Has the concept of Odd Sock Day just become odd?

Being made to feel different, unacceptable, unappealing and alone at school has a long and painful legacy. It permeates into every part of life, effecting how we understand ourselves, our confidence and how we present ourselves to others. When it happens as a child, it is particularly damaging because of the impressionable, unformed foundations of who we are. It has devastating consequences – in the classroom and far beyond.

Anti-bullying week presents the opportunity to cast a light on bullying, forcing it into children’s consciousness, helpfully raise issues around acceptance, tolerance and with any luck where to find support. It has though, in some instances become almost exclusively tied into the initiative of Odd Sock Day – a single day within anti-bullying week, which focuses on the acknowledgement of difference. It’s a well-used construct: highly accessible, easy to facilitate and a great jumping off point from which to explore the deeper more nuanced faces of bullying. But, in itself, Odd-Sock Day poses some risks – at best of being a bit gimmicky, at worst of making a point of difference and establishing it as an alternative to something we can only surmise is “normal” – sameness, conformity, commonality (or in this world matching socks). An anti-bullying initiative where the point of reference is a) completely physical, and b) based on things looking either totally alike or entirely different – is curiously polarising. Even the term odd-sock day carries with it notions of peculiarity, and misfitting, which seems to fly in the face of the very judgements anti-bullying week is there to warn against. Surely any anti-bullying policy should move beyond these parameters. Far beyond.

Anti-bullying week serves a useful purpose, of course, but it can only be of real value if the parameters within which we discuss and think about bullying are authentic, expansive and progressive. While it can be useful to mark a specific point in the year when we all think about bulling collectively, talking about it and referencing it (in all its ugly, uncomfortable guises) regularly, frequently in a classroom environment surely holds much greater value? Finding really good, thought-provoking, inspiring material to spark conversations – perhaps with the objective of understanding how and why we use the limiting, othering concept of “difference” in the first place – is a good place to start.

There are some brilliant resources to steer those conversations, focussed around the nuance of feeling unacceptable or usual or alone and the impact of that. Whether it’s through the better-known books (such as Wonder, The Arrival, Elmer) or some of the lesser-known ones (e.g. Song of the Dolphin Boy, Red Sky in the Morning, How to Be a Lion, The Wolf Suit, A Colour of His Own, Cyril and Pat) different aspects and degrees of bullying can be focussed on – with a wide audience age-range in mind – and a variety of emotions and issues explored. The power and opportunity lies in the exploration of the desire and pressure to fit in and why it feels so uncomfortable not to.

As conversations around Diversity, Equality & Inclusion become increasingly pertinent, surely our concept of bullying needs to evolve. Providing space to explore the idea that everyone is equal and distinct – contributing a range of languages, physical appearances, cultural customs, but more importantly – individual attributes, perspectives, experiences and expressions, feels critical. Establishing a construct where there is no “normal”, no sameness and consequently no “difference” and no “odd” would be a hugely valuable outcome. Perhaps then we can begin to build school communities which find new ideas and language with which to address exclusion (in all its forms) and develop a much deeper understanding of non-judgement, empathy and acceptance.