Murat Dizdar

Hello, I'm Murat Dizdar, Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Education. Welcome back from the winter break for the kickoff of Term 3. I'm hoping you've had a refreshing and energising break.

I'm really proud to be joining you from Canterbury Boys High School, we're in the library here, a fantastic school led by Ross Dummett and his team. The school's on the lands of the Gadigal and the Wangal people, they're our Traditional Custodians here. I want to pay my respects to their Elders, both past and present, thank them for their ongoing custodianship of the land and the waterways, and for sharing their stories over thousands of years with us all.

Today, I'm really proud to announce our organisation's first ever Anti-Racism Strategy. I'm really proud that we are the only public education system in the country that has an Anti-Racism Policy, a long-lived policy that's held us in fantastic stead. But it gives me great delight to launch our first Anti-Racism Strategy off the back of that policy. It's a very significant step towards creating a more inclusive and equitable education environment for all.

I'm deeply committed to eliminating all forms of racism as these occur in our schools and workplaces. Our schools and workplaces are not cut off from broader society, and it would be naive of us to think that racism still doesn't permeate across this state in 2024.

This strategy is our collective commitment to representing our unwavering dedication to foster a culture of deep respect, of dignity, and of inclusivity for all of our people in all of our schools and workplaces across New South Wales. To do this, I know that we're going to have to work to prevent racism in all our schools and workplaces. We are going to have to stand up strong for equity and respond strongly when racism occurs.

As part of our Plan for New South Wales Public Education, we are implementing a series of systemic changes that are designed to promote equity and cultural safety for everyone. And this strategy will play such a critical role in us achieving that goal. All of us collectively recognise that eliminating all forms of racism requires sustained and targeted daily effort from all of us.

Our new Anti-Racism Strategy represents a long-term, 12-year commitment for us to build the capacity of our staff and students further and to strengthen our systems for reporting and responding to racism. You'll see from us two-year implementation plans where we identify what we will do and how we'll go about it collectively, and this begins with our plan for 2024 and 2025.

Our leaders are so critical in driving this change to support all of us to stand up for equity and to call out racist behaviour when it occurs. At the launch of this strategy, I ask all of you to be aware of this commitment and to consider ways we can create this change together. Together, we can create a safer, a stronger, and a much more cohesive public education community right across the state in 2,216 fantastic public schools.

Thank you for your commitment to this crucial cause. Supported by our senior leaders, we can make a significant difference and ensure that every student and staff member in our public education system feels valued, respected and supported. Get behind the strategy, and have a fantastic Term 3.

Our strategy will build our existing evidence base on the prevalence and impact of racism by strengthening systems for data collection and listening to the advice of people with lived experience of racism and/or anti-racism action. We will use this evidence to inform our work, partner with key stakeholders and actively build a more representative workforce to drive systemic change.

To successfully eliminate racism, all students and staff need to understand racism is a distinct form of discrimination which is different from religious and other types of discrimination, but which may be compounded by them. They must also have the capability, confidence and commitment to prevent and tackle racism within their sphere of influence. The strategy will support leaders, teachers, all staff and students to identify and address racism in their specific contexts.

To deliver better experiences for students, staff, families and communities, our systems for reporting racism in all its forms need to be clear and appropriate, and our processes for responding to racism must be trusted, safe and prompt. To do so, the strategy will develop:

• clear reporting pathways

• appropriate support for those experiencing racism

• safe processes
  

• effective responses to racism.