Boosting inclusivity in schools with Inclusion Labs
Inclusion Labs and their DataDive weekend volunteers
“One of the best experiences I have had the privilege of having! We would never have had access to this much expertise and support being the size that we are. Such a brilliant initiative!”
Temi Akindele Barker
CEO and founder, Inclusion Labs
Inclusion Labs came into being when legal consultant, researcher, and mum-of-two Temi Akindele Barker decided to create a world where schools provide an inclusive environment, not just for her own children, but everywhere in the UK. Since then, the Labs team has supported schools to become more equitable, diverse, and inclusive for staff, students, and parents and caregivers.
Their programmes guide schools through a comprehensive survey, helping them to build action plans for the future, providing resources, and introducing them to a community of peer support. They are driven by a collaborative, youth-centred approach, and the vision that providing an empowering start to children will benefit society as a whole.
Using information to increase understanding
Inclusion Labs wanted to use the anonymised survey data they gather to better understand the common challenges, needs, and strengths of the schools they have worked with. They hoped to learn more about the needs, perspectives, and issues of the people they support; what they might be able to do to improve their survey; and what to focus on strategically in future to further their mission.
To help them achieve this, a team of more than 30 skilled data volunteers gathered together on a wet weekend in November for a DataKind UK DataDive event. They were guided by Data Ambassadors Mark, Dan, Melissa, and Courtney, and fuelled by 22-inch pizzas.
The Inclusion Labs weekend volunteers — Data Ambassadors wear t-shirts saying ‘Data for Good’, and Temi and Steph of Inclusion Labs a visible stood at the back
What did they find out?
A visualisation showing the difference between SLT (blue) and student (green) responses for a range of areas. Across the board, SLT responses consistently have more positive responses than students, particularly for questions around staff knowledge and behaviour.
Most importantly for a person-centred organisation, the DataDive project helped Inclusion Labs to understand much more about the people they work with.
While looking at the survey holistically, weekend volunteers also drilled into what feedback from each question was telling them.
Team members learned that some of the hunches they had about disparities between students’ and teachers’ experiences were real. Students were very comfortable talking about some subjects, but there were significant areas where schools may be letting them down. In general, they felt positively about discussing most topics around DEI such as ableism, racism, and homophobia. However, there were a number of negative indicators too: students reported issues with bullying under these same topics, or experiencing people telling prejudiced jokes.
One striking result was the difference in perceptions of DEI awareness between senior staff and their students. Senior leaders (Senior Leadership Teams or SLT) in schools feel that they are making good progress on diversity issues, however students tend to rate their school far lower on its handling of DEI when replying to statements like ‘Teachers know how to handle discrimination’.
Inclusion Labs’ survey also targets students’ family members on their views. At the weekend, DataDivers were able to look for topics not covered directly by the survey questions using the data from several open-ended, free text questions. Families mentioned concerns about bursaries, costs for uniform, and finances in general. Inclusion Labs’ Schools Lead, Steph Vega, said “the data is getting us to understand things we’d not have ordinarily seen.”
While highlighting areas that need improvement, the project also raised more unexpected, positive results, including that Inclusion Labs’ partners are much more engaged than they thought when filling in the survey.
Inclusion Labs now feel more equipped to provide what their schools and beneficiaries need, with a focus on action rather than just providing information. They are keen to prioritise what data their survey can collect that will help them be most strategic about their future DEI interventions, and share key insights from this project with stakeholders. Steph commented that their approach can now be “one of firm realism and making sure we can say the data backs what we need to understand.” They also plan to expand their data staff team to support this.
A brilliant initiative
At the end of the weekend, CEO and founder of Inclusion Labs, Temi, told the gathered volunteers: “Where your energy has flowed, impact is going to grow. We could not have done it without any of you! The DataDive project will really inform our data strategy — in terms of the tools we need, as well as the data we need.”
One of our fantastic volunteers said that the weekend was “A unique opportunity to apply knowledge to a real-life scenario, build on existing skills, learn from and network with others. I came worried that I was going to be a bit out of my depth, but walked away feeling positive and inspired.”
Temi Akindele Barker added: “[The Dive was] One of the best experiences I have had the privilege of having! It was such a big moment for Inclusion Labs — I am emotional, excited, determined, inspired, invigorated… We loved every moment of it and we are so humbled to have all those people and their amazing skills focused on our mission. We would never have had access to this much expertise and support being the size that we are! Such a brilliant initiative!”
Thanks to Outlandish and Space4 who let us use their brilliant venue, and to Newland Science for their sponsorship of the event.
