Developing Racial Harassment Policy

It is important to have a strong well publicised policy in place that victims feel comfortable with is important.

You will also need to consider the following issue before you develop the policy

· The policy will need to be flexible enough to handle the range of issues, which may arise in a school and also be credible in meeting the victims needs
· How can the victim can be accompanied by a friend or adviser throughout the complaint process, and confidentiality of all the parties maintained
· Are the rights and reputations of both the victim and perpetrator
· How will you keep records, data, and ensure a quality response each and every time

The policy should contain the following information at a minimum

1) Guideline to help explain what constitutes racial harassment
2) Examples of behaviour that could constitute racial harassment
3) Consequences for conducting racial harassment
4) The names of staff (at least one man and one woman for each year group) to whom victims can go when they feel they’ve been harassed
5) Approximate length of time it should take to investigate a complaint
6) Consequences of a staff member not responding to a complaint
7) How parents will be involved
8) What help is available to victims and perpetrators outside of school

The policy should be published widely and you should at least be
· Available at various locations throughout the school
· Included in the schools major publications
· Individuals who can readily explain the policy should be identified
· One person in the school must be trained with more in-depth legal and procedure knowledge of harassment issues, including racial harassment
· Inform student twice yearly about harassment types and how to deal with it if they are harassed
· Tell parents about the policy and what they should do if their child is a target of harassment
· Train all teachers to recognize, prevent and counteract harassment including racial harassment
· Follow up training with periodic retraining, observations and feedback