The Green Party needs an approach to EDI that shows heart and compassion

Coming from a steelworking and mining family, I was aware of Wales’ rich industrial heritage from an early age.
My grandfather was the last man to be pulled out alive from a pitfall, after three days trapped underground. My Uncle Tom was one of the first miners to arrive at Aberfan on what they thought was a rescue mission. The coal tip had collapsed, killing every pupil in Aberfan primary school and people in several nearby homes. The Aberfan Disaster was the biggest mining tragedy of the Welsh Valleys.

My family instilled in me an understanding of the working class struggle for justice. The word ‘ysgol’ means ‘school’. It also means ‘ladder’, a word deliberately chosen to give children a message that the way to climb out of poverty is to get an education.

As a teenager I witnessed the devastation of our North Cornelly community. First of all came the miners’ strikes in the North of England, which then spread to Wales. The mines were closed under the Thatcher government. Then the steel industry in Port Talbot was decimated.

I felt that politics was in my blood. I was Labour through and through and never thought I would vote for any other party. When Tony Blair became Leader I no longer respected the values of the Labour Party. I never could bring myself to vote for him, and became politically homeless.

At the turn of the century I started voting for the Green Party. I also became President of Cardiff NASUWT, having been a union representative and activist for several years.

As a teacher I taught in special classes. The demographics of the last school I taught at rapidly changed from a mostly white working class heritage to having several refugees and children who arrived from a variety of countries, speaking a variety of languages.

I have an Advanced Diploma in Equality and Diversity in Education, and wrote the school’s Equality and Diversity policy. I was asked by the headteacher to train teachers who had not up until that point been given training in teaching children who were new to English. I became responsible for what was then known as the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service. My role developed to monitor the children’s educational achievement and progress if they spoke more than one language, giving advice and altering the curriculum in order for education to become more accessible.

I have always been a keen kitchen gardener. After my daughter was born I became more interested in organic growing of food. I also trained to become a Forest School Practitioner. I obtained a grant of several thousand pounds, and established an award winning wheelchair accessible Forest School and kitchen garden at the school. I worked at that school for 17 years.

I decided to work for the ‘Education Other than at School’ service. I taught children who were too ill to attend school, were expelled or had emotional reasons for not attending school. After several years working for EOTAS I retired from teaching.

I now live by the seaside in Porthcawl, where I have joined U3A, play table tennis, volunteer in a local ethical shop, frequently voice my opinions at consultation sessions held by Last Energy (a US venture capitalist company intent on building a nuclear power plant in the Llynfi Valley) and clean beaches on a regular basis. In other words I have retired from paid work, so I can pursue my interests unabated.

I am committed to ‘chwarae teg’, or ‘fairness’ in English, in the sense of ensuring equal opportunities and fair treatment to all 9 of the recognised protected characteristics. The Green Party needs an approach to EDI that shows heart and compassion. The EDI coordinators also have a duty to act within the confines of the law, in the best interests of our members, and the long term future of the Green Party. The pendulum must swing from intolerance, through to tolerance and ultimately arrive at acceptance.

Debra Cooper is standing to be the Green Party’s equality and diversity coordinator on a job-share ticket with Aasiya Bora

Image credit: Matthew Philip Long – Creative Commons