In our work with and in the Grenfell community, we have striven to centre community voices, to listen carefully to people’s experiences, and to translate that into potential teaching and learning approaches for the classroom. Yet we are mindful that not everyone will want to be part of this conversation, with some individuals preferring to keep their perspectives and experiences private.
In hearing these views, we came to understand how important a ‘residents up’ approach is to devising Grenfell content which can be taught in the classroom. We particularly heard emphasis on “listening to every single voice” and were encouraged by the Grenfell Education Meeting participants to engage more widely and deeply with the diverse views within the community. One teacher from the Grenfell Education Meeting reflected on how overworked teachers are, questioned the boundaries and support for teachers attempting to educate about Grenfell, and emphasised that “all the issues should be informed by the community to be affected, and where is that team and how is this work trying to inform that?”
Paying particular attention to young people’s and children’s voices became central to our understanding of an effective approach to teaching about Grenfell. A young person shared how vital it is to “give people a voice and listen,” and another shared how “it is good to give us a platform.” We thus regard voices from the Grenfell community—whether through recorded responses or personal artefacts (e.g. poems, artwork, or testimonies)—as imperative to supporting learners to develop their own perspectives on Grenfell, as well as to offer accurate representations of the community’s experiences.