognized and how school was a very different place for them and how it was very difficult.
00:09:15
Speaker
I think at our school at Four Fields, we've worked really hard to raise awareness for everybody, for the whole school community. So obviously we worked very hard with our own school staff because as the numbers increase, the awareness for staff needs to improve. And so, you know, we had to look at things like changing our behaviour policy, changing how we dealt with behaviour. You know, now we run a very therapeutic
00:09:42
Speaker
approach to how we deal with children's behaviour. We talk all the time about equity. Our children absolutely understand equity. They understand that if I'm left-handed, I might need a left-handed pair of scissors, but if I find the school environment overwhelming, I might need to wear ear defenders.
00:10:01
Speaker
I might need to go into a quiet space to work. And so we've had to create lots of different spaces in school where we can have a regulation area and children will articulate that their friends are not being naughty. It's just how they need to express themselves and how they need to get things out. So then again, we then needed to work with parents because for lots of parents,
00:10:24
Speaker
who as yet don't understand how neurodiverse people tick and think, that's been a work in progress too. So by developing things like bringing our parents together who have children who are neurodiverse, giving them a voice, giving them a forum, we started by having sort of informal coffee afternoons
00:10:42
Speaker
where they could all come and share their views, support each other, talk about the things they needed to help them, how we can understand better, how we can support them. They then now write a termly newsletter. They talk from their own point of view and they share experiences that the whole school community can understand so we know what it's like to have a neurodiverse child and your family and what that might look like on a day-to-day basis. Our school, we call ourselves the Lighthouse.
00:11:09
Speaker
and our tagline at school is shine. And so the Lighthouse is about reaching into every area of the community so that we can all understand and we can all better work together as you would in any family. And I think that is, Harriet is one of my school governors. So I think she would say that that is absolutely a strength of the school. That we all recognize each other. We all recognize that we're different. We can verbalize and articulate equity.
00:11:38
Speaker
And we all start to get that out into the community. So there's a greater awareness of how we can support these people. Absolutely. And I can vouch for all of that as one of your governors at Fort Fields. It's a fantastic school. And I think you made a really interesting point there about, you know, it is about the wider community. It's not just about the children. Yes, they're important, but it's about their families. It's about the staff at the school and it's about the wider community. And as a governor,
00:12:03
Speaker
That's something that you have to really think about. You're going to be looking at the school improvement plan. You're going to be looking at strategies and policies. So we need to be the voice of that wider community. And that is why having a diverse governing board of lots of different people with lots of different skills and experiences and backgrounds, because you really do need to be the voice of, for example, people who are part of that neurodiverse community.
00:12:31
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with everything you guys just shared. Just a lot of great stuff there. And Claire, I know you're also a school governor yourself. And I also know that you are so, so passionate in supporting people with neurodivergence. So tell us about why you wanted to be involved in school governance in the first place and how you found this role so far. Thanks, Joyce. Initially, I joined as a parent governor because I wanted to help
00:13:01
Speaker
the leadership of the school. We are a small village school, really different to what Sue's described. I think we've got like 56 on role. So we have mixed stage classes, we have the luxury of the size of the classes allows the staff and the community, because we have a lot of volunteers in school, to work closely with the children. From
00:13:26
Speaker
The point of you being a good nerd, it's an amazing thing to do. You think that you haven't got anything to offer but you soon appreciate that your enthusiasm and your expertise is really needed. It helps you develop your skills and I would say I've learnt so much in the role.
00:13:46
Speaker
I remember one of the things that we do is we you will go into school and do some kind of monitoring visit and that helps you make sense of things like the school improvement plan that Harriet talked about because it brings it to life. So on a school visit once we were sat and I was working with a teacher we were talking about peer-on-peer bullying and we were exploring how the school vision was being realised through how the children understood
00:14:11
Speaker
what their role was in supporting each other and alerting if they were concerned about anything. So we were sat in a table, you know one of those tables where your knees are like scrunched up to your chest and you're kind of like sat with really little people and I'm quite tall, I'm nearly six foot so I was sat there really like really scrunched up into a bowl and one pupil was sat near me and went over
00:14:36
Speaker
And we were talking about how we might be bullied. And I said, oh, well, I'm autistic. And I was bullied when I was at school because I was different. And this kid went over and he went, oh, I'm autistic too. And there was a kind of a bit of a pause on the table. And I looked at this person and I said, brilliant. It's really lovely to meet someone who's a little bit like me because we are quite different, aren't we? And that really made a difference to that individual in the moment.
00:15:01
Speaker
And then it led to a question on the table to the other pupils. Has anyone ever talked about autism? I've asked about autism before and it was like,
00:15:10
Speaker
No, not really. And I think that hesitancy and reticence of staff and our volunteers to talk about that is about people's anxiety of getting it wrong and saying the wrong thing. And I wondered how that experience could be different for that pupil to see themselves reflected in the school.
00:15:34
Speaker
And so I think it's really important as a governor that if you are being able to bring different lived experiences to that role, that it just changes people's perspectives.
00:15:50
Speaker
Absolutely. It's all about representation as well, isn't it? That child that you were speaking to on that table had a moment of like, oh, there are other people like me, there's adults like me. And that can be really, really powerful when you think of how important it is for children to have role models and people to look up to and people to relate to. I think that's a lovely experience that you've had there.
00:16:13
Speaker
Yeah, whether you volunteer your time and energy in a small school or a big school, definitely have something to bring to the table. So much to offer as a parent governor, foundation governor, whatever governor you are. So thank you for sharing Claire. Yeah, I guess my next question then is how can neurodiversity on governing boards lead to better outcomes for
00:16:37
Speaker
staff, pupils and a broader community and it would be great if you could share with us some specific examples as well.
Neurodiversity and Inclusivity on Governing Boards
00:16:45
Speaker
I think that neurodiverse people can bring kind of a unique perspective really to schools, a first-hand experience that can help
00:16:54
Speaker
The rest of us foster a greater understanding and empathy within the governing body. So when we're looking at policies and practices, those policies, by having neurodiverse individuals on the governing body, they can lead to practice them more inclusive and supportive of staff and students and parents who are neurodiverse and people within the community.
00:17:15
Speaker
We do have a member of our governing body who is neurodiverse and I think he often will bring a different thinking style and an approach to problem solving that I'd never thought about before that challenges me and that's brilliant because it's someone who's been in school for 30 something years you know to have another individual come and say actually have you thought about it this way?
00:17:35
Speaker
Oh, okay, is amazing. So their presence on the governing body can really sort of stimulate that creativity and innovation in addressing challenges that are being faced by ourselves and things that are going on in the community. I think as well, you know, people in your eye diverse have developed really strong coping mechanisms and a resilience in navigating the world and navigating a world that isn't always accommodating to their needs.
00:18:02
Speaker
So if those people are on my governing body, then that can really help me as I try and shape that community for those children who we know we're trying to prepare for a world that isn't always kind and a world that isn't always understanding. So those qualities are really valuable assets to have in the decision making processes, particularly when you're addressing things like children's wellbeing and academic success. I can see that they're so intertwined, aren't they? The wellbeing and
00:18:31
Speaker
and then your potential. Because if you're overloaded and overwhelmed, your thinking brain is not working, is it? You're just in flight mode and just dealing with the stresses of the day. So it makes a massive difference. I know for me, sometimes when we're looking at issues, I think sometimes my brain sometimes starts from the bottom up. So
00:18:55
Speaker
you know I'll want to understand what the pupils experiences are of something and then how that applies to the ways in which the school teachers and other staff in the school are leading and demonstrating and assuring boys and families about embracing difference and I think that that's you know that's tricky and I think that can be difficult sometimes people get tripped up over language and
00:19:24
Speaker
and worrying about saying the wrong thing. I think if I was joining a governing body is asking the leadership, how do you embody inclusive practice? If I come into school, how am I made welcome? How is the school accessible? Can I see inclusion through your school values? And then when it comes to understanding how the school is managed to be sustainable and financially governed,
00:19:53
Speaker
alongside how the school is continuously improving the outcomes for people is understanding how that funding is being spent because funding comes with identified need for some pupils. So making sense of that is really important. And as a parent, that's important because I might see a number on an education health care plan, which is an integrated plan that helps a young person
00:20:21
Speaker
get the additional support they need. But how that's translated into school is important for me to understand. And I think, so your point about policies is really important. The translation of policies that are set up for neurotypical behaviour doesn't always translate. And I know my experiences of that, of being my children being told off, you know, because
00:20:47
Speaker
their nervous system is differently wired. It's like, I can't do anything about that. That's my nervous system. So I think it is that kind of awareness of that. Little things like awards, winning things, rewarding things like attendance, you know, it's difficult. If you're anxious and you're finding getting into school really difficult and parents are like,
00:21:13
Speaker
you know, they might seem swan-like, but there's lots going on. Just getting their young people out of the house and in a regulated way into school, you know, is so difficult some days. So having that ability to kind of bring that awareness to the governing body helps to translate what inclusion means through those practices. And I think it's great to hear that you have such a powerful parent voice, parent-care and voicing,
00:21:43
Speaker
in your school and we're just setting that up you know lots of parents will say that you know they get feedback from school that their kids fine and then when they come home it's a little bit like a fizzy coke bottle yeah yeah the lid comes off and they just kind of
00:21:58
Speaker
dysregulate because that's their safe place. I think that it's super hard to learn when you're stressed and if kids, and certainly I have daughters, they're really good at masking. If there were Olympics for masking, we'd be on the GBT moment. That's tragic in one way, that they have to kind of learn to do that.
00:22:21
Speaker
you know, Sue, like you say, the well-being piece and the ability to learn are just so ingrained with each other. Yeah, and it's right, what you said there, Claire, by listening to our parents, things like attendance awards, we just don't do them. You know, we don't, that's just not a thing. In fact, it's causing stress to some members of our community, so we don't have them. And at primary school anyway, I'm a big believer it's not the child's fault anyway, is it? If I can't, you know,
00:22:45
Speaker
But also, things like uniform. As I've developed as a school leader now, a family comes to me and says, this is causing stress. We have a little boy who's neurodiverse. He has to have something over his head. He has to have it covered.
00:23:00
Speaker
fine. I don't have a problem with that, but I know sometimes there's school leadership where the line about uniform and those kinds of things is still so drilled that we really need to be given more consideration to that. And it's not watering down. People say, oh, it's watering down Sanders. It's absolutely not. It's about making sure that those children want to come to school.
00:23:25
Speaker
And so getting rid of this emotionally based school avoidance, decreasing that, improving school attendance, our school attendance has improved dramatically. We've just had Offstead, they commented on our inclusive practice, especially around attendance, because we are booking the national trend, but that's because we look at on an individual level, how can we help improve?
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, how can we? So if your child wants to wear a coloured hoodie that isn't the colour of the school, I don't care. They're coming into school and they're learning. And surely that's what we're about as schools, isn't it? We want our children to feel in the happiest place they can so that they can then learn and achieve that success. I think, you know, 20 years ago when it was so traditional in Victoria, the school practices, etc.
00:24:14
Speaker
Fair enough, we didn't really know anything about neurodiversity, but now we do know.
Inclusive Recruitment and Avoiding Tokenism
00:24:19
Speaker
It's the policies.
00:24:22
Speaker
but also look at the recruitment process for teachers and for governors. What's your recruitment process? What adjustments do you make for anybody who is applying, who has a disability? Do you even put that out there to candidates, whether it's a governor or a teacher or a staff member? Think about that because it's got to filter down from the top. So I was a governor as well. I'm now co-opted governor.
00:24:49
Speaker
and I'm on the DEI group which is with the teachers and when I was there I was actually a chair of one of the committees and I used to experience so much stress and pain before each meeting because all of the papers that used to come through I've got a processing disorder
00:25:09
Speaker
it's not diagnosed and that but I have diagnosed myself and I'm just thinking here you know it would have I spent so much time panicking about trying to read all of these papers before the meetings that you know I'm not bringing my best self to the meeting I've got lots of other skills and
00:25:27
Speaker
just looking at the way and how you manage the meetings, how you tell everybody what's happening, you know, like the agendas and everything. There are just different ways of doing things so that you can get that inclusive board and then therefore it filters down. Yeah, so many great ideas and I think everything we've mentioned just for the highlights that is so important to have different voices on a school board. Representation is so key and still I really like your school but I think I'm too old for your school.
00:26:00
Speaker
Claire, is there anything you wanted to add about how you navigated the governor role as someone who's neurodiverse? Yeah, so I think first of all, my neurodivergence is my neurodivergence. And I'm probably like, or maybe like quite a few parents. So as I was understanding my kids neurodivergence, pennies were dropping for me.
00:26:25
Speaker
And I was having light bulb moments. So I was sat through the assessments for ADHD and for autism and for dyslexia and for dyscalculia. And I was going, that's me. Okay. And I have had a narrative in my head all my life of not really struggling, looking around, seeing the person next to me on the table and thinking, they're finding that really easy. Why aren't I?
00:26:52
Speaker
And that narrative has stuck with me and I have seen myself in quite a negative way. So I think being able to bring that very tangible experience into the governing body role is about knowing that when you're empowering someone, you're
00:27:15
Speaker
really giving an opportunity because they feel included and they belong and because they belong and feel included they can engage in learning that their view of themselves and their possibility is huge. I think one of the things I've found as a governor is that people can be misinformed and it's not from a cruel place you know we didn't really talk about new divergence previously so
00:27:44
Speaker
I think it's important that we call people in rather than call people out. I think it's important that we welcome conversation, although I don't want to be the kind of token, and I'm not, the tokenist, new divergent person on the board that everybody wants to ask. I think everybody has to become inclusion literate and that's essential because it's quite tiring to be, you know, providing
00:28:12
Speaker
a narrative on how I'm thinking or doing or being.
00:28:17
Speaker
alongside trying to do and be in the room at the same time. For me, I'm 53. I think I'm pretty good now at letting people know what my accommodations are. And I feel comfortable about sharing my neurodiverse identity, but not everybody will. So I think whilst it's often draining and potentially can be tokenistic, I think if you have authenticity, genuine trust and belief in each other as a governing body, you can really create a really challenging
00:28:44
Speaker
an authentic kind of leadership space for your school. And collectively, you can ask questions that really give other people insights to things that they wouldn't know. I think it's really important as well. You know, when you join a governing body and the ways in which, I think, you know, Chantel, you were talking about this, that sometimes those things seem obvious to other people, the ways in which things work, the ways in which a structure or a school operates.
00:29:13
Speaker
And just because you sat at the table, it doesn't mean that you automatically get all of that. So for me, sometimes I can sit around in a meeting and I feel like I'm not participating because I'm not able to process the information. Or sometimes I need to experience something a couple of times before I really go, oh, I see what you mean here. And this is what I think, you know, this is my contribution to this conversation. So
00:29:40
Speaker
There are some things I do, I tend to ask questions last, so I kind of gather my thoughts and listen to what's going on in the room, and it's quite helpful that I'm a chair, so that often happens anyways, I don't want to butt in. And I think it's important that, you know, as a governor, if you're sat on a governing body, be mindful that if you've met one person who's neurodiverse and you've met one person who's neurodiverse, and what works for me,
00:30:02
Speaker
probably won't apply you know to other people but being you know the simple things like how the board is functioning that you know you get minutes and papers ahead that you really think about how you present that information in simple accessible ways I think all of those things can
00:30:24
Speaker
make a difference. But ultimately Joyce, I think it's about if you have a neurodiverse governor and your governing body, it's taught them. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, absolutely. And I suppose Chantel as an advocate for HC Sunflowers, is there any advice that you can offer around that in terms of somebody who is neurodivergent, who's considering the role, but is a little bit unsure about whether they should or how they could become involved?
00:30:51
Speaker
I think that conversation, as Claire's mentioned, is really important. If you're talking about it from the point of view of the neurodivergent individual applying, then being open with what accommodations you need to suit your needs is important so that you can bring your whole self to that role. Because as I said before, in the right
00:31:20
Speaker
situation and conditions you can flourish you can be amazing input and be of great value to whatever it is you're doing so yeah have an open conversation with the school about what how do you integrate how do you how do you support neurodivergent pupils but how do you also support your neurodivergent staff i'd like to join but these are the things that you know if we're having a video meeting i can't be on camera for example
00:31:50
Speaker
And you explain that before rather than have, you know, you cold come on and then somebody's on blank and you're thinking, oh God, are they ill or whatever. So it's just being able to create an environment which is really safe.
00:32:05
Speaker
So from the point of view of hidden disability sunflower, we call that a sunflower friendly space. So we would encourage all schools to join the hidden disability sunflower. But it's for the staff, the governors and the pupils to understand what's an invisible disability of which neurodiversity is included and how to interact with a sunflower wearer. So for example, if you were going on a call, you could have a
00:32:34
Speaker
you can have a little eye wear the sunflower in your email address or you can have a background meeting if it's a video call or you could wear a sunflower lanyard. The sunflower can be worn in lots of different ways like virtually or physically, pin badges, whatever and that lets people around you know that you have an invisible disability and just kind of still going on about the sunflower here.
00:32:57
Speaker
It's basically, if you're by wearing it, it's an ask for support or help. It's an ask to please be kind. It's an ask to please listen to me.
00:33:08
Speaker
So give me, you know, give me your full attention. Please ask for, please don't judge me. All of the things that we've kind of discussed today, a lot of that comes with judgment, judgment and shame. And actually we shouldn't be being viewed in that way just because we are different. Masking was being spoken about a lot today. So, and that feeling of when you get home, having to have a, to let that go, how painful that that is. So if you see somebody stimming or yeah,
00:33:37
Speaker
rubbing their hands or having to rub their body or needing to sit on the floor or having to get up and move around. Don't judge.
00:33:44
Speaker
that's literally just being able to regulate and be in the room and be their whole self in the room. Having those fidget toys or sensory toys, I should say, available for somebody to pick up and to use, that just helps them get to the same level as the neurotypical person sat next to them, who's fine and not having to doodle everywhere. So yeah, understanding and respect, simple adjustments, don't marginalize yourself.
00:34:11
Speaker
go for it if you want to if you want to become um join a governing board but as an individual in society yeah don't marginalise yourself and I think if you feel confident and comfortable then do explain the adjustments that you need in a work environment but also in a social environment and I think that that would really make it
00:34:35
Speaker
positive difference because you can't expect people to just know and as Claire has said you've met one person who's autistic that you've met one person.
00:34:45
Speaker
We're all different, so if you can help by sharing a bit of insight, then it will help. It is obviously on society as a whole to educate themselves. With the Hidden Disability Sunflower, we have a podcast called The Sunflower Conversations, and they are with lots of people about their lived experience, and there are lots on there with different people about if they're autistic or they've got dyslexia or ADHD, and it's so interesting.
00:35:13
Speaker
pick up these free tools that are around and educate yourself. Yeah, so good. And I believe your vision and your values that your organization does, Chantal, would benefit a lot of people. So that's amazing. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I've really enjoyed our conversation. I've learned a lot from
00:35:34
Speaker
you know, you guys. So that's great. But we're coming towards the end of our podcast. So to wrap this up, how would you guys in one sentence encourage our listeners from all walks of life to get involved in school governance to diversify the board?
Encouraging Diverse Participation
00:35:51
Speaker
Joyce, you've asked me a difficult question because it's in one sentence and I don't think it's in one sentence. But I mean, I would say we need people from all walks of life because our school communities are diverse and we need a greater representation
00:36:08
Speaker
from these minority communities. We need a greater representation from people who are neurodiverse. We need a greater representation from different ethnicities. They're not represented necessarily on school governing bodies. And so your voice is important. We need you as role models. You are leaders at the school. You shape the vision and the direction that a school can go in. And if you see that from a different point of view, we absolutely need you. So please don't be afraid to give it a go.
00:36:37
Speaker
My sentence is everything that Sue said is mine. Representation is key. If it's not on the board, then the children's voices are not being heard or considered. I would say as well that I think if you have a hidden disability, you've probably phoned school yourself if you're of an age like myself. Difficult.
00:37:02
Speaker
And so your memories of school might be, oh no. But you know what? If you felt like you don't belong, if you felt like you've been othered or you've been made not to fit in, not by individuals, but by society, then we need people like you on governing bodies. And if you've always fitted in, we need you on governing bodies too. Because you can use your own earned advantages
00:37:29
Speaker
to learn and add fancy inclusivity for others and to be an ally you know which is such a powerful thing to do. Thank you yeah and in my sentences just go for it, just go for it and apply to be a school governor because hopefully as you've taken away from this podcast is we all have different experiences, we all come from different backgrounds but we all have a voice and we all need to use that voice to
00:37:54
Speaker
shape the future for our children so yeah definitely think about it but yeah strongly encourage you to get involved in school governance.
Conclusion and Resources
00:38:01
Speaker
Yeah definitely just go for it because there is a continual need for volunteers at vacancies registered throughout the year and governors are one of the largest volunteer groups across England and Wales.
00:38:13
Speaker
at a time where 77% of boards are struggling to recruit new governors and trustees so it is really important that everyone who's eligible to be a school governor knows that it is something that they could consider. In the description box for this podcast we have included our email address and our phone number so if anyone would like to get in contact with us to ask any question or to ask for some support with their application please do get in touch as we're more than happy to help.
00:38:40
Speaker
In the description box you'll also find a link to our application form. Your application form is where you can tell us a little bit more about your skills and your experience, any preferences that you have around how far you're willing to travel or what type of school you'd like to support and you'll also complete a little personal
00:38:56
Speaker
statement that demonstrates your passions and your commitment to improving educational standards through governance. We will share this information with schools during the process of finding you a suitable governor role. That is about all we time for today. Thank you so so much to Sue, Claire and Chantelle and we wanted to highlight that we also have a range of free e-learning modules on a number of topics to introduce you to the key elements of the role. We also hold
00:39:20
Speaker
webinar so you can continue your learning and have the opportunity to ask our governance experts questions. Once placed as a school, you will also be given 12 months free access to online governor resources and a knowledge bank called Governor Hub. So once you've submitted your application, it is definitely worth checking out all those resources as well as any other of our podcast episodes which strike your fancy. Once again, thank you for listening and supporting us in increasing diversity on our school boards.
00:39:49
Speaker
See you guys next time!