Funding for key education project
The Scottish Government has committed £214,000 to fund anti-racism education in schools for 2026/27.
The investment will allow Education Scotland to continue both the Building Racial Literacy Programme (BRL) and Anti-Racist Mentors Project. These initiatives teach educators how to address everyday racism.
The Building Racial Literacy Programme (BRL) promotes anti-racism as a professional skill and teaches how to identify and implement anti-racist behaviours in everyday work. It is available for education workers at all levels of work.
The Anti-Racist Mentors Project supports up to 30 BRL graduates to act as local and regional mentors to conduct anti-racist professional learning. Project participants will also contribute to developing anti-racist training within local authorities.
Education Secretary Màiri McAllan said: “I am delighted to announce continued funding for these two projects which provide essential perspectives to help directly address race inequalities in a professional setting.
“Alongside this, feedback on the courses delivered through these initiatives has been overwhelmingly positive, highlighting their real impact in supporting educators and fostering inclusive learning environments.
“The work these projects do is more important than ever following recent high-profile examples of racist behaviour in society. This investment in both the BRL programme and anti-racist mentors addresses this and will help deliver systemic, sustainable change – improving community cohesion as a result.
“The Scottish Government is consistently clear in our message that there is no place for racism in society. By supporting initiatives such as this in Scotland’s schools we can help ensure teachers are properly equipped to deliver vital anti-racist messaging to our children and young people.”
This latest tranche of funding is a continuation of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme. The programme identifies measures to address race inequality and suggests changes that promote racial literacy among pupils and staff.
To date more than 900 educators have completed the BRL programme.
The recent publication of the Young Anti-Racist Voices of Scotland Anthology highlights the effect of the Building Racial Literacy programme – Young anti-racist voices of Scotland | Anti-racist education | Resources | Education Scotland
