I am a redhead and currently a relief teacher. Redheads I have recently discovered take a great deal of negative comments, ‘Ranga’ being one form of many in schools. Its not racist, but it is discriminatory… and I can see that these effects MUST be happening to people of a different race than myself. There has to be a practical solution. Out of the three schools I have worked, two of the schools have the same person hiring relief teachers as dealing with escalated student behavior. The escalation of the discriminatory comments/behavior I have escalated does create work and put pressure on already busy (in my case) assistant principals. This MUST effect my chances of being hired again, WHETHER OR NOT the assistant principal folds to that pressure… the pressure is still there. (I have written about this in length at ‘gingerism.com’ under the name ‘Nate’ under the link ‘Redhead Employment Discrimination’ if you’re curious as to the issue of discrimination from the perspective of a redhead.) Anyway these effects I have found can have highly negative consequences in the working environment of a relief teacher. You are pressured to not report behavior that by rights should be escalated, because you are worried that you may not be re-hired due to the fore-mentioned pressure. It is difficult to prove that the reason you haven’t been phoned for more work is down to the amount of admin work you create. Whether you are a relief teacher facing racist behavior or a relief teacher handling racist behavior… having to report to and create work for the same person that hires you causes among other things inner-conflict, a sense of isolation and potentially the non/mis-reporting of racism. I was always going to pledge my support to this site and its goals. Recent events as stated above have given me a new level of empathy for some of the issues involved. I hereby pledge my support for the goal and principles of anti-racism and discriminatory education and will work towards eliminating racism and discrimination from our schools and society as a whole.