Anti-Racism Contact Officers
Who can be an ARCO
The Anti-Racism Contact Officer (ARCO) is a teacher or executive member of staff who has been nominated by the principal to support anti-racism education in the school. The ARCO should:
- have a commitment to anti-racism education
- have good communication and interpersonal skills
- be trusted by students, staff, parents/carers and the school community.
The cultural, linguistic or religious background of a teacher is not a criterion for selecting an ARCO. Depending on the size of the school and the needs of the school community, the principal may decide to nominate several ARCOs to support wellbeing or specific learning stages.
As far as possible, principals should ensure that there is an ARCO on staff to provide support, if required, on every day of the school week. Where the nominated ARCO is a permanent part-time or part time temporary teacher, another ARCO should be nominated to ensure all school days are covered.
The role of the ARCO
ARCOs are trained to undertake their role. Principals are responsible for ensuring that newly nominated ARCOs complete the ARCO blended online training course. It is appropriate for other members of staff to complete this training, including members of the executive and other members of an anti-racism team.
The ARCO plays an important role in assisting and working collaboratively with the principal to implement major aspects of the Anti-Racism Policy:
| Promote anti-racism education | Support the reporting process | Collect data |
|---|---|---|
provide advice on incorporating whole school anti-racism education strategies in school planning facilitate professional learning to build awareness of the impact of racism on social cohesion, student learning and wellbeing assist teachers to access resources which build awareness and understanding of the impacts of racism promote upstander responses to incidents of racism for staff and students. |
provide advice to students, staff and community members about how to report racism support teachers to address reports of racism involving students through approaches such as restorative practice which promote respectful behaviours manage reports of racism made by students against other students in accordance with the Student behaviour policy and the school's behaviour procedures provide impartial support to the person making the report of racism during the process to increase the likelihood of a satisfactory outcome provide advice related to the impact of racism to the principal and/or nominated staff member managing the report. |
maintain records of reports of racism and outcomes identify which datasets regarding racism should be collected analyse significant statistical trends in relation to reports of racism. |
Resources and support for ARCOs
Funding to support the release of ARCOs is provided to schools each year through the School Budget Allocation Report (SBAR). Schools may wish to provide additional relief for ARCOs to meet local needs.
The SBAR resource hub provides information on resources allocated to schools to support the ARCO role.
Information about ARCO mandatory training and ways you can connect with other ARCOs through local networks and the Anti-Racism Education statewide staffroom are available on the Anti-Racism - Professional support webpage.
Anti-racism poster sets can be ordered from Henry Parkes Equity Resource Centre:
Contact us
For additional information, contact antiracismeducation@det.nsw.edu.au.