On Tuesday 20 September, our Year 12 students gathered in the Lecture Theatre for a presentation on equality and diversity. This follows training received by Year 11 last term where some of our female school prefects talked to the boys about what it was like to be a girl at Shiplake.
The speaker for the presentation was Peter Radford, founder of Beyond This. Peter is an experienced public speaker, teacher, trainer, and author with a wealth of experience of leadership, management, personal development, and education.
Often speaking in schools on a range of topical issues, Peter came to Shiplake to give a talk on sexism, sexual assault, and misogyny to our pupils. Touching on a range of topics, Peter spoke of:
- unconscious bias and systemic discrimination
- the process of discrimination, from stereotyping to prejudice, and then to discrimination
- sexual harassment and how to address it
- the portrayal of women historically and in modern media
- masculinity and what it means to be male
Using a variety of anecdotes, including those of a personal nature, Peter spoke of a wider problem in society – and incorporated several facts and figures to illustrate his points. There were also opportunities throughout the presentation for pupils to interact and engage with Peter, as well as to hold discussions with peers and feed back to the group.
In a presentation, where the topics at hand are sometimes considered uncomfortable to be talked about, pupils were encouraged to speak up and to give their ideas, regardless of their stance.
