Glossary

Adultification

When children from racially minoritised backgrounds are seen as older, more mature, and less innocent than their white peers

Cultural competency not referred to in text

Understanding and appropriately responding to different cultural backgrounds and communication styles

Colourism

Discrimination based on skin tone, where lighter skin is often privileged over darker skin within and across racial groups

Deficit lens

Viewing certain behaviours or characteristics as problems rather than differences or strengths

Disproportionate exclusion

Higher rates of suspension and permanent exclusion for students from certain racial and ethnic backgrounds

Encounter stage

A specific experience opens their eyes to how race affects their treatment

Exoticisation

Treating people from ethnic minority backgrounds as exotic, unusual, or fascinating rather than as ordinary individuals

Fetishisation

Reducing people to stereotypical racial or cultural characteristics and treating them as objects of fascination rather than complex individuals

Identity denial

When people question or refuse to acknowledge someone's racial or ethnic identity, particularly common for mixed race individuals

Implicit bias not referred to in text

Unconscious assumptions and stereotypes that affect how we interpret behaviour and make decisions

Immersion–Emersion stage

Actively exploring cultural heritage and focusing primarily on their own racial group

Inclusive policies

Rules and practices designed to support all students fairly

Individual-first approach not referred to in text

Getting to know each child as a person before making assumptions based on background

Internalisation and Commitment stage

Developing a secure racial identity and becoming advocates for change

Intersectionality not referred to in text

How different aspects of identity (race, gender, disability, class) interact and affect experiences

Microaggression

A small, everyday action or comment that communicates bias, which accumulate over time to cause significant harm.

Misdiagnosis/Mislabelling not referred to in text

When young people’s needs or behaviours are incorrectly identified, often due to bias

Mixed-race

Having parents from different racial or ethnic backgrounds, which can create unique identity development experiences

Pre-Encounter stage

When young people may try to minimise the importance of race in their lives

Privilege

Advantages that some groups have due to their social position

Racial identity

How individuals understand and relate to their racial or ethnic background

Racial stereotypes

Fixed, often negative assumptions about people based on their racial or ethnic background

Racialised spaces

Environments where race significantly affects experiences and outcomes

Racially minoritised

Groups that have been placed in a minority position due to power structures (alternative to ‘ethnic minority’)

Restorative approaches

Focusing on repairing harm and building understanding rather than just punishment

School-to-prison pipeline

How certain school policies increase the chances of young people being excluded, criminalised, and drawn into the justice system

Structural or institutional racism

Discrimination embedded in policies, routines and systems rather than individual prejudice

Trauma-informed practice not referred to in text

Understanding how difficult experiences affect behaviour and learning

Zero tolerance policies

Strict discipline approaches that can unfairly affect some groups more than others