In this week’s Policing blog, Dr Verity Jones and Dr Anne Eason report on their ground-breaking UWE Bristol project based on children’s lived experiences of racism in the UK set to transform police training.
On 3rd February 2025, people gathered at May Park School, Bristol to watch an exciting new animation which is hoped to inform anti-racist practice in the Police.
University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) researchers have worked with 100s of primary-aged children to explore the everyday experiences of racism they navigate and how these impact on their and their family’s mental health and wellbeing. This UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded research revealed a broken relationship between young children and the police.
The 9–11-year-old children, who were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, consistently spoke of how they felt let down by the police, that the police made them feel unsafe and scared to leave home.
The learnings from this unique project, in collaboration with Avon and Somerset Police and the UWE policing lead, has now been transformed into a resource that will be used as part of UWE’s Professional Policing courses to help tackle racism. The aim of the animation is to encourage police officers to listen to the voice of the child and consider their views in their interactions with the Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. It is also being used in Race Matters training across the Avon and Somerset constabulary.
Partnering with Avon and Somerset Police has allowed the UWE team to develop much-needed tools based on real insight into children’s experience of everyday racism in the UK. The animation presents four real examples of children’s experiences from the area, voiced by pupils from May Park School.
We hope that other police forces and emergency services around the country also adopt these resources into their training, allowing us to collectively work to increase the bond of trust between services and communities.
Watch the animation here UWE Bristol RESPECT Project: Race Matters Police Training animation, made with children’s help
About the RESPECT Project
In 2021 the RESPECT project began working with primary school age children across Bristol and the UK to amplify the lived experiences of racism young children navigate every day – the first project of its kind in UK. The initial research by the interdisciplinary team from UWE Bristol involved engaging with over 200 children from Bristol schools and culminating in co-writing the children’s book ‘If Racism Vanished for a Day’ with 17 of the initial participants. Since then, the team has extended work across primary and secondary settings, with NHS Social Services, Barnardo’s children’s charity and Chartered College of Teaching recognising and supporting this important work. Lesson plans and resources are all freely available from the team. Please contact Verty6.Jones@uwe.ac.uk
Dr Verity Jones is an Associate Professor of Education Dr Verity Jones – UWE Bristol
Dr Anne Eason is an Associate Director of Policing Dr Anne Eason – UWE Bristol
Editorial Team
Paul Williamson (Editor-in-Chief); Claudia McCready (Lecturer); Claire Bowers (Senior Lecturer); Eve Smietanko (Joint Programme Leader & Senior Lecturer); Ian Lowe (Senior Lecturer) & Micah Hassell (Senior Lecturer).
If you would like to be a guest blogger, please contact Police.Blog@uwe.ac.uk